Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Multiverse: Exploring Poul Anderson’s Worlds - Greg Bear and Gardner Dozois (editors)

Multiverse: Exploring Poul Anderson’s Worlds
Greg Bear and Gardner Dozois (editors)
Baen, Jun 2 2015, $15.00
ISBN: 9781476780597

This excellent anthology achieves its objective of paying homage to one of the great twentieth century speculative fiction writers whose works crossed into science fiction, fantasy and a combo.  Well written earnest essays like those authored by his widow Karen Anderson on how they met at an early 1950s convention and his son-in-law Greg Bear on entering his life through marrying his daughter humanize the late grandmaster.  Thirteen short stories provide readers with a return to Mr. Anderson’s myriad of mesmerizing worlds.  I enjoyed the Anderson realms starting with a visit to Hugo Award winning “The Queen of Air and Darkness” (see “Outmoded Things” by Nancy Kress and “The Fey of Cloudmoor” by Terry Brooks); and accompanying the Time Patrol (see “A Slip in Time” by S. M. Stirling and “Christmas in Gondwanaland” by Robert Silverberg).  My personal favorite is Eric Flint’s “Operation Xibalba” with its dissimilar tone from the other entries but like the rest honors Mr. Anderson. 


Harriet Klausner

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