# Poul Anderson **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 22, 2009, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poul-anderson/503816 "2009-07-22T02:46:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poul-anderson/503816/1 "2009-07-22T02:46:38Z")
I have a Dominic Flandry novel on my Palm pilot and have been reading for a couple of days. I became interested in one of my favorite authors, and Googling him today, July 21, discovered that he died July 21 2001. I understand he created a history to follow in his writing. Is there a copy of it somewhere? I don’t remember Emperor Hans Flandry is dealing with . ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poul-anderson/503816/2 "2009-07-22T07:44:08Z")
I know nothing about Anderson creating a consistent “future history.” And I just looked at his Wikipedia page… which says he died on July 31, 2001. And jeez, the Wiki page shows he was a prolific guy. I’ve only read 10 or 12 things by him. He did some fine writing. His early fantasy books were excellent (_Three Hearts and Three Lions, The Broken Sword_) And I thought he did an outstanding job channeling Shakespeare in _A Midsummer Tempest_. Of course he also handled hard science exceptionally well. A major talent. OTOH, the political commentary I read by him (fanzine essays) struck me as pretty silly. I’m liberal, but I’ve read convincing conservative commentary… and Anderson’s didn’t work for me. On occasion he would submit his artwork to fanzines (the pieces I saw where mythologically themed) and it was a bad as his fiction was good. In fact, the art was so bad that it was kind of endearing. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poul-anderson/503816/3 "2009-07-22T07:59:56Z")
> [@Baal\_Houtham](#): > > I know nothing about Anderson creating a consistent “future history.” And I just looked at his Wikipedia page… which says he died on July 31, 2001. I believe the future history in question is the “Technic History”, mentioned on that [Wiki page](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poul_Anderson#Technic_History). ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2009, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poul-anderson/503816/4 "2009-07-25T15:28:04Z")
> [@Baal\_Houtham](#): > > I know nothing about Anderson creating a consistent “future history.” And I just looked at his Wikipedia page… which says he died on July 31, 2001. > > He did some fine writing. His early fantasy books were excellent (_Three Hearts and Three Lions, The Broken Sword_) And I thought he did an outstanding job channeling Shakespeare in _A Midsummer Tempest_. > > . Loved The Broken Sword to death,Three Hearts not so much. A long time since I’ve read his stuff but always found his SF excellent. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2009, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poul-anderson/503816/5 "2009-07-25T17:46:41Z")
I’ve always confused Poul Anderson with Piers Anthony. (Never read any novels by the former; only short stories in anthologies.) ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2009, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poul-anderson/503816/6 "2009-07-25T19:26:57Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > I’ve always confused Poul Anderson with Piers Anthony. (Never read any novels by the former; only short stories in anthologies.) This is somewhat equivalent to confusing Ogier the Dane from the Charlemagne saga with Chester the Molester from the Hustler cartoons. 😛 > [@Der Trihs](#): > > I believe the future history in question is the “Technic History”, mentioned on that Wiki page. The "Technic History " future history includes the Polesotechnic League/VanRijn-Falkayn and Flandry novels and story collections on that list (note that due to formatting issues, other novels in the same history appear to be grouped in one of those two categories). There is a rather good essay included in some editions of _A Stone in Heaven_ that details the history and analyzes Flandry’s career. Regarding the Empire: Following the disintergration of the Polesotechnic League and the fall of Earth to high-tech aliens with a “barbarian”-style culture, one Manuel Argos led a slave revolt, eventually becoming the first Emperor. By Flandry’s time the Empire has become not only institutionalized but bureaucratized into near inability to react adequately. A Marcus-Aurelius-style Emperor on the throne in Flandry’s youth is succeeded by his dissolute son Josip (who is eventually assassinated or otherwise overthrown, I don’t remember which), and the empire consolidated by Hans Molitor and his sons – events in which Flandry is somewhat involved. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2009, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poul-anderson/503816/7 "2009-07-25T19:30:42Z")
> [@](#): > > I’ve always confused Poul Anderson with Piers Anthony. (Never read any novels by the former; only short stories in anthologies.) Ew, fortunately I’ve never made that mistake. Myself, I always confuse him with Fredrick Pohl, owing to the similarities of the name (Poul vs. Pohl, not Anderson with Fredrick). ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2009, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poul-anderson/503816/8 "2009-07-25T19:52:06Z")
About three years before he died, I had a brief correspondence with Anderson after I’d sent him a copy of a Sherlock Holmes pastiche I’d written. He was very funny and encouraging. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2009, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poul-anderson/503816/9 "2009-07-25T21:58:45Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > Regarding the Empire: > > Following the disintergration of the Polesotechnic League and the fall of Earth to high-tech aliens with a “barbarian”-style culture, one Manuel Argos led a slave revolt, eventually becoming the first Emperor. By Flandry’s time the Empire has become not only institutionalized but bureaucratized into near inability to react adequately. A Marcus-Aurelius-style Emperor on the throne in Flandry’s youth is succeeded by his dissolute son Josip (who is eventually assassinated or otherwise overthrown, I don’t remember which), and the empire consolidated by Hans Molitor and his sons – events in which Flandry is somewhat involved. I remember those two as well as a revolt Flandry helped to foil. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2009, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poul-anderson/503816/10 "2009-07-25T23:48:01Z")
Anderson holds a special place in my heart - when I was a 7th grader, the school librarian gave me three brand new Anderson paperbacks, because the school library had ordered them and only after they arrived, had discovered that they already had those novels, under different titles. Thirty years later, I still have “Question and Answer” (previously called “Planet of No Return”), “The Man Who Counts” (previously “War of the Wing-Men” and “World without Stars” (don’t know what the title was). When Anderson died in 2001, I sent a condolence note to the SF writer, Greg Bear who was Anderson’s son-in-law (I happened to have Bear’s email address)