The Epic Science Fiction & Fantasy of Poul Anderson, Part Two: Flandry of Terra and 7 Conquests
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The Ace Flandry editions by Poul Anderson: Ensign Flandry, Agent of the Terran Empire, and
Flandry of Terra (Ace Books, February 1979, January 1980, July 1979). Covers by Michael Whelan
Read Part One of this article here.
I’ve never read a Poul Anderson book or story I didn’t like, although certainly I have my favorites. The first book I remember reading by him was 7 Conquests (cover art by Emanuel Schongut; see below), a collection of 7 short stories. I was about 14 and in awe of his language, and there’s still a scene in one story that titillates my daydreams even now.
Next, I started reading Anderson’s Flandry of Terra series, about an intelligence officer for the Terran Empire named Dominic Flandry. Flandry is very much a James Bond kind of character, with a fair amount of anti-hero in his makeup, but I loved these tales, which I’d primarily categorize as Space Opera.
The novels in this series are:
1. Ensign Flandry (1966; my copy is ACE 1979, cover Michael Whelan)
2. A Circus of Hells (Signet 1970, cover uncredited)
3. The Rebel Worlds (Signet 1969, cover uncredited)
4. A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows (1974, not shown above; my copy is Nelson Doubleday/SFBC, cover by Chet Jezierski )
5. A Stone in Heaven (Ace 1979, cover by Whelan, Illustrations by Esteban Moroto)
6. The Game of Empire (Baen 1985, cover Victoria Poyser)
There are also two collections containing Flandry short stories, Agent of the Terran Empire (1965. My copy is ACE 1980, cover Whelan) and Flandry of Terra (1965; my copy is ACE 1979, cover Whelan). They’re shown at the top.
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Swordsmen in the Sky (Ace, 1964). Cover by Frank Frazetta
Around this same time, I discovered an anthology I’ve talked about here before called Swordsmen in the Sky (Frazetta cover), which contained a long story by Anderson called “Swordsman of Lost Terra” (1951). This tale was unabashed fantasy full of headlong action and exotic characters and settings.
Although it takes place on a far distant future Earth after a cataclysm, and so is not technically Sword & Planet, it definitely has the feel. And Anderson’s narrative drive keeps the story moving at a headlong pace, much like ERB’s Barsoom stories, which were an influence on Anderson’s work.
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The Broken Sword (Del Rey, November 1981). Cover by Boris Vallejo
I also discovered Anderson’s The Broken Sword (Boris Vallejo cover), which is one of my favorite novels of all time. It’s the story of a human child named Skafloc, who is taken by elves as a babe and replaced with a changeling.
The tale is grim and yet has a beautiful love story at its heart. The prose is gorgeous and very reminiscent of the northern eddas. It isn’t often mentioned as an influence on the fantasy field alongside Tolkien and Howard, but it deserves to be.
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Seven Conquests: An Adventure in Science Fiction (Macmillan, March 31, 1969). Cover by Emanuel Schongut
The Epic Science Fiction & Fantasy of Poul Anderson continues in:
Part One: The Last Viking trilogy
Part Two: Flandry of Terra and 7 Conquests
Part Three: The Broken Sword, Hrolf Kraki’s Saga, and Conan
Part Four: The High Crusade, Three Hearts and Three Lions, and The Queen of Air and Darkness
Charles Gramlich administers The Swords & Planet League group on Facebook, where this post first appeared. His last article for us was Part One of The Epic Science Fiction & Fantasy of Poul Anderson. See all of his recent posts for Black Gate here.
My most significant Poul Anderson discovery was The Earth Book of Stormgate (1978), which collected a lot of the Nicholas Van Rijn/David Falkayn stories set in the Polesotechnic League era (25th century CE), along with related stories. That led me to binge one summer on all the Polesotechnic League collections and novels (which, fortunately, were available at my local library, at least up through 1980).
I never found anything similar for Dominic Flandry, so I am way more spotty with my Flandry acquaintance.
I have the Earthbook of Stormgate. The Van Rijn stories are fun but Flandry was more memorable to me
I’m a fan of his The Broken Sword. Not sure how it did it or if its just how I interpedated it, but it just felt more like the retelling of a myth.
I just happened to pick a copy of Ensign Flandry a few weeks ago like the one you have pictured here. Looking forward to the articles to come.
Broken sword is in my top 5 fantasy books of all time.
I found The Game of Empire a complete disappointment, as it’s basically just Rudyard Kipling’s Kim with a different setting. Nowhere is it noted in the book. It would have been more palatable had Anderson acknowledged he was writing some sort of tribute, but … he wasn’t. Just rewriting Kipling and not saying anything, like he assumed no one would notice. Maybe he did acknowledge it elsewhere, I don’t know. It all comes across as sneaky and underhanded, and completely beneath the wonderful writer he could be and (usually) was. Anderson even ripped off the wording of Kipling’s final sentence.
I don’t know that he discussed the Kipling connection. I do remember that book being much weaker than the others to me. I had a feeling in the last couple of books that he had written all he wanted to say about the character and was going through the motions.
Like his good friend Jack Vance, I’d say Anderson is one of the most underappreciated F/SF writers of his era. I need to look into the Flandry series, having enjoyed several of his stand-alones, including ‘The Broken Sword.’ FWIW, I still fondly recall one of my ‘Golden Age of SF’ (13, right?) faves, ‘The High Crusade’.
Yes, High Crusade is great fun.
You made me want to try the Flandry series. But they’re not on Kindle (?!?!) and aren’t even in print right now. How can that be? How hard is it for a publisher to just upload the text to Kindle and sit back and make money? (Shakes head in frustration.)
I didn’t even realize they weren’t in print. Sounds like Todd knows about some ebooks below.
The 7 Baen collections of Van Rijn, Falkayn and Flandry tales are ALL available as Kindle books on Amazon for seven bucks a pop.
Cool. Thanks for the information. Sounds a little high for ebooks but I have most of those already in paperback or hardback.