Trader to the Stars

Future History of the Polesotechnic League

by ANDERSON POUL GRANADA PUBLISHING LTD. 1975 OUT OF PRINT

Humankind has explored the galaxy: Nicholas van Rijn had bought it. A starwide empire was difficult to run, but the old man was wily and the resources of the Solar Spice & Liquors Company were vast. But sometimes even a conquered world can get just a little out of hand.

In his Magnificent Future History of Mankind's second great age Poul Anderson has conjured up a universe too immense for even the human race to despoil. Across this grand expanse of space roams the Polesotechnic League, a band of merchant princes from every inhabited planet, in search of adventure and riches beyond the wildest dreams of our earthbound time!

Contents:

Hiding Place (1961)
Territory (1962)
The Master Key (1964)

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Space Opera, Short Stories, Fantasy, Science Fiction Fantasy, Collections

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1964

Reviews

[Lyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poul Anderson created three pivotal characters (David Falkayn, Nicholas van Rijn, and Dominic Flandry) as a part of his Technic future history and central to a full appreciation of his work is to understand how each of these three impacted his vision.

Trader to the Stars focuses on the corpulent, post-gangster, Uber-libertarian, master merchant adventurer Nicholas van Rijn. First published in 1964, this is comprised of three short stories (previously published) and formed together to display episodes of van Rijn amidst the outposts of the mercantile territories.

Using as a template the Hanseatic League of the European Middle Ages, the Polesotechnic League is a far future association of free enterprise who have over reached traditional governmental structures. Van Rijn is the romanticized extreme of this concept and in him Anderson has created one of science fiction’s most intriguing and complex characters.

Like The Trouble Twisters, this series shares a pleasing similarity to Ursula K. Le Guin’s Hainish cycle books. There are three short stories, “Territory” is very good, but the best may be “The Master Key” and this has trace elements of Joseph Conrad, as if the old mariner could write a science fiction novel and his Congo had become an un-mapped planet.

[Bradley · Rating 3 out of 5]

As much as I generally enjoy Poul Anderson, this particular set of stories is something of a miss for me. It IS interesting on an idea level and probably would have gone over nicer during the '60s when it had come out, but for such a libertarian series of stories, it is certainly NOT Heinlein.

Maybe I wanted a more vibrant character in Flandry. Maybe I didn't want to see a few of the species-slavery arguments hit uncomfortably too close to home. The apologies here feel just a tad too disingenuous. Or, rather, pure bullshit.

The whole rah, rah capitalism angle probably would have been better back in the day, too. I'm of a mind that capitalism is fine as long as no one is pushing their thumbs down on the scale. And since MOST of the capitalism we have now is exactly that, it has kind of left a bad taste in everyone's mouths (except the winners). There's even a hint of that in these stories, but it's subtle. Perhaps a lot more subtle for our modern tastes.

Alas.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nicholas van Rijn is a tough old trader. He would have been at home trading by sailing ship in the 18th or 19th century. Instead, he's the captain of a starship. His shrewdness is amazing. He meets 3 different challenges in 3 different stories in this book. All interesting & typically well written. His speech is a lot of fun, too.

This is early in the Polytechnic League books, I think. It certainly comes before A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows which is next on my list. It's been far too long since I read these.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trader to the Stars is a collection of two novellas and a novelette that were first published in John Campbell's Analog magazine in the early 1960s. All three feature Nicholas Van Rijn, Anderson's best-known and best-liked character. (Okay, some people would vote for David Falkayn and I'd prefer Dominic Flandry, but those are definitely his top three.) He's something of a conniving slob, always out for an edge and to make a buck, but his heart is usually in the right place. I always suspected that Harry Mudd from Star Trek was modeled on him, and maybe Cyrano Jones, too. They're clever and well-written stories, if a bit dated due to the time in which they were written. A good choice for people who enjoyed Keith Laumer's Retief or Jack Vance's Magnus Ridolph... or the original Trek. My favorite is Hiding Place, about Van Rijn unexpectedly taking over a ship that's home to an interplanetary zoo. The very atypical Paul Lehr cover on my Berkeley paperback shows a giant green mastodon-like beast with Cthulhu-like tendrils on its head and other mysterious alien creatures in the background.

[George K. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Δεύτερο βιβλίο του Πόουλ Άντερσον που διαβάζω, μετά το αρκετά συμπαθητικό "Κόσμος δίχως άστρα" που διάβασα τον Ιούλιο του 2015, δηλαδή σχεδόν πριν από τέσσερα χρόνια. Σίγουρα θα είχα διαβάσει περισσότερα βιβλία του συγγραφέα, γιατί έχει γράψει κάμποσα ωραία και ενδιαφέρονται μυθιστορήματα και διηγήματα φαντασίας και επιστημονικής φαντασίας, όμως στην Ελλάδα έχει αδικαιολόγητα αγνοηθεί. Βέβαια, ούτε ο πρώτος θα είναι, ούτε ο τελευταίος, αλλά δεν μπορώ να μην γκρινιάξω και λίγο.

Όσον αφορά το βιβλίο, περιέχει τρεις μικρές νουβέλες (ή τρία μεγάλα διηγήματα) επιστημονικής φαντασίας, όπου ουσιαστικά πρωταγωνιστεί ο Νίκολας βαν Ράιν, ένας έμπορος που ταξιδεύει στο διάστημα για να κλείσει δουλειές σε διάφορους πλανήτες. Είναι ένας ολίγον τι φαφλατάς και λάτρης της περιπέτειας τύπος, που από τη μια τον διακρίνει η γραφικότητα, από την άλλη η οξυδέρκεια και η οξύνοια. Στις ιστορίες γινόμαστε μάρτυρες των προσπαθειών του ανθρώπου να έρθουν σε επαφή με κάθε είδους εξωγήινους σε πλανήτες με κάθε είδους ιδιαιτερότητες, είτε για να συνεργαστούν μαζί τους και να βοηθήσουν, είτε απλώς για να τους εκμεταλλευτούν και να βγάλουν κέρδος.

Ο Πόουλ Άντερσον από τη μια καταφέρνει να γράψεις τρεις απολαυστικές ιστορίες επιστημονικής φαντασίας με όλα τα απαραίτητα καλούδια (δράση, ωραίες εικόνες, επιστημονικές λεπτομέρειες, φοβερή ατμόσφαιρα), από την άλλη με άμεσο και έμμεσο τρόπο θίγει κάποια ενδιαφέροντα ζητήματα, όπως είναι οι ανθρωποκεντρικές αντιλήψεις για την εξωγήινη ζωή και πώς μπορούν να γίνουν παρανοήσεις, ο αποικισμός και η εκμετάλλευση άλλων πολιτισμών με σκοπό το κέρδος, και πάει λέγοντας. Ο Άντερσον προσφέρει ψυχαγωγία, αλλά και λίγη τροφή για σκέψη.

Επιγραμματικά, πρόκειται για μια πολύ ωραία και καλογραμμένη συλλογή τριών ιστοριών επιστημονικής φαντασίας, με όλα τα αναγκαία συστατικά που πάντα πρέπει να έχουν τα βιβλία του είδους. Η γραφή είναι πολύ καλή, με ζωντανές περιγραφές και γλαφυρούς διαλόγους, όπως επίσης και με κάποιες ενδιαφέρουσες διαπιστώσεις. Οι τρεις ιστορίες, με δική μου σειρά προτίμησης: "Το γενικό κλειδί", "Ζωτικός χώρος" και "Η κρυψώνα". Όσον αφορά τη μετάφραση, είναι πολύ καλή και αρκούντως γλαφυρή, μιας και μιλάμε για τον Γιώργο Μπαλάνο.

[Dev Taylor · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted a short, pulpy palate cleanser...but I had higher hopes TBH. I found the characters and dialogue to be kind of annoying, and the plots weren't much better. Not horrible, but definitely not great either.

[Mary Catelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three short shories about Nicholas van Rijn, the title trader.

All three revolve about contact with aliens, and his working out what to do. Very different in other respects. The first involves discovering which alien beings are the sophonts hiding among animals. The second, an attack on an alien world. The third, his hearing the account of fighting on an alien world and working out what happened.

And in the midst of it all, though not so much from his point of view, we get the boisterous, superstitiously pious, endlessly lamenting his hard work and danger of poverty, van Rijn. Quite a character.

[Andrew Kozma · Rating 1 out of 5]

My girlfriend is surprised I finished this book, based on all the times I interrupted her own reading to complain about some passage I’d just read. I’m somewhat surprised, too. But I’ve developed an unhealthy fascination for Poul Anderson’s older works, and I think it’s because I read his novel THREE HEARTS AND THREE LIONS a long time ago (high school?) and liked it, and kept it on my shelf for years. I don’t remember that book being rife with sexism or racism or colonial/imperial biases and I don’t know if that’s because I was younger and more obtuse at the time, or because it wasn’t there.

Based on his books I’ve read recently, I’m guessing young/obtuse wins.

Blond, big-eyed, and thoroughly three-dimensional, Jeri Kofoed curled on a couch within easy reach of him where he sprawled on his lounger.

TRADERS TO THE STARS takes place in his frontier-verse which follows members of the Polesotechnic League—basically an East India Company of the future, prioritizing trade and profit above all else. The stories here and in the other books in this same universe are often re-skinned Westerns or Explorer tales, with alien races standing in for the “uncivilized” natives who deserve to be both bamboozled and enslaved, forcefully brought into a galactic society because that’s clearly what’s good for them, whether they realize it or not. (The aliens are armed with arrows and tomahawks, for god’s sake.)

The women are objects and ineffective, willing (like Kofoed above) to use their sexuality to get what they want, and hitching themselves to the strongest male around, either for protection or for future monetary rewards. Kofoed is attached to Nicholas Van Rijn, Anderson’s “heroic” Dutch Trader/Exploiter, and though she flirts with the captain of Van Rijn’s ship in the opening story of the book, she returns to Van Rijn because he promises her a comfortable life in her own apartment back on Earth.

She sprang to her feet, mutinous. Without rising, he slapped her on the appropriate spot.

That’s how embedded sexism is in this book. The “appropriate spot” doesn’t have to be defined. You don’t have to be convinced that physical abuse to get someone to do what you want is appropriate, because you’re a white male and of course it is.

Jeri came back with two stiff Scotch-and-sodas. His gaze followed her. In a tight blouse and half knee-length skirt, she was worth following.

It’s easy to say that Poul Anderson was just a product of his times. He was born in 1926, and the world changed greatly over his lifetime. Why not just see the dominant POV of his stories as echoing the world in the 50s and 60s? Why blame him?

Because there are other writers who created stories that didn’t have these basic assumptions, that didn’t put women and non-white races (or aliens) in the realm of second-class citizens, who need to be protected and guided by a white male savior.

Van Rijn is also Toxic Masculinity. He constantly sexually harasses any woman he’s around (and in Anderson’s stories, that women usually is “seduced” by this harassment). When the captain of his ship fights him for Kofoed’s affections, Van Rijn knocks him out, then gives him a promotion, explaining how he likes the people who work for him to have fire or some such bullshit. The world is designed for Van Rijn’s pleasure and exploitation, and if you have to kill a few aliens or destroy a culture in order to get them to buy your beads while you take their land, then so be it.

Here’s the plot of the opening story: Van Rijn was investigating a hostile sector of the galaxy for new trade routes and his ship is on the run from enemy ships. They can’t outrun them because the engines were damaged. They end up finding another innocent, neutral ship that fails to respond to their distress calls, so they violently board the ship, enslave the alien crew, and force them to take Van Rijn’s crew back to a safe planet.

“They will cooperate under threats, as prisoners, at first. But on the voyage, we […] get the idea across […] we want to be friends and sell them things.”

In the second story, the main character is a woman scientist from a pacifist planet trying to rebuild a planet’s atmosphere. She’s clearly intelligent and qualified and competent, otherwise she wouldn’t be on the planet. However, Van Rijn, in the middle of a conversation, tells her to make him a sandwich (which she does). He tells her to shut up when he’s thinking.

“Well, hokay, you is a pretty girl with a nice figure and stuff even if you should not cut your hair so short. Waste not, want not. I rescue you, ha?”

(Not to mention that we are far in the future, Van Rijn is a master trader, and he has a thick Dutch accent and speaks broken, malapropistic English. Anderson’s world-building is…lacking.)

“You just leave the philosophizings to me, little girl,” he said smugly. “You only got to cook and look beautiful.”

He pats her knee. He invades her personal space. He belittles her ideas and experience. This is our hero, folks. This is who we should be admiring.

The scientist’s planet was going to build plants to recreate the planet’s dying atmosphere/ecology for free. Van Rijn will take over the building of the plants and sell the materials to the aliens because, primitive as they are, they don’t understand charity, just profit.

Alien planets are unexplored (who cares about the intelligent life forms already living there). They are the darkest continents, the Western frontier, places meant to be invaded and exploited by the more powerful and, therefore, more civilized human galactic empire. The aliens are tribal, live in huts, fight with archaic weapons. And Van Rijn and his group, what are they trading for? What are the invading for?

Furs and spices.

“It’s just waiting for the right man. A whole world, Dad!”

Just waiting for the right “man” because aliens can’t be men, in the general sense of a person. And if someone (or something) isn’t a person, then it isn’t deserving of respect. The final story in the book treats us to aliens that have slaves, and a horrifying and clueless description of them by one of the main characters.

“But Lugals are completely trustworthy,” Per said. “Like dogs. They do the hard, monotonous work. The Yildivans—male and female—are the hunters, artists, magicians, everything that matters. That is, what culture exists is Yildivan.” He scowled into his drink. “Though I’m not sure how meaningful ‘culture’ is in this connection.”

This racism is echoed in the humans themselves. The assumption is that the group presented (they are at a dinner party, telling a story of some of their exploits) is entirely white, except for one Nuevo Mexican who is described this way: “I was unarmed—everybody was except Manuel, you know what Nuevo Mexicans are.”

That “what” is key. Because eventually Van Rijn solves the problem of this exploitation expedition that goes awry by pointing out that the Lugals aren’t slaves, but domesticated animals. Even though they are an intelligent race, clearly used as mass labor by the Yildivans, sold, actually, and in themselves a form of currency. It’s eugenics, plain and simple. And then he says that, opposed to the Lugals, the Yildivans are wild animals. Both animals. Both ruled by instinct and genetics rather than thought and logic.

So, you know, it’s okay to kill them or trick them or exploit them.

I hate this book.

[Victor · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've commented already on The Trouble Twisters, so much of this will follow that same critique. Basically this is a collection of stories by Poul Anderson about one of his iconic characters, Nicholas van Rijn, CEO of Solar Spice and Liquors. van Rijn is a heavy-set, charismatic adventurer who is a major factor in the Polesotechnic League - the "Gilded Age" of Anderson's future history - and van Rijn is very much a robber baron who sometimes has a heart of gold. Never without various comforts of home, van Rijn spends most of his time decrying the unfairness of the universe, chasing after beautiful young women, and driving a very hard bargain. When I was a teenager, I though Nicky van Rijn was cool (but Anderson's 007, Dominic Flandry was even more cool or so I thought).

But times have changed and my critical faculties have improved. Now, van Rijn seems like a lecher and a cut-throat capitalist, using free market economics as a thin justification for his practices. Given that these stories were written during the Cold War, they are clearly a response to the leaden, often uninteresting "victory of socialism" themes seen elsewhere in literature (but rarely in American SF). Don't get me wrong; I'm not suggesting that socialism is somehow automatically better than capitalism, but it's rather convenient in Anderson's stories that everything turns out for the best in the end, after Nicky van Rijn gets his cut of the profits.

The one redeeming point of these stories is Anderson's attention to scientific detail and his use of that to drive the stories along and keep the reader's interest. Sure, some of what he describes has been corrected since the story was written, but he very rarely descends into "as we all know" info-dumping.

Again, if you can look past some of the social anachronisms as well as some of the deeper issues embedded in these stories, they can be fun bathtub reads.

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Fun, pulpy 60's sci-fi, with some interesting themes and good action, not generally to be taken too seriously. The protagonist, Nicholas Van Rijn, is a slovenly, swashbuckling, chauvinistic spice trader with a tinge of Sherlock Holmes. He draws on logic and his vast experiences of interstellar exploits to solve, and profit from, varied crises among alien cultures.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this as a teenager and I remember enjoying it. It involves Poul Anderson's iconic character Nicholas van Rijn, a capitalist and a rogue. I never liked this character as much as Dominic Flandry but I don't know that Anderson ever wrote a bad story. This collects three tales of Van Rijn.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Instead of a regular review of Trader to the stars, i've decided to frame this as a response to an existing reader review that can be found here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

It was only in reading this review, and disagreeing with many of its main points, that my own understanding of what I liked about this book crystalised into something I could put into words, so it's worth linking to - even if I believe Andrew has managed to misinterpret the text itself.

If there is a single theme in this work it is that we view the world through perceptions filtered by our own situation - our environment, our upbringing, the way we live and think, all has a massive effect on how we see the world. Somewhat ironically, Andrew's rather low opinion of this work appears to be due to a similar effect.

To address the first concern - sexism. Two of the three stories include a main female character and they are roundly panned as sexist tropes in the above review. There even appears to be good reason. From the review: "The women are objects and ineffective, willing (like Kofoed above) to use their sexuality to get what they want, and hitching themselves to the strongest male around, either for protection or for future monetary rewards. "

This is an attack on both women, the first (Kofoed) for her sexuality, and the second for attaching herself to Van Rijn for protection.

So lets examine both characters. In the first story the main female character is indeed using her sexuality to get what she wants - she is with Van Rijn because he is rich and powerful, she flirts and offers herself to the handsome captain and is the cause of trouble between them.

However to write off this character as a sexist trope is not only a mistake, it does a massive disservice to the story. All you need to see this is to view the relationship between her and Van Rijn to see this.

First up, she makes no excuses for what she's doing. She's not ashamed that she is using her body to get ahead and, more importantly, no-one else in the story shames her for it either. Van Rijn in particular - despite being accused of toxic masculinity (and indeed showing some of the signs), has no illusions about what she is attracted to him for. He is a fat and unattractive man and knows full well that it is his money that is the attraction to her, not himself. She isn't lying to him, she's not an evil seducer.

The three-way relationship with Van Rijn and the captain is also misread and over simplified by the reviewer - The captain has little to offer Kofoed, he is married and cannot offer the same advancement or reward as Van Rijn has. The attraction she feels for him is just that, physical attraction, something she is not ashamed to act on and - again - something that no-one else shames her for. The fight between Van Rijn and the Captain is again illuminating, as it has nothing to do with "ownership" of the woman and everything to do with Van Rijn giving in to his own jealousy - something for which is is quite chagrin later on.

The relationship between the characters is summed up beautifull in the final scene, where she lingers over the captain, attracted as she has been all story.. and then runs back to Van Rijn when he starts talking about all the things he can offer her. All three characters are completely aware of what is driving each of them, each open with the others and no-one lying or cheating.

So what we have is a free woman, confident in her sexuality, feeling unashamed to both use (with van rijn) it to get what she wants and enjoy it (with the captain) for its own sake. At no point does anyone shame her for this, at no point is she punished for it, at no point is she forced into anything - all of her interactions are by her own choice. She is a three dimensional character with desires and a will to achieve them.

So what exactly is the "sexist" issue here? Is it that woman with desires don't exist? That woman _should_ feel ashamed of using their sexuality to get what they want? Or is it simply that we shouldn't be writing about women who do? I think claiming sexism here is both a serious misunderstanding and a sign of how far we've backslid in terms of viewing woman as equal to men since the 60's.

The second female character is closer to the pulp princess stereotype that the reviewer is assuming exists, but even here that view ignores the full story. The character in this case is from a utopian society running a project to save an alien world. She is idealistic and naive and absolutely in way over her head simply because the situation she finds herself in has no analogue in her home culture, which is completely non-violent. None of this is because she is a woman, it is because of her background and any men in her original party would (and were) be caught off guard exactly the same way - in fact, she is the leader of the party and no-one shows any sign that this is at all unusual. Van Rijn is condescending to her it's true, but this is more because of her attitude than her gender. As he says quite specifically he likes her philosophy, it's nice, but the universe isn't and not everyone will appreciate it.

This is where you see the main theme come back again - the whole issue is around how people look at the world. She cannot understand why the aliens would attack them when all they want to do is help - because she has no frame of reference to explain it. The aliens on the other hand cannot understand her or her people, because the way they act is so different from the norms for their culture.

This leads in to the final major misunderstanding of the reviewer - the classification of the aliens in the final story into "wild animals" and "domestic animals". This seems to have a left a bad taste in the reviewers mouth, as so: "And then he says that, opposed to the Lugals, the Yildivans are wild animals. Both animals. Both ruled by instinct and genetics rather than thought and logic.

So, you know, it’s okay to kill them or trick them or exploit them."

Except that this is contradicted by Van Rijn immediately after, when he refers to humanity in exactly the same terms... it wasn't that the aliens were "just animals" it was the fact that their culture was a symbiotic one that led them to view the world in terms of "those who obeyed orders" and "those who gave orders" that was the entire point.

Van Rijn isn't always a pleasant character, and he certainly isn't heroic in the traditional sense. He's brusque, irritating, sexist himself (he does say a lot of sexist things especially in the second story), and comes across very much as a dirty, leering old man at times, and i'm not about to defend a lot of the things he says. He is absolutely exploitative - though this isn't a colonial or racial thing as the reviewer suggests, he is quite open about his exploitative nature as a trader and it is focused on _everyone_. He views all the planets he visits, human or alien, in terms of how he can expand his business best on them, not in terms of altruistic plans - something that is more than just common in the real world, it tends to be the rule.

However taking that characterisation and attributing all of it's worst aspects to the author himself is a mistake that is demonstrably wrong from the text itself. The women are not cardboard cutouts, they are fully fledged characters with their own opinions and desires - the character in the second story herself hates Van Rijn for most of the story _precisely_ for the reasons mentioned. The story itself is self-aware enough to understand that Van Rijn is at times an awful person, and if she thaws towards him in the end to the point of actually considering his advances, it is due to a combination of admiration for the way he has gotten them out of an impossible situation, and a deeper appreciation for those aspects of his character that are more laudable. It's worth noting as well though that at no point does she swoon and allow him to do what he wants, she remains an independent character with her own opinions.

These stories have their faults, and show their age, but the criticisms laid against it in the review this responds to are not only unfair, they show a surface reading of the text that misses not only the key points of the characterisation, but all the themes and subtexts as well. Personally, I enjoyed Poul Anderson's keen eye for perceptual differences between cultures and his Sherlock-Holmsian or Nero Wolfian style character able to deduce where the issues exist. These are far more cerebral stories than the reviewer appears to realise, dressed in the clothing of pulp adventure.

[blake · Rating 5 out of 5]

A patch-up novel that doesn't bother with patching anything, so it's just a collection of three short stories about Nicholas van Rijn, a fat old trader who visits foreign worlds and manipulates the locals into entering deals with the galactic mercantile guild.

Anderson deftly deconstructs some common sci-fi tropes here, in his typically entertaining and thought-provoking fashion. It's a wonder he isn't ranked alongside Asimov and Heinlein; he's a far better writer than the former and much less pretentious than the latter.

The first story has van Rijn trapped aboard an alien ship which is transporting animals, and the aliens have hidden themselves among the animals. The humans have to figure out who the alien are and convince them that not all humans are a threat before the humans who are a threat catch them.

The second story finds van Rijn on a planet where idealists have established a base to help the natives, only to find the base overrun with the very beings they were trying to help.

The last story is more of a post-mortem, wherein van Rijn's protégé has nearly been killed on a world the guild was trying to open, because he had inadvertently provoked a crisis by off-handedly mentioning God and—well, let's just say it didn't fit into their world-view.

These sort of play out as mysteries with van Rijn in the role of "quirky detective": He's epicurean, complains about his age, and is generally repulsive to women—at first—but he's also a shockingly good fighter and possesses a keen insight into what on earth is called "homo economicus" (only non-ironically).

The first two stories are clear deconstructions of sci-fi tropes that are fun for being that, even if they had nothing else going for them. The last one is interesting in its own right and thankfully breaks the formula a bit. I would read more about this character.

[Joe Santoro · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked War of the Wing-Men enough to search out the others.... this one is definitely not written as a novel, but rather is really 3 novella that, based on the copyright info, were published in magazines first.

The first two involve Nicholas Van Rijn, and his attempts to exploit a planet that a young, pretty activist named Joyce is trying to save from enviornmental disaster.

That covers the first two stories... and is the part worth reading. The 3rd is Van Rijn in his office getting a report from another (similar) world and how one of his underlings handled it. That story device would be fine on it's own, but it read like a corporate report and not like a story. That, combined with the similarity of the situation from the first story, and it's really rather skippable.

There is the typical gender role issues here that can be found in most sci fi written in the 50s and 60s, but Joyce is actually pretty competent, just naive, and of course should have in no way fallen for our 'hero', but that's just a conceit of the time you have to get over.

The meat of the story is Van Rijn talking about how setting up a base for everyone to profit and advance is far more likely to be accepted and effective than altruistic government intervention, which is not always trusted and often doesn't follow through... very insightful, if hard to swallow.

I also find it interesting that Anderson's future vision of merchants saving the galaxy to make their profits is SO opposite to, say Star Trek and the Prime Directive.

[Alex Johnston · Rating 1 out of 5]

Giving this a flat 1 because I ultimately found it so unpleasant that it bummed me out. Cognito hazard. It's frustrating because the first of the three stories that make up this book (linked by the central character Nicholas Van Rijn, who is always seen through the eyes of another character) I thought there was going to be something to work with here. Unfortunately the second and third stories burned through that good will quickly, and left me feeling sour. All three stories center on the kind of science fiction anthropology puzzles that Star Trek would go on to employ, but these stories rely pretty heavily on some suspect evo-psych where alien cultures exist to be solved and then manipulated "correctly" by the unpleasant Van Rijn, crowning him with authority that a better book would work to undermine.

I'll expand on this in a blog post later, but the first story has a much more interesting alien encounter, as well as presenting Van Rijn in a more nuanced way (at least, for a while) - the second and third stories dive whole hog into lazy tropes and wallow in some of the worst reactionary ideology classic sci-fi has to offer (and that's saying something).

[Dr M · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well, there it is. Finally. I’m not sure I have ever taken so long to get through a mere 144 pages. No not because it is a difficult read by any stretch of the imagination – only because this book, frankly and unfortunately, bored me. Each of the three stories have some potentially interesting ideas behind them, but the thoughts are never developed. Nor are the characters particularly interesting. Only Nicholas van Rijn is fleshed out – quite literally. No, I’m not trying to fat shame overweight people here. van Rijn himself constantly moans about his bodily bulk, which doesn’t stop him from also being relentlessly sexist. Literary characters don’t have to be likeable, not even protagonists, but they should be unlikeable or likeable with a purpose. I suppose maybe we are meant to find van Rijn funny, but if so it is a brand of comedy that has never appealed to me.

[Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Irascible, corpulent, avaricious, lustful and a mangler of the English language ("Gabriel will tootle before I get your bepestered Anglic through this poor noggin"), Nicholas van Rijn is the central character in this tryptic of 1960s short SciFi stories. In each one there is a puzzle to be unlocked, and these are based on alien symbiosis, cultural politicking, and philosophical misunderstanding. Hiding Place is an amusing 'where's the crew amongst a ship full of alien beasts'; Territory has the hook of what happens to the 'masters' on a technologically primitive but culturally advanced planet when humans arrive; and The Master Key (oh, ha ha) looks at how 'our way' of doing things might look to 'others'. In terms of imagination and plot these are good stories. But these are books of their time: the female characters are somewhat air-headed and vapid: one would have thought that by the time humans had reached for the stars perhaps a few women would have reached positions of command and authority...

[Jan vanTilburg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked up this book in a 2nd hand bookshop in Ft. Bragg, CA. 2$. Poul Anderson; I thought, what the heck. Having read ‘ Tau Zero’ and ‘The boat of a million years’ and liked them; what could go wrong?

Well, mmmm.
In dealing with other cultures lots can go wrong! Especially if one comes with the sole purpose to trade. It reminded me of Ursula Le Guin’s book ‘The Word for World is Forest’. That one is about how colonization goes horrible wrong. In these Anderson stories at least the intentions seemed good. Supposedly both parties would benifit.

I liked the world building and thinking out of the antropomorphic box. Aliens were really alien! What I did not like too much, especially in the second story was the blatant imperialism. Even if supposedly both parties would benifit from it. And I have to admit it did looked that way. I just did not like the feeling. I guess that shows that Anderson is a great writer that he can get under my skin.

Still, I did like the stories.

The psychlogical analyses by van Rijn of the natives modus operandi were intriguing.
He seems to have an intuitive grasp of how they think.

This book contains 3 stories about traders in a far future, when new trade routes between the stars are explored.
A cunning merchant, Nicholas van Rijn, overcoming adversities through his wits and panacea. Trading companies have taken over as long lasting stabilizing factors in the universe. As van Rijn puts it: “Bah! Government is dayflies.” [...] “Politics, they come and go, but greed goes on forever.” Which says it all.

The first story ‘Hiding Place’ is very original in the sense that humans get stranded on an alien space ship with seemingly no intelligent life aboard. Only a lot of cages in the cargo hold which contain bizarre alien animals. Supposedly one of the cages holds the alien race. Hiding there in fear of these strange creatures: humans...

The second story ‘Territory’ details the struggles of the same trader, again stranded, now on an alien planet. Thru manipulation and negotiation with and between indigenous people he finds a solution to get rescued.
I did feel a bit uncomfortable with the blatant capitalism displayed in this story. Just compare that with the havoc colonialism brought to Earth!
It has to be seen how this ‘trade agreement’ will work out and how it will affect their culture. Change seems inevitable.

The Master Key.
The third story.
A returning merchant narrates about how his trade mission went wrong because of, again, misunderstanding of the indigeous population.

All in all intriguing stories with an uncomfortable edge to it. Anderson seems to have a libertarian view here. Which is not right or wrong in itself of course. It’s just that these days it is more and more questioned if capitalism is sustainable. I think not the blatant form we see nowadays

I am going to read more of Mr. Anderson though.

[Igenlode Wordsmith · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of three stories originally published in contemporary magazines; the first one I remembered sufficiently to half-guess the 'twist' (how but not who), but the other two I had no recollection of whatsoever. The stories turn out to be linked by the recurring character of Nicholas van Rijn, which is not immediately apparent since he is not the viewpoint character in any of them (and only takes any active part in the second story of the book) - he is an interesting creation in that he is far from the heroic mould of the era, being old, unappealing and cheerfully gross in his conversation, habits and person.

Van Rijn is described from time to time as a "merchant prince", but in fact he is more obviously modelled on a 17th-century freebooter, drinking, feasting, and womanizing his way across the universe in quest of profit. Like Henry Morgan, he can fight if he has to, but prefers to use his wits; this collection is basically one of psychological mystery stories where the plot pivots around working out alien mind processes, with van Rijn as a Mycroft Holmes figure sitting in the background to deduce the solution via a lifetime of experience while the younger protagonists engage in the actual action, although in the second story he is forced into a more active role. As a character I think he is probably most effective in the opening story (probably his origin?), where we underestimate him along with the narrator; it's slightly a case of diminishing returns.

Still, Poul Anderson is an incredibly varied and inventive writer (compare the nakedly commercial doctrine promulgated by van Rijn to the high ideals espoused by his fantasy protagonists or the honour-based SF of novels such as Fire Time), and he was clearly having fun with the pulp fiction genre here.

[Jerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of three stories about different traders working for the same company and same (ultimate) boss. And it turns out in each case that the boss is the “hero” in the sense of being the person who does stuff.

The setups are very Traveller role-playing game, although the endings aren’t (the way the problems get solved would pretty much have to be handled either by GM or player fiat).

They’re just lots of fun with interesting characters in a world where (again, like Traveller) faster-than-light travel is possible, but instantaneous communication is not: communication must follow the ships.

Reason is just the lackey for instinct.

[Alan Carlson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Classic SF from the late 50s/early 60s. Actually a trio of novelettes, in which the protaganist, Nicholas van Rijn (a Dutchman still rooted in the Dutch East Indies) takes his colonial attitudes to the stars to exploit the dangerous primitives. It is somehow telling that sometime between my first and second readings, the Libertarian Futurist Society gave Trader its Prometheus Award for libertarian science fiction. But more telling about how libertarian dog-eat-dog, devil take the hindmost attitudes make them unfit to live in civilized human society. And the oft-overlooked difference between observation and prescription.

[Jüülæ · Rating 2 out of 5]

i rly liked how in depth poal's scientific explanations were (especially during the logical deduction of who the ship creatures were in trader of the stars), but the convoluted writing made the stories incredibly dull. i found the book blurb more fun to read than the actual stories! the "protagonist" is so misogynistic/abusive/annoying while the female side characters were undeveloped/used solely for cheap sexist humor or conveniently moving the plot along. most of the plots were pro-colonialism as well. good sci-fi ideas, execution was yikes on bikes...

[Al "Tank" · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nicholas Van Rijn is a man with several bad habits. Certainly not the normal "hero" of the average novel. Nevertheless, he (sort of) grew on me - like a patch of moss.

The stories revolve around the problem of understanding other cultures. Van Rijn eventually figures these problems out in each of the stories.

Not the greatest stories I've ever read, but still entertaining. I'll keep the book for another read in the future.

[C · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of 3 shorter stories all featuring Nicholas Van Rijn. Their are some themes in common, but the stories are mostly separate rather than forming a fix-up novel. There are interesting ideas here, as usual for Anderson, and Van Rijn is an entertaining character. His frequent bungled idioms are especially amusing. I preferred the Man Who Counts over this collection, but I still enjoyed the read.

[C · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of 3 shorter stories all featuring Nicholas Van Rijn. Their are some themes in common, but the stories are mostly separate rather than forming a fix-up novel. There are interesting ideas here, as usual for Anderson, and Van Rijn is an entertaining character. His frequent bungled idioms are especially amusing. I preferred the Man Who Counts over this collection, but I still enjoyed the read.

[Jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nicholas Van Rijn; Libertarian, Capitalist, free-market specialist. CEO of Solar Spice and Liquors, and member of the Polesotechnic League, an organization of interstellar merchants who trade throughout the galaxy. Van Rijn is a pudgy, loud, hilarious, logophile. He is not your typical swashbuckler, but still loves the ladies. Fun read.

[Ray Savarda · Rating 3 out of 5]

solid 1960's sci-fi, quite misogynistic, and a bit heavy on the "capitalism and self-interest is the bets solution". But very readable and overlooking the above, I found it enjoyable. It was a product if its time...

[Karen Hannum · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not insane about this one. It is a collection of short stories about a Hercule Poirot type trader, Nicolas van Rijn. First off, I don't care for the main character I find him too arrogant. Secondly Poul Anderson treats women as ornaments or as something to be conquered ala Captain Kirk.

[Excel Lifestyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fat funny space merchant prince has three adventures that are oddly biologically focused. Each story revolves around discovering the true nature of an alien species which was interesting but lacked the focus on space mercantilism that I was expecting. Still, the titular trader is a quirky character worth meeting. Almost like reading the adventures of a more successful Harry Mudd.

[Love of Hopeless Causes · Rating 1 out of 5]

Poul is too clunky. Everybody fluffs him up, but he's not my cup of tea: DNF.