The fight for Tharixan comprises the whole of Part 2. His goal is to take the fight to the enemy before more come to Earth. Sir Roger, realizing that the repelled spacers represented only a scouting contingent, seizes their vessel and takes his entire barony on a trip to the nearby Wersgorix colony, Tharixan. The set-up is ridiculous, and smacks of Cambellian Earth-First-ism: a crew of alien invaders visit 14th Century England, bent on adding Earth to the sprawling galactic imperium of the Wersgorix, only to be defeated by the retainers of the canny Baron, Sir Roger de Tourneville. His latest novel is excellent, far better than it has any right to be. And then, about a year ago, he started writing good stuff again. I was captivated by his early novel, Brain Wave, and generally disappointed by most of his output since. This month’s issue, the September 1960 Analog, contains the conclusion to Poul Anderson’s The High Crusade, and it continues this winning streak.Īnderson is an author with whom I’ve had a rather stormy relationship… a one-sided one, of course. On the other hand, at least since last year, Analog has reliably produced a number of good serial novels that have elevated the overall quality of the magazine. There seem to be about five or six authors in Analog‘s stable, and they are not the most inspiring lot. This can be attributed largely to Editor John Campbell’s rather outdated and quirky preferences when it comes to story selection. Analog (formerly Astounding) has tended to be the weak sister of the Big Three science fiction digests.
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