Customer Reviews (4)

Classic time travel from a classic author
Time travel is a favorite sf theme and certain cause-and-effect problems are built into any time travel story. "Can you change the past?" is the most obvious one. Anderson, one of the inventors of the "time patrol" story (and they're still some of the best), took the view, at least for the purposes of the narrative, that history is not immutable but still is not easily altered. There's no "butterfly effect" in his world. You have to attack history at certain nexus points. And that's what the Bad Guys do in these stories, aiding Hannibal's assault on Rome, replacing Cyrus of Persia, and so on. Anderson knows his history, certainly. The five stories here all were originally published in the magazines and were republished in book form in various configurations, so it's a bit difficult to know that you've located all of them. The style is pure 1950s and `60s and entirely enjoyable.

Not Free SF Reader
The Guardians of time has more stories of Anderson's Time Patrol, the people set by the posthuman Danellians to guard the timestream from problematic interference. The periods messed around with in this book include fifth century Britain, thirteen century California, third century Greece and the good old Punic Wars in Rome.

These stories are enjoyable enough, really, as the Patrol struggles to do the right thing and have lives.

Guardians of Time : Time Patrol [Manse Everard (Time Patrol)] - Poul Anderson
Guardians of Time : Brave to Be a King [Manse Everard (Time Patrol)] - Poul Anderson
Guardians of Time : Gibraltar Falls [Manse Everard (Time Patrol)] - Poul Anderson
Guardians of Time : The Only Game in Town [Manse Everard (Time Patrol)] - Poul Anderson
Guardians of Time : Delenda Est [Manse Everard (Time Patrol)] - Poul Anderson


Recruiting of a time agent.

4 out of 5


Manse and Cynthia ponder time off, but there is still Patrol work to be done.

3.5 out of 5


Lots of water and interfering.

3 out of 5


Sandoval has to co-opt an Unattached for a mission, and guess who?

3 out of 5


20,000 years back for skiing and winding down for Patrol agents, particularly when a bit grumpy with the super overlords.

3.5 out of 5

Almost 5 stars.An interesting look at time travel.
These are interrelated short stories that deal with time travel, generally referred to as Anderson's "Time Patrol" series.In this series, man achieves time travel many millenia from now.To prevent time travelers from altering the past repeatedly (as is entirely possible in Anderson's universe) evolved men ("Danellians") from even further uptime establish the "Time Patrol." The mission of the Time Patrol is to prevent time travellers from altering the "true" past.

There are some excellent stories in this collection."Brave To Be A King" is my particular favorite.In this story a time traveller is marooned in ancient Persia in the time of Cyrus the Great and becomes "enmeshed in the local gears."In fact, he becomes Cyrus!But despite being a King, he desperately wants to go home!This is a wonderful story with a gritty realism.Highly recommended.

The only downside to this collection is that you cannot appreciate it one story at a time, because to fully grasp each story you must understand the underlying "Time Patrol" premise.But Anderson takes care of that deftly, because the first story in the collection deals with the recruitment of a 1950s American into the Time Patrol.Not only is this a ripping good story, it does a good job of setting the reader up for the other stories in this collection and in the series.If you like this book, you'll also want to read Anderson's other Time Patrol collections, including "The Time Patrol" and "The Shield of Time."

Sort of pointless novel
As in everything, once the humans found a new activity, they also feel the need to police it. Here when the humans find the way to travel through time, the desire to change the past is a by-product of such discovery, so the group of The Guardians of Time is created to precude distortions in the known time-line as well as to explore other possible developments that could have taken place.

The four short stories in this book are construed over the same premise and using the same lead character. The chosen events are: (i) The british isles in the XIX and V centuries; (ii)Greece in the III century B.C; (iii) California in the XIII century and finally, (iv) Rome during the Punic Wars.

Its obvious that these periods were choosen by the author out of his personal preference, but not because the felt that they were particularly important on the overall development of known events.

This is not a particulary interesting science fiction novel to have unless you are a hard die fan of Mr. Anderson. ... Read more

Product Description
When evidence of an advanced civilization is discovered by SETI astronomers, an expedition into the far reaches of the galaxy is planned and an eclectic team of scientists is chosen to make the trip. But because the origin of the alien signals is thousands of light-years away, the crew will age only a few years while millennia pass on Earth. And though they are ready to face the ramifications of such a voyage, none of the starfarers are prepared for what awaits them at the outer edge of the cosmos--or back at the planet they once called home.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (37)

A dandy epic
This was my first Poul Anderson epic novel and it's a dandy. I see why he's one of scifi's revered masters. Some of the reader-critics here seem unnecessarily harsh, for such reasons as it being hard to keep the saga's many characters straight.

But it's easy to flip back a few pages to remind yourself, and the story is worth the effort. The tale's overarching idea, that most of humanity eventually becomes bored with space travel and retreats to study itself, is a shocking thought. Only a few starfarers are left to continue the journey. Then you remember how we landed on the moon and more than forty years later what are we doing? Except for our robots (and their contribution, however limited, certainly is worthwhile) we're not even exploring the solar system, let alone the stars. Indeed, in a recent poll fifty-one percent said we shouldn't even go to Mars. Sigh.

Not worth the time
I couldn't even finish the book, I left it on an airplane.

The book starts off well enough but drags on and on the further you read into it. 2/3 of the way through you have to deal with chapter upon chapter of predictable plot lines and stupid dialogue. I was actually getting mad at the book for dragging on for so long.
There are better books by this author to read.

Bleak and uninspiring.Not Anderson's best by a long shot
Poul Anderson is one of the great authors of science fiction, and many of his novels and short stories are inspiring, ingenious, and downright good yarns.

Not this one."Starfarers" actually features a bleak outlook for humankind's future.In this novel Anderson postulates that interstellar travel is an expensive, largely impractical slower-than-light process which more or less amounts to a one-way trip for those who in fact become starfarers.Only a few people, with very special reasons, would ever travel to an unknown destination if they knew that their homeworld would be completely different when they return (due to the time dilation effect of relativity).Meanwhile, in the novel Anderson projects the death of the American republic, the collapse of freedom on Earth, and only a few human interstellar colonies.Not a particularly inviting future, and this bleak future caused me not to enjoy reading the book.

It is noticeable that as Poul Anderson aged, his outlook for the future became more and more pessimistic.This is reflected in, for example, TheBoat of a Million Years and the Harvest of Stars series of novels, which all postulate that machine intelligence will relegate humans to an unfree, secondary, and sterile existence.This contrasts greatly with the optimism in most of the stories he wrote when in his prime.

Anderson wrote many better stories of the future than this work.Try his Technic Civilization series of novels and short stories, or almost any of his other works.This is not his best.

Liked this one, liked the way things branched out
I liked this book because it seemed so much like real life, not going in one direction. Some of the characters I could have done without, like the requisite bad guy.

I was a little surprised by a basic arithmetic flaw though. One of the premises is that the kith would interbreed into a different phenotype "tribe". This happens very rapidly in the book, too rapidly. A basic calculation shows that if on average 70 years pass for every year on board ship, and the ships orbit for maybe a year at each end, then each person ages 2 years for every 70 back on earth. That means their earth-life span would be about: 35 years per year x 70 years per life = 2,450 years per life span. This indicates that the rough period per reproducing generation is: 35 years per year x 25 years per generation = 875 years. In 10,000 years, for the kith, only 11 human generations would have passed. And if there were centenarians in the kith, then only 3 lifetimes would have passed at 3500 years each. Even if there were only 100 kith to begin with, that is hardly time enough to mix very much at all to produce a new phenotype. Since each ship carried that many, there were thousands of them in the first century.

I liked all the digressions, it made for an interesting story.

Sorta good
I liked this book for most of the way through it. Yeah, it got a little bogged down in some places. And it looked like it would have a good ending. It just ended sorta weird like the author didn't know how to end the book. More than that ... in those places where the story bogged down, it just seemed he didn't know where he was going with the story or any of the central themes. Maybe it was about some alien races, maybe it was about romance in space, maybe it was about a starfaring race. Yeah, maybe that was it. Yet still I do like Poul Anderson's writing style. Now I feel like I can't stop my review in a straight forward coherent way. Aargh. ... Read more

Product Description
Five hundred years from now, rival groups battle for the contents of a vault containing remnants of 20th century civilization which could guide their society out of its primitive state. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Intriguing first novel..
Poul Anderson's "Vault of the Ages" is a good tale of life going on after all is lost.Set 500 years after a nuclear disaster, a tribe in what is now the Alleghanies tries desparately to keep an invader from taking over.The son of a chiefian seeks shelter in a place that the others in his tribe are afraid of, and finds a very large time capsule in which the technology of our day is preserved in record.The rest deals with the invading horde which desparately needs fertile land or it'll strave and the fears of the tribe.Anderson showed his good writing from the beginning

Imaginative glimpse of post-apocalyptic future
This contains very succinct writing that conveys a very imaginative glimpse of a fictional post-apocalyptic future where civilization is about to be re-kindled.Very well written.The author doesn't get extravagant or excessive.This book is much more enjoyable when you maintain the perspective of what our culture was like when this book was written.It's also helpful to keep in mind that science fiction was comparatively rare when this book was written.

VAULT OF THE AGES - A timeless tale!
When I first read "Vault of the Ages" it was an excitingbook; in reviewing it as an adultclose to 40 years later as an adult I find it still an enjoyable read. Looking back on the stories I read in my youth this had to be the first in theseries of this genre of post doomsday chronicles that I continued to enjoy...

This bookemphasizes messages about human responsibility and the importance of using science only for good almost as though accentuated with a bright yellow Hi-Lighter Pen.

The story is set in the Alleghenies roughly 500 years after a nuclear holocaust, Vault of the Ages tells the story peaceful farming tribes vs.fierce warriors. Carl, our lead hero and son of the village Chief is responsible for trading withthe people from the ruined city to obtain metal and other needed materials formtheremains of skyscrapers etc...

Carl and his companions discover a "time vault," basically a large time capsuleremaining from the pre-holocaust civilization, containing numerous tools, books, models of apparatus and more depicting thesciences that have since been lost. With the aid of the newly discovered sciences and much common sense he is able to help his people.

In rereading the description of the 'VAULT' it brings a smile to my face when I look around our office, library and museum facilities here at theSouthwest Museum of Engineering, Communications and Computation here in Glendale Arizona.... I can imagine a facility such as thisbeing the 'VAULT' spoken of in this story. I wonder what the world will be like in 500 years and what part the material preserved by the museum here will play in it....

Ed Sharpe, Archivist for SMECC
[...] ... Read more

Product Description
A grand adventure of the mighty thewed barbarian, from one of Fantasy’s biggest names

Conan, The name has inspired generations, one that resounds through time immemorial. Yet it all began with a handful of stories from Robert E. Howard. In the decades since, there have been feature films, television and comic book series, and numerous spin-off novels. In 1979, Poul Anderson—winner of a staggering eight Hugo and three Nebula Awards—wrote what is regarded as one of the finest adventures in the canon of Conan:

Conan the Rebel.

Conan the barbarian and Belit, his raven-haired beauty, lead a band of savage pirates striving to free Belit’s people from the iron grip of an evil reptile god and its cruel minions. Striking at the heart of tyranny, Conan must break the chains of oppression before eternal darkness claims them all.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

The worst Conan yet
I have read just about all the Conan books, starting with the Howard stuff in the 70's, and then the assorted authors paying homage thereafter.I have not read any of Poul Andersons other works, he might have written some good stuff elsewhere.Having slogged through Rebel, this is by far the weakest effort of the Conan lineage so far, in my opinion.Howards Conan would NEVER have said "Nice doggie, Come here I have something for you doggie" for any reason.Complete drivel!Ol Robert E must be roiling in his grave.

Super Reader
A softer, more erudite Conan is to be found here. "My dearest wishes","My beloved".

This book lags a little in the second half, not coincidentally I think with the lack of Belit.

Conan goes in search of the Queen of the Black Coast's family for her, and ends up fighting yet another Stygian sorcerer.

Dumbest monarch of the year award to Mentuphera.

"Why, if the Sun Master can do no better than Conan, what is to fret about?"

These Set worshippers never learn, it seems.

Entertaining, but a Missed Opportunity
Anderson's story of Conan's time as captain of a pirate ship alongside his love, Belit, is an interesting one, but I can't help feeling that it was a missed opportunity.Very few Conan pastiches continue directly from one of Howard's original pulp stories from the 1930s.This one does, picking up from Howard's "Queen of the Black Coast".

While the plot for this novel was entertaining, dealing with family ties, sacrifice, prophecy, and different stripes of power-hungry sorcerers, Anderson really missed the chance to deeply explore Belit, one of the most compelling female characters Robert E. Howard ever introduced into Conan's life.

Anderson does a decent job in capturing Conan's personality, but suffers the same difficulty many authors after Howard have in authentically nailing it as well as the creator.

The supporting characters and major villains are very well-formed and Anderson provides decent descriptions of the environment so the reader feels immersed in the setting.

The story contains a lot of action, but it does feel a wee bit patchwork in places with ideas being introduced but not fully explored.That said, the ending of the novel is quite good - a splendid, buliding, non-stop gauntlet of evil menace leading to an appropriate twist and a satisfying climax.

A very good Conan pastiche that left a bit on the table by not exploring Belit more deeply.

not very good
I was feeling the need to read something different, so as I walked past the new books section at the library I saw a Conan book. I've never read Conan, but one of my friends is a giant fan, so I picked it up.

The plot was pretty simple (hero gets even with sworn enemies who have wronged him in many ways, along the way he gets to use a magical weapon and fulfill some prophecy), but it was entertaining enough, especially in the middle. The ending was way too abrupt (he completes all of the above parenthetical accomplishments in 35 pages) and the language was too clunky. I realize its a style thing, but it's like Mr. Anderson sat in front of his typewriter with a thesarous and looked for the more macho version of each verb used to describe Conan's behavior. He never throws anything, he heaves it. He always cleaves skulls, rather than splits them. I got tired of it rather quickly.

A good version of this popular hero
Due to the machinations of the evil sorcerer Tothapis, Set the reptile God cruelly rules Stygia.Set warns Tothapis that a threat to their well being comes from the alliance between Conan and Belit, who met in sword to sword combat, felt an attraction and joined sides.Belit leads pirates trying to free her people from the reptile�s rule while Conan lays back providing strategic advice to her.

Everything changes when Conan finds the Axe of Veranghi.Instead of just advising, he begins to take charge.Along side Belit, Conan leads her force in combat as they close in on a final confrontation with the reptile God and his wicked minion including the powerful Tothapis.

The great Poul Anderson takes readers on a journey into the Cimmerian world of Robert E. Howard.The story line of CONAN THE REBEL starts a bit slower than usual for our hero meaning body counts that would make Westmoreland and MacNamara envious.This enables the audience to understand better the support cast, but not why Conan seems more like California mellow than the wild barbarian that is expected of him.Once Conan returns to his normal tendencies, the head count geometrically grows and the action with it.Though a fine tale, purists will feel this is not Mr. Howard or even the Marvel comic.

Harriet Klausner ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Dominic Flandry rides again
In "A Stone in Heaven," Dominic Flandry finds friendship, maybe even love, after many years of being totally alone.

After "A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows," Flandry's life stood in ruins.His Emperor, unbeknownst to him at the time, was dead; his sons were incompetent.His love was dead; his son was dead; he didn't believe in his job any longer, and he'd taken out his biggest adversary.

So, what was left?This book shows the answer: plenty.

The younger son of Hans Molitor now holds the throne in his incompetent grasp, and worse, does not like Flandry.So, although Flandry is now a Vice-Admiral and commands much respect, he isn't thrown too many assignments.OTOH, he is able to make his own schedule, so when Miriam Abrams, daughter of mentor Max Abrams (his superior in "Ensign Flandry"), manages to get to him to point out a major problem on Ramnau, he leaves.

Once again, he finds intrigue and lots of it, problems, and pain.But unlike "A Knight of Ghost and Shadows," Flandry this time finds more while he's solving the mystery.He and Abrams reach an understanding, and more or less pair off by the end of the book.He also helps solve her problem, take out a would-be Emperor candidate, and rehabilitate his image with Emperor Gerhardt (the younger son of Hans Molitor) in the process, so it's definitely not a wasted trip.

Along the way, we see an older, almost used-up Chives, still serving Flandry as best he can . . . it's heartbreaking, really, although also encouraging.And Flandry's still hanging in there, despite the loss of his love, his son, and most of his reason for living fifteen-plus years before, which is also a very good thing.

Btw, I was really astonished to find out this book is out of print, when "A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows" is not.Let's hope someone pays Anderson's widow for the rights to this excellent book, so people unfamiliar with Anderson will be able to read it for themselves.

Five stars plus, and highly recommended. ... Read more

Product Description
Flandry, here a captain, undergoes a series of adventures: He is abducted by the Scothians, an alien race hoping to invade the Terran Empire; rescues the Emperor's kidnapped granddaughter; meets Aycharaych, his nemesis in league with the Merseians; and investigates a previously unencountered alien race that has invaded the distant colonial world of Vixen. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Super Reader
Four stories that pits superagent Dominic Flandry against his Merseian nemesis/counterpart/duelling partner. Flandry has the Terran resources to back him, but his opposite number is a telepath of no mean ability.

It is hard to plot and plan with him around, particularly in a diplomatic setting. Batman would be pretty happy with Flandry's valet/butler, pretty good with the spaceship and the raygun.


Agent of the Terran Empire : 1 Tiger by the Tail - Poul Anderson
Agent of the Terran Empire : 2 Warriors From Nowhere! - Poul Anderson
Agent of the Terran Empire : 3 Honorable Enemies - Poul Anderson
Agent of the Terran Empire : 4 A Handful Of Stars - Poul Anderson


Flandry gets involved with some of the ruling class of an alliance opposed to his, and uses their tribal society system against them via some political destabilisation, and a spot of duelling.

4 out of 5


Flandry has to deal with an opposite number with a telepathic advantage.

3 out of 5

Rescue from a dragon by your opponent who is always aware of what you are doing leads Flandry to come up with a cunning plan.

3.5


Flandry gets into to grass roots work on a planet with some nasty conditions, and ends up in deadly shipboard combat, all with the help of a local woman.

3.5 out of 5

Adrift on the Great Red Spot
Part of the action of one of these Dominic Flandry stories takes place on the Great Red Spot of Jupiter. "_On_ the Great Red Spot?" you ask. Yes, indeed:

"It's been known a long time, even before space travel, that it's a... a mass of ariel pack ice. Lord, what a fantastic place to die! What happens is that at a certain height in the Jovian atmosphere, the pressure allows a red crystalline form of ice-- not the white stuff that we splash whisky onto, or the black alletrope down on the surface, or the super-dense variety in the mantle around the Jovian core. Here the pressure is right for red ice, and the air density is identical, so it floats... the Red Spot is a pack of flying glaciers, stretching broader than all Terra. And we've been crashed on one of them!" (106-107)

Yes, we now know that the Red Spot is a perpetual hurricane. But I still have a fondness for Anderson's floating icebergs, as I do for Martian canals and Venusian seas. It's a great piece of imaginative detail that Anderson tosses off as almost a side adventure.

For readers not familiar with this series, Sir Dominic Flandry is like the boy with his finger in the dike. He knows that the Terran Empire is weak and corrupt and that it will eventually fall. But he hopes to delay the fall so that the Long Night that follows will not be quite as long and dark.

He is not a great undercover agent. He gets caught by the villains an awful lot, and many times his "cover" consists mainly of pretending to be a stupid, Colonel Blimp type of officer. Oddly enough, it seems to work fairly well for him.

Most of the stories in this collection are early entries in Flandry's saga: "Tiger by the Tail" (_Planet_, 1951), "Warriers from Nowhere" (_Planet_, 1954 as "The Ambassadors of Flesh"), "Honorable Enemies" (_Future_ combined with _Science Fiction_, 1951), and "Hunters of the Sky Cave" (_Amazing_, 1959 as "A Handful of Stars"). They are not as smoothly written or as complex as some of the later stories in the series. But they have a certain amount of energy and zest. They are less dark and world-weary, and they are, I think, a bit more fun.

Kudos to iBooks
Poul Anderson has only been gone a few years, but already most of his extremely long list of novels and story collections is out of print.iBooks deserves praise for reviving one of Anderson's best characters, Captain Sir Dominic Flandry.Anderson was a pillar of science fiction from the late 1950s into the 1990s, and the Flandry books--part of the larger Technic future history that includes the van Rijn/Falkayn series--were from his strongest period.

I read these stories as a kid and later as an adult and was impressed by how they grew with me--lots of bold adventure, but some serious musings, as well.Flandry is a very modern character, in some respects, with sophisticted tastes and inner conflicts, but also very much a man of his corrupt and decadent time.

If iBooks perseveres with this series, then the best Flandry book--and one of Anderson's best--should be out soon, "A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows."

You won't find better space opera!Great stuff!
This is the Horatio Hornblower of science fiction!Great space opera, perfect for a beer and chips afternoon at the beach or whatnot.

Here, the Polesotechnic League has fallen (see Anderson's "Trader to the Stars," "Mirkheim," "Satan's World," "The Trouble Twisters," and several others) to be replaced by a decadent and corrupt Terran Empire, which rules millions of worlds in the Galaxy.It is opposed by all manner of villains, including the warlike Merseans.Everyone can see that the Terran Empire, like the Roman Empire before it, will oneday fall, and that this will be a bloody business costing billions of lives.This is the time in which Dominic Flandry, of the Imperial Terran Intelligence Service, finds himself.His purpose is to basically try to hold the Empire together, at least for his time.As he says, "what is the point of living in a decadent age if you don't know how to enjoy the decadence?"Great fun.Flandry is unforgettable, and these stories are enjoyable reads that are not in the least bit banal.This is excellent "hard" science fiction of the Space Opera genre.

Take my word for it: if you give this one a chance, the odds are excellent that you will become a fellow Flandry addict!

Great space opera.Goes well with beer and chips.
Dominick Flandry is a 30th Century Horatio Hornblower.This is space opera, plain and simple.But it is very very high quality and readable space opera, and Poul Anderson really does put some effort into speculating about what human society will evolve into, and what alien races will be like.These stories are entertainment.Flandry is extremely likable, and so are the Merseians, the alien bad guys. (They are more or less a cross between the Klingons (whom they predate) and an iguana.)

These short stories are meant to be fun and are that.This is not deep meaningful literature.More like what you'll want to read while drinking beer and eating chips.Hey, nothing wrong with that!What's not to like?If you can find it, buy it! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Good viking fare
The 3rd in a series about Harald Sigurdharsson (Harald Hardrada) the Lightning of the North. I enjoy Poul Anderson for his style of writing which is unusual but his descriptions are evocative and this series should be read by all fans of North legend. The fact that these are presented in a quick read paperback series should not put you off as this book should more properly be published in hardback and deserves to be. The tale is fairly true to historical sources. If you like the style of writing here he raises it to a higher art form in Mother of Kings a novel about Erik Bloodaxe. ... Read more

Product Description
Ten stories deal with invasions, treason, colonies on other worlds, a brainwashing device, spies, wars in space, and a world in which assassination has replaced war. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Jacket summary
from the back cover of the August 1983 TOR paperback edition

ANGELS ABOVE, DEVILS BELOW...Since the first human stood upright the stars have been a source of wonderment and inspiration.All our heavens have been placed in ... the heavens, our hells in the depths of earth.Angels above, devils below.Mankind between.

But perhaps heaven isn't so heavenly.Perhaps those who live there are as self-interested and violence-prone as any earthbound mortal.And even if they're not, we will be there soon.

Cause enough for CONFLICT.

TIME LAG
HIGH TREASON
THE ALIEN ENEMY
THE PUGILIST
I TELL YOU, IT'S TRUE
KINGS WHO DIE
A MAN TO MY WOUNDING
AMONG THIEVES
DETAILS
THE TURNING POINT

Imaginative stories of future conflict!
"Conflict" is comprised of ten short stories all of which deal with conflicts occurring in various times, from the near to distant future of mankind.Poul Anderson is at his best when writing about this subject, and most of these stories are truly excellent.In fact, the only reason I deprived this one of a fifth star is that one or two of the stories were not Anderson's best.But make no mistake: most of these stories are worthy of five stars.

There are many different scenarios in this collection, and several of them are outstanding both for the quality of Anderson's writing, which is almost always superlatively good, to the sheer imagination that went into the stories."The Pugilist" is an utterly brilliant work dealing with a future in which the United States has been subdued and brought into the Soviet bloc.The story postulates an utterly believable scenario and Anderson vividly shows how such a thing might have been.Its question: can the country re-acquire its former love of liberty and freedom?Or has dictatorship and oppression taken root too firmly?Anderson asks the right questions.The ending packs a formidable punch.In "Among Thieves" Anderson takes us to the far future, when mankind has spread amongst numerous stellar systems, but has not outgrown the institution of war.Here, once again, his speculations as to the possible reasons for, and nature of, future conflict make for a superb story.

Anderson really cared about both the causes of, and forms of, human conflict, and the depth of his concern is what makes this collection a superb one that most readers will thoroughly enjoy. ... Read more

Product Description
This title has fewer than 24 printed text pages. Home is Where You Left It is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Stephen Marlowe is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Stephen Marlowe then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great Story But Only Part 1
Regarded as one of his best works, this story was printed in Space Science Fiction magazine in 1953. It details the breakdown of society when all beings equipped with a brain (yes, that includes rabbits) suddenly have their intelligence magnified exponentially.

Be warned though, this is only part 1 of two parts and ends with "To Be Concluded". If you want the story in its entirety, look for Brainwave by Poul Anderson. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

A excellent book for fantasy and Anderson fans
Poul Anderson (1926-2001) wrote primary "hard" science-fiction stories featuring aliens; interstellar travel and planetary adventures. This novel, A Midsummer Tempest, is one of his rare forays into the Fantasy genre.

The setting is England 1640. The country is engulfed by civil war. Prince Rupert is on the side of King Charles as they contend with the forces of Cromwell. During a brutal skirmish Rupert and his lackey escaped into an charmed forest where he meets up with the "little people: Rupert and his companion are then engaged upon a "mission" for a "ring of power". This is the classic fantasy-adventure formula: the journey, pursuit by the adversary, a love interest, a sea voyage, narrow escaped and a satisfactory ending.

Nothing very original here, but Anderson's crisps dialog, descriptive and believable action sequences propels the plot in an agreeable manner and to a satisfactory conclusion. An excellent read if these types of stories interest you.

Where Shakespeare is *THE* Historian
Imagine a world where Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, Falstaff, Othello, Romeo and Juliet actually lived.Where cannon existed in Hamlet's time and striking clocks in Julius Caesar's.Where Richard III was a hunchbacked monster, Bohemia once had a seacoast, and witchcraft works.Where fairies and elves exist.Where "English folk...in character and speech...[existed] before the walls of Troy, in Theseus' Athens, in Rome and later Italy, in Denmark...[having] spread out north from some old southern land..."And where the chronicle of that spread is told by a man called The Historian--William Shakespeare of Stratford-on-Avon.Such is the world imagined by Poul Anderson in this splendid, magical, swashbuckling tale.The scene is England, and the Cromwellian revolt against King Charles I (or, as the Puritans claim, his bad councillors) is raging.Among the best cavalry commanders in the Royalist force is Prince Rupert of the Rhine, the King's nephew--until he's captured at the Battle of Marston Moor and taken to the home of a Puritan knight, Sir Malachi Shelgrave.There he meets his captor's niece, Jennifer Alayne, and there he is delivered from captivity by her and his loyal Somersetshire sergeant, Will Fairweather.For in a world where locomotives and smoking factories already blight the face of England, King Oberon and Queen Titania of the Faerie realm have a job for him to do, a task that will not only determine which cause triumphs but may mean the continued existence of all that is supernatural.

Anderson is best known as a writer of sf, often set on distant planets inhabited by splendidly imaged alien races (read his Fire Time for a prime example); his fantasies are few (this one, HROLF KRAKI'S SAGA - Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series, and The Broken Sword (Fantasy Masterworks) are the chief ones), but coming as he did from the bardic tradition of Scandinavia, his gift was natural and is plainly marked here.The basic premise is intriguing and well worked out, the characters are distinctive and delightful (from gangly Will Fairweather to the "airy sprite" Ariel to the "maundering" Puritans and the loyal, loving Jennifer), and if you try reading some of the dialogue out loud to yourself, you'll realize that a good deal of it is written in blank verse!(And after all, if you think about it, if Shakespeare was reporting both events and speech exactly as they occurred, how else *would* people speak in his world?)There's even a brief appearance by that famous Gascon, D'Artagnan, of Dumas's The Three Musketeers (Signet Classics), very possibly with Queen Anne's diamond studs in his pocket.I've loved Anderson's work since I first discovered it in the early '70's, and this is among my favorites of his novels.If you're looking for a very different kind of alternate-world fantasy filled with intrigue, action, singing language, and unforgettable characters, this is a book you mustn't neglect to read.

A classic that any fan of Anderson or Shakespeare will love
This is one of those books you want to keep and read again over the years. It's a historical what if? story. What if there was a world where Shakespeare's stories were history rather than fiction and in this world railroads were built 200 years early? It's a wonderful story with all the elements of fantasy of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" combined with the battle between Royalists and Roundheads in a world of premature steam industry. The only thing that would be more wonderful would be if it were twice as long! This is a book you can read today and it is still as great as when it was written.

A tour de force
This story is truly one-of-a-kind; a labor of love (being dedicated to the author's wife) as well as a tour de force.It can be savored on four levels: first as "simply" a fine and original fantasy novel; second as a clever and "natural" (that is, unforced) interweaving of characters and locales from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Tempest, with a light seasoning of Arthurian themes; thirdly as a masterful adaptation of the language rhythms of a Shakespeare play (with the chapters/acts divided into "scenes"); and finally as an extraordinary, subtle (that is, unobtrusive) integration of poetry (again a la Shakespeare) into prose narative.For example, chapters or "scenes" occasionally end with a rhymed couplet, but that is only the most obvious of the many Excellencies.All four levels are seamlessly incorporated in a most extraordinary manner.The first time I read this book - in 1974 - I was halfway through before I began to realize what the author had achieved.Thus lovers of fantasy can thoroughly enjoy the story, while connoisseurs of the English language will find additional reasons to rejoice.This book is a gem - a masterpiece.I have treasured my paperback copy for 27 years.I assume it is reprinted regularly, but I have never seen it again in bookstores.It deserves a fine hardcover "limited" edition with illuminated script highlights and four-color illustrations by a top artist sympathetic to the genre.I plan to commission one as soon as I win the power ball.

Absolutely superb! Deserves more than 5 stars!!!!!!
I am sometimes sorry I cannot give less than one star to some books I have read (I read hundreds of books professionally). On this occasion I am sorryI cannot give more than five stars.

It is absolutely superb, a perfectjewel of a book which I had never heard of and discovered only by chance.The heroic scale and width of concept, and I say this with all seriousness,can be called Shakespearean. Splendid descriptive writing, action andcharacters, with resonances at the very centre of great mytho-poetry. Iknew Poul Anderson was a great writer, but this took my breath away! Thebest novel I have discovered in years! ... Read more

Product Description
A rich, varied collection of quintessential science fiction stories, essays and adventures, by one of science fiction's finest authors, is accompaned by extensive notes on the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author and his work. Reprint. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

A Highly Creative Book
Now, I picked up this book because it was a collection of short stories, I had heard a lot of good stuff about Poul Anderson, and I enjoy reading how different people have put together their short stories.A really neat aspect about this book is that Anderson himself has written some notes before each story, so you get a little bit of his perspective on each one.

I should have noted that this was not a science fiction collection, per se, but a collection of writing by Poul Anderson.So there were some great science fiction stories, such as the first in the book, "Strangers" and then "Fortune Hunters", there were others that were just placed in different time periods, such as "The Forest".And then others which were more fantasy than science fiction - "Loser's Night", for example.

It seems that in drawing in the stories included in this collection, Poul Anderson was striving for a science fiction theme, but what he ended up with was more a collection of highly creative stories, all of which share common themes with science fiction writing, some more than others.

So are they any good?Yeah. Though some were too creative for my taste.But I loved "Strangers" and "Loser's Night".And I do kind of recommend the book.Just note that it's not always the easiest read - you gotta think a little.It's worth the thinking, but don't expect to be able to turn your brain off and still enjoy and/or get anything out of it.

"Impressive" writer - yes indeed, but maybe that's a slight problem
Well, he casts a wide net. The stories and essays reveal a deep background in reading and thinking. The only problem is that sometimes it almost seems the story is mainly a vehicle to display that knowledge. For instance, "Loser's Night" is about an inn that stands outside time, where at any moment the patrons in the bar may include a medieval French poet and Winston Churchill...and they all talk to each other (the language thing is taken care of without any fuss, they just understand each other).The "imaginary conversations" genre is a nice way to let ideas rub up against each other and see what emerges. And yes, I'm impressed that he has knows his Francois Villon, throws in a casual reference to that masterpiece the Ballade of the Hanged Men, and has Villon writing verse in the ballade form that he did use. A ballade's verses all end with the same line - the refrain - and Anderson has a quite authentically neck-tingling refrain, with the perfect ballade rhythm:"Even the dead have much to lose."So I liked the story...but yet...

In the same way, there's a pure verbal-and-mental-exercise piece, "Uncleftish Beholding."This is an account of physics written as it might have been if there had never been a Norman Conquest: in other words, he finds or invents an Anglo-Saxon word for everything: not a single word of Roman or Greek origin is allowed. For instance, here's the definition of elements: "The underlying kinds of stuff are the firststuffs, which link together in sundry ways to give rise to the rest. Formerly we knew of ninety-two firststuffs ..." Atoms are "unclefts", molecules are "bulkbits", and my favorite is the wonderful term for radioactive decay, "lightrotting"(!) The invented terms are italicized in the story, BTW.

Now, we're all told that Anglo-Saxon words make for stronger writing, and verbs, especially active ones, are better than nouns and adjectives, and this piece is quite a tour de force, and a lot of fun - and perhaps partly a tribute to his Nordic heritage. But then I read a story like "The Forest" and notice the "vines that clambered up boles and over boughs" and "the branches came together, often altogether hiding the sky, yet snaring its light in their leaves..." Snaring? Yes, it's a "different" word compared to the "catching" you might expect...but does it give you any extra value to compensate for the brief out-of-story moment where we're made to notice "oh, a clever word."Sometimes he forgets that "the art is to conceal the art."

My favorite story is "The House of Sorrows,"a deeply-imagined tale of a late-medieval Middle East in a somewhat altered universe. The human story against the background of ethnic or commercial or political power struggles resonates especially today!

Anyway, read it and see what you think - you'll certainly find it stimulating!

Atoms and Unclefts
The reason I purchased this book was for the essay called "Uncleftish Beholding", an essay attempting to describe subatomic physics without using any scientific words.A friend of mine described it as using Anglo-Saxon words, and, indeed, much of the text relies on the short and to-the-point language characterizing Anglo-Saxons.In saying so much with so little, Poul Anderson crafted a shrewd, beautiful and unorthodox look at the science of the smallest of the small.

My friend told me that if science were explained to her as in "Uncleftish Beholding," she would have stuck with the sciences.

Poul Anderson's other works are a collection of his paleoanthropological "what-ifs" and his view of the historical times of space science he witnessed.

The science-fiction stories are insightful and sometimes brutal.They portray characteristics of sentient beings that we can relate to, as we still pursue some of the same things his characters have pursued, and for many of the same reasons.

The historical stories bring you right up close to the Apollo launches and all the events that surrounded it.

Quality short fiction and good essays
_All One Universe_ is a fine collection of (very) short stories and non-fiction essays, the personal choices of Poul Anderson himself. Many of the short stories are excellent (although some of them offer such a tantalizing taste of Anderson's inner fantasy world that you want to cry out for longer pieces); some are based on his existing work, and some are completely new.

The non-fiction pieces provide an interesting break, although they are not as entertaining -- most of them involve Anderson trying to sell the reader on a particular author or concept; I guess you can't blame a man late in his life for that indulgence.

Good work from the Grand Master
Poul Anderson is one of the great writers of science fiction.This book contains a good number of his good short stories, plus some of his thoughts about science fiction.It includes his memories and thoughts about John W.Campbell, Jr. - who was, if you can credit one person with SF, the founderof modern science fiction. For the little change you would spend on thisbook, it is a good value. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Not Free SF Reader
A shot at a shared-world Berserker anthology, with some notable SF writers taking a crack at a range of different types of stories involving these badlife hating metal monsters.The pick of this lot is the first Donalson tale.

Each story has a linking piece preceding it by the editor, who is of course the author of all the other Berserker material.

Berserker Base : What Makes Us Human - Stephen R. Donaldson
Berserker Base : With Friends Like These - Connie Willis
Berserker Base : Itself Surprised - Roger Zelazny
Berserker Base : Deathwomb - Poul Anderson
Berserker Base : Pilots of the Twilight - Edward Bryant
Berserker Base : A Teardrop Falls - Larry Niven


Berserker freeze out

4 out of 5


Marriages hassles and Berserker around.

3 out of 5


Busted berserker bit deal.

3.5 out of 5


Berserker planet trade deal.

3 out of 5


Runagate PereSnik't 'Reen boojum.

3 out of 5


Berserker fortress upload takeover return revenge.

3.5 out of 5




3.5 out of 5

Read More Than One Novel by One.
I can call this novel a link among the science fiction novel's. It is full of fantastic events and very interesting. You can travel through the worlds from one galaxy to another, and take part in a war between the human kind and robots, one of the human dreams'. After Reading This book I ask this question again from myself: Is that true, Can robots disturb human's bright technology?

A rare find
If you love the Berserker stories, then this is a very rare find.Especially if you love stories by Roger Zelazny or Larry Niven ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Relevant
Poul Anderson was famous for decades for writing hard sci-fi, with a good deal of violence even if it were not mil sci-fi.
He also wrote some fiction and fantasy about "the northern thing", set in various real or imaginary Dark Ages settings resembling northern Europe.
He seemed, to me, anyway, to have two layers of writing.One, to be uncharitable, would be called "potboiler" and the other his serious work.Dominic Flandry and the Polesotechnic League stories would fall, in my view, in the first.Avatar, Orion Shall Rise, Boat of A Million Years, in the second.
I preferred the former.The work I--although nobody I know has ever agreed with me--think of as being in the serious category was not particularly appealing, although Orion Shall Rise had some interesting situations.
Anderson's first categories had lessons relevant to the times.Appeasement doesn't work (Star Fox).Decadence will cost you an empire (Flandry).Socialism is soul-destroying and ruins economies and human freedom.(Polesotechnic League)
Star Fox has three main parts, each of which would be a decent novella, except for lacking a conclusion.The first is when the Bad Guys take a human colony.It's not just any colony.Anderson takes his beloved French countryside and makes an entire planet something like the Loire Vally with the French Alps on the side.The hero, Gunnar Heim, decides to buy and outfit a ship in order to go privateering against the Bad Guys, since the Terran government will do nothing. We see the man, his decision, his manuverings, the opposition in the United Nations.
The second part details the visit of the ship "Star Fox", to a planet where it would be loaded out with weapons not allowed to Heim by the Terran government.There are troubles galore including a trek across a hostile landscape.But the weapons are gained and then the Star Fox sets out. Strictly speaking, this part is not necessary, but is interesting.
The third part tells about the fighting, the talks between the representative of the Bad Guys and Heim, the work on the occupied colony planet, and the eventual victory.
Anderson does his usual superb job of setting scenes.I believe he once said that he rereads his manuscripts and, if he doesn't see a mention of a scent, odor, smell, fragrance, he puts one in.This is apparently the reason his characters are forever smoking pipes, drinking whiskey, smelling blood and spices.
It works.
If the book was to be an allegory about resisting evil regimes, it was at a time when the US' interest in such things was ebbing, even before Jimmy Carter.
Highly recommended, even if you're not in the market for an allegory about current events.

Golden Age classic w/ superfluous bridge
After reading Tau Zero years ago, Poul Anderson became one of my favorite sci-fi authors. Since then I've read a few more of his novels and haven't been so impressed. I almost gave up hope that perhaps Tau Zero was his only great work... until I came across The Star Fox.

A fantastic Poul novel! Early space opera- short and sweet. Hesitant earth lets a colony fall to conniving aliens. The main character Heim says, "Oh oh... hell no! Not while I'm alive! I'm gonna go mess 'em up." And does so. Chapters 1 and 3 are pretty much part of a linear story and would have been a 5-star read if it hadn't been for the second chapter, which is out of place. Chapter 2 by itself though would have been a good story. However, it turned itself into a superfluous bridge. Overall, fantastic planets, plotting and people. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

The autumn of Technic civilization ... good science fiction
Poul Anderson's "Technic Civilization" series of novels and short stories is based upon the premise that: a) mankind will achieve practical interstellar travel; b) there are many alien civilizations out there; and c) humans will behave pretty much as they always have throughout history.

This novel is set in the "Empire" phase of Technic Civilization.The more or less democratic Polesotechnic League, which was based upon laissez-faire capitalism on a gigantic scale, has been replaced with a despotic Imperial regime that is rapidly sliding into decay.The protagonist here is one Captain Dominic Flandry, who is bright, patriotic, and yes, a tad decadent.But it is a wholesome decadence!Flandry explains that "good decadence isn't lolling around on cushions eating drugged custard!... it is fine food and fine women and conversation as a fine art!..."

The several stories in this novel are all very well-written for those who enjoy "hard" science fiction.Dominic Flandry is a 30th Century Horatio Hornblower and James Bond all rolled into one.This is lots of fun!

Poul Anderson was one of the Greats of the Golden Age of science fiction, due in large part to his "Technic Civilization" stories.Hopefully all of his works will soon be published on Kindle so that they will be safely preserved and made available to future generations of readers.In the meantime, if you find this book used, and are a lover of science fiction, snap it up!

Above-average space opera
This is an excellent novel of the "space opera" genre, featuring Dominic Flandry, Poul Anderson's 26th Century James Bond.Fans of the "Flandry" series of Anderson stories will recognize that this novel is set early in Flandry's career, after the Starkad affair but before most of his later adventures.Here, Flandry is assigned to a routine posting near the frontier, and by rights should have been bored stiff.But being Flandry, before long he is involved in interstellar intrigue of a startling nature.This is not a bad yarn, and fans of Flandry and Poul Anderson should not miss this one. ... Read more