Question and Answer

Question and Answer: The Collected Short Works of Poul Anderson (volume 7) continues the series of the best of his fantasy and science fiction stories published over his writing career of 50 years. It contains 6 short novels, 2 novellas, and 4 short stories. "Question and Answer", the lead short novel, tells the story of what may or may not be the first meeting between two different species, with a touch of politics and a mystery. The book's two-page frontispiece is an illustration of this story. "The Big Rain" is set on Venus while it is still being terraformed, and concludes the "Un-Man stories". Dominic Flandry is well represented in this volume, including the first time he meets Aycharaych of Chereion, his life-long nemesis. "The Troublemakers" examines life aboard a slower-than-light transport ship as it makes a voyage that will last over three generations. Finally but not least, David Falkyn and his trader team opened a planet for trade.