Dominic Flandry - Agente dell'Impero Terrestre

Flandry #5

by Poul Anderson

Poul Anderson è autore di due cicli tra i più famosi e affascinanti d tutte la fantascienza: quello di Nicholas van Rjin e dei mercanti delle stelle, e quello di Dominic Flandry, agente dell’impero terrestre.
Dopo aver presentato ai nostri lettori il primo di questi cicli, siamo orgogliosi di presentare ora anche il secondo, finalmente nella sua totalità. Composto di dodici storie (cinque romanzi, quattro romanzi brevi e tre racconti) ordinati in maniera cronologica.
Eccovi dunque le avventure di Dominic Flandry, ufficiale della Marina spaziale terrestre, agente segreto tra i più simpatici mai creati dalla fantasia di un autore di fantascienza. Amante del lusso e delle belle donne, dal temperamento più gallico e pigro che eroico, Dominic Flandry si batte per salvare il decadente impero terrestre dalla minaccia della nascente potenza merseiana e della Lunga Notte delle barbarie che sta per stendere la sua ombra inesorabile sulla declinante civiltà dell’uomo.Questi i romanzi contenuti in questo poderoso volume di più di 600 pagine.- Guardiamarina Flandry (Ensign Flandry, 1966)- Scacchiera Fra Le Stelle (Circus of Hell, 1970)- Mondi Ribelli (The Rebel Worlds, 1969)ed inoltre i racconti:- La Tigre Per La Coda (Tiger by the Tail, 1951)- Un Cordiale Nemico (Honorable Enemies, 1951)

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Space Opera, Fantasy, Collections, Military Science Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy

632 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1965

About the author

Pseudonym A. A. Craig, Michael Karageorge, Winston P. Sanders, P. A. Kingsley.

Poul William Anderson was an American science fiction author who began his career during one of the Golden Ages of the genre and continued to write and remain popular into the 21st century. Anderson also authored several works of fantasy, historical novels, and a prodigious number of short stories. He received numerous awards for his writing, including seven Hugo Awards and three Nebula Awards.

Anderson received a degree in physics from the University of Minnesota in 1948. He married Karen Kruse in 1953. They had one daughter, Astrid, who is married to science fiction author Greg Bear. Anderson was the sixth President of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, taking office in 1972. He was a member of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America, a loose-knit group of Heroic Fantasy authors founded in the 1960s, some of whose works were anthologized in Lin Carter's Flashing Swords! anthologies. He was a founding member of the Society for Creative Anachronism. Robert A. Heinlein dedicated his 1985 novel The Cat Who Walks Through Walls to Anderson and eight of the other members of the Citizens' Advisory Council on National Space Policy.[2][3]

Poul Anderson died of cancer on July 31, 2001, after a month in the hospital. Several of his novels were published posthumously.


Series:
* Time Patrol
* Psychotechnic League
* Trygve Yamamura
* Harvest of Stars
* King of Ys
* Last Viking
* Hoka
* Future history of the Polesotechnic League
* Flandry

Reviews

[Jim Reddy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Agent of the Terran Empire consists of three short stories, a novella, and an essay about Captain Flandry of the Imperial Naval Intelligence Corps. He’s a suave rogue who works to stop the collapse of the Terran Empire, what he refers to as “The Long Night.” He’s a little like James Bond (Flandry came first though) who eventually travels with the alien Chives, a character that very much reminded me of Jeeves from the Jeeves and Wooster stories by P. G. Wodehouse.

Tiger by the Tail (5/5)
(Planet Stories, 1951)
Anderson packs a lot in Flandry’s first appearance as he works to cause chaos from within after being kidnapped by the Scothani, a barbarian like empire. It’s Yojimbo in space with a civil war, a space battle, a sword fight, and tragic love.

The Warriors From Nowhere (3/5)
(Planet Stories, 1954)
Flandry rescues a kidnapped princess. Not bad but I didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as the other stories in this collection.

Honorable Enemies (4/5)
(Future Combined with Science Fiction Stories, 1951)
While the Terran Empire is in a cold war with the Empire of Mersia, both empires attempt to win over a smaller empire that lies between them, the people of Betelgeuse. Galactic intrigue as Flandry works with another agent, Aline Chang-Lei, trying to figure how Mersia keeps learning the plans of the Terran Empire. The first appearance of Flandry’s arch nemesis, the bird-like alien Aycharaych.

Hunters of the Sky Cave (5/5)
(Expanded from “A Handful of Stars,” Amazing Stories, 1959. Also published as part of an Ace Double as “We Claim These Stars!”)
An unknown wolf-like race attacks a Terran colony. Anderson’s growth as a writer really shows here. Flandry is a more complicated character and themes only hinted at in “Tiger by the Tail” are explored more thoroughly. There’s also more science and more alien-like aliens, and Anderson blends it all together into a compelling tale.

The essay by Sandra Miesel gives a nice overview of the Flandry series. Looking forward to reading more.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not bad, but not the equal of the first chronological novel, Ensign Flandry, or the first collection of older stories, Flandry of Terra, and very repetitive in story structure. Flandry engages in witty espionage with differing levels of subterfuge and seduces a feckless young woman into being his aide de camp - notably all of these women act and talk identical to one another... and despite a nominal spunk, all devolve into clamoring for the protagonist in a manner now somewhat embarrassing.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of stories. The first three are disposable, but the final, novel-length story is terrific. Subterfuge and counter-subterfuge amid a gloriously described cosmos and with a compelling central character. The female characters are as ever mystifyingly portrayed, but the rest of the book is marvelous. From the golden age of space opera, before bloat and formula sank the genre.

[Baron Greystone · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't begin to tell you how much I enjoyed reading this book. Like to slap myself for not getting to it sooner. I'd read a few Flandry stories over the years, but if you're a fan of golden age SF or of the classic Traveller role-playing game, then you owe it to yourself to read or even re-read this book. Right now!

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed all of the Flandry books. Sort of a James Bond in outer space but the settings were much more interesting than the Bond books themselves.

[Jim Mann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dominic Flandry is an agent of the Terran Empire, an empire spanning 400 light years, but one that has become decadent. Flandry knows that the end, the "long night," is coming, but he is working hard to delay that end. While he himself enjoys what he considers the good things in life, he also works to preserve them, at least for beyond his own lifetime. At times ruthless in that he can knowingly betray or sacrifice others, he also knows he's doing it for the greater good as he perceives it.

The four stories in this collection are basically from the mid-career of Flandry. In each he has to connive to prevent plots by various alien groups to harm the Empire, and in several he goes up agains the person who is his key antagonist in many stories: Aycharaych, the telepath allied with the Mersiasns, the alien race most in competition with the Terran Empire. (Note that I don't say "human empire" as the Terran Empire encompasses a number of non-human races.)

Like all science fiction, this both presents a future but reflects its time. The Empire society is very patriarchal (though note that Anderson doesn't a hundred percent side with this view). Flandry, in a James Bond sort of fashion (though the character actually pre-dates Bond by a couple of years), viewed women as companions to be protected and dallied with, but not front-line fighters. Though in several of the stories, it's women who are key to the solution. In "Honorable Enemies," it's the female lead, not Flandry, who figures out how to save the day and beat Aycharaych. It ends with this great bit:

"Goodbye, my dear," he [Aycharaych] said, too softly for the rest to overhear. "As long as there are women like you, your race will endure."

She watched his tall form go down the corridor and her vision blurred a little. It was strange to think that her enemy knew what the man [Flandry] beside her did not.

Overall, though, these are entertaining stories. Anderson was a great writer of both science fiction and fantasy, and he often doesn't get the attention he deserves.

[Pete · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the third in the series chronologically, but these stories are the earliest Flandry stories. This is simple space opera, competently written. Flandry is a good hero--a bit like James Bond in space. One of Anderson's strengths was his imagination, and I like his alien creations. The plots are basic, and the stories have some hasty moments. I'm glad I read these early stories first. I expect that the writing will improve in later books.

[Roberto · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had fond memories of reading Anderson and other classic SciFi of the same vintage when I was a kid.

Well, that seems to be the right age. On one hand, a kid is apt to be carried away by the adventure, which is fun, while also ignoring the misoginy, the casual chauvinism, the jingoism, the general metaphorical racism and a whole lot of other isms and inys which, as a grown up, really dull the enjoyment of the experience.

[John JJJJJJJJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of short stories ranging from ★★★☆☆ to ★★★★★. This is one of the classic works of Space Op. signed by one of the greatest SF authors: Poul Anderson. The character of Dominic Flandry is simply fascinating, we quickly become attached to him. Flandry is, with Flash Gordon, the most famous SF character. The author's humor, always present, is a plus to the plot. The plot precisely, well, it's not so incredible. To put it simply, it's a spy story, but in space.

[Tom · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's not bad, it just doesn't land for me. The prose feels a little detached maybe? I feel like I keep reading these because I can't put my finger on what I don't like about them. I only own one more in the series, but I think I'll give it a couple years before getting to it.

[James Rickett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mid-Flandry.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

The adventures of the outer space spy continue. Spaceriffic.

[L. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Four Flandry tales. Probably you know whether you like these or not...

[Tell Tale Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

-Gregory Kerkman

[Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been meaning to read something by the late Poul Anderson for some time, as I've preodered Multiverse: Exploring Poul Anderson’s Worlds. It's been maybe 15 years since reading anything by him. This one is a quick read, very light and fun science fiction/spy fodder. This book collects four adventures, three of which are very short, originally published in 1950's pulps. My favorite line from the book, "Against looming nebular curtains, Flandry saw two pitted meteors come at him. They rolled and tumbled, like iron dice. He threw in a double vector, killing some forward velocity while he applied a 'downward' acceleration."

[Karen-Leigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting how good the stories continue to be 45 years after they were written. Most series begin to falter around this time but Flandry is a very good creation and continues to be interesting and engaging. This is an anthology of four stories of varying degrees of enjoyability. Tiger by the Tail was fabulous and the other three almost as good. The antagonist Aycharaych is a wonderful villain.

[Text Addict · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anderson's musings about the end of empire, written in the 1950s and stuck into the middle of good old-fashioned secret-agent shenanigans, seem disturbingly relevant today.

Or maybe that's just me.

[colleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

read 08.19.85

[Matt Carl]

Flandry is my hero!

[SciFiOne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grade B. Book A2.

[Adam Duclos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good older sci fi. Some really cool ideas about the future! In space! I read it back in high school...

[Cyn McDonald · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stories from 1951 and 1954, but could have been written last week -- except for the prevalence of self-lighting cigarettes. Lots of fun.

[Peter]

I enjoyed the Flandy books - will re-read the series one of these days

[Jerome Jalandoon]

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