BAEN BOOKS deserves praise for reprinting Poul Anderson’s tales of the Psychotechnic League. Several science fiction writers have developed Future Histories. Robert Heinlein and Isaac Asimov clearly influenced Poul Anderson in his construction of his Future History in these Psychotechnic League stories. Anderson projects a Third World War that sends humanity into the Second Dark Ages. Out of the ashes, the Psychotechnic Institute tries to protect civilization with its advanced social science. Volume 3 of The Complete Psychotechnic League collects four short stories never included in previous collections. My review of Volume 1 can be found here and my review of Volume 2 can be found here. If you’re a fan of classic SF, I highly recommend The Complete Psychotechnic League. GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Forward by Sandra Miesel 1
The Acolytes (WORLDS BEYOND, 1951) 3
The Green Thumb (SCIENCE FICTION QUARTERLY, 1953) 21
Virgin Planet (VENTURE, 1957) 43
Teucan (COSMOS SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY, 1954) 115
The Pirate (ANALOG, 1968) 137
Entity (ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION, 1949) 167
Symmetry (aka, “The Stranger Was Himself,” FANTASTIC UNIVERSE, 1954) 183
The Chapter Ends (DYNAMIC SCIENCE FICTION, 1953) 195
Chronology of Future 217
Don’t remember reading any of these stories. I remember reading Brain Wave, The High Crusade, Three Hearts and Three Lions and The Broken Sword and shorter fiction like No Truce For Kings. I liked them at the time. I was upset with him supporting the Vietnam war and that may have encouraged me to not read him but that is so long ago I don’t really remember.
Maybe I’ll see if the library has anything by him.
Steve, one of the first Science Fiction books I read as a kid was Poul Anderson’s VAULT OF THE AGES. It sure shocked this 10-year-old!
I’m glad Baen is continuing to do these collections so you can easily get everything in one place. Nice job.
Jeff, I’m surprised BAEN BOOKS continues to prosper by packaging so much of this material from the 1950s and 1960s! You would think the audience for this old stuff would be shrinking.
Especially since B&N in my area anyway does not carry these.
Steve, our Barnes & Nobles sell a lot of crap. The books are shoved into the back of their stores. I buy 80% of my books from AMAZON.
I figured you’d bet me to it. I started it, but then some things came in from the library and it’s sitting here with a book mark in it. I’ll get back to it soon. As for the “collects four short stories never included in previous collections”, not even in the seven-volume NESFA collections?
@Steve: I’ve always tried to keep the art (in this case the writing) separate from the artist (in this case Anderson). He writes terrific sf and fantasy.
Rick, some of the stories in THE COMPLETE PSYCHOTECHNIC LEAGUE: VOLUME 3 come from some pretty obscure sources.
that was supposed to be “you’d beat me to it”. Grrr.
Great cover. Reminds me of the old days.
Jim, BAEN BOOKS uses a lot of retro artwork on their book covers. They’re designed to look like they’re from the 1950s or 1960s.
From this series I only remember UN-Man which for me ( if I’m correct) was the first story about cloning.
As a young man I found Anderson’s later political ideas a bit strange, just like Heinlein’s – and I still do!
Wolf, the politics of SF writers could be an interesting (and controversial!). Poul Anderson’s stories and books introduced a lot of technology that we take for granted today.