Dominic Flandry

Dominic Flandry

Dominic Flandry is the central character in the second half of Poul Anderson's Technic History science fiction. He first appeared in 1951.

The space opera series is set in the 31st century, during the waning days of the Terran Empire. Flandry is a dashing field agent of the Imperial Intelligence Corps who travels the stars to fight off imminent threats to the empire from both external enemies and internal treachery. His long-time archenemy is Aycharaych, from the planet Chereion, a cultured but ruthless telepathic spymaster who weaves plots for the expansionistic rival empire of the alien Merseians. Similar to the James Bond stories (which started two years later), every new adventure brings Flandry another beautiful damsel to woo and rescue.

The illegitimate son of a minor nobleman, Flandry rises to considerable power within the decadent Empire by his own wits, and enjoys all the pleasures his position society gives him. Still he is painfully conscious of the impending fall of the Terran Empire and the subsequent "Long Night" of a galactic Dark Age. His career is dedicated to holding it off for as long as possible. In time, he passes the mantle to his daughter Diana, who is also illegitimate.

Flandry is willing to disregard conventional morality and use his foes' tactics against them. He can cheerfully deceive, seduce, and blackmail; grimly and regretfully, he mind-probes his son into a vegetable in A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows, and in that same book, bombards Aycharaych's homeworld of Chereion into radioactive ruin to punish Aycharaych for his part in fostering trouble in the marches of the empire.

Flandry is featured in

Novels

  • Ensign Flandry (1966)
  • A Circus of Hells (1970)
  • The Rebel Worlds (1969)
  • A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows (1974)
  • A Stone in Heaven (1979)
  • The Game of Empire (1985)

Collections

  • Agent of the Terran Empire (1965) consisting of the short stories 'Tiger by the Tail', 'The Warriors from Nowhere', 'Honorable Enemies' and 'Hunters of the Sky Cave'.
  • Flandry of Terra (1965) containing 'The Game of Glory'. 'A Message in Secret' and 'The Plague of Masters'.

Omnibus editions[1]

  • Young Flandry (2009), combining the novels 'Ensign Flandry', 'A Circus of Hells' and 'The Rebel Worlds'.
  • Captain Flandry: Defender of the Terran Empire (2010), combining the short stories 'Outpost of Empire', 'The Day of Their Return', 'Tiger by the Tail', 'Honorable Enemies', 'The Game of Glory' and 'A Message in Secret'.
  • Sir Dominic Flandry: The Last Knight of Terra (2010), combining the short stories 'The Plague of Masters', 'Hunters of the Sky Cave', 'The Warriors from Nowhere' and the novel 'A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows'.
  • Flandry's Legacy (2011), combining the novels 'A Stone in Heaven' and 'The Game of Empire'.

He also appears in the novel The Dark Dimensions (1971), part of the John Grimes series written by A. Bertram Chandler.

References

  1. ^ Poul Anderson at http://www.baen.com/ Retrieved 20-10-2010

External links


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