#poulanderson — Public Fediverse posts

Really been having a ball reading Poul Anderson's "Tau Zero".

Thanks Quinn, for putting this classic on my radar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOfqRH5Dyjc

#TauZero #PoulAnderson #Relativity #ScienceFiction

Poul Anderson, 'the chapter ends'; what a great story! #sf #poulanderson

Please BOOST!
SPECIAL COLLECTORS EDITION of Tau Zero by Poul Anderson

https://astralcomputing.com/books/tau-zero-anderson-easton-press

or see the full collection here:

https://astralcomputing.com

#Literature #SciFi #ScienceFiction #books #bookstodon #coverart #bookart #bookcovers
#PoulAnderson
@books @scifi @Scifiart @sciencefiction

Art by Vincent DiFate

Died this day: 07/31/2001 (b. 11/25/1926) - 25th anniversary

Poul William Anderson was an American fantasy and science fiction author who was active from the 1940s until his death in 2001. Tau Zero was 2nd place for the Hugo in 1971.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poul_Anderson

#Literature #SciFi #ScienceFiction #books #bookstodon #coverart #bookart #bookcovers
#PoulAnderson @books @scifi @Scifiart @sciencefiction

https://astralcomputing.com

Art by Anita Siegel

Poul Anderson coltivava mondi di fantascienza

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://fumettologica.it/2026/07/poul-anderson-fantascienza/

THE NIGHT FACE (1977)
Acrylic on Illustration Board

Early in my career, Ace commissioned me to reimagine covers for reissued novels by Poul Anderson, including a book previously titled LET THE SPACEMEN BEWARE! 1/3

#sciencefiction #illustration #poulanderson #acebooks

THE LONG WAY HOME (1978)
Acrylic - 24” x 16”

The pose of the man on the floor looks somewhat clumsy to me. In retrospect, I feel like I should have used a model. 1/2

#sciencefiction #illustration #poulanderson #acebooks

A STONE IN HEAVEN (1979)
Acrylic on Masonite

Most of my early assignments for Ace were on reprints of classic paperbacks that already had covers by luminaries in the field like Kelly Freas and Ed Emshwiller. 1/3

#sciencefiction #illustration #poulanderson #acebooks

DOA (1979)

Acrylic on Illustration Board - 28" x 18"



The history of some paintings is so clouded by the passing time that it takes effort to unravel the origin. Such was the case for this illustration for Poul Anderson. 1/4

#sciencefiction #illustration #poulanderson #acebooks

Recenzje fantastyczne:
»[Recenzja] „Podniebna krucjata” Poul Anderson«

„Podniebna krucjata” opowiada historię podbojów istnego zabijaki, nieustraszonego sir Rogera de Tourneville, sojusznika króla Anglii. Rzecz w tym jednak, że ten sojusz nie został skonsumowany, bo ów zawadiaka i duszą awanturnik nie poprowadził swojego wojska za kanał angielski do Francji...

https://www.fahrenheit.net.pl/ksiazki/recenzje/fantastyczne/recenzja-podniebna-krucjata-poul-anderson/

#Fahrenheit_zin #recenzja #DomWydawniczyRebis #Wehikułczasu #Rebis #AgnieszkaHorzowska #PoulAnderson #SławomirFolkman #IgorMorski #TomaszKokowski #Podniebnakrucjata #TheHighCrusade #JarosławKotarski

Fantastyka:
»Poul Anderson „Podniebna krucjata”«

Dzisiaj (24.03.2026 r.) w serii "Wehikuł czasu" Domu Wydawniczego REBIS ukazuje się książka Poula Andersona "Podniebna krucjata".

https://www.fahrenheit.net.pl/ksiazki/o-ksiazkach/fantastyka/poul-anderson-podniebna-krucjata/

#Fahrenheit_zin #DomWydawniczyRebis #Wehikułczasu #Rebis #AgnieszkaHorzowska #PoulAnderson #SławomirFolkman #IgorMorski #Podniebnakrucjata #TheHighCrusade #JarosławKotarski

Slowly making my way through some fantasy i somehow missed as a kid, got about halfway through the Broken Sword last night, enjoying it. Refreshing some of the older stuff isn't 1100 pages, and i dont need a youtube video to track the 3,000 chars in between releases.
#PoulAnderson

ENSIGN FLANDRY (1978)
Acrylic on illustration board - 26” x 16”

Dominic Flandry debuted in print way back in 1966, a decade before I worked on ACE reprints of the series. Early in my career, I was often paired with established authors like Poul Anderson. 1/4

#scienceficiton #illustration #poulAnderson #dominicflandry #acebooks

The flip sides of using massive force to seize members of governments from abroad are hostage taking of travelling officials or citizens; and assassination of officials and key workers at home.

#SciFi #PoulAnderson wrote of wars of #assassination #Herbert posited something larger in #Dune

The USA has already taken up assassination, in third countries. American citizens are made less safe, and American officials are less safe to be adjacent to wherever they are. As are their advisers.

‘The Broken Sword’ Is A Mythic Tragedy

The Broken Sword (1954/1971) by Poul Anderson is a moving story of epic proportions masterfully told. Anderson skillfully combines Christian traditions and Norse mythologies into a story that diminishes neither. The Broken Sword is heroic fantasy told with literary intent succeding wonderfully.

Elf-earl Imric secretly takes the son of Orm and replaces him with a creature born of the faerie. Imric raises Skafloc as an elf while Orm raises Valgard as a man. Skafloc grows full of strength and goodness while Valgard becomes unruly and wild. Even though they have never met their lives are intertwined.

Valgard, searching for his brother, finds him with a beautiful woman. In a fit of jelousy he slays his brother to make the woman his. The woman reveals the truth of Valgard’s existence, that he is not the son of Orm but of elf and troll. This sets Valgard on a path of revenge.

Word has come to Imric that the trolls across the sea are preparing to make war on the elves. Skafloc, more elf than man, sets sail to attack the trolls before they can complete their plans. Thus begins a war that will determine not only the fate of the Faerie but the world of men.

The events of The Broken Sword take place during the times of the vikings. It is a time when Christianity is beginning to flourish yet there are still those that follow the old gods. Anderson goes further by infusing his world with magic and witchcraft. Without attempting to reconcile either Anderson brings the world of The Broken Sword to visceral life.

Working from his own Danish heritage, Anderson’s style with The Broken Sword is lyrical and poetic. The story has a feel similar to the Norse Eddas at times as Anderson uses short stanzas to tell story and add atmosphere. Modern readers might find this style awkward at first but it quickly becomes part of the flow.

Anderson’s characters develop in a direct way. Like literature of the past the characters’ development happens primarily through their actions. When a character does something this is because it is part of their internal make up. To some this may make the characters somewhat flat. However, this style makes the characters concrete as the characters tend to wear their hearts on their sleeves.

The plot and action of The Broken Sword are powerful. The action is violent and terrifying without being overtly graphic. Events are epic in proportion and demand appropriate responses. Anderson does a marvelous job of painting the action without needless exposition.

Many modern fantasy stories have fairy-tale endings that are meant to comfort the reader. Anderson eshews this completely. He understands that when men deal with gods and giants and magic the result is often terrible. The Broken Sword has more in common with Greek tragedies than modern fantasy and that is refreshing.

Fans of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings will find many elements of The Broken Sword familiar. Anderson and Tolkien both take inspiration from the same sources. However, where Tolkien uses them to draw out his story, Anderson boils them down to their essence. Both approaches are equally valid and both have much to say. And while Anderson’s work is much shorter than Tolkien’s, it’s just as epic in scope.

While The Broken Sword was first published in 1954, the version I read was Anderson’s revised 1971 text. What the differences are between the two I cannot say, however, Anderson claims the changes are due to him being a better writer. I have no doubts the revisions make book better.

The Broken Sword is one of Anderson’s earliest novels. As a work of fantasy it sets an extremely high bar. One that most authors can never hope to achieve. Anderson creates a work that has both literary and enterainment values. This makes The Broken Sword a classic work of fantasy that is must read for all readers regardless of genre.

FLANDRY OF TERRA (1979)
Acrylic on Board - 27 ½" x 16"

This illustration differed from others at the time in that I used models. 1/3

#sciencefiction #sff #scifi #scifiart #illustration #poulanderson #dominicflandry

VALLAND'S SONG (1977)
Acrylic on Illustration Board - 24" x 16"

Probably too dark to be an effective paperback book cover; nevertheless it's an old favorite of mine. 1/3

#sciencefiction #illustration #poulanderson #acebooks

Titelbild von Rudolf Sieber-Lonati für
"Rebellion auf der Venus" von Poul Anderson (The Big Rain)
Übersetzt von Walter Spiegl
Utopia Großband 148, Pabel Verlag April 1961
(AmeS)

#sciencefiction #UtopiaGroßband #PoulAnderson #RSLonati

Born this Day:
Poul William Anderson ( November 25, 1926 – July 31, 2001) was an American fantasy and science fiction author. He won the Hugo Award seven times and the Nebula Award three times. His novel Tau Zero was first published in book form in 1970. It was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1971.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poul_Anderson

#Literature
#SciFi
#Horror
#ScienceFiction
#books
#bookstodon
#coverart
#PoulAnderson

Groups:
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Just finished updating the @norwescon historical archives with a new, high-quality scan of an original 1978 #NWC1 program book autographed by #TheodoreSturgeon, #AlanENourse, #PoulAnderson, #JFBone, #VondaNMcIntyre, #HWarnerMunn, #SydneyJVanScyoc, and #JohnVarley!

https://history.norwescon.org/items/show/1

This is a really neat bit of #Norwescon history, and the first time I'd seen one of these in person. I knew they were small, but I hadn't really realized how small until I got to scan this one in.

Some technical notes: The book was scanned in at 300 dpi, OCR'd and manually corrected for accuracy, and the final PDF is fully tagged for accessibility and verified with PAC as meeting both PDF/UA and WCAG 2.2 standards.

Why does a starship racing to the end of the universe feel more like Love Boat than Battlestar Galactica? Let's look at the paradox in the heart of Poul Anderson's classic Tau Zero.

https://writingintotheblack.com/p/poul-anderson-tau-zero-critique

#scifi #Writing #Bookstodon #PoulAnderson

A little self-promotion: I was asked to write a piece about Seacon 1961, the last #Worldcon held in Seattle, for the @SeattleWorldcon2025 program book. You can find it on pages 120-123 (pp 62-63 of the PDF) if you'd like to read it for yourself (in addition to enjoying all the other excellent work done on this program book)! My thanks to Gordon Eklund for sending me some of his memories, to the Fanac.org folks for all the archiving work they've done that helped me find sources to work from, and to Publications head Kevin Black and program book managing editor Ella Kliger for letting me do this!

Plus! If you're going to be at Seattle Worldcon, this research expanded into a display in our Exhibits Hall all about Seacon 1961, with artifacts from Seacon on display, including the #HugoAward given to #PoulAnderson that year! Stop by and see what we've found! Particular thanks there go to Mary Caroline Cummins at the University of California, Riverside, who has been digging through archival boxes at the university's Eaton collection to curate this exhibit. I'm excited to see it in person!

https://seattlein2025.org/program-and-events/program-book-and-pocket-program/

Adventures in Science Fiction Cover Art: The Flowering Bodies of Attilio Uzzo

• Attilio Uzzo’s cover for the 1973 edition of Michael Moorcock’s The Ice Schooner (1969) (Galassia #163)

If you’ve ever browsed through an Italian SF catalogue, the name that springs out immediately is the fantastic Dutch painter Karel Thole (1914-2000). Thole’s surreal (and often stunning) dominated the Italian visual SF landscape for years and even appeared on a handful of American editions. However, the main Italian SF press Casa Editrice La Tribuna (with its Galassia series) frequently commissioned new artists, often fresh out of art school, for short runs of covers. Galassia played an instrumental role in introducing Italian audiences to the New Wave movement. Issues often contained both translations of English-language authors and original Italian short stories and novels.

Milan-based Italian artist, sculptor, and jeweler, Attilio Uzzo (?) created five covers for the Italian SF magazine Galassia (most of the issues between #159-1976) in 1972. According to The Internet Speculative Fiction Database‘s (potentially incomplete) credits, Uzzo created two additional covers for Casa Editrice La Tribuna‘s Science Fiction Book Club series and one for Dall’Oglio’s SF Andromeda imprint. I’ve included all eight in this post. I could find little about him online. He has an old, and not very helpful, website with a few low-resolution examples of his art and jewelry. And here is a short video about a 1964 gallery exhibit in Milan with Uzzo’s work. In 1992, a book of his art title Attilio Uzzo: Pittore della Lealtà hit print. If anyone can find more information about him, let me know!

As for Uzzo’s art, I highly rate the first three I featured in this post. They depict unusual human bodies morphing/decaying into trees, sprouting alien flowers, arrayed against a background of surreal/flowing and amorphous backgrounds (themselves often evoking the body).

Italian covers were often on the experimental side of the SF art spectrum. The styles changed on a dime. Cover art produced in Italy might be my second favorite country after the United States for the 60s/70s. I appreciate their willingness to commission more surreal than descriptive SF art, commission works from established mainstream artists, and support new artists who often later moved to other more lucrative artistic fields.

Let me know your favorites!

Want to learn more about Italian SF art? I’ve covered the following artists over the years:

• The Cosmic Glimpses of Luciana Tom Matalon
• The Galassia Covers of Allison aka Mariella Anderlini
• Haunting Landscapes and Cityscapes: The 1970s Italian SF Art of Allison aka Mariella Anderlini
• Insectoid Visages and Other Nightmares of Ferruccio Alessandri
• Italian Tanith Lee Covers by Allison (aka Mariella Anderlini)
• Italian Covers for Philip K. Dick’s Novels and Short Story Collections
• Mariella Anderlini’s Covers for Roger Zelazny’s Chronicles of Amber (Corwin) sequence
• The Reddish Figures and Constructing Cities of Alberto Cavallari
• The Surreal Cityscape Covers of Ludovico De Luigi

• Attilio Uzzo’s cover for Mauro Antonio Miglieruolo’s Come ladro di notte (1972) (Galassia #159)

• Attilio Uzzo’s cover art detail for an Italian collection Thomas l’incredulo, Thomas M. Disch (1972) (Galassia #170)

• Attilio Uzzo’s cover for the 1972 Italian edition of Daniel Drode’s Surface de la planète (1959)

• Attilio Uzzo’s cover for the 1972 Italian edition of Theodore Sturgeon’s Venus Plus X (1960)

• Attilio Uzzo’s cover for the 1972 Italian edition of Philip K. Dick’s Our Friends from Frolix 8 (1970)

• Attilio Uzzo’s cover for the 1972 Italian edition of George Dick Lauder’s Our Man for Ganymede (1969) (Galassia #176)

• Attilio Uzzo’s cover for the 1972 Italian edition of Poul Anderson’s Ensign Flandry (1966)

For book reviews consult the INDEX

For cover art posts consult the INDEX

For TV and film reviews consult the INDEX

#1970s #artArtist #AttilioUzzo #avantGarde #DanielDrode #GeorgeDickLauder #italy #MauroAntonioMiglieruolo #michaelMoorcock #paperbacks #philipKDick #poulAnderson #sciFi #scienceFiction #TheodoreSturgeon #ThomasMDisch

This weeks new #videogames, and a couple of new (to me) books from half price books.

#PS4 Shovel Knight and The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim (Which I didn't realize I already owned.)

And The books, Trader to the Stars by Poul Anderson and Whichway books Star Trek Phaser Fight

#ShovelKnight #ElderScrolls #StarTrek #PoulAnderson

Let the Spacemen Beware, by Poul Anderson, starts as the well-worn trope of astronauts discovering a planet full of over-happy people with no fears or competitive spirit, but the sinister truth turns out to be an interesting take.

A 9/10 from me.

The review contains spoilers which are labelled and shepherded towards the end.

https://rdmp.org/dale-mellor/bookblog/?review=let-the-spacemen-beware

@bookstodon #reading #scifi #ScifiReading #books #PoulAnderson #LetTheSpacemenBeware

What pre-1985 science fiction are you reading? + Update No. XX

• A selection of read volumes from my shelves

What pre-1985 science fiction are you reading or planning to read this month? Here’s the January installment of this column (sorry I missed a month).

Before John W. Campbell, Jr. attempted to raise the “standards and thinking in magazine SF,” David Lasser (1902-1996) attempted his own brief (1929-1933) program to improve science fiction as managing editor of Hugo Gernsback’s Science Wonder Stories, Wonder Stories, and Wonder Stories Quarterly. According to Mike Ashley’s The Time Machine: The Story of the Science-Fiction Pulp Magazine from the Beginning to 1950 (2000), Lasser is a “much neglected revolutionary in science fiction” and through his efforts the genre “started to mature” (66).

Ashley highlights Lasser’s letter of instruction mailed to his regular contributors on the 11th of May, 1931, in which he “exhorted them to bring some realism to their fiction” (72). He also outlawed common tropes like the giant insect story and space opera (73). He emphasized the need to focus on characters that “should really be human” — not everything needs to be a “world-sweeping epic” (73). Stories in this vein, according to Ashley, include Clifford D. Simak’s religiously themed “The Voice in the Void” (1932), P. Schuyler Miller and Walter Dennis’ “The Red Spot on Jupiter” (1931) and “The Duel on the Asteroid” (1974), which featured a grim realism and character development (74).

Lasser also seems like a fascinating individual. He wrote the The Conquest of Space (1931), the first “non-fiction English-language book to deal with spaceflight,” was a member Socialist Party, and was elected head of the Workers Alliance of America (a merger of the Socialist Unemployed Leagues and the Communist Unemployment Councils). He also was banned from federal employment by name in legislation passed by the U.S. Congress due to his political connections. President Jimmy Carter sent him a personal letter of apology when he was finally officially cleared as a subversive in 1980!

The Photograph (with links to reviews and brief thoughts)

1. Poul Anderson’s The People of the Wind (1973). I mysteriously adored this one back in 2010… Sometimes my oldest reviews befuddle. I praised Anderson’s refusal to create “monumentally homogeneous societies” yet despaired at its moments of silly and dull battle sequences.
2. Doris Piserchia’s A Billion Days of Earth (1976). The best of Piserchia’s novels I’ve read so far. She was an original voice.
3. Philip José Farmer’s Night of Light (1966)– a fix-up of “Night of Light” (1957). I remember enjoying this Father Carmody tale despite my inability to write a review. As many know, it influenced Jimi Hendrix’s song “Purple Haze” (1967).
4. Robert Silverberg’s collection Needle in a Timestack (1966) contains one of my favorite early Silverberg tales–“The Pain Peddles” (1963).

What am I writing about?

Since my last installment, I’ve posted reviews of Star Science Fiction Stories No. 3, ed. Frederik Pohl (1955) which contained three standout stories: Philip K. Dick’s “Foster, You’re Dead” (1955), Richard Matheson’s “Dance of the Dead” (1955), and Jack Williamson’s “Guinevere for Everybody” (1955). I did not know Williamson was capable of such things. I posted short reviews of two middling (but interesting) novels: Margot Bennett’s The Long Way Back (1954) and Mack Reynolds’ The Earth War (1964).

I compiled a rare Adventures in Science Fiction art post in order to commemorate Rodger B. MacGowan’s passing. Few know his early science-fictional work in Vertex magazine.

Continuing my general interest in science fiction on themes of sexuality and identity, I surveyed an account of the first gay and lesbian-themed SF panel at a Worldcon.

What am I reading?

Makes secret noises. I’m fighting exhaustion on all fronts. I’m struggling to complete projects or stay focused. The only way I get through these spells is to refuse to make plans. This is all for fun! That said, my history reading continues to focus on the working-class experience. See Tobias Higbie’s fascinating book in the previous photo.

A Curated List of SF Birthdays from the Last Two Weeks

March 3rd: Artist Ric Binkley (1921-1968)

March 5th: Author Mike Resnick (1942-2020).

March 5th: Artist Attila Hejja (1955-2007). The master of the blues!

March 6th: Author William F. Nolan (1928-2021). Best known for Logan’s Run (1967).

March 7th: Author Leonard Daventry (1915-1987). Wrote A Man of Double Deed (1965)–which I described as a “dark and grungy tale of polyamory, telepathy, and apocalyptical violence.”

• Tadanoi Yokoo’s cover for the 1979 edition

March 7th: Kobo Abe (1924-1993). Secret Rendezvous (1977, trans. 1979) is one of my favorite SF novels of the 70s. And it received a thematically and visually perfect cover by Tadanoi Yokoo (above).

March 7th: Author Elizabeth Moon (1945-).

March 7th: Author and editor Stanley Schmidt (1944-).

March 9th: Author William F. Temple (1914-1989). Another prolific magazine author whom I’ve not read…

March 9th: Author Manly Banister (1914-1986).

March 9th: Author Pat Murphy (1955-). She left a lovely comment on my review of The Shadow Hunter (1982) recently. I need to fast track my post on her first three published short stories.

• Carlos Ochagavia’s cover for the 1979 edition of John Morressy’s Frostworld and Dreamfire (1977)

March 10th: Artist Carlos Ochagavia (1913-2006). I’ve featured his work here.

March 11th: Author F. M. Busby (1921-2005). Despite missteps like Cage a Man (1973), Busby was capable of some effective introspection — notable “If This is Winnetka, You Must Be Judy” (1974).

March 11th: Author Douglas Adams (1952-2001).

March 12th: Author Harry Harrison (1925-2012). 2025 if finally the year I get to Make Room! Make Room! (1966). Say it with me!

• Diane and Leo Dillon’s cover for Suzette Haden Elgin’s Furthest (1971)

March 13th: Artist Diane Dillon (1933-). One half of the illustrious art partnership of the 60s/70s/80s! Diane created fantastic cover art with her husband Leo. I’m particularly partial to their cover for Suzette Haden Elgin’s Furthest (1971) (above).

March 13th: Author William F. Wu (1951-). With his short stories of the late 70s, Wu is one of the earlier Asian-American SF authors. I need to read his work.

March 14th: Author Mildred Clingerman (1918-1997). Another hole in my SF knowledge… I own her collection A Cupful of Space (1961).

March 16th: Artist Chris Foss (1946-). As I say every year as the fans circle… He’s iconic. He spawned a lot of clones. People love him. He’s not for me.

March 16th: Author P. C. Hodgell (1951-). God Stalk (1982) is supposed to be bizarre.

March 16th: Artist James Warhola (1955-). Best known for his cover for the 1st edition of Gibson’s Neuromancer (1984).

March 17th: James Morrow (1947-).

March 17th: William Gibson (1948-). Very much an author of my youth — I devoured Neuromancer (1984), Virtual Light (1993), Idoru (1996), All Tomorrow’s Parties (1999), Count Zero (1986), the stories in Burning Chrome (1986), and Mona Lisa Overdrive (1988). I haven’t returned to his work in almost two decades.

For book reviews consult the INDEX

For cover art posts consult the INDEX

For TV and film reviews consult the INDEX

#1950s #1960s #1970s #avantGarde #bookReviews #books #dorisPiserchia #fantasy #fiction #paperbacks #PhilipJoséFarmer #poulAnderson #RobertSilverberg #sciFi #scienceFiction #technology

QUESTION AND ANSWER (1977)
Acrylic on Masonite

I love painting aliens, as anyone who knows me and my work can attest. 1/3

#sciencefiction #scifi #scifiart #sff #illustration #poulanderson

@AlgoCompSynth Imagine where we'd be if he'd read Tau Zero instead of whatever Mars pulp he was consuming - Although I guess he'd still hate women.

#SciFi #TaoZero #PoulAnderson #Misoginy #Mars

THE NIGHT FACE (1977)
Acrylic on Illustration Board

Early in my career, Ace commissioned me to reimagine covers for reissued novels by Poul Anderson. 1/3

#sciencefiction #scifi #scifiart #sff #illustration #poulanderson

‘The High Crusade’ Brings High Adventure

The High Crusade (1960) by Poul Anderson is an entertaining story with an unassuming sophistication. At first glance, The High Crusade comes across as merely a pulp story. However, there are layers of complexity that reveal themselves as the story progresses. In the end, The High Crusade is a thrilling and gratifying story from a master of SF.

In the year 1345, a Wersgor ship lands on Earth intending to add the Earth to their vast empire. However, landing in England the Wersgorix are shocked by the skill and ferocity native to the English soldier. With sword, axe, and longbow the English host overwhelms the Wersgorix invaders and captures their spacecraft.

The Baron de Tourneville sees the Wersgor ship as a tool. A tool for his war against the French and a way to free the Holy Land. He will use the ship to lead a crusade against the enemies of King Edward III and England. With the aid of a Wersgor prisoner de Tourneville leads his people onto the ship to begin his crusade. However, the prisoner betrays de Tourneville and sends the ship thousands of light-years to a Wersgor-held planet.

The people of Ansby see two problems. How do they survive on this world and how do they get home? But de Tourneville sees a bigger problem. How can he and his people keep the Wersgorix from returning to Earth and destroying everything they hold dear?

At the outset, the premise of The High Crusade seems absurd. But it’s this very absurdity that draws the reader initially. Then Anderson’s easy-to-read style combined with deft worldbuilding keeps the reader engaged. From then on it’s a breakneck ride to the finish.

Brother Parvas is the narrator of the story. Through Parvas, Anderson intertwines action with church doctrine unifying them into a logical path. Anderson uses the absolute faith in Church dogma as part of the plot.

Set in 1345, everything in life revolves around the Church. This mixture of faith and fear allows Anderson’s characters to continue in the face of overwhelming events. Not in a quiet or introspective way but an absolute surety that puts force into their actions. Anderson shows how belief, any belief, can be harnessed and directed.

Not content with just an action-oriented story, Anderson allows his characters to subtly develop over time. This development allows the plot to grow and expand organically. Plot lines begin to layer until all the glory and ugliness of human behaviour are available.

Taken as a straight-ahead space-faring adventure The High Crusade is perfectly enjoyable. However, by allowing his characters the freedom to be unique, Anderson takes The High Crusade further. Anderson gives all his characters unique goals and motivations. This makes for interesting and devious conflicts to arise.

What makes this all the more incredible is that The High Crusade is a short novel by today’s standards. Like so many authors of the period, Anderson knows how to write compactly without sparing vitality. Anderson’s rich use of language and Latin adds colour and depth to the world he creates.

It is difficult to talk about The High Crusade without gushing a little. It is a book that is often mentioned in passing but rarely given focus. The High Crusade seems to have fallen out of favour among readers and it shouldn’t. It’s the kind of story that can be read for its sheer entertainment value but also has deeper levels if you’re willing to look for them.

I cannot recommend The High Crusade enough. All readers, whether genre fans or not, should give this gem a read. It will only take a couple of hours and it will give more than you put into it. In a world of endless series, The High Crusade shows that a single novel, well executed, has more to offer than endless pages of filler and waste. SF needs to return to novels like The High Crusade.

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#BookReview #PoulAnderson #TheHighCrusade

Virgil Finlay illustrates The Star Beast by Poul Anderson, from Super Science Stories, September 1950. #FinlayFriday

#VirgilFinlay #PoulAnderson #Illustration #Art #Tiger #SF #SFF #ScienceFiction

“Won’t you change?” she asked.
“Oh, yes. I won’t even be able to remember a lot of things I now know. I doubt if even the most intelligent tiger could understand vector analysis. But that won’t matter. I’ll get it back when they restore my human form.”

THE PEREGRINE (1977)
Acrylic on Masonite - 28" x 18"

When I moved to NYC, I staked everything on a letter from Don Wollheim. I worked on paintings for my portfolio and took my first assignments from DAW. Not long after I began to work for Ace Books.

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Short Story Review: Poul Anderson’s “The Troublemakers” (1953)

This is the 20th post in my series of vintage generation ship short fiction reviews. You are welcome to read and discuss along with me as I explore humanity’s visions of generational voyage. And thanks go out to all who have joined already. I also have compiled an extensive index of generation ship SF if you wish to track down my earlier reviews on the topic and any that you might want to read on your own.

Previously: Fred Saberhagen’s “Birthdays” (1976)

Next Up: TBD

• Uncredited cover for Cosmos Science Fiction and Fantasy Magazine, ed. L. B. Cole (September 1953)

3.25/5 (Above Average)

Poul Anderson’s “The Troublemakers” (1953) first appeared in Cosmos Science Fiction and Fantasy Magazine, ed. L. B. Cole (September 1953). You can read it online here.

Anderson’s tale is a fascinating collision of two of my recurring interests in post-WWII science fiction: generation ships and organized labor. Due to my love of Ursula K. Le Guin’s “Paradises Lost” (2002) and Brian W. Aldiss’ Non-Stop (variant title: Starship) (1959), I started a review series on generation ship short fiction in 2019. The series has languished recently as I am running out of pre-1985 depictions of the theme available in English to read. I read Anderson’s vision last year but could not muster a review. However, my recent focus on organized labor caused me to reread Anderson’s account of generational conflict, the working class experience, and the contours of power and government.

“The Troublemakers” ruminates on the type of society that should exist in the intermediary generations between departure and arrival. Some authors speculate that stasis (often achieved via religion or indoctrinating ritual) or decadence (the loss of knowledge about the voyage) would set in the generations after departure from Earth. Anderson, on the other hand, examines the role of deliberate instability to combat stasis and decadence in the grand colonizing scheme. Recommended for diehard fans of the history of generation ship stories (me!) or Poul Anderson completists.

The Nature of the Voyage

The Pioneer, a vast generation ship six miles long and two miles wide, replete with massive parks, hydroponics bays, and entertainment facilities sets off from Earth to Centauri. Only partially constructed in order to give the crew something to do for the first generation, the original crew of 200 hundred men and women is planned to rise to 10k by the time of arrival.1

The story follows the youthful Ensign Evan Friday, a rising officer in the Astrogation caste (“the aristocracy of the aristocracy”), who starts to wonder about the corrupt nature of his world: “Eighty years later, what do we have? An unending succession of tyrannies, revolutions, tensions, hatreds, corruptions—all the social evils which Earth so painfully overcome, reborn between the stars” (3). He’s accused by the Captain and his Council, a representative from each of the major factions, on the “flimsiest tissue of fabrications” (3) of gross misconduct and is stripped of “all title, honor, and privilege” (4). Instead of execution, he’s assigned a common crewman position with the Engineering section (4). He must put aside his snooty elitism and learn to excel in the world of the common laborer. Friday, who yearns for a ship refocused on the grandeur of its mission and cured of its corruption, slowly rises up from the bottom. He befriends fellow workers. He attends union meetings. He watches the demagoguery of the union representative Wilson. He sees how power functions from another perspective.

Eventually, as tensions threaten to explode between different groups, Evan falls in with the rising correlate of the American middle class–small-scale artisans and business owners–who begin to organize their own Guilds. With Evan’s leadership, the Guilds start to flex their muscles and angle for their voice to be heard. And eventually Evan must learn the true shape of things.

Final Thoughts

Due to rise of fascism abroad in the intra-war period, there was a resurgence of interest among psychologists in the validity of crowd psychology.2 In this formulation, the public manifests an opinion that is a “latent disease state, subject to turbulent infection at unpredictable moments.”3 Far from a uniquely foreign occurrence, psychologists on the Homefront identified similarly troubling tendencies.4 Fearful of similar unrest at home, psychologists in the post-WWII moment positioned themselves as the experts needed design “democratic personalities and predict emotional surges in national and international tension.”5 In short, psychologists defended social engineering.

I bring this historical context up as the final conclusion of “The Troublemakers” (1953) directly echoes this sense that psychologists are the guarantees of a more socially progressive and stable future–socially engineering must occur. Anderson’s suspicion of traditional societal organizing institutions and concepts–unions, guilds, class, etc.6–echoes 50s views on the growing centrality of the expert in informing policy. Anderson deliberately ignores mentioning institutional religion. Instead, the idealism of the frontier liminal space that must be conquered takes on an almost religious imperative and forms the ideological thrust of the story. After World War II, psychologists saw themselves as guiding America towards a more democratic future. In parallel, psychologists in Anderson’s story socially engineer a system to contain and encourage particular types of behaviors that will culminate in a generation suitable to colonize.

In addition, Anderson’s take on unions echoes some strands of contemporary 50s criticism. As I’ve discussed at length previously and reproduce here in broad strokes, during the Great Depression there was broad consensus among leftist thinkers that the labor movement would lead to radical change. The Second World War and the economic recovery shattered that consensus.7 They struggled to grapple with an economic system they had expected to collapse and the lack of interest in socialism within American unions. Within unions, the political and social transformation of capitalism became secondary to preserving their organizations and maintaining a harmonious relationship with industry.8 On the right, American corporate powers and their conservative congressional allies unleashed a “propaganda campaign” against the labor movement.9

Where does Poul Anderson fit into this political scenario? Unlike H. Beam Piper’s “Day of the Moron” (1951), Anderson’s story isn’t reactionary or alarmist in a visceral sense despite his critical take on unions. He describes unions (in the story they organize lower class workers) and guilds (described as more middle-class) as an important means to protect against monopolistic oppression. However, unions leaders like Wilson–characterized with crass physical cliches like obesity to indicate his corruption–utilize demagoguery to control the masses. Evan Friday’s coming-of-age sojourn amongst the lower classes does cause him to see Wilson’s manipulation and dismiss the Communist views of many union members. The radical potential of unions will simply lead to more cycles of oppression under a Stalinist dictatorship. Unions might have immediate value in their desire to protect the worker from oppression or advocate for a previously ignored voice but the expert psychologist must channel policy to heal the larger population. Friday leaves with a deep appreciation of the working-class struggle. Anderson positions him as an empathetic leader who will defer to the intellectual elite.

As a literary experience, I’m not convinced of the merit of “The Troublemakers” (1951). As a means to extrapolate from contemporary 50s politics within the distilled world of a generation ship, Anderson provides a fascinating range of political ruminations that ultimately demonstrate his deep distrust of “large, encompassing systems,”10 belief in the dangerous potential of crowd psychology, and skepticism that there is a true political system.11 Anderson conjures a version of a sociological view popularized in 1956 by C. Wright Mills that a “power elite”–a web of industrial, military, and corporate interests–dictates from behind the scenes. Unlike Mills, as long as the power elite are guided by experts who will make sure humans can conquer the new frontier (and minimize human casualties), he’s okay with it.

Notes

1. I found this detail–partial construction–fascinating. While not discussed in detail, the implication is that the crew could complete large sections of the interior to suit their interests and needs over the generations. This gives the opportunity for a laboring class to be firmly entrenched in the ship. ↩︎
2. See Ch. 3, “The Dilemmas of Democratic Morale” of Ellen Herman’s brilliant The Romance of American Psychology: Political Culture in the Age of Experts (1995), 48-81. ↩︎
3. Herman, 55. ↩︎
4. Herman examines numerous psychological studies of the US military. ↩︎
5. Herman, 81. ↩︎
6. There’s substantial scholarship on the image of the American West transposed into the future. For example, Carl Abbott’s Frontiers Past and Future: Science Fiction and the American West (2006), which does not mention Anderson’s story. Anderson’s story is a bog standard, but illuminative, example. If you’re interested in revisionist takes on the West in SF that would enrich Abbott’s take substantially, check out Craig Strete’s corpus of works typified by “When They Find You” (1977) and William Tenn’s “Eastward Ho!” (1958). ↩︎
7. Jeffrey W. Coker’s Confronting American Labor: The New Left Dilemma (2002), 51. ↩︎
8. See Ch. 19, “Retrenchment, Cold War, and Consolidation, 1946-1955,” of Melvyn Dubofsky and Joseph A. McCartin’s Labor in America: A History, 9th edition (2017), 303-320. ↩︎
9. See Elizabeth A. Fones-Wolf’s Selling Free Enterprise: The Business Assault on Labor and Liberalism, 1945-1960 (1994). She describes both a local and a national campaign. ↩︎
10. See Anderson’s obituary for a brief discussion of his politics. ↩︎
11. For more on his politics, check out this interesting article. ↩︎

For book reviews consult the INDEX

For cover art posts consult the INDEX

For TV and film reviews consult the INDEX

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QUESTION AND ANSWER (1977)
Acrylic on Masonite

Early in my career, I had the great privilege of illustrating the work of legends, among them Poul Anderson who shared his thoughts in my first art book WONDERWORKS: 1/5

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DOA (1979)
Acrylic on Illustration Board - 28" x 18"

The history of some paintings is so clouded by the passing time that it takes effort to unravel the origin. Such was the case for this illustration for grandmaster Poul Anderson. 1/4

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Poul Anderson’s 1952 novella Sargasso of Lost Starships is superior-grade complex space opera. With three interstellar civilisations in conflict and no clear-cut good guys and bad guys. High adventure and action plus a twisted love story.

My review: https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2024/07/poul-andersons-sargasso-of-lost.html

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AGENT OF THE TERRAN EMPIRE (1980)
Acrylic on Watercolor Board - 30" x 20"

Cover illustration for the book by Poul Anderson (ACE)

http://www.michaelwhelan.com/galleries/agent-of-terran-empire/

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Apropos my toot the other day about my mom freaking out in the 80s because young me was reading "smut" (science fiction, smutty or not, with lurid paperback covers). This femdom giantess naked-man-in-bondage cover artwork comes from the cover of a 1960 paperback by scifi legend Poul Anderson, who didn't really do smutty:

https://www.erosblog.com/2017/02/24/femdom-giantess-humiliation/

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Poul Anderson's 1960 historical novel The Golden Slave, a roller-coaster ride of action, betrayal and sudden changes in fortune in ancient Rome but with more to it than that. With characters who are not just modern people in historical costume.

My review: https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2024/06/poul-andersons-golden-slave.html

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THE LONG WAY HOME (1978)
Acrylic - 24" x 16"

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THE MAN WHO COUNTS (1977)
Acrylic on Masonite - 30" x 20"

At first glance, tackling the cover art for the reissue of an an old-fashioned SF novel would seem like a boring job for a new illustrator hot to conquer the field, but I looked at reissues as a challenge. I had to outdo whatever was on the original cover so that a new generation of readers would buy it. 1/3

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