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Technic Civilization Saga #5
Captain Flandry
Two novels and four novellas collected for the first time in volume five of multiple Hugo- and Nebula-award-winning Poul Anderson’s Technic Civilization science fiction adventure epic. In the twilight of the Terran Empire, one secret agent stands ready with the grit and wits to save a corrupt empire by hook or by crook.
In the twilight of the Terran Empire, one man exists who can save his empire—and civilization itself—by hook or by crook, whether his “betters” appreciate his efforts or not. Flandry is both agent of empire, and agent-provocateur of change. For even as he fights for the old guard, Flandry remains well aware that change is afoot and that he has the ability to influence the direction of galactic civilization for eons to come.
Flandry is a heroic but tragic a man who knows too much history, who knows that battle and scheme as he will the Long Night of Empire is approaching. If that darkness is not to fall in his own lifetime, must do what he can. And anyone, human or alien, who gets in his way, will most definitely regret it.
The fifth entry in the seven-volume complete cycle of The Technic Civilization Saga includes the novels The Day of Their Return and A Message in Secret, plus four novellas.
About Poul
"One of science fiction's authentic geniuses." -- Chicago Sun-Times
“Anderson fuses elegiac prose and a sweeping vision of man’s technological future…” – Booklist
“One of science fiction’s giants.” – Arthur C. Clarke
In the twilight of the Terran Empire, one man exists who can save his empire—and civilization itself—by hook or by crook, whether his “betters” appreciate his efforts or not. Flandry is both agent of empire, and agent-provocateur of change. For even as he fights for the old guard, Flandry remains well aware that change is afoot and that he has the ability to influence the direction of galactic civilization for eons to come.
Flandry is a heroic but tragic a man who knows too much history, who knows that battle and scheme as he will the Long Night of Empire is approaching. If that darkness is not to fall in his own lifetime, must do what he can. And anyone, human or alien, who gets in his way, will most definitely regret it.
The fifth entry in the seven-volume complete cycle of The Technic Civilization Saga includes the novels The Day of Their Return and A Message in Secret, plus four novellas.
About Poul
"One of science fiction's authentic geniuses." -- Chicago Sun-Times
“Anderson fuses elegiac prose and a sweeping vision of man’s technological future…” – Booklist
“One of science fiction’s giants.” – Arthur C. Clarke
608 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published September 29, 1978
13 people are currently reading
197 people want to read
About the author
Poul Anderson
1,621 books1,107 followersPseudonym A. A. Craig, Michael Karageorge, Winston P. Sanders, P. A. Kingsley.
Poul William Anderson was an American science fiction author who began his career during one of the Golden Ages of the genre and continued to write and remain popular into the 21st century. Anderson also authored several works of fantasy, historical novels, and a prodigious number of short stories. He received numerous awards for his writing, including seven Hugo Awards and three Nebula Awards.
Anderson received a degree in physics from the University of Minnesota in 1948. He married Karen Kruse in 1953. They had one daughter, Astrid, who is married to science fiction author Greg Bear. Anderson was the sixth President of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, taking office in 1972. He was a member of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America, a loose-knit group of Heroic Fantasy authors founded in the 1960s, some of whose works were anthologized in Lin Carter's Flashing Swords! anthologies. He was a founding member of the Society for Creative Anachronism. Robert A. Heinlein dedicated his 1985 novel The Cat Who Walks Through Walls to Anderson and eight of the other members of the Citizens' Advisory Council on National Space Policy.[2][3]
Poul Anderson died of cancer on July 31, 2001, after a month in the hospital. Several of his novels were published posthumously.
Series:
* Time Patrol
* Psychotechnic League
* Trygve Yamamura
* Harvest of Stars
* King of Ys
* Last Viking
* Hoka
* Future history of the Polesotechnic League
* Flandry
Poul William Anderson was an American science fiction author who began his career during one of the Golden Ages of the genre and continued to write and remain popular into the 21st century. Anderson also authored several works of fantasy, historical novels, and a prodigious number of short stories. He received numerous awards for his writing, including seven Hugo Awards and three Nebula Awards.
Anderson received a degree in physics from the University of Minnesota in 1948. He married Karen Kruse in 1953. They had one daughter, Astrid, who is married to science fiction author Greg Bear. Anderson was the sixth President of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, taking office in 1972. He was a member of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America, a loose-knit group of Heroic Fantasy authors founded in the 1960s, some of whose works were anthologized in Lin Carter's Flashing Swords! anthologies. He was a founding member of the Society for Creative Anachronism. Robert A. Heinlein dedicated his 1985 novel The Cat Who Walks Through Walls to Anderson and eight of the other members of the Citizens' Advisory Council on National Space Policy.[2][3]
Poul Anderson died of cancer on July 31, 2001, after a month in the hospital. Several of his novels were published posthumously.
Series:
* Time Patrol
* Psychotechnic League
* Trygve Yamamura
* Harvest of Stars
* King of Ys
* Last Viking
* Hoka
* Future history of the Polesotechnic League
* Flandry
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 27, 2012
You have to be aware that Anderson has always played a character. He makes me think of a cross between Mr. Rogers and Ralph Drabble in his bubble-pipe advance role. And he's always been a lecturer, very big on the "You see, ...." style with pages and pages of sociology.
He's always been careful with his world-building - and in fact has written about the art - but in these stories I can't help noticing that he takes some pains to remind us how careful he's been so we can admire it. Each planet's gravity and day length is explained; if a planet has two moons you know Anderson has spent days working out which ones will be in the sky when ... and so on.
I always play a game when reading Anderson: I try to guess how many pages it will take him to get to "autochthones". Usually not many.
In one of the stories here, they have cigars and horses and all sorts of things with Terran names - but edible swimmy things are not fish; they have to be ichthyoids. In "Tiger by the Tail" we learn that Flandry is dolichocephalic. Before that we are reminded several times that the large waterfall is querning, which is usually something reserved for flour mills. Anderson must have inspired Stephen Donaldson, the master of never using brevity when sesquipedalianism is available.
We got dudes with halberds and blasters at the same time. Swords and radar, archers and antigravity. Pfui. At least there wasn't a scene in an inn with beer, stew and a Mysterious Stranger in the corner with his hood up. Although I haven't finished the book yet ...
We ought to remember that these stories are OLD now. "Tiger by the Tail" was written in 1951, when Beaver Cleaver was a typical boy and "Mad Men" wasn't fiction. Black and white TV if you had one at all. Astrodynamics done on a slide rule. Standard writing styles then were a fair bit different than now. And the two long stories that open the book were 1967 and 1975.
And ... I've been saving this ... it's page Three Hundred and Sixty-Two before Flandry actually appears! He's mentioned by name in an earlier story, but the name could just as well have been Anthony Aardvark.
Under all that are stories that are not bad but nothing special. I remembered Flandry as being better than this. Alas.
He's always been careful with his world-building - and in fact has written about the art - but in these stories I can't help noticing that he takes some pains to remind us how careful he's been so we can admire it. Each planet's gravity and day length is explained; if a planet has two moons you know Anderson has spent days working out which ones will be in the sky when ... and so on.
I always play a game when reading Anderson: I try to guess how many pages it will take him to get to "autochthones". Usually not many.
In one of the stories here, they have cigars and horses and all sorts of things with Terran names - but edible swimmy things are not fish; they have to be ichthyoids. In "Tiger by the Tail" we learn that Flandry is dolichocephalic. Before that we are reminded several times that the large waterfall is querning, which is usually something reserved for flour mills. Anderson must have inspired Stephen Donaldson, the master of never using brevity when sesquipedalianism is available.
We got dudes with halberds and blasters at the same time. Swords and radar, archers and antigravity. Pfui. At least there wasn't a scene in an inn with beer, stew and a Mysterious Stranger in the corner with his hood up. Although I haven't finished the book yet ...
We ought to remember that these stories are OLD now. "Tiger by the Tail" was written in 1951, when Beaver Cleaver was a typical boy and "Mad Men" wasn't fiction. Black and white TV if you had one at all. Astrodynamics done on a slide rule. Standard writing styles then were a fair bit different than now. And the two long stories that open the book were 1967 and 1975.
And ... I've been saving this ... it's page Three Hundred and Sixty-Two before Flandry actually appears! He's mentioned by name in an earlier story, but the name could just as well have been Anthony Aardvark.
Under all that are stories that are not bad but nothing special. I remembered Flandry as being better than this. Alas.
April 5, 2011
Anderson used to be one of my "automatics," but now I just find all THE CONSTANT, LENGTHY, TEDIOUS LECTURES too obnoxious. I see that even in the early going, as revealed in this collection, he was doing it--so plainly it didn't used to bother me so much.
August 21, 2018
The Best of Tales and the Not So Great
Growing up I always admired the cynical roguish charm of Anderson's Dominic Flandry and I'm quite grateful to Baen and Hank Davis for republishing this series, which holds up well after all these years. Yet I hesitated on this second (of 4 volumes) as the first two stories aren't about Flandry at all, even though they are set in the same universe. Baen obviously wanted to republish the complete collection so from the perspective of completeness they could not have dropped the first two stories.
"Outpost of Empire focuses on John Ridenour, a xenologist sent to report the planet Freehold, home to Hugh McCormac whom readers might remember from the Flandry novel "The Rebel Worlds". The first section is dry and overly pendantic, which Anderson himself recognizes and tries to defuse by having Ridenour say "God Lord, I have found a man who can out-lecture me." He's not the most interesting protagonist but there is an satisfying reversal where the primitives turn out to be more sophisticated than others think.
The second tale is a full novel "The Day of Their Return", which does bring in Flandry's arch rival Archaraych and his allies of circumstance the Ythrians. At the start the protagonist in this game of wits is Chunderban Dessai who's job was to reestablish local rule and allegiance to the Terran Empire. Then the focus becomes Ivar Fredrickson, First Born of Aeneas, a callow 20 something who is on the run for leading a mishandled attack on Imperial Forces. Most of his adventures are a backdrop to an exploration of different medieval styled cultures leading up to a messianic cult that believes in the immenent return of an elder guiding race, a mix of sectarianism, sword and starship, something that Anderson usually does quite well, but in this case only the last one segment adds to the story. Two thirds could have been edited out in the original publication and nothing would have been lost. The ending itself is great.
Third, Tiger By the Tail was the first Flandry story ever written, and it was as intriguing and thrilling as I remembered. The aggressive Scothanis, with the backing of Merseians are preparing to carve out an empire from the Terran sphere of influence. Flandry is captured by Cerdic, heir to the throne, and that was their big mistake. A few words to the prideful and everything falls apart. Masterfully executed, without this story I'd have rated the book 3/5*.
"Honorable Enemies" is classic silver age SF, asking the question - how do you outwit a telepath who can read your thoughts, pitting the ingenuity and bravado of Flandry against the Cherionite Archaraych. The enabling plot device is obvious but it is applied in an ingenious and satisfying way. The expository background is accomplished by following the characters' thoughts rather than having them explain, which works well as character development.
In "The Game of Glory" Flandry is assigned to the mostly sea world of Nyanza, following through on the last words of a soldier under his command that reveal an incipient rebellion against the Terran Empire. This isn't Anderson's best work - there isn't much thought given to the uprising and there is no background at all to the machinations of enemy alien A'u who appears to be nothing more than a large whale.
Lastly "A Message In Secret" has Flandry sent to investigate the intentions of the ruling king of Altai. His foppish cover is blown far too soon and he is forced to escape to northern reaches of the planet seeking alliance from the Tebtengri and time figure out how to send a message for help. As a story this worked well, and the alien Ice Dwellers complemented but did not magically dominate the resolution.
Excellent space opera and Anderson's observations on the currents of civilization and the subtle subterfuges of effective diplomacy show an appreciation of the role of history and hierarchy in shaping culture.
Growing up I always admired the cynical roguish charm of Anderson's Dominic Flandry and I'm quite grateful to Baen and Hank Davis for republishing this series, which holds up well after all these years. Yet I hesitated on this second (of 4 volumes) as the first two stories aren't about Flandry at all, even though they are set in the same universe. Baen obviously wanted to republish the complete collection so from the perspective of completeness they could not have dropped the first two stories.
"Outpost of Empire focuses on John Ridenour, a xenologist sent to report the planet Freehold, home to Hugh McCormac whom readers might remember from the Flandry novel "The Rebel Worlds". The first section is dry and overly pendantic, which Anderson himself recognizes and tries to defuse by having Ridenour say "God Lord, I have found a man who can out-lecture me." He's not the most interesting protagonist but there is an satisfying reversal where the primitives turn out to be more sophisticated than others think.
The second tale is a full novel "The Day of Their Return", which does bring in Flandry's arch rival Archaraych and his allies of circumstance the Ythrians. At the start the protagonist in this game of wits is Chunderban Dessai who's job was to reestablish local rule and allegiance to the Terran Empire. Then the focus becomes Ivar Fredrickson, First Born of Aeneas, a callow 20 something who is on the run for leading a mishandled attack on Imperial Forces. Most of his adventures are a backdrop to an exploration of different medieval styled cultures leading up to a messianic cult that believes in the immenent return of an elder guiding race, a mix of sectarianism, sword and starship, something that Anderson usually does quite well, but in this case only the last one segment adds to the story. Two thirds could have been edited out in the original publication and nothing would have been lost. The ending itself is great.
Third, Tiger By the Tail was the first Flandry story ever written, and it was as intriguing and thrilling as I remembered. The aggressive Scothanis, with the backing of Merseians are preparing to carve out an empire from the Terran sphere of influence. Flandry is captured by Cerdic, heir to the throne, and that was their big mistake. A few words to the prideful and everything falls apart. Masterfully executed, without this story I'd have rated the book 3/5*.
"Honorable Enemies" is classic silver age SF, asking the question - how do you outwit a telepath who can read your thoughts, pitting the ingenuity and bravado of Flandry against the Cherionite Archaraych. The enabling plot device is obvious but it is applied in an ingenious and satisfying way. The expository background is accomplished by following the characters' thoughts rather than having them explain, which works well as character development.
In "The Game of Glory" Flandry is assigned to the mostly sea world of Nyanza, following through on the last words of a soldier under his command that reveal an incipient rebellion against the Terran Empire. This isn't Anderson's best work - there isn't much thought given to the uprising and there is no background at all to the machinations of enemy alien A'u who appears to be nothing more than a large whale.
Lastly "A Message In Secret" has Flandry sent to investigate the intentions of the ruling king of Altai. His foppish cover is blown far too soon and he is forced to escape to northern reaches of the planet seeking alliance from the Tebtengri and time figure out how to send a message for help. As a story this worked well, and the alien Ice Dwellers complemented but did not magically dominate the resolution.
Excellent space opera and Anderson's observations on the currents of civilization and the subtle subterfuges of effective diplomacy show an appreciation of the role of history and hierarchy in shaping culture.
May 31, 2025
An excellent Space Opera! Flandry must help quell a righteous rebellion sparked by a corrupt governor and his mistreatment of the rebel leader's wife. Flandry rescues the woman with the intention of contacting her husband, but her ship crashes on a planet where the natives are three-part symbiotes. These aliens are one of Anderson's finest creations.
Anderson integrates a well-crafted alien race, an action adventure, and political shenanigans to produce a true page-turner.
A typically Andersonian book.
Anderson integrates a well-crafted alien race, an action adventure, and political shenanigans to produce a true page-turner.
A typically Andersonian book.
August 17, 2024
One of Anderson's greatest sentences is in this book. " We are the first ones they have to smash. Or so they believe. And so, we believe. Never mind what the unascertainable objective truth of the matter may be. Belief is what brings on the killing." Whether it is Ukraine, Gaza, or the Stars, war is always the same. old men deciding young people must die for some such cause or the other.
September 28, 2010
...All in all I was not too impressed with this collection. Thankfully the two works really worth reading make up some two-thirds of the total collection so the four mediocre stories ending it don't make it a disappointment. Captain Flandry does suffer from repetitions of various kinds. Flandry or another protagonist states the inevitability of the Long Night in each story at least once. A number of them also follow the same plot. The Mersians try to shake a border world loose from the empire, Flandry finds out about it and investigates, Flandry finds he is hopelessly ill prepared, Flandry overcomes these challenges anyway (and gets the girl). This volume offers very little variation compared to the previous books(
Rise of the Terran Empire
in particular). It wasn't a punishment to read but Anderson has written better material. I hope the sixth volume, Sir Dominic Flandry: The Last Knight of Terra, expected in December 2010, contains better stories.
Full Random Comments review
Full Random Comments review
September 15, 2015
Outpost of Empire describes an anarchy similar to The Dispossessed.
The Day of Their Return - I disliked too many characters to enjoy this story.
The Day of Their Return - I disliked too many characters to enjoy this story.
October 1, 2016
The next stories in the Flandry series.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews