Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen

One of the great pleasures of living in north central Pennsylvania is its proximity to H. Beam Piper's home stomping grounds.  McKean County, along with Potter County next door, is the region Piper designated as Nyklos in Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen.  Only a couple of hours away is the region where most of the action in that novel occurs, though in a different paratime line. 

This site includes a Kalvan concordance; it also includes photographs of those places in the novel I've been able to identify with reasonable confidence.  Where that level of confidence is lower, that is noted.  And I'd be remiss if I didn't note the great assistance rendered by my friends Dick, Fred, David and John, in searching out these places.

References:
Page references are to the 1965 Ace Books edition.  They vary significantly from later editions.

Here are the page numbers for the first pages of chapters and subsections in the editions I have in hand.  These include the original 1965 paperback and the Garland hardcover printed from the same plates, the Analog versions, the first British printing, several later paperback printings, and the Complete Paratime.  Use these to help find references in later printings.

Kalvan Concordance:
This lists terms found in the novel and each page where the term appears.  It includes characters, geographic references, Zarthani words, references back to Calvin Morrison's original Europo-American timeline and anything else I thought was of interest.

It is available for download in Microsoft Word and Excel formats.

Timeline:
This is especially open to question as dates in the book are often vague references and counted from Kalvan's arrival. There are also Paratime references, which are counted backwards from Year-End Day.

Also note that this is an attempt to note references to the passage of time as described in the novel, not necessarily a complete chronology of activity in the book.

Maps:

Area covered by the novel My view of the locations
The bigger picture  An overview of Hos-Harphax and the surrounding area.  Includes waterways and county lines.
A Google map with locations from the novel marked up.

Photos:

Kalvan Tour--A photographic journey through the novel
    To get to individual pages follow these links:
    The Stakeout
    Hostigos
    Sevenhills Valley and Tarr Dombra
    Fitra
    Tarr Esdreth
    Fyk
    Sask
    Sinking Valley and the Barrens

Hostigos2004: The first? (very) mini-con.  A photo tour of our day in Hostigos.

Irregular Muster 2005: The second mini-con.  A few shots of the 2005 drive through Lord Kalvan's territory.

Irregular Muster 2006:  We continue with number three.  John Carr moved to the area this past year and along with Dennis continued our exploration of the area and made our annual pilgrimage to Piper's grave site.  Unfortunately, the camera was left behind.

Irregular Muster 2007:  John, Fred and Dennis met for our fourth gathering, a great day of sci-fi conversation and Piper family history.  John and Dennis spent several hours searching out Piper's dwellings in Altoona, most of which have been torn down and, after scraping away a bit of dirt, realized that Piper was buried in his mother's family plot.  We discovered that the street we had believed to be Piper's last Altoona residence at Hostigos 2004 was actually two streets off.  It is still a parking lot, just slightly down the hill.  Thanks to Victoria Carr for digging out the addresses during a phone call from John.  It made our search a lot easier!  Photos and video to come.  

Irregular Muster 2008:  A record turnout, visiting Williamsport and touring the first half of the novel.  For a more complete description and some photos, click the title.

Piper sites (not web sites, "real" sites!):
Altoona, PA

Links:

h-beampiper.com/ John Carr's H. Beam Piper site.

Zarthani.net  THE H. Beam Piper site!!!

Piper-L  Discussion group devoted to Piper's work.

http://www.hostigos.com/  For current writing in the Kalvan paratime world by John Carr

Amateur Piper Association   For information on the informal H. Beam Piper fan group
 

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Last updated  04/26/2013 by D. Frank