The Book of Poul Anderson

by Poul Anderson, Jack Gaughan (Illustrator), Roger Elwood (Editor)

DAW Books, 1975. Paperback, one of several printings. Includes essays by Roger Elwood. Sandra Miesel, and Patrick McGuire, plus these Tomorrow's Children (1947, written with F. N. Waldrop); Epilogue (1962); The Longest Voyage (1960); Journeys End (1957); The Sheriff of Canyon Gulch (1951); Day of Burning (1967).

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Anthologies, Fantasy

284 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

Pseudonym 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

Reviews

[Karl · Rating 4 out of 5]

DAW Collectors #153

Cover Artist: Jack Gaughan.

Name: Anderson, Poul William, Birthplace: Bristol, Pennsylvania, USA, (25 November 1926 - 31 July 2001)

Alternate Names: A. A. Craig, Michael Karageorge, Winston P. Sanders.

Contents:

001 - Editor's Foreword (The Book of Poul Anderson) • (1974) • essay by Roger Elwood (variant of Foreword (The Many Worlds of Poul Anderson))
002 -  The Book of Poul Anderson (frontispiece) • interior artwork uncredited
009 = Tomorrow's Children • [Tomorrow's Children • 1] • (1947)
036 - The Queen of Air and Darkness • (1971)
081 - Her Strong Enchantments Failing • (1974)
106 - Epilogue • (1962)
153 - The Longest Voyage • (1960)
184 - Challenge and Response • (1970) - essay by Sandra Miesel (variant of Challenge and Response: Poul Anderson's View of Man)
204 - Journeys End • (1957)
213 - A World Named Cleopatra • (1974)
225 - The Sheriff of Canyon Gulch • [Hoka] • (1951)
245 - Day of Burning - [David Falkayn] • (1967) (variant of Supernova)

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection edited by Roger Elwood that Chilton published in 1974 with the title The Many Worlds of Poul Anderson that DAW reprinted with the title The Book of Poul Anderson in 1975. Also in 1974, Ace published an omnibus volume of three short novels with the title The Worlds of Poul Anderson, and in 1976 Pocket published a third entirely different collection titled The Best of Poul Anderson; the four different titles on three entirely different books are frequently confused. Anyway, there are seven stories here, along with some other related curiosities. His first story is included, Tomorrow's Children, from Astounding Science Fiction magazine's March 1947 issue edited by John W. Campbell, though it was originally published as a collaboration with F.N. Waldrop, who is not credited in the current volume. Another collaboration is one of the wonderful Hoka stories written with Gordon R. Dickson, The Sheriff of Canyon Gulch from Raymond A. Palmer's Other Worlds May 1951 issue, where it appeared as Heroes Are Made. Another good one is a David Falkayn story from Campbell's Analog SF magazine (Astounding was renamed in 1960) from January of 1967, Supernova, which appears here as Day of Burning. My two favorites are The Longest Voyage (also from Analog, it won the Hugo for best of the year in 1960), and especially The Queen of Air and Darkness from The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction's April 1971 issue, their Poul Anderson special which had a terrific Kelly Freas portrait of Anderson and some of his creations as a cover. It also was a Hugo winner. (There's a twenty-five-page analysis of the story by Patrick McGuire that I could have done without, as I could have Anderson's lengthy introduction to Elwood's A World Named Cleopatra that's out of place, and a Sandra Miesel essay that's skippable.) And another couple of decent stories from Analog and F&SF as well... It's not a comprehensive retrospective (not much fantasy, for one thing) nor does it encompass all of his best work, but it's a good volume and a good introduction to the writer. Fun and entertaining stuff, typical of its time.

[Manuel Alfonseca · Rating 4 out of 5]

ENGLISH: A quite good anthology of some of the best Anderson stories collected in 1974. I liked best "Day of Burning," about the help given by the galactic confederation to some aliens, to save their planetary system, about to be destroyed by a supernova explosion, in spite of themselves.

Two of the best-known, frequently anthologized Anderson stories are here too: "The Queen of Air & Darkness," and "Epilogue." I wonder if the latter could have influenced the Disney film "Wall-E." I think it is obvious that it influenced Rod Serling in the changes he made in the script of "Planet of the Apes," as compared to the novel.

ESPAÑOL: Una buena antología de algunas de las mejores historias de Anderson, recopiladas en 1974. Me gustó más "Day of Burning", sobre la ayuda de la confederación galáctica a unos alienígenas cuyo sistema planetario está a punto de ser destruido por una explosión de supernova, a pesar de las trabas que les ponen.

Dos de las historias de Anderson más conocidas, frecuentemente antologizadas, están también aquí: "La reina del aire y de la oscuridad" y "Epílogo". Me pregunto si esta última podría haber influido en la película de Disney "Wall-E". Creo que es obvio que sí influyó en los cambios que hizo Rod Serling en el guión de "El planeta de los simios", respecto a la novela.

[Kyle Janison · Rating 4 out of 5]

As with most science fiction written a half-century or more ago, the novums and the universe created feel dated and a but off the mark. STILL, what matters are the ideas Anderson presents, and if one is willing to suspend their disbelief, you'll find a lot of great action-adventure stories here. There's also some historical value here - Anderson influenced much of the science fiction that follows, such as "Star Trek." If you like science fiction, you ought to read this book.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Book of Poul Anderson is a collection of seven short stories by Poul Anderson, one short story co-authored by Poul Anderson and Gordon R. Dickson, and two essays about Poul Anderson and his works. The essays are by Patrick McGuire and Sandra Miesel respectively. As with all such collections, some stories are better than others but they are all very good and show why Poul Anderson was one of the greats of Science Fiction. A must-read for fans of Poul Anderson.

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent collection of Anderson's work, with one story that he wrote with Gordon Dickson. Very good stuff, especially "The Queen of Air and Darkness."

[Skjam! · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poul Anderson (1926-2001) was an influential American science fiction author, first published in 1947 and winning seven Hugos and three Nebulas for his work. By the 1970s, he was well enough known, and had a large enough body of short fiction, that DAW Books was able to put together an anthology dedicated to Mr. Anderson. It was originally titled “The Many Worlds of Poul Anderson”, but the paperback edition was retitled to match other author-tribute collections they’d done.

“Tomorrow’s Children” was Poul Anderson’s first published story. A few years after World War Three, a pilot returns from a scouting mission to what’s left of the United States government. The news isn’t good; there are scattered communities of survivors in areas that weren’t glassed by the nuclear bombs, but they’re struggling at best, and Europe is even worse off.

More importantly in the long run, there simply isn’t any place the radioactive fallout hasn’t gotten. No amount of isolation or eugenics is going to help, so humanity is just going to have to learn to love its mutant children. A grim tale that finds hope in endurance.

“The Queen of Air and Darkness” takes place on the colony world of Roland. Barbro Cullen’s young son has vanished during an expedition to the dark polar region of the planet. After a cursory search, the authorities have concluded the child wandered off on his own and died of starvation or exposure. Happens all the time, very sad, but we just don’t have the resources to keep looking for the body.

Mrs. Cullen, a widow, isn’t convinced. The outwayers have stories of mysterious beings who live in the wilderness, never proven but often talked of. What if her son, ludicrous as it sounds, was taken by them? Thus she has come to the only private detective on Roland, Eric Sherrinford.

Sherrinford, who has modeled himself after tales of a purported ancestor back on lost Earth, recognizes that the tales and songs of the outwayers bear a strong resemblance to stories of the Fair Folk. Even in places too exact a resemblance. So he agrees to accompany Mrs. Cullen on their own mission north.

Despite Sherrinford’s habit of giving informative lectures at the drop of a hat, it’s soon evident that he’s been holding back certain information from his companion. Which information, and why, becomes important at the climax of the story.

This long tale took home both a Hugo and a Nebula. The parts told from the perspective of the Queen’s people add to the fantasy feel, but are somewhat deceptive.

“Her Strong Enchantments Failing” by Patrick L. McGuire is a critical essay focusing on “The Queen of Air and Darkness” as a good example of Poul Anderson’s work, and talks both about its many strengths (worldbuilding, use of legends and poetry, sense of wonder) and a few flaws (infodumps in the form of lectures even when there would have been more natural ways to introduce the data.)

“Epilogue” is set billions of years in the future. What we would consider machine life has evolved to sentience. Some of the last survivors of the human race (who’ve timeskipped due to the way their faster than light drive malfunctioned) land on Earth, and the two parties spend most of the story in mutual incomprehension. Bad things happen, but the humans learn what they need to.

“The Longest Voyage” takes place on a world seeded by humans then reduced to primitivism ages ago. Now, a ship is attempting to circumnavigate the planet. The voyagers are startled to discover that the local country’s tales of a god fallen from the stars are true. Well, kind of true. The “god” is actually a human from the advanced galactic civilization whose ship malfunctioned and stranded him here.

The voyagers realize that the substance the visitor needs to repair his ship is one that’s known to them, and they have a very good idea of where to get it. But should they? It’s not as easy of a choice for the captain of the voyagers as you might at first think.

“Challenge and Response” by Sandra Miesel is another essay, this time looking at Anderson’s work to that date as a whole. She sees a theme in the work as mentioned in the essay title. Challenge is important to humanity, and response to that challenge, whether success or failure, keeps humans growing. There’s rather more to the essay than that, but I don’t want to replicate it.

Both this and the previous essay are well-sourced with good footnotes.

“Journeys End” takes us back to contemporary Earth. A telepath who thought he was alone discovered that somewhere there was another telepath, and now he has finally tracked her down. What will happen when their minds meet? Some interesting use of telepathy.

“A World Named Cleopatra” was written specifically for this collection. It’s less of a story than an exercise in worldbuilding. Mr. Anderson needed particular conditions for a setting, and created a planet that would satisfy those needs, which we examine from the solar system level downwards.

“The Sheriff of Canyon Gulch” co-written with Gordon R. Dickson, is the first of the Hoka stories. Alexander Jones finds himself stranded on the planet of teddy bear-like people who are very imaginative and skilled at mimicry. The previous human expedition left behind a number of Western books and films to help the Hoka develop their civilization and defend against the reptilian Slissii.

These materials were more exciting than accurate, which has caused some peculiarities in the new Hoka culture. For example, the title of Sheriff is given to the stupidest person in town–Alexander Jones soon finds himself appointed Sheriff. Can he redeem himself and save the Hoka?

This is silly stuff, but both Anderson and Dickson were solid science fiction writers, so the underpinnings are set up well. A nice touch is telling us about Jones’ civilization through a book that was in his survival pack instead of the survival gear that should have been included.

“Day of Burning” has a star turn supernova. There’s a planetary system a few light years away that would be a great place to make observations from, if a deal can be struck with the locals to build the necessary equipment (and shield the locals from dying when the supernova’s radiation hits them.)

Local politics makes this more difficult than it has to be, and one of the mercantile crewmembers gets abducted by the local equivalent of the Mafia. At the end, there’s an agreement, but that doesn’t mean that no suffering results.

Overall, a good selection of stories from the first half of Mr. Anderson’s career. It’s out of print, but should be easily tracked down in the finer used book stores, and most of the material has been printed in other anthologies. Recommended to science fiction fans.

[Norman Felchle · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s odd…by all accounts I should like Anderson’s stories more than I do.
I don’t dislike them ,exactly…but…I don’t find myself drawn in by them or remembering them for long after finishing.
The only stories in this collection I had actual problems with were “The Queen of Air and Darkness” which started with so much made up language and so many made up places and names and turns of phrase, it was disorienting to me. The story itself was a good idea and I appreciated that…but, I’m afraid I missed some references because I wasn’t familiar enough with Sherlock Holmes…so, I thought the “detective” guy was supposed to be more of a Sam Spade type.
I guess I just didn’t catch what Anderson was throwing in this one.
The other one I had a problem with was “A World Named Cleopatra”. I kept expecting a story to develop…but…I guess it was just a description of a theoretical planet. That’s nice…but…it was so technical in certain parts…and without any narrative…I kind of zoned out on that one…
“The Longest Voyage” was one I liked…and reminded me , in some ways, of “The High Crusade”
I also enjoyed “Epilogue” which seemed to give me more hints that helped me enter the new environment and then presented characters I cared about with a story of clear needs and dangers and outcomes.
I’m not sure why this worked so much better for me than “the Queen” did.
The two essays on Anderson struck me very differently.
I didn’t care for the first at all as it felt like someone just making up a lot of “meaning” behind stuff….based on their own whims…kind of like the “art school B.S.” I ran into back in college. but the second felt more solid and really insightful.
And…(Spoilers) for the last story…”Day of Burning”, can anyone tell me just how serious the “Nuclear rain” was at the end ?
If I was supposed to take it as very serious, the whole story strikes me as a shaggy dog tale where you slog through all kinds of social and political entanglements to wind up with “Then everybody died”

[Gordon · Rating 4 out of 5]

On the whole very good (though the "story" A World Named Cleopatra wasn't really a story - interesting though it was, I felt a bit cheated on that one). Two "appreciative studies" might be overdoing it for those of us who mainly just want to get out there in the stars, but they did make me much more inclined to chase down some other Poul Anderson.

[John Peel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poul Anderson was one of the big names in sf, and this collection of his stories explains why. He creates believable scenarios and interesting characters. Unfortunately in this volume you also have to endure two articles analyzing his works, which drops the rating quite a bit. Of course, you could just bleep over them and only read the real stories...

[Todd · Rating 2 out of 5]

The epitome of "Meh".

[C. M. Kosemen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great selection of stories showcasing Anderson's incredible skill in world-building.

[Anthony Faber · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short stories. Same old same old.