The Temple of Earth

By Poul Anderson and Karl Wurf

All his life, Rikard had defied the warlords of Coper City, but even the stoutest outlaw could be outnumbered. Now Rayth offered him freedom for the death of the Chief Engineer. It seemed simple enough—until Rikard began to learn the History of Earth!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wildside Press
• Release date: Aug 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9781479478750

Poul Anderson

Poul Anderson (1926–2001) grew up bilingual in a Danish American family. After discovering science fiction fandom and earning a physics degree at the University of Minnesota, he found writing science fiction more satisfactory. Admired for his “hard” science fiction, mysteries, historical novels, and “fantasy with rivets,” he also excelled in humor. He was the guest of honor at the 1959 World Science Fiction Convention and at many similar events, including the 1998 Contact Japan 3 and the 1999 Strannik Conference in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Besides winning the Hugo and Nebula Awards, he has received the Gandalf, Seiun, and Strannik, or “Wanderer,” Awards. A founder of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America, he became a Grand Master, and was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame. In 1952 he met Karen Kruse; they married in Berkeley, California, where their daughter, Astrid, was born, and they later lived in Orinda, California. Astrid and her husband, science fiction author Greg Bear, now live with their family outside Seattle.

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COPYRIGHT INFORMATION

INTRODUCTION

THE TEMPLE OF EARTH, by Poul Anderson

COPYRIGHT INFORMATION

Copyright © 2022 by Wildside Press LLC.

Originally published in Rocket Stories, July 1953.

Published by Wildside Press LLC.

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INTRODUCTION

Poul William Anderson was born on November 25, 1926, in Bristol, Pennsylvania to Scandinavian parents. Shortly after his birth, his father, Anton Anderson moved the family to Texas, where they lived for more than ten years. Following Anton Anderson’s death, his widow took the children to Denmark. The family returned to the United States after the outbreak of World War II, settling eventually on a Minnesota farm. There, young Poul Anderson immersed himself in science fiction magazines—an obvious escape for a boy who didn’t fit in well and felt socially awkward.

While he was an undergraduate student at the University of Minnesota, Anderson began to write and sell science fiction stories to editor John W. Campbell for Astounding Science Fiction, the leading magazine of the era. Tomorrow’s Children by Anderson and F.N. Waldrop appeared in March 1947, and the sequel, Chain of Logic (by Anderson alone) appeared in July.

He earned his B.A. in physics with honors but became a freelance writer after he graduated in 1948. He placed his third story in the December Astounding, and his career was launched.

Anderson married Karen Kruse in 1953 and moved with her to the San Francisco Bay area. Their daughter Astrid (married to science fiction author Greg Bear) was born in 1954.

In 1965, critic Algis Budrys said that Anderson has for some time been science fiction’s best storyteller in Galaxy, a leading science fiction magazine. This reflected a growing sentiment that Anderson was destined to be one of his generation’s most important science fiction writers. Ultimately, he would win seven Hugo Awards, three Nebula Awards, one Locus Award, the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, and many others over the course of his lifetime. He was also elected to the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame and named a Gandalf Grand Master of Fantasy.

Outside of writing, he was a founding member of the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) in 1966 and of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers’ Guild of America (SAGA), also in the mid-1960s. (SAGA was a loosely-knit group of fantasy authors led by Lin Carter, originally eight in number, with entry by credentials as a fantasy writer alone. There were far fewer fantasy writers in those days.) Poul Anderson also served as the sixth President of the Science Fiction Writers of America, taking office in 1972.

He died of prostate cancer on July 31, 2001, after a month in the hospital.

This story, The Temple of Earth, was originally published in the July, 1953 issue of Rocket Stories, a noted pulp magazine of the era.

—Karl Wurf

Rockville, Maryland

THE TEMPLE OF EARTH,

by Poul Anderson

Here they come!

Leda’s voice vibrated in the ears of the four men with her. They stood with their helmets touching so they could talk, eyes looking down the rugged sweep of Copernicus to the force which came running upward against them. At their backs, the brutal heights of rock climbed for the stars, but they stood in a