Posted by justin moretti on April 26, 1998 at 21:51:30:
In Reply to: Re: Demon Princes vs. Cadwal posted by Richard Simms on April 26, 1998 at 13:55:49:
: : I notice certain parallels between the Cadwal and Demon Princes "universes" that make me think they are one & the same: the Gaean Reach, mention of Alphanor, the Beyond, the IPCC, "Life" by Bodissey and even a mention in "Araminta Station" of the Mad Poet Navarth. I haven't had the opportunity to read the 3rd Cadwal novel yet, and more may come to light. There are of course differences; the SVU seems to have become the sol, the Rigel Concourse, Star Kings, Sarkoy and the Vegan worlds do not rate a mention, blasters and their ilk are no longer projacs... am I correct in assuming that the universes are indeed one & the same, and Cadwal is set several hundred years at least after, say, Book of Dreams?
: Yes the Cadwal series is set in the Gaean Reach , thousands of years after The Demon Princes timespan.
: This is clear when the mad poet Navarth is mentioned as "ancient" in the Cadwal books.
: The Gaean Reach is meant to be vast with thousands of human populated worlds , so perhaps repetitious mention of single planets or cultural groups would seem inappropriate.
: At least thats how it seems to me. The odd allusion to say Alphanor or the IPCC appearing in more than one book being sufficent enough to connect the novels in the context of this particular future universe , any more would perhaps indicate a lack of imagination. With all those worlds to choose from there isn't any need to go over the same parts of the Reach over and over again.
: I feel the "loose" connectivity between all the Gaean Reach books is enough.
Thanks for the confirmation; I agree. "Araminta" made it clear that Navarth was long-dead but not how long dead, although other changes implied a few centuries at least. It would be interesting to see a timeline of some sort. I hope there is no "fusion" in the offing, the way Asimov eventually blended his Robot, Elijah Baley and Foundation sequences into a single "Galactic Empire History" That seemed to me to be exploiting already-written books, and I suppose that the Reach is vast enough to let Vance's series sit on their own.