Place Names And Night Experiences

The Day Of Their Return.

"East of Windhome the country rolled low for a while, then lifted in the Hesperian Hills." (2, p. 76)

Merely because of its meaning, "Windhome" is already an evocative place name. It gains an extra significance because of the prominence of the wind in Poul Anderson's works. "Windhome" is akin to "Stormgate." Some parts of English cities have names like "Marketgate" and "Fishergate," derived from Danish "gata," meaning "street." See here. There are Hesperian islands on Avalon.

Ivar Frederiksen, cold and shivering in ambush, recalls a line from a Rudyard Kipling poem quoted here:

  "Brother, the watch was long and cold.

This line:

"A pair of wings likewise caught rays from the hidden sun and shone gold against indigo heaven." (p. 77) -

- recalls James Elroy Flecker. See The Hidden Sun.

The sun is named:

"Virgil slipped beneath an unseen horizon. Night burst forth." (p. 79)

This is the first indication that the action is back in the same planetary system as The Rebel Worlds - unless we have recognized the name of Hugh McCormac's former residence, Windhome.

Ivar Frederiksen: Early Life

The Day Of Their Return, IN Poul Anderson, Captain Flandry: Defender Of The Terran Empire (New York, 2010), presents enough information about Ivar Frederiksen's early life to provide material for a prequel.

Ivar's parents, Edward and Lisbet ne Borlund, taught at the University of Nova Roma on the planet Aeneas in Sector Alpha Crucis of the Terran Empire. The family, also including Ivar's sister, Gerda, lived in a house just outside the city of Nova Roma. As hereditary members of the University, Ivar and Gerda were educated there from infancy. Ivar accompanied his zoologist father on field trips and aimed to study planetology.

Because Edward's sister, Kathryn, had married Fleet Admiral Hugh McCormac, hereditary Firstman of Ilion, the family frequently vacationed at Windhome, hereditary seat of the Firstman, where they sometimes met McCormac. During the period when the rule of Sector Governor Snelund became oppressive, Ivar "...began to specialize in his studies and to have off-planet classmates." (p. 104) When McCormac led a revolt against the Empire, military training, already part of the University curriculum, became almost full time.

However, when McCormac, defeated, led his fleet out of known space, Aeneas was occupied, the University was closed, Edward succeeded as Firstman and the family moved to Windhome, there to live "...in poverty-stricken grandeur..." (p. 105). While at Windhome, Ivar improved his desertcraft and became identified as the future leader of the Landfolk. When the University reopened, under Imperial observation, Ivar returned to Nova Roma but, because he "...was soon involved in underground activity..." (ibid.), avoided his family's suburban house and instead lived in a cheap room in the least respectable part of the industrial "Web" where he met members of the new criminal class - thus, significantly, men who did not respect the law - and had "...formative experiences." (ibid.) Maybe there could in theory be an entire sub-series about these "experiences"? This part of the narrative suggests that Ivar is not quite as naive and inexperienced as we might have thought. However, this part of his life is so summarized that it is hard to keep it in mind as we read on.

When the Landfolk are ordered to surrender all weapons, Ivar and his group keep theirs. He returns to Windhome, supposedly for a break from study. Others charter an airbus, supposedly to camp in Avernus Canyon. But they rendezvous at Helmet Butte in order to ambush a regular Impy patrol and steal its weapons. Ivar knows of oases in Ironland with trees, caves and ravines to conceal them from searches by air. The Day Of Their Return, Chapter 2, opens just before the ambush. Ivar, the leader, "...gave the hunting cry of a spider wolf, and heard it echoed and passed on." (p. 77)

- and I hope that this summary demonstrates that an entire extra novel could have led up to this moment.

East Of Windhome

Poul Anderson, The Day Of Their Return IN Anderson, Captain Flandry: Defender Of The Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, 2010), pp. 74-238, 2.

The chapter begins:

"East of Windhome..." (p. 76)

- which, we might remember, was the name of Hugh McCormac's residence in Chapter VI of The Rebel Worlds.

The viewpoint character, Ivar Frederiksen, hears "...the Windfloss flowing." (ibid.) We might remember that Kathryn McCormac's maiden name was Frederiksen and that Hugh McCormac, when returning to Windhome, heard the Wildfoss River brawling in cataracts.

Ivar and his comrades ambush "Imperials." (p. 77) Later, Ivar confirms that these Imperials are "Terrans." (p. 81) Before doing that, he has entered Windhome, "...the ancestral seat of the Firstman of Ilion." (p. 79) That was Hugh McCormac's title. Sergeant Astaff, wearing Ilian uniform in defiance of Imperial decree, addresses Ivar as "'Firstli' Ivar!'" (p. 80) - then reminds him that he is, "'...next Firstman of Ilion....'" (p. 82)

Astaff also tells us:

"'I know Empire. Traveled through it more than once with Admiral McCormac.' As he spoke the name, he saluted. The average Imperial agent who saw would have arrested him on the spot." (p. 82)

Astaff begins our introduction to Aenean Anglic, with no definite article: "Empire," not "the Empire." More importantly, with Flandry, we met the Pretender McCormac; now, with Ivar, we meet a man who served under, and still salutes, the exiled Admiral McCormac.

Finally, moving the narrative forward, Astaff introduces us to Aenean religion. Ivar, as next Firstman, is:

"'Maybe last hope we got, this side of Elders returnin'.'" (ibid.)

Little does the reader yet suspect what this is going to mean although the opening chapter has given us a hint:

"-Six million years have blown by in the night, said Caruith. I remember..." (p. 76)

The issues of The Rebel Worlds are still with us and more will be added although, somewhat disjointingly, all the characters have changed.

Aenean Night

The Rebel Worlds, CHAPTER SIX.

Windhome, battlemented ancestral stronghold of the Firstman of Ilion, stands on a former cape, now a cliff towering above the Antonine Seabed. The Wildfoss River cataracts past. Windhome has a courtyard and an old Firstman's office now full of modern communication equipment. From a balcony off the office, McCormac, Firstman and Admiral, watches the rise of the inner moon, Creusa, which moves visibly, its shadows moving and phases changing noticeably. It looks as if waves again move across the Antonine and surf hits Windhome ness. He also sees Dido, the evening star, where Kathryn had worked as a xenologist in the jungles. She had always loved best the moments when Creusa moved above the Antonine. He wonders whether she will ever see them again. She will not.

Ambush And Windhome

The Day Of Their Return, 2.

Ivar Frederiksen and his band of Aenean guerrillas wait to ambush an Imperial patrol. When the marines arrive, we are told that:

"They were human..." (p. 77)

They might not have been, of course. The guerrillas are all human because only human beings had colonized Aeneas.

Defeated, Ivar sneaks back to Windhome, "...the ancestral seat of the Firstman of Ilion." (p. 79) We remember that, in The Rebel Worlds, Fleet Admiral Hugh McCormac, Firstman and Imperial pretender, rode into Windhome with his sons. Now, McCormac's nephew-in-law, Ivar Frederiksen, Firstling (heir):

"...stumbled to press the scanner plate." (p. 79)

We are seeing the same place from a very different point of view. The Day Of Their Return is an unexpected interruption to the Dominic Flandry series and also a welcome addition to the Technic History.

Windhome And The Milky Way

"They rounded a cluster of trees and spied the castle. Windhome stood on what had once been a cape and now thrust out into the air, with a dizzying drop beneath. Lights glowed yellow from its bulk, outlying dark old walls and battlements. The Wildfoss River brawled past in cataracts."
-Poul Anderson, The Rebel Worlds IN Anderson, Young Flandry (Riverdale, NY, 2010), pp. 367-520 At Chapter Six, p. 425.

"Dawn was not far when Ivar Frederiksen reached Windhome.
"Gray granite walled the ancestral seat of the Firstman of Ilion. It stood near the edge of an ancient cape. In tiers and scarps, crags and cliffs, thinly brush-grown or naked rock, the continental shelf dropped down three kilometers to the Antonine Seabed. So did the river, a flash by the castle, a clangor of cataracts."
-Poul Anderson, The Day Of Their Return IN Anderson, Captain Flandry: Defender Of The Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, 2010), pp. 74-238 AT 2, p. 79.

So Ivar Frederiksen walks the same territory as Hugh McCormac. And above Ivar:

"...the Milky Way was a white torrent..."
-ibid.

Tineran(t)s

A future history series develops more fully in one volume what it merely refers to in another. In The Rebel Worlds, while Hugh McCormac is leading a revolt against the Terran Empire, he spends time with his sons at their ancestral seat of Windhome on the planet Aeneas.

"A caravan of tinerants had established itself on the meadow in front [of Windhome]."
-Poul Anderson, Young Flandry (New York, 2010), p. 425.

In this novel, the "tinerans," with an extra "t" at the end of the word, are a colorful detail, not mentioned again: trucks, striped tents, flags, booths, campfires, music, dances, "...tatterdemalion wanderers..." (ibid.), a carnival drawing customers from far afield despite the approaching Imperial fleet. Hugh McCormac cannot understand it. What is important to him is not important to others but that is people for you. Without such diversity, no complex civilization would be possible.

In the following volume, The Day Of Their Return, McCormac's nephew-in-law, Ivar Frederiksen, trying to revive the rebellion but on the run from the Imperials, hides among the "tinerans." We learn much more about them and they teach us a lot about life on Aeneas.

On Aeneas

The Rebel Worlds, CHAPTER SIX, is a Prologue to The Day Of Their Return, because it is set entirely on Aeneas:

the continental shelf of Ilion rises above the Antonine Seabed;

the outer moon, Lavinia, is small but visible;

Hugh McCormac and his three sons by his first wife ride not green, six-legged stathas but Aenean horses adapted to low gravity, both species imported;

fire trava, sword trava and plume trava cover the ground and curl up, conserving heat for the night;

trees are both native and imported, including oak and cedar from Terra and rasmin from Llynathawr;

a tineran caravan has set up before Windhome.

We are destined to learn a very great deal about both tinerans and Windhome in the sequel.

Ivar Frederiksen

Hugh McCormac led a rebellion. Dominic Flandry defeated it. Ivar Frederiksen and Chunderban Desai dealt with its aftermath. The Day Of Their Return, when introducing Ivar, summarizes his biographical details of necessity briefly, so briefly that I had completely forgotten them despite rereading the novel several times.

Fleet Admiral Hugh McCormac became Firstman of Ilion, Speaker of the three Houses of the Aenean legislature, when his older brother died without leaving an heir. Because Kathryn Frederiksen had become McCormac's second wife, her brother and his family often vacationed at Windhome, ancestral seat of the Firstman.

When the Imperial favorite, Aaron Snelund, became Governor of Sector Alpha Crucis, taxes increased, venal appointments were made, injustices occurred in less well represented societies, petitions were shunted aside, arrests and confiscations for "treason" began, there were secret police and outrages, Snelund detained Kathryn, Hugh was arrested and rescued and led a mutiny. Kathryn's nephew, Ivar, a hereditary member of the University of Nova Roma, had been educated there from infancy. The curriculum had included military training since the Troubles. Now students drilled full time, expecting to fight in the rebellion which, however, was suddenly defeated. With Snelund dead, Muratori became Sector Governor. With Hugh and Kathryn fled, Ivar's father became Firstman and Ivar became Firstling or heir while Desai was appointed High Commissioner of an occupied Aeneas.

The University was closed and the Frederiksens moved to Windhome. When the University reopened, under observation, Ivar returned to Nova Roma and engaged in underground activity, now living not in the family townhouse but in a cheap part of the Web where there was for the first time a more significant criminal class. When rallies and demonstrations at the Brian McCormac monument became riots, assemblies were banned, the monument was razed and the Landfolk were ordered to disband all units and surrender all weapons.

Ivar led a group that smuggled out weapons and ambushed an Imperial patrol in order to acquire more arms, then hide in Ironland oases, raid, recruit and gain support and off-planet sympathy. However, the ambush failed and Desai must order a search for the fugitive Firstling.

Aeneography

The Day Of Their Return.

Of all the planets in Poul Anderson's Technic History, we see maps only of Imhotep and Daedalus in the Patrician System. However, after reading Anderson's texts, it would be possible to draw maps of parts of Avalon, Hermes, Dennitza and Aeneas.

Ivar Frederiksen hears:

"...the sound of the Wildfoss flowing." (2, p. 76)

Thus, this is a different river from the Flone which, we saw, connects the capital city of Nova Roma and small towns like Boseville to the Cimmerian Mountains. See Boseville.

The Wildfoss provides a water table and wells for the Hedin Freehold which is east of Windhome and close to the edge of Ilion.

Windholm

On Aeneas in Poul Anderson's Technic History: a hereditary seat called Windhome.

On Asborg in Anderson's For Love And Glory: a House of Windholm (scroll down) -

"They were at the original family home, on Windholm itself. A stronghold as much as a dwelling, Ernhurst offered few of the comforts, none of the sensualities in mansions and apartments everywhere else." (XII, p. 70)

Points of interest:

the dwelling is called Ernhurst, not Windholm;

Ernhurst is not yet ancestral or hereditary because Davy, Head of the House, has lived in it for the two hundred years since the colonization of Asborg;

"...on Windholm..." tells us that Windholm is an island, I think. I thought of a continent but we do not say "on North America" or "on Eurasia."

To the south, Lissa sees the sea on the horizon but to the north are forested hills and to the west are a power station, a synthesis plant and a village. So Windholm is a big island.

Wind ripples not grass but "...herbage..." (ibid.) It also booms, bites and bears odors, thus addressing four senses in total.

Waybreak

Tineran trains differ in laws and customs and each wanders a different territory, identified by landmarks. Windhome belongs to Brotherband territory but Ivar, covering his tracks, travels by green, six-legged statha to the town of Arroyo where he applies to join Waybreak. He has a rifle, is a good shot, is handy with machinery, knows the wilderness and is physically strong.

When Waybreak crosses the Ironland desert, which they call "the Dreary," some ride stathas, others travel in their vehicles but most stride, easily keeping pace with wagons crossing the roadless hills. Musicians, some handicapped, sit on roofs and play marches.

Most vehicles are elaborately carved wagons, also living quarters, pulled by four to eight stathas. There are some city-made trucks but the only motorized wagon is the largest, Goldwheels, carrying King Samlo and accompanied by the small black mobile shrine which is pulled by white mules. The king is the high priest, presiding at public ceremonies and performing secret rites with other initiates. Tinerans are identified by their vehicles, thus "Mikkal of Redtop."

Trains have a perpetual carefree atmosphere. A Tineran forced to leave his train literally sickens and dies or commits suicide. This sounds strange but will be explained.

Hugh McCormac And The Tinerants

McCormac considers the tinerants camped near Windhome:

"Tomorrow these tatterdemalion wanderers would open their carnival...and it would draw merrymakers from a hundred kilometers around...though the fist of the Imperium was already slamming forward. I don't understand, McCormac thought."
-Poul Anderson, The Rebel Worlds IN Anderson, Young Flandry (Riverdale, NY, 2010), pp. 367-520 AT Chapter Six, pp. 425-426.

The Pretender cannot understand why all Aeneans are not supporting him! Well, the tinerants, an underculture without the vote, have no reason to care who is Emperor on Terra. As for the merrymakers drawn to the carnival, how many of them have as yet directly experienced the oppression that has started under their new Sector Governor? Or how many want to enjoy a carnival precisely because a war is starting? Unable to understand anyone whose views differ from his, McCormac is indeed blinkered.

After The Rebellion

After the Young Flandry/The Imperial Stars Trilogy:

the story of John Ridenour, whom Flandry had met on Starkad in Ensign Flandry, continues in "Outpost of Empire";

the aftermath of the McCormac Rebellion, which had occurred in The Rebel Worlds, is described in The Day Of Their Return;

the life and career of Dominic Flandry continue in most, although not all, of what is left of the Technic History. 

The Day Of Their Return begins with Job 4:12-16.

Its opening chapter, 1, less than a page in length, ends:

"Above them paled Dido, the morning star."

-Poul Anderson, The Day Of Their Return IN Anderson, Captain Flandry: Defender Of The Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, February 2010), pp. 74-240 AT 1, p. 76.

This tells us that 1 is set on Aeneas.

 2 begins:

"East of Windhome..." (ibid.)

This tells us that 2 is also set on Aeneas. In fact, the whole novel is.

"...Kathryn McCormac, his father's sister..." (4, p. 104)

- tells us that our new viewpoint character, Ivar Frederiksen, is Kathryn's nephew. Although Kathryn's maiden name was mentioned in The Rebel Worlds - an ancestor had founded the research base, Port Frederiksen, on Dido - the change of surname makes it easy to forget these Aenean family relationships between books. Kathryn's brother and his family were not mentioned in The Rebel Worlds. The McCormacs have fled before the beginning of The Day Of Their Return. It is all one solid future history.

On Aeneas

The Day Of Their Return, 2.

"East of Windhome the country rolled low for a while, then lifted in the Hesperian Hills." (p. 76)

The planet, Aeneas, had appeared in a single passage in The Rebel Worlds. Now Poul Anderson develops Aeneas in detail. In fact, I think that The Day Of Their Return is the only Technic History novel to be set entirely on the surface of a single planet. In this chapter, it is early summer. Imported oak and cedar are intensely green but rasmin is purple. We are not told the colour of the overarching delphi. The grass-equivalent land cover, fire trava, is not green but onyx tinged with red and yellow. In Anderson's novels, we are always aware that another planetary environment would not look like Earth. 

By day, the fire trava smells of flint and sparks. At night, it curls up into a springy mat. Ivar Frederiksen is not lying merely on a differently coloured grass. Born to this environment, he is not reflecting on Aenean plant life and indeed has problems of an entirely different order.

Oneness And Morning Star

Poul Anderson, The Day Of Their Return IN Anderson, Captain Flandry: Defender Of The Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, February 2010), pp. 74-238.

The text begins with a quotation: Job iv, 12-16.

Chapter 1, on pp. 75-76, occupies less than one page of text and is scriptural in tone, beginning:

"On the third day he arose, and ascended again to the light." (p. 75)

The viewpoint character, Jaan, reflects:

"To be man is to be radiance." (ibid.)

It is or at least it can be but we are to learn that Jaan's "...resurrection..." (p. 76) is a deception.

The chapter ends:

"Above them paled Dido, the morning star." (p. 76)

This is the first textual indication that the novel is set not only in Poul Anderson's Technic History but also, more specifically, in the Virgilian System in Sector Alpha Crucis. Jaan must be on Aeneas where Dido is the morning star. And, since, according to Jaan, the morning star is:

"...the planet of the First Chosen..." (p. 75)

- those First Chosen are the tripartite Didonians. We know, if we are reading the Technic History consecutively, that the Didonians practise oneness. Now Jaan's inner voice, Caruith, speaks of mankind being:

"...received into Oneness..." (p. 76)

In Chapter 2, beginning on p. 76, an opening reference to Windhome and the introduction of a viewpoint character with the surname, Frederiksen, confirm that the action is on Aeneas.

Desai And Ivar

The Day Of Their Return.

It is with a heavy heart that I turn from that pedestrian plodder, Chunderban Desai, to the charismatic criminal, Ivar Frederiksen, but we must follow the author's narrative. Ivar is the kind of fugitive action hero who is passed from pillar to post, in Ivar's case, from Windhome to the Hedin Freehold to the tinerans to the Riverfolk to the Orcans and finally, since he runs out of alternatives, to Desai and the Imperium. These formative experiences will make Ivar eventually an effective and empathetic Firstman of Ilion. In particular, he will aim to free the tinerans from their addiction to the telepathic parasites which in turn might explain the fate of the Ancients who were also the Chereionites. The Technic History is a single long narrative although its diverse details might obscure certain larger scale connections. In The Game of Empire, Axor investigates the Ancients while Tachwyr wonders about Aycharaych and, as in real history, not every question is answered. As Tolkien wrote about The Lord of the Rings, it is too short. However, Tolkien's Trilogy seems rushed - the characters depart on a long journey and, almost immediately, reach their destination. By contrast, a very great deal of time elapses between the opening Technic History instalment, "The Saturn Game," and the conclusion, "Starfog." Everything else that we read about, League, Empire etc, comes and goes between these end points.

The Milky Way Thread

OK. I am gathering together the posts quoting Poul Anderson's descriptions of the Milky Way. So far, they are:

The Milky Way
Mirkheim Miscellany
The Milky Way From The Dronning Margrete
Finishing Ensign Flandry Again
Mimir And The Milky Way
Descriptions, Including The Milky Way
Three Senses On Aeneas And The Milky Way
 
Any relevant new links will be added below:

Windhome And The Milky Way
Night Sky On Aeneas
The Milky Way As An Icefall
The End Of A Novel II 
Curdled Silver
Supernova Ships And The Milky Way
Across The Milky Way
Bellatrix And The Milky Way
Cairncross And The Milky Way
Icy Sweep And Blue Jewel 
The Milky Way In A Stone In Heaven
Radiant Road
Battle Sun And The Milky Way
The Frosty Glitter Of The Milky Way
Argent Flood Of The Milky Way
Sebastian Tombs And The Milky Way Etc
The Milky Way From Van Rijn's Yacht
Gandarian Street And The Milky Way
Life On Nerthus
The Milky Way And Ginnungagap
Starting The Jumps
Shadow And Milky Way
Constellations And Conscience
The Winter Of The World: Some Details
Concluding Details, Josserek And Van Rijn
The Sigman's Spaceship
Anderson And Blish
Columbus' Egg And The Milky Way
The Sea
Across The Sky
Furniture And Stars
On An Asteroid
Death And Aftermath II
Nebulae And Night
Latin, Poetry And The Milky Way
Olympus Mons And The Milky Way
Guthrie On Demeter And The Milky Way
Home Brew And The Milky Way
Moon And Milky Way
Milky Way And Magellanic Clouds
The Winter Road 
Catastrophe At Hades
A Freakishly Huge Moon
The Farthest Star
Arrival
Mars And The Milky Way
On Mars 
Fenn And Guthrie
The Fleet Of Stars: Concluding Observations From The Current Rereading
The Milky Way And A Moment
Ghostliness And The Milky Way
"Gorgeous Flow" (Julian May)
Some Anderson-May Parallels
An Infinitely Cold Cataract
Orbit Unlimited: A Few Details
Rustum Orbit
The Milky Way On Rustum
Ghost Road
Milky Way, Steak And Revolutionaries  (SM Stirling)
"Home"
The Unexpected And The Cosmic Setting
The Unexpected II
Three Senses In Space
Frosty Cataract
One Frozen Waterfall
Cold, Curdled Milky Way
The Permanent Frontier
The Milky Way Spilled
Mirkheim, Chapter XIX
Mirkheim, The Last Chapter, Continued
Curdled Silver II
Rochefort And The Milky Way
Frostiness And Warmth
Galactic Vastness And The Milky Way
Cosmic Summary
Orichalc And The Ocean Of Stars
A River Of Silver
The Heaven
The Milky Way Cascaded
Several Details In The Devil's Game
The Milky Way; Falkayn's Family
A Beautiful Paragraph
Crowd And Torrent
The Milky Way In An Ebon Mirror
Lost To Sight

A Death-Horse And The Milky Way  

Bo Jonsson, The Milky Way And The Great Bear  

Another Moving Moon And The Milky Way  

Navigating  

Dayspring And Milky Way  

Pale Bridge  

Great Curdled Rush  

A Bit Of The Milky Way  

Steve Matuchek And The Milky Way  

A Tremendous, Upholding Arch And An Ice-Clear Galaxy  

Prayers And The Milky Way  

Valeria Matuchek And The Milky Way  

Escape Velocity At Night  

The Milky Way From The Mesa   

The Galactic Belt And The Moon   

Look At The Milky Way  

Cold Rush  

Undeclared War: Phase 2  

The Ice River And A Cannibal Star  

The Milky Way In The First Century

Kipple, Spirit Trail And Wind 

Lohannaso And The Milky Way

The Galactic Bridge 

Via Lactea

Wild Terai, Then The Milky Way 

Return From Space

"The Milky Way Soared Overhead."

Night On Aerie 

The Galactic Belt And Yet Another Mirkheim! 

Starfarers, Prologue

Nansen's Philosophy

NGC 5460

The Milky Way And A Tree

Pulsar, Bible And Milky Way

Frozen Fire And Glowing Maelstrom

Epiphany And Dread 

Galactic River

The Sea Of Space 

On A Comet 

Angels And Aurigeans

A Silver Band And More Weather

Pale River And Talking Wind

Ghosts, Gods, Time And The Milky Way

The Milky Way From Mercury

Milky Way, Andromeda And Sirius

Some Descriptive Details

Milky Way And Mach Drive

Armies Of Stars

River And Circle

Eagle And Silvery Cataract

North American Union And Diamond Dust

The Temple Of Earth And The Ghostly Glory Of The Milky Way

"Inside Earth"

Wanderer And Night-Bridge

Introducing Hugh McCormac

Poul Anderson, The Rebel Worlds IN Anderson, Young Flandry (Riverdale, NY, January 2010), pp. 367-520, CHAPTER ONE.

A Circus of Hells ends with Dominic Flandry's point of view (pov). The Rebel Worlds begins with an unentitled prologue narrated from a composite Didonian pov which the reader does not understand yet. CHAPTER ONE is Admiral Hugh McCormac's pov. Flandry will return in TWO.

McCormac is imprisoned in an artificial satellite orbiting a planet called Llynathawr where there is a city called Catawrayannis. If we have read The Technic Civilization Saga consecutively, then we might remember that Catawrayannis was where Jim Ching wound up.

McCormac remembers a conversation with a quadrupedal Wodenite and is rescued by a mostly human band that also includes a quadrupedal Donarrian. Again, if we have read the Saga in order, then we have encountered both species before. In fact, our first Wodenite, Adzel, was a friend of Jim Ching.

One of McCormac's human rescuers:

"...had not lost the hit of Aeneas." (p. 377)

"...hit..." was obviously an error but I needed to check what the original would have been:

"He had not lost the lilt of Aeneas."

-Poul Anderson, The Rebel Worlds (London, 1973), I, p. 12.

Before speaking, this guy had "...trod forth." (ibid.) "Tread" is a favourite verb of Anderson's.

Before his rescue, McCormac had reminisced about Aeneas:

rusty, tawny;

towers of Windhome;

banners;

coloured crags and cliffs;

Ilian Shelf;

Antonine Seabed;

Wildfoss cataracts;

Kathryn...

We might remember that Peter Berg in "The Problem of Pain" was from Aeneas. If we remember just some of these details, then we appreciate a future historical background.

Colors

Think of onyx as a grey or dark cream.

The attached image, showing "Cultured Onyx Colors," and the first sentence, suggesting that we "[t]hink of onyx as a grey or dark cream," have been copied from the Internet.

Poul Anderson, describing a natural scene, appeals to four senses. East of Windhome on the planet Aeneas, there is low country, then the Hesperian Hills. In summer, leaves are shades of green on two kinds of imported Terrestrial trees, rasmin is purple and the local equivalent of grass, fire trava, is "...onyx tinged with red and yellow..." -Poul Anderson, Captain Flandry: Defender Of The Terran Empire (New York, 2010), p. 76.

There is a cold draught and the flint and spark daytime odor of the fire trava has almost gone. Rustling sounds "...like whispers in an unknown tongue..." (ibid.) pass through a large native tree. One of the moons climbs visibly, like Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoomian moons.

Thus, Ivar Frederiksen, waiting to lead an ambush, experiences colors, cold, a fading odor and mysterious sounds. It is worthwhile to pause on this scene, and many like it, rather than to race ahead to read about the ambush.