Thanksgiving Day 2021 also marked Poul Anderson’s ninety-fifth birthday. During his fifty-year career, he wrote numerous classics—major and minor—that fans of SFF should be thankful for. I certainly am.

As I have stated elsewhere, I found Poul's work early in my reading life but then couldn’t find any more of it for a few years. After reacquainting myself with his work, my estimation of his fiction has slowly but steadily ascended. In my opinion, Poul Anderson is quite possibly the greatest science fiction author to ever pound a keyboard. He is also one of the finest fantasy authors to ever spin a yarn.

So, what are the great tales of Poul Anderson? A chronological stroll through his oeuvre seems best--easiest, anyway.

Right out of the gate, Anderson's "Tomorrow's Children" (1947)—his first published story—was a good one. Set in the near-future of a post-nuclear holocaust Earth, it demonstrates many of Poul's strengths in their nascent form. The story has been reprinted about twenty times.

As I have stated elsewhere, "Helping Hand" is a forgotten SF gem from 1950. It looks at how totalitarian, homogenizing 'help' from one's ‘betters’ is anything but that, when all is said and done. Quite insightful, Poul was only twenty-three when he wrote it.

1951 saw the debut of Anderson's first story of Dominic Flandry, "Tiger by the Tail". The Flandry stories have been dismissed by several pig-ignorant morons as "James Bond in Space". Fact Check: the first Flandry tale was published before Fleming got his first Bond story into print. If anything, Anderson influenced Fleming. The Flandry stories possess surprising depth. Dominic is a man who knows he is defending a decadent and declining empire. He also sees the age of darkness that is coming.

"Witch of the Demon Seas" (1951), along with "The Virgin of Valkarion" and other such planetary adventures found in DMR's Swordsmen From the Stars, show Anderson's reaction to discovering Robert E. Howard in the late 1940s. Grim, bloody and thunderous, those tales demonstrate how Poul was able to sneak what was basically Howardian sword-and-sorcery past the editors of Planet Stories.

"The Sheriff of Canyon Gulch" (1951) was Anderson's first story in the beloved and popular 'Hoka' series of tales, written in collaboration with Gordon R. Dickson. Now is as good a time as any to note that Poul's best friends from the 1950s-on were Dickson, Jack Vance and Frank Herbert. I'll take that quadumvirate of brothers over the celebrated Heinlein/Asimov/De Camp triumvirate from the Naval Aviation Experimental Station any day.

1952 saw the publication of "Sargasso of Lost Starships" in Planet Stories. Lemme tell ya, Gentle Readers, this is a lost gem of the first water. 'Sargasso' is perhaps the finest example of Anderson observing and internalizing what Leigh Brackett had been doing with tales like "The Veil of Astellar" and writing his own spin on it. To me, it seems nearly impossible that Moorcock didn't read this story and was thereupon influenced by it, especially in the case of "The Dreaming City". Then again, coincidence is real.

That same year witnessed the publication of Poul's first novel, Vault of the Ages. I have more to say about it here.

1953 saw the publication of "Sam Hall". Reprinted multiple times in the last seven decades, it remains a classic. Poul was always a champion of the individual. This story shows what an individual can do, even under the most oppressive circumstances.

In 1954, Poul's The Broken Sword was published. Despite the brief SF hand-waving he was compelled to include, Anderson's The Broken Sword is a fantasy novel. One of the great fantasy novels, to be precise. Bleak and epic, TBS would go on to influence Moorcock and Karl Edward Wagner. A 'must read' novel for heroic historical fantasy fans.

Anderson began his 'Time Patrol' series of stories with the appropriately named "Time Patrol" (1955). The conceit is that there is a war of timelines, with a 'Time Patrol' intervening to keep things on track. Poul was able to use and display his deep knowledge of history in this beloved series of tales.

1956 saw the debut of "Margin of Profit", which introduced Anderson's libertarian libertine, Nicholas van Rijn. That story also was the first in the 'Polesotechnic League' series, which proved a fertile setting for Poul.

The same year witnessed the publication of "Operation Afreet". This was the debut tale in his 'Operation Chaos' series. In it, Anderson postulated an alternate timeline where government agencies used magic to fight magic. This groundbreaking series heralded later works by Brian Lumley, Harry Turtledove and Larry Stross.

"The Valor of Cappen Varra" debuted in the January, 1957 issue of Fantastic Universe. In it, Poul created an archetypal sword-and-sorcery hero template distinct from those of Robert E. Howard and Clark Ashton Smith. Keith Taylor would take up the gauntlet and continue the legacy of Anderson in the 1970s with his tales of Felimid mac Fal.

1957 also saw the publication of "Call Me Joe". It went on to influence the script of Cameron's Avatar. I have more to say about it here.

Poul wrote "A Bicycle Built for Brew" in 1958, which was later expanded into The Makeshift Rocket. Every beer-drinking SF fan should read it.

Is anyone else seeing a pattern here? Poul Anderson was just one decade into his career, yet he was creating archetypes and series that would remain vital well into the twenty-first century.

The High Crusade was published in 1960. It is a novel of medieval English yeomen versus arrogant, reptiloid aliens. This book is fun. Gygax made sure to include it in 'Appendix N' and the novel has remained in print pretty steadily for the last six decades. Somebody needs to make a good movie of it.

Three Hearts and Three Lions debuted in 1961. A classic of heroic fantasy, it influenced both Moorcock and Gygax, as well as Gene Wolfe’s ‘Wizard Knight’ duology.

Poul Anderson won a Hugo for "No Truce With Kings" in 1964. A post-apocalyptic tale of a clash between rugged American individualists and Marxists controlled by outside forces, there is no way it would even get on the ballot in our Current Year.

Poul spent the rest of the '60s cranking out quality short fiction and novels like World Without Stars and Tau Zero. Lin Carter republishing The Broken Sword in the Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series prompted Anderson to write Hrolf Kraki's Saga. That novel is the best retelling of Kraki's saga to date and a certified classic of Nordic fantasy. It was further inspiration to a young Keith Taylor, and he would reference it in the back of Bard II, which is where I first learned of it.

It was also during this period that Poul wrote “The Queen of Air and Darkness”. A tale of alien contact on another world, Poul deftly incorporates touches of Sherlock Holmes and the faery-lore of Old Europe into it. That story won the Hugo/Nebula/Locus trifecta in 1972.

The SFF market was gradually trending toward fantasy. Thus, we saw fantasy and fantasy-adjacent Anderson novels like Fire Time, The Merman's Children and The Demon of Scattery published in the mid-to-late 1970s.

Poul's 'big' multi-volume historical fantasy series of the '80s was the 'King of Ys' tetralogy. While not always galloping along at a breakneck pace, I'm a huge fan of the time period and enjoy the books for what they are.

Poul's 'Harvest the Stars' SF novels came out in the mid-1990s. I enjoyed all of them, especially the parts featuring the transhuman Lunarians.

In the late 1990s Anderson produced a couple more fantasy novels: The War of the Gods and Mother of Kings. Both were part of his 'Northern Cycle', which he began with the publication of The Broken Sword.*

The 1971 issue of F&SF that debuted “The Queen of Air and Darkness”. Roughly from left-to-right, the cover features Nicholas van Rijn, Dominic Flandry, the Queen Herself, Poul Himself and Holger the Dane from *Three Hearts and Three Lions*. Cover art by Kelly Freas.

Poul died in 2001. What a loss to fans of quality science fiction and fantasy. Looking back over his career, I'll say this:

I would rather read any random Anderson story over any random Heinlein story.

I would rather read any random Anderson story over any random Arthur C. Clarke story.

I would rather read any random Anderson story over any Asimov story. Period.

Thanks for everything, Poul.

For those wanting to read a fairly thorough overview of Poul's life and career, this DMR post should do the job.

* Two posts on Anderson’s ‘Northern Cycle’ can be found here and here.