Slashdot Mirror
SF Great Poul Anderson, 1926-2001
"Friends,
Poul Anderson passed away last night, July 31-August 1, around midnight. During the afternoon, he received hundreds of emails and messages from friends and readers and fellow writers, which Astrid and Karen printed out and read to him. He died knowing (and how!) that he was loved and valued, and hearing how much his work had entertained and moved so many. Though he was weak at the end, there was no loss of mental capacity, and my last conversation with him was slow but sparkling with the curiosity and deep-seated gentlemanliness that Poul always had, and which was, I think, built into his whole body and being.
He is survived by his wife and writing partner, Karen, his daughter Astrid, brother John, grandchildren Erik and Alexandra, nieces Janet and Cathy, and by millions of readers.'
Poul Anderson was an extraordinarily rare kind of man, a brilliant writer with an impressive intellect who was yet always open, friendly, approachable, and a downright decent human being. I had the pleasure of meeting him and his wife Karen on several occasions over the years at BayCon, and I will always treasure the experience. I extend my sympathies to Karen and condolences to his family.
You can look up Poul's impressive bibliography or read an interview he did for Locus a few years ago. You can also read an obituary at the Locus site, or this notice at SFWA."
I wonder how many of the authors in the Sci Fi/Fantasy section wish there was only Fiction section.
I have some of the same issues, but I've found a few contemporary authors writing some excellent sci-fi: (you'll notice I'm fond of military sci-fi, especially ones with a real sense of tactics, as well as long on-going series)
:) This is also available from Baen Free library.
David Weber, especially the Honor Harrington books. The first book in the series, On Basilisk Station, is available free from: http://www.baen.com/library/default.htm
I am also fond of Oath of Swords, a well-written Fantasy with real characters that doesn't quite fit into the normal fantasy sterotypes established by Papa Tolkien
S.M. Stirling and David Drake co-wrote the excellent "The General" series, a 5-book series with a related sequal. The Hammer series by Drake (Mercenaries) is good, but not up to The General, IMHO.
The first 3 Star Wars novelizations by Timothy Zahn are excellent too, with a well-defined plot arc and human (well, alien) characters.
On the well-written fantasy side, I enjoyed The Videssos Cycle by Harry Turtledove. This doesn't seem to have the well-defined plot arc of some of the other series, but the combination of Roman Legions and magic is intriguing.
The disc-world series by Terry Pratchett is generally a fun read, if you have a high tolerance for puns.
_A Company of Stars_ by Christopher Stasheff is well-written with engaging characters, and appropriate subject matter for slashdot; it deals with censorship and politics. Some of the reviews of the sequels are not as promising, but I haven't found any yet, so I can't give a personal opinion. This book is out of print, and the series is incomplete.
Of course, there is always the voluminous Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. There have been many other reviews here and elsewhere, so I will leave this one to others.
"'Tis great confidence in a friend to tell him your faults, greater to tell him his." --Poor Richard's Almanac
If Orson Scott Card quits writing, I don't know what I'll do :-(
I gave up Card a while back, but have you tried George R.R. Martin, Neal Stephenson, Dan Simmons, Greg Egan, Connie Willis, Tony Daniel, Michael J. Straczynski, Harlan Ellison, Larry Niven, or Ben Bova? Gardner Dozois makes a valid claim that there are good new authors out there. You just have to look for them.
For those who must have a morbid fascination with not dead yet lists see: Oldest Living Authors/Editors/Artists Obviously they haven't had time to remove Poul's name from that list. It is from the Internet Science Fiction Database (ISFDB) Derived Information page.
The question should be how many "Golden Age" authors are left that are still writing?
"You'll get nothing, and you'll like it!"
"Uncleavish Truethinking". See this Poul Anderson bibliography.
My favorite Poul Anderson work is the Time Patrol story "The Sorrow of Odin the Goth", which brings a tear to my eye every time I read it. It would have to be closely followed by The Boat of a Million Years, which makes being immortal sound like a burden. These show Anderson at his best, either taking the long view of history or making some ancient piece of the past seem alive and exciting. No other author I've read has had that delicate touch for history, and for that he will be missed.
Little known-fact: I read somewhere that Anderson's novel Three Hearts and Three Swords was one of the strong influences on the creation of Dungeons and Dragons.
As a side note, Greg Bear is also scheduled to be the Keynote Speaker at this year's LISA conference in San Diego. The speech is titled "Slime vs. Silicon--Life's a Bitch, But Would You Want to Be a Computer?" -- sounds like great fun :)
I enjoyed Eon, Eternity and the books that start with the Forge of God, Greg certainly does have some original ideas.
And of course the sadness is felt for the loss of Poul, one who became nearly immortal in his words and worlds he created.
Bleh!
Adolescents with no knowledge of, or appreciation for, talents such as Poul Anderson are empowered to anonymously contribute the electronic equivalent of litter and graffiti to an otherwise somber and respectful discussion of the recently deceased and the sense of loss felt by his readers. Is this one of the blessings of the computer age?
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
according to www.amazon.co.uk, the Broken Sword by Paul Anderson (sigh) is available on special order as a 1998 paperback, and by Pohl Anderson (double sigh) on special order as a 1973 harcover.
So I guess it had a few more print runs.
/.
One of the few science fiction / fantasy authors who studied history, and a member of the Society for Creative Anacronism. The SCA is a sport combat group (one of several such organizations active in the US) with a somewhat unrealistic medieval-themed stick fighting system (plastic & aluminum armor & shields are both legal in most kingdoms, which is anacronistic if not creative).
Poul wrote a historical fiction about Harald Hardraada, as well as many fantasies and science fiction stories with a medieval theme.
Since most geeks read science fiction, and some geeks frequent slashdot, it's not suprising that many of the denizens of this forum consider your question stupid and trollish.
--Charlie
Genesis as a novel? I remember reading a novella called that in one of Dozois's Year's Best Science Fiction collections; set in a far-far-far future Earth with main character Christian Brannock, right?
If it's a novel now, I should get that...
-- Veni, vidi, dormivi
Poul Anderson touched many people as a writer, as a storyteller. He did not write abstruse literary fiction aimed only at those who wished to decode the symbolism and disregarded the story. His gift was an ancient one, that of drawing others into the web of his imagination and holding them there until he had said his peace.
Whatever his beliefs about the nature of man, Poul will live on in his work and in the hearts of those he inspired and enchanted both as a writer and as a man.
Northern skies, behold! A noble comes forth to take his place among you.
Additionally, if you like Sword, I highly recommend Anderson's Hrolf Kraki's Saga, his retelling of a Danish saga that is related to Beowulf. This story features Hrothgar, and Beowulf is essentially a footnote in Hrolf Kraki's tale. Operation Chaos is also a good fantasy by Anderson, much in the spirit of Heinlein's Magic, Inc.
--
"Deep in the ocean are treasures beyond compare,
Deep in the ocean are treasures beyond compare; but if you seek safety, it is on the shore.
He's obvioulsy faked his death as part of his recruitment for the time patroll.
He will be missed.
All Troll + "offtopic" mods are meta moderated as "Unfair", because you abused the system.
Close: the Heechee books were by Fred Pohl. Easy to get confused... :)
The sad thing is that many of those authors you mention aren't new. Harlan Ellison wrote for the original Star Trek (City on the Edge of Forever, one of the best). Larry Niven has been writing for over 30 years,as has Ben Bova.
Best Slashdot Co
Wow, what a beautiful piece of poetry, one of the best tributes I've seen to Poul Anderson's Passing.
I took it from the first page of Poul's own masterpiece, "The Boat of a Million Years." It is translated from ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, The Book of Going Forth by Daylight, Theban recension, ca 18th Dynasty. I thought it was a fitting adieu for one of 20th century's giants. I can't think of any other sci-fi author who can match Poul's grasp of history and the human condition. A great loss.
May he go forth in the sunrise boat,
May he come port in the sunset boat,
May he go among the imperishable stars,
May he journey in the Boat of a Million Years.
-The Book of Going Forth by Daylight
He will be missed
Cool thing was, the class a few years later than me actually had a phone interview with him about one of his books.
Not much of a remembrance, just an author who'd take time out of his schedule to talk to a freshman writing class had to be pretty cool :)
Jack Valenti and the MPAA are to technology as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone
The Hoka stories were great. Alas, not only did we lose Poul Anderson this year, but his co-author on the Hoka books (Gordon R. Dickson) also died earlier this year. Add in Douglas Adams and it's been a really, really, bad year. Sigh.
No, it had italicized the entire page. Both the front page and the comments. It probaby got fixed quickly so no one believes me now. *sigh*
Make sure you're not thinking of Frederick Pohl. "Pohl" is a surname, "Poul" is a Scandanavian first name. They're somewhat different writers, but often confused for some reason.
And the brethren went away edified.
Philip K. Dick... Richard Brautigan... Sturgeon... Avram Davidson... Frank Herbert... Bester... James Tiptree Jr.... Simak... Heinlein... Asimov... Fritz Leiber... Zelazny... A.E. van Vogt... L. Sprague de Camp... Adams.. Anderson...
Almost twenty years ago, as I hit my teens and began actually taking note of the names that appeared again and again under the titles of the stories and books that I loved (and that were teaching me, despite their often other-wordly subjects, more about the world than I ever suspected), I started noticing at the same time the obituaries, one or two a year, in a bad year three...
One after the other, writers who enriched -- and continue to enrich my life -- with their work.
Each death an icicle of regret in my heart. Yet another writer whom I will never have the chance to thank. And, selfishly I know -- another writer whose work has become, suddenly, finite and bounded, whose stories and books I must now ration (if I have not already read them all over and over), to stretch out my enjoyment as long as possible.
I will take Tau Zero and The Boat of a Million Years on my weekend trip tomorrow, and reread each for the third, or is it fourth, time... Paul Anderson wasn't even one of the authors whom I sought out most eagerly, but his work has rarely disappointed me, and he certainly places well in my personal "top 100" list. I'm sure he is near the top of the list for many. His death is a deeply felt loss to all lovers of SF. Thank you, Poul Anderson, and thank you again to all the other writers, living and no longer living, who have helped to make our lives worth living.
Kiscica (Adam Jacobs)
Damn.
Kean
Locus Online.
No Truce With Kings...
Lawrence Person (lawrencepersonh@gmailh.com (remove all "h"s to mail)
http://www.lawrenceperson.com/
There are always new authors ready to step into the limelight. One just needs to look for them.
I get my fix here.
Goodbye Mr. Anderson, you will be missed - but your works will live on forever.
I was a passionate fan of real science fiction. I could learn about science and experience some aspects of what our real future might end up being like because of real science. I wanted to learn things that could be really useful, not waste mental CPU cycles learning the goofy rules of some enchanted tree or some such thing.
I guess the market for fictional speculations on the fascinating, even astounding, implications of real science and technology is just too small compared to the market for superstitious nonsense, which is never-ending.
Polluting science fiction with dwarves with magic rings, dragons and enchanted swords and all that nonsense is like making the astronomy category into astronomy/astrology.
It's just another example of "dumbing down".
"Those who have never entered upon scientific pursuits know not a tithe of the poetry by which they are surrounded."
I always enjoyed the man-kzin series of Baen books. I understand Mr. Anderson had some involvement with this, and of course, many, many other fine works.
Condolences and thanks for one of the finest people to ever grace this planet or any other.
Treatment, not tyranny. End the drug war and free our American POWs.
Treatment, not tyranny. End the drug war and free our American POWs.
See my user info for links.
Actually I'm sure it is...
/. story after this is about all messages being imbedded in Pi.
The
Which reminds me of what I believe was a Poul Anderson story, titled "Blip" or "Bleep" or "Bzzzt", or something like that.
In essence, they had an FTL communications method which always had a burst of static at the start of every message. At some point, our hero (in law enforcement) starts getting crime tips and information about his organization's activities that are supposed to be secret.
It turns out that the static burst contains ALL messages ever transmitted this way: past, present, and future, merely time-compressed into a brief burst of noise. Our heroine (the previously unknown party) decompressed this burst and began reading them, sending the tips to our hero.
Of some interest was that some of the messages were perfectly legible, but could not be understood for lack of cultural or scientific references. Our hero heard a call for help from the far future, but couldn't understand either the distress or what form help might be.
Kind of like fishing for messages in the digits of Pi.
The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
First Adams, now Anderson. We say a teary and fond good-bye to another great. Rest in peace, Poul.
I'm a newbie to SF books, and I picked up a Heinlein (Starship Troopers) which I read from time to time, but just yesterday got a book of short stories and started reading "Among Thieves", which completely captivated me. Now I look to pick up more books to find out he just died today!
Its really sad realize that there is only a finite number of books from an author. I guess it paves the way for new authors to try to be as successful as their predecesors.
He will be sadly missed, even though I hardly knew him...
--
Fnord is that feeling you get when you reach for a Snickers and come back with a Slurpee.
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
--
A warm night, a rumpled bed, crickets chirping outside, the scents of love's aftermath. She snuggled against him. Her locks spilled over the arm he had brought around her shoulders. "I've thought of what I want on my tombstone," he laughed.
"Each man dies
And ends his day.
Here he lies
Who used to lay."
"I won't get that after all," Guthrie said.
"But I will remember it," the robot said.
"Right. That's enough. Listen," Guthrie hissed. "I want
"Strange," the robot confessed. "A kind of--lightness? I'm an abstraction, I think." He sought for words. "But there is a, a drive yet, and I'm fond of my old friends, my old memories, yours. Not quite the same way as before--as you've been--but--but No, you were not very kind to Sheila today."
"Take care
"I will. She has." This also the robot shared. "Okay, what've you got to tell me about Fireball?"
Guthrie gathered strength.
"They're swarming around you already, aren't they?" he began. "Advice, requests, demands.... And you know
The seizure contorted him.
The robot knelt and held him close, mummy against metal, while it ran its course. "Shall I ring for help?" the robot asked. Anyone else would have done so immediately.
The expected "No" shivered to him. His vibrosensors felt the racking heartbeat, his chemosensors drank the swell of clam-cold sweat. "Hell with that. Never mind."
The spasm ended. The robot lowered the man to the pillow. Guthrie's right hand trembled toward him. "Stars," Guthrie pleaded. "Keep us aimed
"That night at the lake is in me too," the robot assured him.
The air was utterly still and unbelieveable clear, especially since the altitude was not much. Above the woods, stars were beyond counting. Their reflections gleamed everywhere on the lake. Anson and Juliana had the campsite to themselves; in those days, you had to backpack to here. They stripped and went for a swim. The water caressed them, almost warm. At each stroke it ran back down into itself with a clear clinking like laughter. They swam among stars. "Someday we'll do this for real," Juliana said. "Promise?"
"Good," Guthrie whispered. "Grand. That's what counts." He rested until he could speak a bit louder. "I'll drink to theat. The Scotch
"Better not," the robot counseled.
"I'm still in command."
The robot yielded. "You are." He crossed the room, fetched the bottle from a drawer as directed, returned, and poured into a tumbler meant for water. Kneeling again, he lifted the knaggy head and brought rim to lips.
"The stars," Guthrie mumbled.
Curtains rippled evening-lit in a gathering breeze. The grandfather clock reached another hour and boomed it away.
Alakaboo
Don't think anyone mentioned "The High Crusade" which is a very strong and funny book where English knights take over a UFO and take the Crusade back to the aliens. Funny, moving, just like a lot of his books.
Perhaps they'll re-release Three Hearts and Three Lions again. What a great book -- I have two copies. Surprised to read that it's hard to get, it's SUCH a good read.
Goodbye, Pohl, you'll be missed.
Agreed. Unfortunately, the "Science Fiction/Fantasy" section in the bookstore is about 98% fantasy nowadays (WHY do they throw those two together???) Good, hard science fiction is pretty rare nowadays, although not unheard of. I particularly like the Uplift series of books by Brin, who is a relatively young guy.
I've come to the point where I pretty much hate fantasy. I simply can't read another unicorn/elf/wizard book with the same plot about "geeky guy becomes hero" that basically tried to fill some geeky writer's personality holes. :)
Memo to bookstore owners: Separate the sections!!!
--
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
Sadly, the way the mass culture is developing with visual media, with things like quake and MTV, well these things are not the things of great literature.
In history, during times when many men did not read, nothing much was written in the way of literature. This seems rather obvious to say it that way.
The question is, with the passing of these great authors, are we entering into another age when many men do not read?
We seem to be in an age of shallow men.
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
Yes and no. When literacy was rare, literature was also rare. However, great literature was written and even more great stories/poems/plays/... were passed down by oral tradition.
Some great literature has survived for over three thousand years, including the Epic of Gilgamesh and The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant to give but two examples from the Near East. There are many others from other cultures.
Paul
Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate
I was very fortunate to have been able to listen to Poul Anderson talk at least once a year at the BayCon science fiction convention over Memorial Day. He was always a gracious and quite interesting man, and wrote a long line of excellent novels (I recommend Genesis, one of his last works and recent recipient of the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best novel of 2000).
One novel he wrote early his career, The Broken Sword, drew inspiration from the Norse sagas and eddas and is an excellent book. Too bad it is quite underrated due to the fact it only had one initial print run in the early 1950's and sadly got overshadowed by the work of one John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, IMHO.
I remember when I finished Harvest of Stars, and then a few years later picked up The Stars Are Also Fire. Magnificent, both of them were absolutely awesome. It's a shame that he died before the ability to download himself became reality. He dealt with issues of liberty and self reliance, and also the morality of questioning authority when authority is Corrupt, yet is considered by most to be good(sounds like a country I live in). It opened my eyes to my own blind faith in Government(I was raised to have it). I've read many sci-fi novels, but no other books impacted my view of authority and reality. His books did and I will always remember those 2 works, especially the sequel. Good Bye Poul!(I'd say Mr. Anderson, but there's something too sinister about that ever since the Matrix).
Show me an effect without cause and then I'll believe in chaos.
I remember when he was our Guest of Honor at a V-Con, and hanging with him and his wife at a couple of the worldcons. He was always unassuming, had a nice sense of humor, and was polite to all the fans, treating them as equals.
...
...]
While not my favorite writer in terms of his written works, he was probably my favorite writer to talk with. And, he helped shape SF (and a little Fantasy even) in many ways.
Skol, Poul
[I know Fran really liked him too - hope she doesn't take this news too badly
--- Will in Seattle - What are you doing to fight the War?
Having watched someone fight along and often hopeless fight with cancer, I extend deepest condolences to the Anderson family. I can only hope that their loss will be made more bearable by the great legacy that Poul left behind.
:-(
Like (I'm sure) many slashdotters, I grew up reading as much science fiction as I could get my hands on. Poul Anderson was one of those who produced a great deal of the best work which I so eagerly digested, along with the likes of Heinlein, Asimov, Foster, and Bradbury. (antiflame: this list is by no means intended to be complete) Lately, it seems that there are fewer and fewer such bright lights in this trade. If Orson Scott Card quits writing, I don't know what I'll do
Take care, Poul.
Kill Smart Tags:
political_news.c: warning: comparison is always true due to limited range of data type
Have you got Look to Windward? It's a brand new Culture novel; I picked it upo in the U.K. a couple of months ago, and it should be out in the U.S. this month. I have no idea how publishing schedules in Japan work, or what they import.
www.lucernesys.comHorizon: Calendar-based personal finance