A Stone in Heaven, by Poul Anderson

Rating: 3
Pages: 234

Here's a Flandry book with a twist: Dominic ends up with the girl. That is fitting; in A Stone in Heaven, Admiral Flandry is older, wiser, and less callous in his treatment of others.

But he's still Dominic Flandry, saviour of the Terran Empire. This time, the mystery is on Ramnu, a cold heavy planet where Miriam "Banner" Abrams is studying the sapient autochthons. Ramnu is entering an ice age that will kill the natives. Banner appeals to the Duke of Hermes to save the Ramnuans. He refuses.

His refusal is unexpected; the cost would be little, and the public relations gain would be significant. Even curiouser: the Duke goes to extraordinary lengths to prevent Banner from appealing directly to the Emperor.

Banner appeals to Admiral Dominic Flandry for help. Flandry suspects the Duke, Edwin Cairncross, is plotting to overthrow the Emperor. Ramnu holds the only evidence, so Flandry and Banner sneak off to the planet to gather what information they can. There they are aided by the Ramnuan natives, most particularly by Yewwl, the Ramnuan female that Banner has developed a close friendship with.

A Stone in Heaven is one of the better Flandry books. Poul Anderson has developed one of his most alien races. The Ramnuans are unlike any human culture. Unlike some of his other books, where Anderson's aliens are modeled on human cultures, these aliens are unique.

My copy of A Stone in Heaven is massively illustrated by Esteban Moroto. There are nearly a hundred black-and-white line drawings. Sadly, there isn't much you can do with black-and-white. Many of the drawings are unrecognizable blobs. Grayscale pencil drawings would have been better, but the printing costs would have been prohibitive for a mass market paperback.

The book also contains an essay by Sandra Meisel entitled The Price of Buying Time. It explores the fall of the Terran Empire, and examines the Empire's clash with Merseia, and draws parallels to Earth history.

Agent of the Terran Empire, by Poul Anderson

Pages: 282

The best part of Agent of the Terran Empire is the afterward by Sandra Meisel.

• Tiger by the Tail: Flandry is kidnapped by the Scothani, an upstart empire with ambitions of ruling the galaxy; Flandry manipulates the Scothani factions and turns them against each other before they can mount an effective strike against the Terran Empire.


• The Warriors From Nowhere: An unidentified raiding party attacks Fort Lone on Varrack, and kidnaps Her Highness Lady Morgan, granddaughter of the Emperor. The clues point to Merseia, but Flandry suspects Duke Alfred of Tauria.


• Honorable Enemies: Flandry meets his match in Aycharaych, an alien sapient who can read minds. To defeat him, Flandry's consort Aline tricks him into believing the Empire is planning to occupy Betelgeuse, goading Aycharaych into taking premature action.


• Hunters of the Sky Cave: A mysterious fleet besieges the planet Vixen. The obvious clues implicate the Ymirites, although the hydrogen-breathers have no reason to concern themselves with oxygen-based races. Flandry travels to Vixen, runs the blockade, and works to infiltrate the alien organization and discover who is behind the well-timed attack on the Empire.


• Lurex and Gold: Poul Anderson's Dominic Flandry Series, by Sandra Meisel: A broad overview of one of the greatest SF series of all time.

A Circus of Hells, by Poul Anderson

Rating: 3
Pages: 160

A Circus of Hells is a schizophrenic book. It's part of Poul Anderson's Flandy series, so it follows Dominic Flandry on one of his rip-roaring adventures. The first half of the book is about a shady side-deal Flandry undertakes. While on an official Imperial scouting mission, Flandry takes a couple of weeks to explore Wayland, an abandoned planet that Flandry's underworld employers think can net them a huge payoff--if somebody can just verify that it's worth mounting a full scale expedition. Flandry verifies that Wayland is a treasure mine of valuable ore--and is promptly sold out to the Merseians by his partner. The rest of the book concerns Flandry's escape from Merseian captivity. The Wayland plot strand is dropped completely.

Flandry's partner is Djana, the proverbial prostitute with the heart of gold. She sold Flandry out because she was forced into it by Merseian agents. Flandry doesn't hold this against her. Both are taken to a secret Merseian base deep within Imperial territory, where Flandry busies himself helping the Merseians to study the autochthonous life forms, and Djana works with a Merseian to develop her latent mental powers. Flandry knows he must escape, and he watches and learns and plots and waits for the perfect opportunity.

Poul Anderson is a libertarian. Themes of personal liberty and responsibility permeate his books. I didn't realize it until recently, but he influenced my own political views. I read his books as a kid. I invariably agree with the messages that Anderson's books give, although I can't condone the hedonistic lifestyle of his heroes.

So I was surprised when A Circus of Hells presents a very un-libertarian view at its conclusion.

[Djana and Flandry have escaped Merseian captivity, with the help of Djana's newfound mental powers. Djana expresses sadness that they will soon be separated.]
[Flandry said:] "You've proven you're tough and smart, not to mention beautiful and charming. On top of that, there's this practically unique wild talent of yours. And Ydwyr wouldn't be hard to convince you've zigzagged back to him. Our Navy Intelligence will jump for joy to have you, after I pass word along the channels open to me. We'd see each other often, I daresay, perhaps even now and then we'd work together...why, even if they get you into Roidhunate as a double agent--"
He stopped. Horror confronted him.
"What...what's the matter?" he faltered.
Her lips moved several times before she could speak. Her eyes stayed dry and hard gone pale, as if a flame had passed behind them. There was no hue at all in her face.
"You too," she got out.
"Huh? I don't--"
She checked him by lifting a hand. "Everybody," she said, "as far back as I can remember. Ending with Ydwyr, and now you."
"What in cosmos?"
"Using me." Her tone was flat, not loud in the least. She stared past him. "You know," she said, "the funny part is, I wanted to be used. I wanted to give, serve, help, belong to somebody . . . But you only saw a tool. A thing. Every one of you."

I don't know about you, but I find few things as noble and filled with purpose than using one's skills and talents to earn a living. Djana is wrong to think that using her talent in willing service is the same as being used like a tool. It gets Poul Anderson out of a tight spot by getting rid of Djana, thus leaving Flandry free to womanize in the sequels, but it's not in keeping with his values.

Ensign Flandry, by Poul Anderson

Rating: 3
Pages: 224

The Terran Empire is a galactic superpower. So is the Merseian Empire. An uneasy truce has held for years. Now, events on the planet Starkad may change everything. Both the Terrans and the Merseians have established bases on Starkad, and are arming the two local races against each other The Terrans support the Tigeries, the Merseians support the seatrolls.

The conflict is low-grade, as neither side dares escalate the conflict into a full-scale war. The Merseians keep pushing the limits, though, refusing to back down even though Starkad is of no conceivable strategic purpose. Young Ensign Flandry, fresh out of the academy, goes with a diplomatic delegation to Merseia to discuss the Starkad conflict and hopefully reach a settlement.

But there is no settlement. The Merseians are stalling for time. There is something they want on Starkad, and Flandry must find out what it is. Flandry finally discovers the secret, but he is caught in the act. Now he must escape from Merseia and make his way back to a Terran planet to carry the vital news that could mean the survival of the entire Terran Empire.

Problems with this book

• The first 120 pages are dull as dirt.


• The pages are falling out.


• My 1967 Lancer paperback edition is riddled with typos. A typo or two is understandable; they didn't have computers in 1967. But there is no excuse for shoddy work.


• Anderson uses unnatural word order. Combined with the numerous typos, this made parts of the text incomprehensible.

Flandry of Terra, by Poul Anderson

Pages: 291

All three of the stories in Flandry of Terra showcase Anderson's trademark setting: a technologically primitive planet in a highly advanced interstellar empire. Dominic Flandry, agent of the Terran Empire, operates within the limits imposed by the local technology, relying on his ingenuity to survive. As always, the inhabitants of Anderson's backwater planets are neither barbaric nor uneducated; they are sophisticated and intelligent--they just happen to live in a "rural" part of the galaxy.

I also noticed that Anderson loves to throw Indonesian cultural references into his stories. Most of the people and places in The Plague of Masters have Indonesian names, because the planet (Unan Besar) was colonized by Indonesians from the planet of New Djawa. But besides Indonesian names and a few references to gamelan, batik, and other Indonesian art forms, didn't notice the culture being particularly Indonesian. It's a Western culture dressed up with Indonesian trappings. Still, I appreciate the effort. Most writers don't even try to write from anything other than an American perspective.

• The Game of Glory: Flandry roots out a Merseian plot to arm a local rebellion on the water planet of Nyanza.


• A Message in Secret: Stuck on a backwards planet and running from the local authorities, Flandry needs to find a way to get a message to the Emperium.


• The Plague of Masters: Flandry foments revolution on a planet whose inhabitants need regular doses of medication to prevent the native microbes from killing them--medication which the ruling class sells at exorbitant rates.