Poul Anderson was by any measure one of the
dominant figures in American science fiction, a
prolific writer who produced mystery novels, historical fiction, nonfiction, and fantasies in addition
to a very large body of consistently high-quality
science fiction. His background in physics lent his
stories a strong and accurate scientific content but
he was also noted for skillful characterization and a
deceptively transparent literary style. His first
novel, Vault of the Ages (1952), is a postnuclearwar story intended for young adults but which attracted considerable attention from adult
audiences. His first adult novel, Brain Wave
(1954), marked him as one of the most promising
new writers to emerge in that decade, and is still
regarded as a classic. Earth emerges from a previously unsuspected interstellar inhibitor field, after
which intelligence rises across the board, raising
humans to genius level, and many lower animals to
sentience. Contrary to expectations, the consequences are not universally beneficial.
Anderson established himself in the early
1950s as a major short story writer, producing several stories now regarded as classics, including
“SAM HALL,” “Delenda Est,” and “The Immortal
Game,” and introducing several series that he
would continue to expand throughout much of his
career. These included the Time Patrol series, in
which an organization of agents moves through
time to prevent rogue time travelers from altering
the original course of history; the Polesotechnic
League series, which follows the adventures of interstellar traders and their experiences on various
planets; the FLANDRY SERIES, in which a secret
agent for a decaying galactic empire seeks to
delay if not prevent its eventual collapse; and the
Hoka series, coauthored with Gordon R. DICKSON,
which tells of the exploits of a race of teddy bearish
aliens who emulate human culture with hilarious
consequences.
Most of the novels from this period all share a
similar if not common universe—one in which humans have settled numerous planets, each of
which has become a semi-isolated culture, visited
infrequently by star travelers who have evolved an
entirely separate social structure. No World of Their
Own (1955) and Star Ways (1956) are typical, each
describing the upheavals caused by the occasional
contacts between differing cultures. Anderson
quickly became more comfortable with the longer
form, and The Man Who Counts (1958, also published as War of the Wingmen), a planetary adventure, remains one of his most successful works.
Anderson closed the 1950s with a succession
of superior short stories and novels that were either unabashed melodramas, such as Earthman, Go
Home! (1960) and Mayday Orbit (1960), or serious
and thoughtful works, as was the case with The
Enemy Stars (1958), in which a crew of humans are
trapped aboard a starship with malfunctioning
equipment, or The HIGH CRUSADE, in which technologically advanced aliens kidnap a group of humans from medieval Earth, only to have the tables
reversed when human ingenuity proves their undoing. His first collection of shorts, Guardians of Time
(1960), brought together four of his Time Patrol
stories. These have been imitated many times
since, but their plausibility and historical accuracy
have never been surpassed.
During the 1960s, Anderson varied the
themes in his novels more widely but never abandoned his view of human destiny, the colonization
of the Galaxy, although the reach of his settings
was reduced to make them Earth-centric. Unknown aliens destroy the Earth in After Doomsday
(1962), and the surviving humans must identify
the race responsible in order to retaliate. Shortsighted officials in a planetary government unwisely disarm in the face of an alien threat in The
Star Fox (1965), but one man recognizes the peril
and acts on his own, a theme that repeats itself frequently throughout Anderson’s work. In Shield
(1963), for example, the inventor of a force field
resists efforts by the government to suppress his
discovery. The 1960s also saw a steady stream of
superior shorter work, some of it award winning,
including “NO TRUCE WITH KINGS,” “Kings Who
Die,” “The Sharing of Flesh,” and “The Troubletwisters.”
Although he continued to write Time Patrol
stories, Anderson’s The Corridors of Time (1965)
approached the concept of Change Wars from a
different perspective, concentrating more on the
people involved than on the events they affect.
World Without Stars (1966) is an effective first
contact story, and Ensign Flandry (1966), a prequel
to the earlier Flandry stories, was the first to use
that setting for more than a superficial adventure.
This was followed by two substantial sequels, A
Circus of Hells (1969) and Rebel Worlds (1969),
which established Flandry as one of the more
popular recurring genre characters. Anderson’s
most significant novel during this period was Tau
Zero (1967), in which an experimental starship
finds itself outside the bounds of known space
and time and witness to the death and rebirth of
the universe.
With his reputation firmly established in the
1970s, Anderson began assembling his short fiction
as a series of collections. His subsequent novels
were, in general, more controlled and thoughtful,
although perhaps missing the brash enthusiasm of
his earlier years. Byworlder (1971) describes the
first visit to Earth by an alien, and the humans’ difficulty in interpreting his purpose and intentions.
The Dancer from Atlantis (1971) and There Will Be
Time (1972) are entertaining but routine time
travel stories. The People of the Wind (1973) and
The Day of Their Return (1973) are both otherworld adventures set in the same universe as the
Flandry stories but lacking their scope and enthusiasm. A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows (1974), a
Flandry story, recaptures much of the flamboyance
of the original, although here Flandry is an older,
wiser, and less impulsive man. Fire Time (1975),
the tale of a race of intelligent centaurs caught between forces they can barely understand, let alone
control, is Anderson’s most successful novel from
this period. He also wrote several topnotch short
stories, the most notable of which are “The QUEEN
OF AIR AND DARKNESS” and GOAT SONG.
During the late 1970s, Anderson turned increasingly to fantasy, while several collections of
his older short fiction were appearing. Straddling
the borderline between SF and fantasy was A Midsummer Tempest (1974), a deceptively quiet novel
about a tavern that exists outside normal space
and time, serving as a gathering place for people
from various eras and alternate histories and, in
some cases, for nonhuman visitors as well. His next
major science fiction consisted of Maurai and Kith
(1982) and Orion Shall Rise (1983), the first a collection of related stories about the emergence of
Polynesia as a major power after a nuclear war destroys the more technologically advanced nations,
the second a novel-length sequel in which New
Zealand begins to expand its influence over the
ravaged world. The best shorter work from this period includes “Hunter’s Moon” and “The Saturn
Game.”
Flandry returned to thwart another rebellious
planetary ruler in The Game of Empire (1985), but
neither the character nor the author seemed very
excited about the prospect of saving the empire for
another year. The Boat of a Million Years (1989) reveals the secret of a race of immortals who have
been living hidden among the rest of us. As human
society becomes more centralized and repressive,
the immortals decide to abandon the planet of
their birth and seek freedom among the stars. Although entertainingly told, the novel occasionally
lapses into the didacticism that recurs frequently in
Anderson’s later novels.
This didacticism is particularly evident in the
Anson Guthrie series, which openly emulates the
work of Robert A. HEINLEIN. The series consists of
Harvest of Stars (1993), The Stars Are Also Free
(1994), Harvest the Fire (1995), and The Fleet of
Stars (1997). Guthrie is a libertarian who rebels
against the strictures of a despotic Earth government that increasingly micromanages individual
lives. As the series progresses, the conflict grows,
with shortsighted ecologists opposing technological
changes and the government ceding its authority to
banks of supercomputers. Guthrie eventually
leads an exodus to the stars, then returns on a visit
to find Earth hopelessly introverted. Anderson
addresses important issues in the series but lapses
into lectures that interrupt the story flow, and the
characters opposed to Guthrie are one-dimensional
and unconvincing caricatures.
Starfarers (1998) recaptures much of the sense
of wonder found in Anderson’s earliest work.
Using technology gained from radio signals from
an alien race, humans launch their first starship
and make a surprising discovery. Genesis (2000) explores some of the same themes as those in the
Anson Guthrie series, but without the distracting
political commentary. Anderson’s last novel, For
Love and Glory (2003), is a well-told story about
the discovery of an alien technology and the struggle for control that ensues. Although the later
novels generally lack the originality and sharpness
of his earlier work, Anderson produced so many
classics at every length that his place as a leading
writer in the genre is certainly assured.