Missile Gap
OCLC 82457976 | |
"Missile Gap" is a 2006 English language science fiction novella, originally published in the anthology One Million A.D.[1] by British author Charles Stross. It won the Locus Award for best novella of 2006.[1] The novella was republished in Stross's short-story collection Wireless in 2009.[1]
Plot
On 2 October 1962, the universe underwent a change – instantly, the continents of the Earth were no longer wrapped onto a spherical planet but were on the surface of an
- the atoms making up the surface and people of earth have somehow peeled off the Earth and shipped to a new location.
- Marvin Minsky suggests that a snapshot of the world was taken and the snapshot has been used as the basis for a physical recreation.
- Hans Moravec suggests that a snapshot of the world was taken and the snapshot has been used as the basis for a simulated reality.
The first hypothesis would indicate that the characters of the book are the original humans of the 20th century Earth. The latter two hypotheses would indicate that the characters of the book are duplicates of humans that lived and died thousands of years previously. The creatures that moved or copied humanity are unknown, as is the technology they used and the purpose for their action.
Because of the
A character named Gregor Samsa seems to be highly connected with the US Government, and is later shown to be in fact an advanced alien termite with pheromone control, and is guiding the transplanted humanity towards nuclear destruction, to clear the path for the "mock aboriginal termites" that have previously stung Martin. Eventually Gregor is successful, and humanity is destroyed in a nuclear exchange – Gregor's intelligence is saved and it is heavily implied that not only has this happened before, but that it will happen again, supporting (but not actually confirming) the second two of the suggested theories.
To explain plot sections and provide background information, Stross makes use of themes that recur in his works – the use of security clearance briefings, and codewords to imply secret levels of information – COLLECTION and RUBY for Missile Gap
Reception
Publishers Weekly described the novella as a "blend of 1900s H. G. Wells and 1970s propaganda, updated for the 21st century in the clear, chilly and fashionably cynical style that lets Stross get away with premises that would be absurdly cheesy in anyone else's hands."[2] Carl Hays in his review for Booklist called the novel a "bizarre, nevertheless brilliant alternate-history novella featuring a protracted U.S.–Soviet cold war."[3]
References
External links
- Online text from the publisher's website Archived 12 December 2017 at the Wayback Machine