Atomsk (novel)

Atomsk
	Spy novel
Published	1949
Media type	Print

Atomsk, first published in 1949, is a

Paul Linebarger, who wrote fiction most prolifically as Cordwainer Smith

.

Plot

Drawing on Linebarger's own expertise in the field of psychological warfare, the book is a study of the personality of a U.S. operative (Major Michael Dugan) who has little in common with James Bond except his extreme resourcefulness under cover and in danger. A man of many identities who sees himself to some extent as a blank sheet, he goes from calling himself "Comrade Nobody" to saying "I'm anybody". The novel also has an underlying, albeit devious and ambiguous, message of peace. As one character says, learning to like people is "the only way to win wars, or even better, to get out of them."

Publication history

Written two years after

John Le Carré.^[1]^[2]

Linebarger's third published novel, it has long been out of print. Paper copies regularly command figures in the hundreds of

U.S. dollars in the second-hand market, even though it is also available as an inexpensive e-book.^[3]

References

ISBN 9780226098685.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
)

ISBN 9780875865331
.

^ "Atomsk, by Carmichael Smith". cordwainer-smith.com. Retrieved 10 June 2017.

External links

Atomsk: A Novel of Suspense (cordwainersmith.com)

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[1] ISBN 9780226098685.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
)

[2] ISBN 9780875865331
.

[Atomsk-3] "Atomsk, by Carmichael Smith". cordwainer-smith.com. Retrieved 10 June 2017.

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[2]

[3]