1970's Poul Anderson

Poul Anderson, recently deceased, has been one of those authors whose books I've sought out at the secondhand stores through the years. His novels, almost exclusively SF and fantasy, have been reputedly a model of consistency. Some of his classic works are from the 1950's, including Brain Wave and the The Broken Sword, but he was a reliable source of entertainment for a solid half-century.

Here's a series of short reviews of Anderson books from the 1970's, which were all easy to find: he must have been well established enough to garner a large print run for virtually everything that got through the editing process.

This list does not include the Technic League stories, which I generally enjoyed and hope to write about at a later time.

Tau Zero (1971)

This is one of Anderson's classics, about a spaceship that accelerates out of control and forces its crew of scientists to contemplate a future not only without their families, but the only world that they knew. Alastair Reynolds recently came out with the space opera Pushing Ice, which is much longer and more complex. Fans of Reynolds, and certainly fans of Anderson, may want to check out Tau Zero. This is probably the best book of my list, but I read it too long ago to discuss it in any detail. I remember thinking that the characters were rather wooden, but that was fine given how the story was dominated by the theme of irreversible and permanent isolation. The similarities to ancient stories of Viking-era longboats setting out across the North Atlantic are intentional. Anderson extensively uses quotations from Scandinavian poetry - a product of his choice to make his SF into a futuristic mythology, with that mythology being rather Norse.

The Best of Poul Anderson (1976)

This is a strong collection (there must have been a lot to choose from) of quality stories. Anderson themes of challenge, flawed heroism and liberty through technological advancement take shape here. My favorite entries in this volume were "The Longest Voyage," about exploration, "Sam Hall," about paranoia, "Kyrie," about aliens and "The Sky People," featuring cleverness overcoming long odds. Another story, "The Fatal Fulfillment," belongs squarely in the New Wave of SF (unusual for Anderson, to say the least).

The Winter of the World (1975)

This one is set in a far-future post-Ice Age, where a race of Northerners has evolved into a different species, hardier than present-day Minnesotans or Wisconsinites. The central character is an overtly strong woman chieftain, and the results of this characterization are kind of mixed. One might expect a lot of bloody battles in a future-Viking saga, but these are skirted in favor of Norse fatalism and romance. There's a large amount of terms and names that overload the first part. It seems as though the publisher's restrictions on length met up with Anderson's ambitions for building a world within the novel's beginning, resulting in product that is difficult to read straight through.

The Dancer from Atlantis (1971)

Another quality and compact novel that adapts ideas and stories from mythology, The Dancer from Atlantis is about a 20th century man who travels through time to the end of the Minoan Empire. He meets up with a Minoan bull-dancer and learns the fate of Atlantis. The empire is portrayed by Anderson as a peaceful and diplomatic one, as opposed to the classical legends of the Labyrinth and seven hostages, etc. This work is more successful than The Winter of the World.

Hrolf Kraki's Saga (1973)

Here Anderson reinterprets an Icelandic saga as a novel more readable by fans of his fantasy works. There's two tones to this book, making me think that some of it was written under different and perhaps unfavorable circumstances. When Anderson is relating the contents of the centuries-old saga of Hrolf Kraki and family, the book was an energetic and understated read. However, Anderson filled in narrative gaps with material clearly out of place. Mostly quality work, but there are some failed passages, in parts concerning relationships between characters. Unfortunately, the bad outweighs the good here, although I admit to having had high expectations.

Operation Chaos (1970)

This is a witch-and-werewolf fantasy that I did not enjoy, but maybe this was due to my not being in the mood for this kind of story at the time. It takes place in an alternate present day where people fly about on broomsticks and there is an actual Hell whose inhabitants must deal with combustion-engine cars and traffic jams. This can be seen as satire on the emerging environmentalist counterculture (at least I hope it wasn't to be taken seriously). I'm sure there are bigger fans than me, because in 2000 a sequel was published.

Conan the Rebel (1980)

Years ago I read through a few of the Conan collections by Robert Howard, and this entry appears to fit into Howard's timeline for Conan. Unfortunately, I did not think that this story does much for either Conan or Anderson, and I wouldn't have finished it but for my tendency to at least pull myself through books that I start (if I'm a fan of the author ... sorry, Kathy Acker, Anne Rice and Charles Stross). I had hoped for a more fun read, but Anderson seems careful not to upset the devoted Conan fans or keepers of his estate. I recommend skipping this one.

Fire Time (1974)

This is the most ambitious book in the list, nominated for the Hugo award. Fans of Anderson appear to have mixed feelings about Fire Time, written during the late Vietnam era and possibly in response to criticism of his seemingly pro-war tone of well-known novels like Star Fox (which I liked). This is not an anti-war tract, but an illustration of the frustrations in large-scale foreign policy. I think that Fire Time works as a novel and is one of the most interesting Anderson books that I've come across, and is an example of what he can do when not restricted by length and tailoring his own settings (as opposed to Robert Howard's or some Icelander's). Much more has been said about Fire Time here.

starter entry

2007: Aug 10

Just a test; will figure out how to post reviews and links as I go along. I intend on using this page to replace reviewing things on Amazon.

My primary interests are science fiction, other literature, technology and (most of all) science. Specifically, the science of cognition, substance abuse and animal models of human behavior.