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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Closure to Anderson's Technic Civilization series,
By Roger J. Buffington (Huntington Beach, CA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (VINE VOICE) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: The Long Night (Paperback)
Poul Anderson's future history group of short stories and novels is one of the more imaginative ones in the genre of "future history" sagas. Essentially, Anderson postulates that at some point in the near term, our present Western civilization through various political and technological turmoil collapses but re-emerges as "Technic" civilization. Technic civilization is recognizably Western, but even more focused on the individual, free enterprise, and the use of technology and risk to (yes) acquire wealth. It is controlled by the spacefaring entrepreneur-industrialists of the Polesotechnic League, (The "League of Selling Skills") and before it is finished the League encompasses many civilizations and worlds, and is more powerful than any of them. There are many fine short stories and novels that derive from the Technic portion of Anderson's "future history." See for example "Satan's World", "The Man Who Counts" "The Trouble Twisters" and "Mirkheim" ...
The Technic Civilization decays into the Terran Empire, a huge empire of 4 million star systems in which government has once again gained ascendance over the merchant princes of the Polesotechnic League. This is mainly the "Dominic Flandry" series of novels. "The Long Night" is a group of short stories that are set before, but mostly after, the fall of the Terran Empire. Here, humanity and other civilizations are recovering from the Fall. "Starfog" is my favorite among these, and this story explains how civilization stabilizes in the aftermath of the Fall. It is a good story. The others in this collection are all pretty good examples of Anderson's writing, and I recommend them. If you have not read the Nicholas van Rijn stories, (the Technic Civilization stories) or the Dominic Flandry stories, don't miss them. Poul Anderson was a giant among writers of Science Fiction's "Golden Age." He passed away in 2001 and I am somewhat distressed that his considerable body of writing is already becoming difficult to find. Hopefully we can look forward to more republishings to allow future generations of readers to benefit from and enjoy his excellent writing.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The beginning of twilight,
By Ray Francis "sci fi enjoyeur" (St. Joseph, MI United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Long Night (Paperback)
For those of us who eagerly awaited each new chapter in the Polesotechnic saga, this set of short stories was a rude closure. Of course, all good things must end, and Poul went on to additional great yarns, but this was kind of a sad farewell. From the back cover of the 1983 TOR publication:
After Western Civilization, the Polesotechnic League. After the League, the Terran Empire. Then... Nicholas Van Rijn was a smart old bird. He guessed it was inevitable that he and all that the Merchant Princes stood for would tumble into darkness. Dominic Flandry lived in its shadow; he knew that struggle and pot though he might, the ever hungry darkness would have him and his world at last. But for those who came after, that darkness was no mere tragedy. It was reality. It was THE LONG NIGHT. This book contains: The Star Plunderer Outpost of Empire A Tragedy of Errors The Sharing of Flesh Starfog A Chronology of Technic Civilization
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