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Time and Stars

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_Time and Stars_ (1964) is a collection of six stories by Poul Anderson from the early 1960s. The stories are: "No Truce with Kings" (_Fantasy and Science Fiction_, 1963), "Turning Point" (_If_, 1963), "Escape from Orbit" (_Amazing_, 1962), "Epilogue" (_Analog_, 1962), "The Critique of Impure Reason" (_If_, 1962), and "Eve Times Four" (_Fantastic_, 1960). The first story won the Hugo for best short fiction of 1963. This was at a time when only one award for short fiction was given per year.

A quick skim of passages throughout this collection reveals that Anderson was a multisensory writer. That is, in his descriptive or action passages, he would deliberately choose words or phrases that appealed to at least two or three different senses: those of sight, sound, taste, touch, smell, and motion. Here is one sample from "No Truce with Kings":

The whole mess was drunk, and the junior officers at the far end of the table were only somewhat noisier than their seniors near the colonel. Rugs and hangings could not muffle the racket, shouts, stamping boots, thump of fists on oak and clash of cups raised aloft, that rang from wall to stony wall. High up among the shadows that hid the rafters they hung from, the regimental banners stirred in the draft, as if to join the chaos. Below, the light of bracketed lanterns and bellowing fireplace winked on trophies and weapons. (7)

And here is one from "Escape from Orbit":

The ringing cut like a buzz saw. For a moment Wister denied it. He was riding a white horse whose mane and tail were flames, the great muscles surged between his legs, wind roared and whipped about him, smelling of summer meadows. _Brrng!_ Bees droned through clover. The wind had a tinge of Julie's hair, a sunny odor, but a sharp clean whiff of rocket fuel strengthened as it thrust against him. (75)

This technique (which was also used by Gustave Flaubert) has advantages and dangers. The main advantage is that it anchors a scene firmly in the reader's mind. The main danger is that the reader may sometimes feel that such a scene is overwritten and too poetic. Anderson usually handles such passages fairly well. But he sometimes slips. Yes, he sometimes slips.

Two of the stories, "Eve Times Four" and "The Critique of Impure Reason," are amusing but forgettable pieces. The first is about a spacegoing Lothario who is stranded on a planet with three beautiful women. Unfortunately for his plans, one of the women is smarter than he. The second tale concerns a robot who will not work because he is besotted with modern literature and literary criticism.

The other four stories represent Anderson in top form. "No Truce with Kings" is a war story set on a future, semi-primitive Earth with aliens coming into the mix. The title, plot, and theme is a clear nod to Kipling. "Turning Point" is a poignant first contact story that gives a haunting portrait of the price of giftedness and the loss of innocence. Each time that I have reread this story over the years, I have felt a deeper emotional pang.

"Escape from Orbit" is really two stories. On one level, it is a hard science fiction puzzle: How do you rescue some astronauts stranded in orbit around the moon? On another level, it is a character portrait of the less-than-glamorous family man and ex-astronaut who has the know-how to save the day. The story succeeds on both levels.

"Epilogue" is about a crew of Earthmen who return to Earth after a long absence. They find that it has been taken over by a kind of transistor-based ecology of machines. A lack of understanding between the robots and the humans leads to tragedy. The last line underscores the title.

I do not want to claim that any single collection will do justice to Anderson's short fiction. But if you haven't read many of his stories, this would certainly be a good starter volumn. The power in the more serious tales comes from Anderson's knowledge that victories are never complete, and they do not come without a price.

A very solid SF collection from the sixties. No particular standouts, but several good stories to be found here.

Time and Stars : NO TRUCE WITH KINGS - Poul Anderson
Time and Stars : ESCAPE FROM ORBIT - Poul Anderson
Time and Stars : EPILOGUE - Poul Anderson
Time and Stars : THE CRITIQUE OF IMPURE REASON - Poul Anderson
Time and Stars : EVE TIMES FOUR - Poul Anderson
Time and Stars : TURNING POINT - Poul Anderson

Psychodynamic psionic war society manipulation.

4 out of 5


Meteor ship wreck.

3 out of 5


Robot race Zero radio last men conflict.

3.5 out of 5


Robot literature bad.

4 out of 5


Alien group forced colonisation harem.

3 out of 5


Assimilating smart people is key.

4 out of 5

from the back cover of the 1975 Manor Books paperback edition

DANGEROUS UNIVERSE
Faced with machines that think by and for themselves, super-intelligent space beings bent on a suicidal course and a galaxy teeming with dangerous alien life, man had to invent new weapons, new defenses - or perish from the universe.

A mind-bending journey into time and space by one of America's finest writers.

NO TRUCE WITH KINGS
TURNING POINT
ESCAPE FROM ORBIT
EPILOGUE
THE CRITIQUE OF IMPURE REASON
EVE TIMES FOUR