“The book has said, that all the plans
Would be well within my reach
And here things were
Even larger than I dreamed”
Jim Crichton
Chapter One
“...since the year 1992...”
This is the only year, or date of any kind specifically stated in Nick and the Glimmung. The year itself is only attributed to when the owning of pets was made illegal and not necessarily when the actual plot begins.
In Galactic Pot-Healer a specific year is given, 2046.1 Considering both years and the details revealed of Nick’s life on Earth and beyond from here on up to chapter five makes it is clear that it is impossible for Nick and the Glimmung to take place at, or even near, the same time as Galactic Pot-Healer.
On the subject of illegality, though the reader does not get much of an idea as to the laws the Graham family must follow on Earth, in Galactic Pot-Healer, Joe Fernwright, the protagonist of that novel, lives under many prohibitions from what is called the Quietude Civil Authority.2 They included things such as penalties against smoking cigarettes, drinking caffeine, and even walking too slow in public.3 Other laws will be pointed out in another note shortly and in another for chapter three.
“...food is scarce, these days.”
The population issue that is apparent in Nick and the Glimmung seems to have only gotten worse in Galactic Pot-Healer with massive unemployment occurring at least where Fernwright lives.4
“...its tinny, loud voice, ‘No talking.’”
A robot resides in Nick’s classroom. Its use seems to be monitoring student behavior for any interruptions to the lessons.
In Galactic Pot-Healer there is a law on Earth making robots illegal. Fernwright explains that a scientist had “‘proved that a synthetic life-form can’t come into existence.’” But another character, Mali Yojez, explains that because of overpopulation on Earth, the scientific studies that disproved synthetic life being able to exist were falsified in an attempt to alleviate the unemployment crisis.5
By the way Fernwright speaks of the subject he has either never seen a robot before or was convinced that the robots he had seen were not truly sentient. On the subject of Fernwright’s age, he is old enough to have served time in the army in “The Old Days” during the war, becoming a veteran, and receiving a pension from the government for his service.6
Nowhere in Nick and the Glimmung is a war mentioned as having occurred in the recent past on Earth in Nick’s time.
1) Galactic Pot-Healer (Vintage Books, 1994), pg. 5
2) Ibid, pg. 23
3) Ibid, pgs. 4-5,6, and 49
4) Ibid, pg. 33
5) Ibid, pgs. 92-93
6) Ibid, pgs. 3-4
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