tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85722512661541950282024-03-14T03:31:29.675-07:00Poul Anderson's Cosmic EnvironmentsKetlanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08588156788583883454noreply@blogger.comBlogger264125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8572251266154195028.post-32036323467648078462020-12-15T08:26:00.003-08:002020-12-15T08:26:58.962-08:00Assessing A Planetary Environment<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiab7PDphWTohLGWWYST3CTvYxGufDLGEB_skqidc97wAhjHw1fdbhPsy8LaGqKMKsmVArdqq1UbEDzjMxX1yAL5aUcaGPYNpwFZ6TuJixtYJsZC8fEEqBa6rt9qu-ukrhGQF0S4we5rwwi/s292/theearthbookwithringedplanet.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="292" data-original-width="173" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiab7PDphWTohLGWWYST3CTvYxGufDLGEB_skqidc97wAhjHw1fdbhPsy8LaGqKMKsmVArdqq1UbEDzjMxX1yAL5aUcaGPYNpwFZ6TuJixtYJsZC8fEEqBa6rt9qu-ukrhGQF0S4we5rwwi/w237-h400/theearthbookwithringedplanet.jpg" width="237" /></a></i></div><i><a href="https://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.com/2019/06/khruaths-and-choths.html">The People Of The Wind</a></i>, <b>IX</b>.<p>Rochefort
has crash-landed on an island in an archipelago which, it will soon be
confirmed, is Oronesia whose home guard includes the business partners,
Tabitha Falkayn and Draun, both of Highsky Choth. Rochefort is already
well-informed concerning the core, rotation, magnetic field, atmosphere,
vegetation etc of Avalon but is also able to sense and deduce some
further details.</p><p>Lower gravity causes exuberance. Although the
Avalonian diameter is only 11,308 kilometers, the horizon does not seem
closer than the Terrestrial or Esperancian. The sky is bluer, the sun
sinks twice as fast and Morgana looks larger than Luna. It is smaller
but closer and causes twice the tides. He thinks that the dense
ground-cover helps to explain why the hexapodal animals have remained
reptiloid and are no match for mammalians or avians.</p>paulshackley2017@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17704115766930975286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8572251266154195028.post-18258495662557649812020-12-10T02:56:00.001-08:002020-12-10T02:56:05.082-08:00Diverse Avalonian Territories<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtpp6k0JqvyO8ZnWaSg27jI8j22zK60jUCSixTC60KTEBgPuf0pJMnwqXcLYBTlJAENkWfVX2-A7U4ZxFCgRrmeYltYiDY_9pvpaLJbHgQ1umB7w3OcG66gecWNt-iDADhu39znBkcVj91/s292/thepeopleofthewind.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="292" data-original-width="173" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtpp6k0JqvyO8ZnWaSg27jI8j22zK60jUCSixTC60KTEBgPuf0pJMnwqXcLYBTlJAENkWfVX2-A7U4ZxFCgRrmeYltYiDY_9pvpaLJbHgQ1umB7w3OcG66gecWNt-iDADhu39znBkcVj91/w237-h400/thepeopleofthewind.jpg" width="237" /></a></div><a href="https://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.com/2020/12/the-holms.html"><i>The People Of The Wind</i></a>, <b>I</b>.<p><a href="https://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.com/2019/06/stormgate-country.html">Stormgate country</a>:</p><p>"Above
valleys steep-walled, dark and fragrant with woods, snowpeaks lifted.
Closer was a mountainside down which a waterfall stood pillarlike under
the moon. A night-flying bugler sounded its haunting note through
stillness." (p. 447)</p><p>(Three senses.)</p><p>Elsewhere:</p><div style="text-align: left;">the Plains of Long Reach;</div><div style="text-align: left;">arctic marshes;</div><div style="text-align: left;">scorching New Gaiilan savannahs;</div><div style="text-align: left;">the Sagiittarius basin; <br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">uncounted islands.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">An
Ythrian female who marries out of her choth has to adjust to different
laws, customs, culture and geography. However, winged Ythrians naturally
travel farther and more frequently than human beings. Eyath's mother,
Blawsa, often revisits her native Sagittarius - the basin, not the
constellation. Eyath plans to marry Vodan who is also of Stormgate.
However, war will intervene.<br /></div>paulshackley2017@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17704115766930975286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8572251266154195028.post-48093184548237537012020-11-29T04:14:00.002-08:002020-11-29T04:14:25.439-08:00The Rogue Planet, Satan, Recedes From Beta Crucis<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgoiBAhTqVqzAy_FcQNnFoFL_CHhC25-gPDYsyX5FccObx9-okzNRdPRLbUDLFgr3tQI3unoPaw360_KYxDq2sx72xSmAToA3LBP3E2xT-jPi_4WGBPHMeHxu5OEWrjvaRToHvhZdQLn-5/s214/betacrucis.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="160" data-original-width="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgoiBAhTqVqzAy_FcQNnFoFL_CHhC25-gPDYsyX5FccObx9-okzNRdPRLbUDLFgr3tQI3unoPaw360_KYxDq2sx72xSmAToA3LBP3E2xT-jPi_4WGBPHMeHxu5OEWrjvaRToHvhZdQLn-5/s16000/betacrucis.jpg" /></a></i><i><a href="https://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.com/2020/11/something-in-leviticus.html">The Rebel Worlds</a></i>, <b>X</b>.</div><p>As the rogue recedes on its hyperbolic orbit:</p><div style="text-align: left;">raw mountains</div><div style="text-align: left;">gashed valleys</div><div style="text-align: left;">naked stone plains</div><div style="text-align: left;">chill, stagnant seas</div><div style="text-align: left;">night</div><div style="text-align: left;">rare lamps</div><div style="text-align: left;">blue fluorescence</div><div style="text-align: left;">dreary wind-skirl</div><div style="text-align: left;">rushing sterile waters</div><div style="text-align: left;">inanimate, unaware, toiling machines</div><div style="text-align: left;">a dragon's hoard of synthesized isotopes</div><div style="text-align: left;">sufficient reason to garrison and colonize Sector Alpha Crucis</div><div style="text-align: left;">where High Admiral Hugh McCormac waits while battle is joined <br /></div>paulshackley2017@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17704115766930975286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8572251266154195028.post-22529258046376692582020-08-31T14:59:00.001-07:002020-08-31T15:58:03.415-07:00Heidhin's House<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxqDxR12dPMJR96rh2NLqvsuesfzGIAj8sTST-zd2ekMoIErwl-NoVyYVN0jfopnExHenjwdKBP9hdXdv7rlQnPKB8CrGJtpt0h9kkuQWaYm-NGyC1FI-unXZBIR-W3F1vQmvIPXSCQXQX/s1600/veledalivius.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="275" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxqDxR12dPMJR96rh2NLqvsuesfzGIAj8sTST-zd2ekMoIErwl-NoVyYVN0jfopnExHenjwdKBP9hdXdv7rlQnPKB8CrGJtpt0h9kkuQWaYm-NGyC1FI-unXZBIR-W3F1vQmvIPXSCQXQX/s400/veledalivius.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
(Heidhin is Veleda's foremost man but, since he is entirely fictional, we stay with images of Veleda.)<br />
<br />
<a href="https://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.com/2020/08/niaerdh.html">"Star of the Sea,"</a> <b>18</b>.<br />
<br />
The fire in a trench down the middle of the floor scarcely warms the house, its smoke hazes the air and its red light does not penetrate the darkness between pillars and beams yet, despite all this, Heidhin's house is "...as grand as many a royal hall"! (p. 616)<br />
<br />
The historical Burhmund and the fictional Heidhin discuss a political intervention by Everard whom we but not they know to be a Time Patrolman. At this stage, we read pure historical fiction. However, before long, Veleda arrives mysteriously, having been borne on the timecycle/holy bull. The diverse genres blend seamlessly.<br />
<br />
Veleda's tower and Heidhin's house deserve our attention as well-realized settings. paulshackley2017@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17704115766930975286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8572251266154195028.post-4642770046208443172020-08-31T14:21:00.000-07:002020-08-31T15:57:04.130-07:00Veleda's Dwelling II<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1_wsam8LI9geOriz710fclOHYj6CSA5koczxyMYRa8a6z7NwuVD-JoDcQXhqIOYCe0WOxVThIiBwccC28LfSb0-X8EwyDeC7p1eecr_lA5goJ8iCMLgCPg5WfvI3xa2Tw5jMG_Fq0BvRL/s1600/veledaandromans.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="164" data-original-width="308" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1_wsam8LI9geOriz710fclOHYj6CSA5koczxyMYRa8a6z7NwuVD-JoDcQXhqIOYCe0WOxVThIiBwccC28LfSb0-X8EwyDeC7p1eecr_lA5goJ8iCMLgCPg5WfvI3xa2Tw5jMG_Fq0BvRL/s400/veledaandromans.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
(I have just returned from an evening meal in the <a href="https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g187064-d2221920-Reviews-The_White_Cross-Lancaster_Lancaster_District_Lancashire_England.html">White Cross</a> with two beautiful former work colleagues, Rachel and Caz.) <br />
<br />
See <a href="http://poulandersonscosmicenvironments.blogspot.com/2020/08/veledas-dwelling.html">Veleda's Dwelling</a>.<br />
<br />
Veleda, on her high stool, wraps her cloak around her, hood up, against the chill. Heidhin, visiting, sits on the floor with his back against the shut-bed. Veleda's breath is visible when she speaks.<br />
<br />
On a later visit, they walk around her grounds between respectful field workers and the dark holy grove. She will withdraw into her tower to think, brew witchcraft and call the goddess while Heidhin carries her word to the tribes.<br />
<br />
Later again, when the war goes badly, she walks alone, broods under a tree and returns from the halidom to her tower where she sits on the three-legged witch-seat, cloak tight, peering into the shifting shadows. Gloom makes objects look like trolls. The floor groans and light shines as the goddess arrives...paulshackley2017@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17704115766930975286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8572251266154195028.post-43409649761732438712020-08-31T09:18:00.000-07:002020-08-31T15:56:09.542-07:00Veleda's Dwelling<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_GttSI2uUMtKz3uguKksgDk_v7bDzpHTkqqEhD9UJA8zi9P4D5f7d-GiTCJjzZevLKWMVvZdnCn-vSyBRLHwih8-TJ5xHvjAxKKamyxN1CWcgybOCjCK-uWpGm1hDTyMzoJ0G7iHOeZu3/s1600/veledastatue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="275" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_GttSI2uUMtKz3uguKksgDk_v7bDzpHTkqqEhD9UJA8zi9P4D5f7d-GiTCJjzZevLKWMVvZdnCn-vSyBRLHwih8-TJ5xHvjAxKKamyxN1CWcgybOCjCK-uWpGm1hDTyMzoJ0G7iHOeZu3/s400/veledastatue.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
(A statue of Veleda.)<br />
<br />
<a href="https://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.com/2020/08/niaerdh.html">"Star of the Sea."</a> <br />
<br />
Let us stretch the scope of the phrase, "Cosmic Environments." It is usual to contrast the cosmic with the mundane but, of course, this world (<i>mundus</i>) is part of the cosmos. In this sense, perhaps, everything is cosmic, especially when it is given some transcendent significance. An organism's environment is everything surrounding it, whether natural or artificial, thus including human dwellings.<br />
<br />
Veleda dwells in a tower:<br />
<br />
"...heavy-timbered, iron-bound, raised for her to dwell in alone with her dreams." (<b>3</b>, p. 497)<br />
<br />
It is guarded by a man with a spear. Servants abide in the single chamber on the ground floor. Veleda dwells in the loft-room approached by a ladder. She sits on a high stool while a lamp casts wavering shadows among beams, chests, pelts, hides and instruments of witchcraft. Perhaps there <i>is</i> a cosmic connection?<br />
<br />
Going out for the evening. To be continued...paulshackley2017@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17704115766930975286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8572251266154195028.post-76748694018894651192020-05-10T10:42:00.003-07:002020-05-10T10:42:54.267-07:00Atlantean Tides<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0AX2Rn-Oq3Jw5AoOphe1P9sHf8nqyljh66RQ2_rcz-dJPO26tEflOoU0HrxnY61yZ1d3ecnJfpQUtWlTprzWGCRzNvey-GcLVpeQekCRvTBLQE6vEHSL7SRzYramtKnojRJubdD61Hz9e/s1600/rockycoastcliffs.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0AX2Rn-Oq3Jw5AoOphe1P9sHf8nqyljh66RQ2_rcz-dJPO26tEflOoU0HrxnY61yZ1d3ecnJfpQUtWlTprzWGCRzNvey-GcLVpeQekCRvTBLQE6vEHSL7SRzYramtKnojRJubdD61Hz9e/s320/rockycoastcliffs.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<a href="https://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.com/2020/05/extra-solar-and-terrestroid.html" target="_blank"><i>Virgin Planet</i></a>, CHAPTER XVI, p. 115.<br />
<br />
See:<br />
<br />
<a href="https://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.com/2013/10/atlantean-astronomy.html" target="_blank">Atlantean Astronomy</a><br />
<a href="https://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-astronomy-of-virgin-planet.html" target="_blank">The Astronomy Of Virgin Planet</a><br />
<a href="https://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.com/2013/10/religion-astronomy-and-society.html" target="_blank">Religion, Astronomy And Society</a><br />
<br />
Astronomy affects tides:<br />
<br />
Atlantean tides vary but are "...always enormous..." (p. 115);<br />
up to seven times Terrestrial;<br />
a bore is like a tsunami;<br />
shores are either cliffs or salt marshes fading into ocean;<br />
estuaries are swamps, shifting between flooded and merely drenched;<br />
seabirds seek stranded fish;<br />
the damp wind smells of decaying kelp;<br />
trees grow above high tide;<br />
grass is amphibious;<br />
there are feathered, flippered seal-equivalents;<br />
a few women -<br />
<br />
live in huts on high ground;<br />
hunt and fish in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirogue" target="_blank">pirogues</a>;<br />
catch rainwater;<br />
are weaker families living where no one else wants;<br />
have a neolithic culture;<br />
earn trade goods as guides.paulshackley2017@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17704115766930975286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8572251266154195028.post-89774651941638496812020-05-10T09:26:00.003-07:002020-05-10T09:26:26.432-07:00Solis Township<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSe7jYVUBbN5869cLlBm6zpzREXKDFnAeR-MctfyRd3iJ1SzBV1YdOrPPJZbJj53TSR4p9viOU3eIb4SmUxqVFB9dEItaNp4dZfap6bCjS91ZNa1hYTeABteb6AUbcPMDp2ofdKc-3Qhbi/s1600/cobbledsteeet.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="275" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSe7jYVUBbN5869cLlBm6zpzREXKDFnAeR-MctfyRd3iJ1SzBV1YdOrPPJZbJj53TSR4p9viOU3eIb4SmUxqVFB9dEItaNp4dZfap6bCjS91ZNa1hYTeABteb6AUbcPMDp2ofdKc-3Qhbi/s400/cobbledsteeet.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<a href="https://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.com/2020/05/an-extended-metaphor.html" target="_blank">"The Chapter Ends."</a><br />
<br />
Dornford
Yates' novels, set in Austria in the early twentieth century, describe
narrow winding cobbled streets with overhanging buildings such that, in
one case, it would have been possible to pass a basket from an upper
window to someone reaching across from the facing house.<br />
<br />
In Poul Anderson's "The Chapter Ends," the far future Earth wallows in archaisms:<br />
<br />
houses low, white and half-timbered;<br />
roofs thatched or red-tiled;<br />
smoking chimneys;<br />
carved, overhanging galleries;<br />
narrow, cobbled, twisting streets;<br />
wooden clogs;<br />
the ruined walls of Sol City;<br />
wooded hills;<br />
fields;<br />
orchards;<br />
distant sea;<br />
farm buildings;<br />
cattle;<br />
winding roads; <br />
marble and granite walls;<br />
"...all <a href="https://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.com/2016/07/dreaming.html" target="_blank">dreaming</a> under the sun..." (p. 196);<br />
smells of leaf, earth, trees, salt, kelp and fish.paulshackley2017@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17704115766930975286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8572251266154195028.post-82477160037346337532020-05-10T09:24:00.002-07:002020-05-10T09:24:40.614-07:00Jorun's Home Planet<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjenUqfyaRMhLBusN3_4Y0SA4fstG318FlPUvjepYPtGRvRtDZcOKVWWv-469wa2M8tPF2E87HKb0Noo4xWfkEm25QdZJJ2RnqxtD24bcAgnrDd3_4M8LTlkh_zl13UCWlpsuCw-ZNttPFU/s1600/galaxywithcenter.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="151" data-original-width="334" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjenUqfyaRMhLBusN3_4Y0SA4fstG318FlPUvjepYPtGRvRtDZcOKVWWv-469wa2M8tPF2E87HKb0Noo4xWfkEm25QdZJJ2RnqxtD24bcAgnrDd3_4M8LTlkh_zl13UCWlpsuCw-ZNttPFU/s400/galaxywithcenter.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<a href="https://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.com/2020/05/an-extended-metaphor.html" target="_blank">"The Chapter Ends."</a><br />
<br />
The planet is at the Galactic center where "...uncountable hosts of suns..." (p. 198) are visible;<br />
<br />
it is a "grim world," niggardly by contrast with the life-covered Earth;<br />
<br />
it has moors, crags and<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spindrift" target="_blank"> spindrift</a> seas;<br />
<br />
its features are also described as "...hills and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tundra" target="_blank">tundras</a> and great empty seas..." (p. 211); <br />
<br />
because everyone controls cosmic energies, there is no need to live close to others;<br />
<br />
from his home, Jorn sees only moors;<br />
<br />
some
nights are very dark because there are no visible lights on the
planetary surface although (see above) there are many stars in the sky.<br />
<br />
I
would like it because I appreciate solitude and, at the same time,
rapid communication and transportation mean that Jorun has easy access
to company and to civilization. paulshackley2017@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17704115766930975286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8572251266154195028.post-32244070884469490452020-04-08T16:33:00.001-07:002020-04-08T16:33:47.765-07:00The Light<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFDn_vVeISk8zOkE54HsIGpdHdeKgQLrMo2Cb1GIgKOFTFCpDqD3CvruU-GcZORKvBhjMaPA5GU1hj_y6tkwnjpSQH3jp1MTLxlOVmD5XiQJe9e1aqPZstiUrjUTatW_2-UlBBp_wEFA/s1600/thevirginoftherocks2.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFDn_vVeISk8zOkE54HsIGpdHdeKgQLrMo2Cb1GIgKOFTFCpDqD3CvruU-GcZORKvBhjMaPA5GU1hj_y6tkwnjpSQH3jp1MTLxlOVmD5XiQJe9e1aqPZstiUrjUTatW_2-UlBBp_wEFA/s400/thevirginoftherocks2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Anderson, Poul, "The Light" IN Anderson, <i>Past Times</i> (New York, 1984), pp. 164-181.<br />
<br />
Anderson's
"The Man Who Came Early" is a first person narration addressed to a
single auditor, a priest. "The Light" is another first person narration
addressed to a single auditor, this time a historian who is being told
government secrets - and the surprise ending of the story reveals why.
Someone reached the Moon before the Americans. (The background of da
Vinci's <i>The</i> <i>Virgin of the Rocks</i> does look as if it might be a Lunar landscape, doesn't it?)<br />
<br />
"The
Light" is a first Moon landing story published in 1957, so how much did
it get right? Americans, three of them, previous circum-Lunar missions,
an embarrassing "first man on the Moon" speech written in advance by
someone else. However:<br />
<br />
they set off from a space station, not from the Earth's surface;<br />
all three go down to the Lunar surface;<br />
they have no radio or television link back to the Earth.<br />
<br />
Thus, the first to step onto the surface can get away with:<br />
<br />
"'May I suggest that the captain write in the log that the speech was delivered?'" (p. 170)<br />
<br />
Description of the Lunar surface:<br />
<br />
eerie;<br />
bright;<br />
dead;<br />
huge, razor-cornered rocks;<br />
horizon near;<br />
deep, sharp shadows;<br />
cracked, ocherous land;<br />
indescribable light;<br />
a lava plain like polished black metal;<br />
oven in sunlight, freezing in shade;<br />
a mysterious mist;<br />
meteoric dust;<br />
a <i>familiar</i> fog-glow;<br />
prints of hob-nailed boots worn by a tall man...<br />
<br />
The First Man on the Moon learns the identity of the real First Man on the Moon.<br />
<br />
In a pre-Apollo cinema adaptation of <i>The First Men In The Moon</i>,
a UN Moon expedition discovers that Cavor and Bedford were there before
them. A post-Apollo TV adaptation asks us to accept that Wells' account
of Cavor and Bedford and the TV transmissions from Armstrong and Aldrin
both happened, then ingeniously fits both of these "first Moon
landings" into a single narrative.paulshackley2017@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17704115766930975286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8572251266154195028.post-84282298685528593072020-03-28T13:52:00.003-07:002020-03-28T14:25:56.218-07:00Paradox<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpiJHhH1pgWzxhfzuW_iulJbzCjrEeQzN5KqIVuoG4b8AbyirJ5UR7Ivb76ot4-rPd8NPzRhlBZf218Z47TAbvq6eBnRRwkq9-YM55hxVsIfmabovwTAR7JS9NIe4kw_bY729wOniyTXGk/s1600/jupiterblue.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="160" data-original-width="160" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpiJHhH1pgWzxhfzuW_iulJbzCjrEeQzN5KqIVuoG4b8AbyirJ5UR7Ivb76ot4-rPd8NPzRhlBZf218Z47TAbvq6eBnRRwkq9-YM55hxVsIfmabovwTAR7JS9NIe4kw_bY729wOniyTXGk/s400/jupiterblue.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Poul Anderson, "A Little Knowledge" IN Anderson, <i>David Falkayn</i>: <i>Star Trader </i>(Riverdale, NY, 2010), pp. 599-630.<br />
<br />
A
subjovian planet should retain a large quantity of hydrogen and helium.
However, the extra-solar subjovian, Paradox, captured an asteroid which
became a moon with an eccentric orbit. Passing through the Paradoxical
atmosphere, the moon blew large numbers of lighter molecules into space
before breaking up and crashing onto the surface. Metallic atoms spread across the
planet might have combined with any remaining hydrogen. The atmosphere
became early terrestroid: carbon dioxide, water vapor, methane, ammonia
etc, except for more helium than usual. Life and photosynthesis began,
generating an oxynitrogen atmosphere. Despite fifteen Terrestrial
masses, Paradox is solid with a humanly breathable atmosphere.<br />
<br />
Another large planet that loses its hydrogen and helium, gaining an inhabited solid surface, is <a href="https://poulandersonscosmicenvironments.blogspot.com/search?q=Ramnu&max-results=20&by-date=true">Ramnu</a>. (Scroll down.)paulshackley2017@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17704115766930975286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8572251266154195028.post-26368896960469620122020-03-26T04:43:00.003-07:002020-03-26T04:44:29.628-07:00Under The Moons Of Vanessa<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhppKWZksUmVCCgADDX5cliRNmbDKa__34g0mtz34Bxd6J-b0-ofviHujm_OmjAScv98wGi8Sys9UHNyX8o1mzKPEbPDDlQxy-TN2rrQTuBfk_SgjNUn1oZAzMjL9GsabF84BPoI2nirKqR/s1600/underthemoonsofmarswithtext.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="272" data-original-width="185" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhppKWZksUmVCCgADDX5cliRNmbDKa__34g0mtz34Bxd6J-b0-ofviHujm_OmjAScv98wGi8Sys9UHNyX8o1mzKPEbPDDlQxy-TN2rrQTuBfk_SgjNUn1oZAzMjL9GsabF84BPoI2nirKqR/s640/underthemoonsofmarswithtext.jpg" width="435" /></a></div>
"Norman Bean" was ERB's pen name. "Under The Moons of Mars" by Norman Bean was republished as <i>A Princess Of Mars </i>by Edgar Rice Burroughs.<br />
<br />
In the following passage, the planet Vanessa seems to me to reflect ERB's Mars/Barsoom:<br />
<br />
"Dinner
was served in the roof turret, which had a view like being outdoors. By
night Vanessa took on beauty. Both moons were aloft, small and swift,
turning the land to a fantasy of dim silver and moving shadows. The lake
gleamed, the native towers looked like giant blossoms. Overhead, the
sky was splendid with stars..."<br />
-<a href="https://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.com/2020/03/too-much-power.html" target="_blank">"A Sun Invisible,"</a> <b>IV</b>, p. 289.<br />
<br />
Over dinner, Falkayn mentions and explains rogue planets. They will be crucial to the plot.paulshackley2017@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17704115766930975286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8572251266154195028.post-2342671061264861822020-03-20T12:36:00.001-07:002020-03-20T12:36:05.051-07:00Cynthia And Woden<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4AR02GwnMkWvRhx3Zj4wv650nwsCNdE7Z3Nu5ORRTcMu4BxSqAiASJ-QYfVSNODGhEz7sOEqCsuytEP9P2faWzz8xgALRsxewIvAMIGF-1yuDUmO2gjKzj-auv6jAQJ6bvwUAEAKogbBK/s1600/treetops.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="170" data-original-width="255" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4AR02GwnMkWvRhx3Zj4wv650nwsCNdE7Z3Nu5ORRTcMu4BxSqAiASJ-QYfVSNODGhEz7sOEqCsuytEP9P2faWzz8xgALRsxewIvAMIGF-1yuDUmO2gjKzj-auv6jAQJ6bvwUAEAKogbBK/s400/treetops.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<u>Cynthia</u><br />
"Oh, treetop highways under the golden-red sun of Cynthia!"<br />
-Poul Anderson, "How To Be Ethnic In One Easy Lesson" IN Anderson, <i>The Van Rijn Method </i>(Riverdale, NY, 2009), pp. 175-197 AT p. 183.<br />
<br />
"Oh, to be back on Ta-chih-chien-pi, Lifehome-under-Sky, again in a treetop house among forest perfumes!"<br />
-Poul Anderson, "The Trouble Twisters" IN Anderson, <i>David Falkayn</i>: <i>Star Trader </i>(Riverdale, NY, 2010), pp. 77-208 AT <b>VI</b>, p. 138.<br />
<br />
"Ta-chih-chien-pi
- 02 Eridani A II or Cynthia to humans - felt even more distant than it
was, warm ruddy sunlight and rustling leaves around treetop homes lost
in time as well as space."<br />
-Poul Anderson, "Day of Burning" IN <i>David Falkayn</i>: <i>Star Trader</i>, pp. 209-272 AT pp. 224-225.<br />
<br />
"'Light
across a sea of leaves, but down below full of shapes and mysteries, a
cry of color on wings and petals, a glen where a rill comes joyful
-...'"<br />
-Poul Anderson, <i>Mirkheim </i>IN Anderson, <i>Rise Of The Terran Empire </i>(Riverdale, NY, 2011), pp. 1-291 AT <b>XXI</b>, p. 289.<br />
<br />
<u>Woden</u><br />
"Adzel's
thoughts turned sentimentally back to Woden, the dear broad plains
under the brilliant sun, where his hooves spurned kilometers..."<br />
"The Trouble Twisters," <b>V</b>, p. 132.<br />
<br />
"'That
wild bright openness where the winds run loose, horizons endlessly
before us but also flowers underfoot, a land that that is the living
Nirvana -...'"<br />
-<i>Mirkheim</i>, p. 289. <br />
<br />
I will quote more about either planet if I find it.paulshackley2017@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17704115766930975286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8572251266154195028.post-46259828827513163302020-03-20T12:33:00.001-07:002020-03-20T12:33:10.910-07:00Beauty On Ikananka<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipdIh3iAOCm-75-YU3RgPI52oshObCmSByrKOBRbBd2Mi45Ol-GZoqiyRwNy3NkgCQ99H9xlukKBU42W1JFg3VhGrJTPe2AHJrF-abwG5YBtL7pq1QRLxZv9fVPySfZlWSlv5nRt4Sl-gL/s1600/thetroubletwisterspink.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="268" data-original-width="179" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipdIh3iAOCm-75-YU3RgPI52oshObCmSByrKOBRbBd2Mi45Ol-GZoqiyRwNy3NkgCQ99H9xlukKBU42W1JFg3VhGrJTPe2AHJrF-abwG5YBtL7pq1QRLxZv9fVPySfZlWSlv5nRt4Sl-gL/s400/thetroubletwisterspink.jpg" width="267" /></a></div>
<a href="https://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.com/2020/03/the-trade-pioneer-crew.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">"The Trouble Twisters."</span></span></a><i><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: small;"> </span></i><br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: small;">Tidal action has forced one hemisphere of the small, eccentrically orbiting, librating planet <b> Ikrananka</b>
to face its red dwarf sun but such slow rotation generates a weak
magnetic field so that the planet retains an atmosphere although most of
its water has frozen on the cold side making the warm side a slowly
deteriorating desert whose inhabitants, struggling for survival in
their season-less, rhythm-less environment, regard nature as hostile,
believing in demons but not in gods, whereas dwellers on the edge of
the Twilight Zone with rain, snow, day, night and constellations, more
conventionally believe in an annually dying and rising god and a single
devil whose power can be neutralized. The latter are easier to trade
with.</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: small;">-copied from <a href="https://poulandersonscosmicenvironments.blogspot.com/2014/05/unusual-heavenly-bodies.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: small;">As Falkayn and his Ershoka captors approach, then enter, the Twilight Zone:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: small;">they leave the wasteland;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: small;">the country grows greener;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: small;">mosslike growth carpets the foothills;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: small;">brooks become audible;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: small;">the wind sways "...forests of plumed stalks..." (p. 156);</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: small;">mountains glow in the red light;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: small;">there are "...snow peaks and glaciers..." (<i>ibid.</i>);</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: small;">stars and a planet become visible;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: small;">slopes reflect heat;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: small;">ice melts;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: small;">rivers foam down cliffs;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: small;">the royal purple sky blackens;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: small;"> the city, Rangakora, occupies a plateau above a mountain pass;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: small;">a road joins mountaintops, city and green, gold, glimmering, misty sea;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: small;">above the city, rainbows crown a waterfall;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: small;">then forest hides the river as it flows near the city wall;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: small;">Falkayn is impressed;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">so am I.</span> </span>paulshackley2017@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17704115766930975286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8572251266154195028.post-36363299742081817022020-02-12T14:50:00.002-08:002020-02-12T14:50:25.182-08:00Jovian Sky And Surface<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWKJjDsWY6-m50muHVUU95udmfycN8oi83zVHh3BcGuKudF_r4-6yN0Sav0ng5RraN7ipSSZq01KTjYZCJN1EZGDf2INAawQ9k6JnLDy_a79w8lpMwjwo2qq6EU-L0zsMGRo7Msq766uYX/s1600/threeworldstoconquermycopy.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="263" data-original-width="179" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWKJjDsWY6-m50muHVUU95udmfycN8oi83zVHh3BcGuKudF_r4-6yN0Sav0ng5RraN7ipSSZq01KTjYZCJN1EZGDf2INAawQ9k6JnLDy_a79w8lpMwjwo2qq6EU-L0zsMGRo7Msq766uYX/s400/threeworldstoconquermycopy.jpg" width="272" /></a></div>
In Poul Anderson's <i>Three Worlds To Conquer </i>and "Hunters of the Sky Cave," Jupiter has a solid surface.<br />
<br />
In "Hunters...," Flandry, descending, sees:<br />
<br />
a glowing, multi-colored planetary surface;<br />
<br />
moving dark storms bigger than Terra;<br />
<br />
thousand-kilometer-long clouds of ammonia crystals;<br />
<br />
the blue and green streaks of free radicals;<br />
<br />
lightning in a purple sky;<br />
<br />
sodium explosions;<br />
<br />
allotropic ice crumbled, then lifted, by methane ocean waves flattened by pressure and gravity;<br />
<br />
a vast plain where organisms neither plant nor animal lash at hundred-meter-long flying ribbons;<br />
<br />
colored, singing bubbles on a red wind;<br />
<br />
an immense, blue, low-built, artificial structure;<br />
<br />
flashing white energy;<br />
<br />
Ymirites flying, or rather swimming, in the dense atmosphere, some on their own wings, others in gliders. <br />
<br />
He also feels and hears titanic winds.paulshackley2017@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17704115766930975286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8572251266154195028.post-2050525836632366952020-02-11T09:21:00.001-08:002020-02-11T09:24:43.356-08:00The Game Of Empire: Some Loose Ends<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx_NxFnASCZcA09EMGC_wNxtzXLrQt5WUAWeRhxbzIWTYYiaWSYoj4gsAhlKVHYKRcltDu3sRyk30wp8ktbVM4AqRQQRrHKOPa-1IJV83_ST1bqSbGEpnExt2y20MxTmFYxdqyW3rlZnMH/s1600/tangaroa.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="227" data-original-width="170" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx_NxFnASCZcA09EMGC_wNxtzXLrQt5WUAWeRhxbzIWTYYiaWSYoj4gsAhlKVHYKRcltDu3sRyk30wp8ktbVM4AqRQQRrHKOPa-1IJV83_ST1bqSbGEpnExt2y20MxTmFYxdqyW3rlZnMH/s400/tangaroa.jpg" width="299" /></a></div>
One more <a href="https://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/divine-names-ii.html" target="_blank">divine name</a>: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangaroa" target="_blank">Tangaroa</a> Zachary.<a href="https://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/gatto.html" target="_blank"> Gatto</a> and Tangaroa converse by <a href="https://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.co.uk/2017/09/fourteen-years-after.html" target="_blank">eidophone</a>.<br />
<br />
Half
a millennium after the events of "Day of Burning," Merseia still
requires forcefield protection from the radiation of the supernova,
Valenderay: a permanent reminder to the Merseians of their former
vulnerability and dependency.<br />
<br />
The moons of <a href="https://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/targovi-ii.html" target="_blank">Imhotep</a> are <a href="https://www.bluffton.edu/homepages/facstaff/sullivanm/egypt/saqqara/zoser/zoser.html" target="_blank">Zoser</a>, <a href="https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanofer" target="_blank">Kanofer</a> and<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rahotep" target="_blank"> Rahotep</a>.
In autumn, dead leaves are underfoot in Olga's Landing. In Old Town,
Tigery trading caravans arrive from the lowlands. There are crowds,
music and savory odors from foodstalls and Winged Smoke houses.<br />
<br />
Through the transparent wall of a high Terra-conditioned floor of the <a href="https://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/targovi-ii.html" target="_blank">Pyramid</a>, Dominic Flandry, Diana Crowfeather, Targovi and Axor see:<br />
<br />
scarlet, russet and amber woods;<br />
<br />
outside the heated area, boulders, crags, native plants, frozen rivulets, sunlit snow-covered mountains and green glaciers.paulshackley2017@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17704115766930975286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8572251266154195028.post-82816089059935600702019-12-31T19:19:00.000-08:002020-01-01T03:29:22.650-08:00Happy New Year<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP_9ImU80S7aj_EOY4xWdekvBZQYynyKqmJ_u3tNorYg_6O2R3uToE18QVNP0mXpFiTLzZmQKnHIMjmCQTiBXbBNFoSvNrUgXtCHgrnaxwJHFxz_3zaxAftCLeMB7TFU8BEghi6FCkutkU/s1600/newyearbigben.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP_9ImU80S7aj_EOY4xWdekvBZQYynyKqmJ_u3tNorYg_6O2R3uToE18QVNP0mXpFiTLzZmQKnHIMjmCQTiBXbBNFoSvNrUgXtCHgrnaxwJHFxz_3zaxAftCLeMB7TFU8BEghi6FCkutkU/s1600/newyearbigben.jpg" /></a></div>
We are just back from a party. (The time on this lap top is out of sync with the time here.) Thank you for your attention.<br />
<br />
Yesterday, the Poul Anderson Appreciation blog recorded 297 page views although it had no new posts whereas this blog received 33 page views although it had 3 new posts. Later today, I will copy this post and the three from yesterday onto PAA.<br />
<br />
This is sheer self-indulgence. I am wallowing in Poul Anderson's Technic History for as long as possible. However, Anderson's texts make it possible to focus on the many details of their narratives and descriptions for a very long time. There is a lot more to post about Dominic Flandry but not right now.paulshackley2017@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17704115766930975286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8572251266154195028.post-14849376929743284232019-12-31T11:49:00.003-08:002020-01-01T03:35:44.565-08:00The Approach To Talwin<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXKYulJYF4VJnc1fNPmjhjJTg3NAfTE0jDgNlD0yXDkoYvi2A9O_1xYNdz19VHBw79TXQhvrg0oPbC4RWIVRGkNKILsstrATc9QUvRjBQWx92JBHnuXdUjhIE9tig7TwO7DPQ0X2Vvncbq/s1600/acircusofhellssunset.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="327" data-original-width="194" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXKYulJYF4VJnc1fNPmjhjJTg3NAfTE0jDgNlD0yXDkoYvi2A9O_1xYNdz19VHBw79TXQhvrg0oPbC4RWIVRGkNKILsstrATc9QUvRjBQWx92JBHnuXdUjhIE9tig7TwO7DPQ0X2Vvncbq/s320/acircusofhellssunset.jpg" width="188" /></a></div>
When traveling through space, the inside of a spaceship becomes very much a "cosmic environment," albeit an artificial one. If, like Dominic Flandry in <i>A Circus Of Hells</i>, <b>CHAPTER ELEVEN</b>, you are a human prisoner/passenger in a Merseian destroyer, then the crew themselves become the most obtrusive part of your environment:<br />
<br />
larger than human<br />
green<br />
hairless<br />
spined<br />
tailed<br />
in foreign-cut black uniforms<br />
with belted war knives<br />
sharp, dry body odors<br />
and dark whiteless eyes<br />
practicing centuries-old ritual deferences<br />
<br />
Pretty frightening to anyone without Flandry's training and experience? He converses politely in Eriau with appropriate salutes.<br />
<br />
Approaching Talwin, he sees peaks that dwarf the Himalayas but are naked rock. An extensive swamp informs him that, in winter, the icecap extends to 45 degrees latitude and the glaciers flatten everything whereas, at midsummer, lakes and rivers boil. He travels with aliens towards a frightening environment.paulshackley2017@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17704115766930975286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8572251266154195028.post-24688279861727461442019-12-31T09:46:00.003-08:002020-01-01T08:17:06.573-08:00More On Planets<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvXJH23ScHvOsOf3cd1lhqmUWRk5MCi6SN1FoFwXHGWB95DB9wJ5NKOYFu0dgA8tQLBJ28SQK3Nwr5OUz71Pgf3FxvTskP3PM6CB64tS1vxV1QrR8li5iahlWThMyCJw_-2ppJw5DCV5kq/s1600/youngflandry.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="192" data-original-width="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvXJH23ScHvOsOf3cd1lhqmUWRk5MCi6SN1FoFwXHGWB95DB9wJ5NKOYFu0dgA8tQLBJ28SQK3Nwr5OUz71Pgf3FxvTskP3PM6CB64tS1vxV1QrR8li5iahlWThMyCJw_-2ppJw5DCV5kq/s1600/youngflandry.jpg" /></a></div>
The previous <a href="http://poulandersonscosmicenvironments.blogspot.com/2019/12/planets-in-young-flandry-trilogy.html">post</a> lists twelve planets visited in four novels. Also, <a href="https://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.com/2014/09/some-very-obscure-planets.html">Therayn</a> is mentioned but not visited in <i>A Circus Of Hells</i>.<br />
<br />
Lists of planets might become a feature of these blogs. See:<br />
<br />
<a href="https://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.com/2014/06/planets-of-long-night.html">Planets Of The Long Night</a><br />
<a href="https://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.com/2017/11/fully-realized-planets_3.html">Fully Realized Planets</a><br />
<a href="http://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.com/2017/11/fully-realized-planets-ii.html">Fully Realized Planets II</a><br />
<br />
Point of view makes a difference to how any planet is perceived:<br />
<br />
in <i>Ensign Flandry</i>, Terra is perceived not by the title character but by Lord Markus Hauksberg when he attends the Emperor's birthday celebration at the Coral Palace;<br />
<br />
however, in <i>The Rebel Worlds</i>, young Flandry visits Admiralty Center in the Rocky Mountains;<br />
<br />
in<i> Ensign Flandry</i>, Brechdan Ironrede, Hand of the Vach Ynvory, surveys his ancestral domain on Merseia (see <a href="https://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.com/2014/09/merseian-customs.html">Merseian Customs</a>) but that planet is also, very differently, perceived by the young Flandry who has become aide to Commander Abrams of Intelligence. See<a href="https://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.com/2014/09/merseian-scenery.html"> Merseian Scenery</a>.<br />
<br />
There is much scope here for rereading and the studying of details. I had completely forgotten Ysabeau and the unnamed planet in <i>A Circus Of Hells</i>.paulshackley2017@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17704115766930975286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8572251266154195028.post-9828844468026881932019-12-31T06:03:00.003-08:002020-01-01T03:31:45.554-08:00Planets In The Young Flandry Trilogy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCFnXBOiSnIJd7DLWTIfPkX94vz9JYJwTQszHFRxukDrjdePVpx3WC3rb1tB7tJnWx5tC6W7QHfUuzNqOxIxlWJe6lDPVi2rY4bvkBTLw_WY80oCNVrae-O4f5-NEtdUBxm-98kl98Qcpk/s1600/youngflandrytrilogy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="275" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCFnXBOiSnIJd7DLWTIfPkX94vz9JYJwTQszHFRxukDrjdePVpx3WC3rb1tB7tJnWx5tC6W7QHfUuzNqOxIxlWJe6lDPVi2rY4bvkBTLw_WY80oCNVrae-O4f5-NEtdUBxm-98kl98Qcpk/s400/youngflandrytrilogy.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<u><i>Ensign Flandry</i></u><br />
<a href="https://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-coral-palace-ii.html">Terra</a><br />
<a href="https://poulandersonscosmicenvironments.blogspot.com/search?q=Starkad">Starkad</a><br />
<a href="https://poulandersonscosmicenvironments.blogspot.com/search?q=Merseia">Merseia</a><br />
<br />
<i><u>A Circus Of Hells</u></i><br />
<a href="https://poulandersonscosmicenvironments.blogspot.com/search?q=Irumclaw">Irumclaw</a><br />
<a href="https://poulandersonscosmicenvironments.blogspot.com/search?q=Wayland">Wayland</a><br />
<a href="https://poulandersonscosmicenvironments.blogspot.com/search?q=Talwin">Talwin</a><br />
<a href="https://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.com/2014/09/some-very-obscure-planets.html">an unnamed planet </a><br />
<a href="https://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.com/2014/09/some-very-obscure-planets.html">Ysabeau</a><br />
<br />
<u><i>The Rebel Worlds</i></u><br />
<a href="https://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.com/2015/06/corridors-of-power.html">Terra</a><br />
<a href="https://poulandersonscosmicenvironments.blogspot.com/search?q=Shalmu">Shalmu</a><br />
<a href="https://poulandersonscosmicenvironments.blogspot.com/search?q=Llynathawr">Llynathawr</a><br />
<a href="https://poulandersonscosmicenvironments.blogspot.com/search?q=Aeneas">Aeneas</a><br />
<a href="https://poulandersonscosmicenvironments.blogspot.com/search?q=Dido">Dido</a> paulshackley2017@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17704115766930975286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8572251266154195028.post-46422108640162800322019-05-04T08:12:00.001-07:002019-05-04T08:12:55.881-07:00A Hostile Environment<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0cFGTCNo8-tJjBF_UleVcczk2LxFDLNAM3d9nnlb5vLz8ed3pXdxL0lHRLCFZcLK-ovmDcwQAJKNPdMaw6N5S2SW7HNaJXgnRnv5DFZqOOH2qv1K2YGit2ZwlAtSXyPEzXZee36jD0r2J/s1600/tradertothestrstkela.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="299" data-original-width="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0cFGTCNo8-tJjBF_UleVcczk2LxFDLNAM3d9nnlb5vLz8ed3pXdxL0lHRLCFZcLK-ovmDcwQAJKNPdMaw6N5S2SW7HNaJXgnRnv5DFZqOOH2qv1K2YGit2ZwlAtSXyPEzXZee36jD0r2J/s1600/tradertothestrstkela.jpg" /></a></div>
Poul Anderson, "Territory" IN Anderson, <i>David Falkayn: Star Trader</i> (Riverdale, NY, 2010), pp. 1-76.<br />
<br />
(The contents page classifies "Territory" as a "novella": longer than a short story but shorter than a novel.)<br />
<br />
There are many terrestroid planets in sf but Anderson also shows us some that are different, e.g.: t'Kela:<br />
<br />
temperature 60 below;<br />
enough nitrogen to induce narcosis;<br />
enough ammonia to burn lungs;<br />
no water vapor;<br />
enough oxygen to sustain life for several minutes.<br />
<br />
Human
beings have several kinds of business on t'Kela but must be
permanenetly protected from its environment. Would you want to spend any
time there? And why is van Rijn without a helmet in that cover
illustration?paulshackley2017@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17704115766930975286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8572251266154195028.post-841254874585156702019-04-03T10:02:00.001-07:002019-04-03T10:08:55.829-07:00Cosmic Environments In Tau Zero<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_oJvpHoiGKuI0pXgQEerQQ5cSpdsFWC6QAbxzC2IeIUaDkDbl1NDJYzvcBqOIlagpoTgac9LT0JA7LwNvHy32Nt_4hoHxa19MNpE1oexOvmzw6DB18jZzV2Cs6Nm14qA_ioxh0AVf5ceM/s1600/Tau_Zero.webp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="246" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_oJvpHoiGKuI0pXgQEerQQ5cSpdsFWC6QAbxzC2IeIUaDkDbl1NDJYzvcBqOIlagpoTgac9LT0JA7LwNvHy32Nt_4hoHxa19MNpE1oexOvmzw6DB18jZzV2Cs6Nm14qA_ioxh0AVf5ceM/s400/Tau_Zero.webp" width="245" /></a></div>
Poul Anderson's <i>Tau Zero</i> opens in the<a href="https://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.com/2019/03/in-millesgarden.html"> Millesgarden</a>.<br />
<br />
The characters visit <a href="https://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.com/2019/03/stockholm-old-town.html">Stockholm Old Town</a>.<br />
<br />
They see<a href="https://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.com/2019/03/stars-seen-from-space.html"> stars from space</a>, venture into <a href="https://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.com/2019/03/the-big-deep.html">interstellar space</a> and go <a href="https://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.com/2019/03/extra-vehicular-activity.html">EVA</a>.<br />
<br />
There is a<a href="https://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.com/2019/03/garden-in-space.html"> garden</a> in the ship.<br />
<br />
The universe<a href="https://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.com/2019/03/optical-effects.html"> looks strange</a> at high speeds.<br />
<br />
The ship passes through the <a href="https://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.com/2019/04/through-galactic-center.html">galactic center</a>, leaves the Milky Way, traverses <a href="https://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.com/2019/04/between-galaxies.html">intergalactic space</a> and passes through other <a href="https://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.com/2019/04/passage-through-several-galaxies-and.html">galaxies and clusters</a>.<br />
<br />
The next passage is through inter-clan space, <a href="https://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.com/2019/04/in-inter-clan-space.html">here</a>,<a href="https://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.com/2019/04/in-inter-clan-space-ii.html"> here</a> and <a href="https://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.com/2019/04/farther-through-inter-clan-space.html">here</a>.<br />
<br />
The universe <a href="https://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.com/2019/04/blood-red-galaxies-in-contracting.html">ages</a> and the ship enters the <a href="https://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.com/2019/04/through-outermost-abysses.html">outermost abysses</a>.<a href="https://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.com/2019/04/through-outerm"><br /></a><br />
<br />
A <a href="https://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.com/2019/04/monobloc-formation.html">new monobloc</a> forms and the ship explores a new universe <a href="https://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.com/2019/04/in-early-universe.html">here</a>, <a href="https://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.com/2019/04/in-early-universe-ii.html">here</a> and<a href="https://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.com/2019/04/in-early-universe-iii.html"> here</a> before finding a <a href="https://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.com/2019/04/on-new-planet.html">new planet</a>.paulshackley2017@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17704115766930975286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8572251266154195028.post-16617397777397916602019-03-13T01:45:00.002-07:002019-03-13T01:45:51.117-07:00Sibylla<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXoWm26uRwTXaavn1bFsT80J_i6lizYfM2DLS2ofhM5PVP-telr-xhXy4RMQQZTJ47iTs-N_qAvqkzHQNBc5qtpXWvpoRHC2qI166DA07ELUQChvtP8TT1566uQW-4N4lB7WhfH8NDQO5p/s1600/thequeenofairanddarknessthompson.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="194" data-original-width="259" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXoWm26uRwTXaavn1bFsT80J_i6lizYfM2DLS2ofhM5PVP-telr-xhXy4RMQQZTJ47iTs-N_qAvqkzHQNBc5qtpXWvpoRHC2qI166DA07ELUQChvtP8TT1566uQW-4N4lB7WhfH8NDQO5p/s400/thequeenofairanddarknessthompson.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Poul Anderson, "The Alien Enemy" IN Anderson, <i>The</i> <i>Queen Of Air And Darkness And Other Stories</i> (London, 1977), pp. 69-85. <br />
<br />
Sibylla is a humanly colonized planet:<br />
<br />
33.25 light years from Sol;<br />
50% more diameter than Earth;<br />
a third more gravity;<br />
pressure gradient steeper; <br />
lowlands too hot;<br />
highlands lacking air; <br />
metal-poor;<br />
low density;<br />
slow rotation;<br />
very low magnetic field;<br />
strong radiation background.<br />
<br />
These are not just facts. They are adding up to something. And we have not been told who the alien enemy is yet.paulshackley2017@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17704115766930975286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8572251266154195028.post-46389550760172850732019-03-03T06:59:00.002-08:002019-03-03T07:17:26.391-08:00Roland<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtsH6AfKo_fnTg8kw0eS72WADTPrcIUmc-6mPXqSuCy-VGuCfDpmAyhEVD5Vdv9F9pA2FA1ZT7SfXt97htrkaN21Oy7zVRKgYE7GxkUjH7xbhXWtIMLoaWaRKNvVVdqKl9ienkDhTXjtfz/s1600/thesongofroland.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="391" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtsH6AfKo_fnTg8kw0eS72WADTPrcIUmc-6mPXqSuCy-VGuCfDpmAyhEVD5Vdv9F9pA2FA1ZT7SfXt97htrkaN21Oy7zVRKgYE7GxkUjH7xbhXWtIMLoaWaRKNvVVdqKl9ienkDhTXjtfz/s400/thesongofroland.jpg" width="305" /></a></div>
Poul Anderson, <i>New America</i>, "The Queen of Air and Darkness."<br />
<br />
Roland
has a million inhabitants, all on one continent and half in one city,
Christmas Landing, on the shore of the Boreal Ocean. 5000 live in Portolondon on the Gulf of Polaris in
Arctica, past the Arctic Circle. The planet was colonized a century or
more ago. Eric Sherrinford immigrated from Boewulf twelve years ago.<br />
<br />
Surface
gravity is 0.42 x 980 cm/sec (squared). I don't know what that means.
Does it just mean that the gravity is 0.42 (less than half) of
Terrestrial?<br />
<br />
The sun, Charlemagne, is 40% brighter than
Sol, even brighter in the ultraviolet, and emits more charged
particles. Roland's orbit is eccentric so that insolation varies from
more than double to slightly less than Terrestrial.<br />
<br />
Yet another concretely realized fictional planet. paulshackley2017@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17704115766930975286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8572251266154195028.post-3534041493346576532019-03-02T11:19:00.001-08:002019-03-02T11:19:07.629-08:00Another Planet<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgENpaope6FPTKwDGOk0OoTYnwaSGbt9j-oeITYRxIqBgkcM1uv5xFYy8XYThsRMSYSA6gfxQwS_SK3IspTmtqDhRZCNMjU6EBBFsI_i8p15lEMBVl9b8X2MOqIbaFB-yBFIgpKDFRyHTcN/s1600/thequeenofairanddarknessthompson.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="194" data-original-width="259" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgENpaope6FPTKwDGOk0OoTYnwaSGbt9j-oeITYRxIqBgkcM1uv5xFYy8XYThsRMSYSA6gfxQwS_SK3IspTmtqDhRZCNMjU6EBBFsI_i8p15lEMBVl9b8X2MOqIbaFB-yBFIgpKDFRyHTcN/s400/thequeenofairanddarknessthompson.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Poul Anderson, <i>New America</i>, "The Queen Of Air And Darkness."<br />
<br />
In<i> New America</i>, "To Promote The General Welfare" and "The Queen of Air and Darkness" are separated by a <i>Publisher's Note</i> which begins:<br />
<br />
"<i>Here ends the story of High</i> <i>America</i>." (p. 158)<br />
<br />
Without
this note, how quickly would we have realized that "The Queen..." is
set on another planet? Immediately, I think. Its opening section
describes a different environment. Although a sunset glow lingers, there
is no day during the northern winter but nevertheless local species
thrive:<br />
<br />
flamboyant firethorn trees;<br />
blue steelflowers;<br />
hill-covering rainplant;<br />
dale-growing white kiss-me-never;<br />
iridescent winged flitteries;<br />
a bugling, horned crownbuck;<br />
hellbats. <br />
<br />
Above
are two moons, which do not sound like the Rustumite two, an aurora
covering half the sky and the first stars. A long-haired teenage boy and
girl, wearing only garlands, sit on a barrow. He plays a flute while
she sings. Named Mistherd and Shadow-of-a-Dream, respectively, they are
"Outlings" (p. 162), no longer part of human society, and are shortly
joined by a short, claw-footed, feathered, winged, tailed "pook" called
Ayoch who carries a stolen human child.<br />
<br />
OK. We are not in Kansas. Or on Rustum. paulshackley2017@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17704115766930975286noreply@blogger.com0