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‘A fast-spinning firework of characters and ideas – a 21st Century novella with a Golden Age glow.’ – Ken MacLeod
Corbyn, a sentient ramship, is in a race against time. He must slow from near lightspeed in order to return his precious human cargo, PurLeeDah, to her homeworld – a process that requires thousands of years...
Little does Corbyn realise that below him, on PurLeeDah’s homeworld – as civilisation collapses and then starts to build again – his orbital passage has been noted and he has come to be worshipped as a god.
Simon Morden gives us a stunning tale of hard SF meeting socio-political development head-on, with human ambitions and emotions at its core. A follow-up to his critically acclaimed novella At the Speed of Light, this delivers in every regard.
The Author says:
"Science fiction has a trope – well-worn, and often poorly done – of a traveller with advanced technology lording it over the rough natives of whatever backwater planet they’re visiting, playing the God Gambit, sometimes for personal gain, and sometimes for more altruistic reasons. Whatever the motives, there’s always a deception at the heart of this scenario.
"The what-if at the heart of The History of the World is subtly different. Thinking back to the Bible story of the Hebrews wandering in the desert, following the pillar of smoke by day and the pillar of fire by night: what would that have been like? There would have been no room for doubt. There He was, a constant, irrefutable presence among them. And that was just for a biblical forty years. How would it alter the trajectory of a whole civilisation if the sign of the deity was indelibly written in the heavens for millennia, to be worshipped and studied by an increasingly sophisticated society?
"I always intended to write a sequel to At the Speed of Light, because I’d left the ending open. I’m pleased with the result, but it’s up to you to decide if I’ve made it work. May the blessings of the Travelling God be with you all."
Genre: Science Fiction
Corbyn, a sentient ramship, is in a race against time. He must slow from near lightspeed in order to return his precious human cargo, PurLeeDah, to her homeworld – a process that requires thousands of years...
Little does Corbyn realise that below him, on PurLeeDah’s homeworld – as civilisation collapses and then starts to build again – his orbital passage has been noted and he has come to be worshipped as a god.
Simon Morden gives us a stunning tale of hard SF meeting socio-political development head-on, with human ambitions and emotions at its core. A follow-up to his critically acclaimed novella At the Speed of Light, this delivers in every regard.
The Author says:
"Science fiction has a trope – well-worn, and often poorly done – of a traveller with advanced technology lording it over the rough natives of whatever backwater planet they’re visiting, playing the God Gambit, sometimes for personal gain, and sometimes for more altruistic reasons. Whatever the motives, there’s always a deception at the heart of this scenario.
"The what-if at the heart of The History of the World is subtly different. Thinking back to the Bible story of the Hebrews wandering in the desert, following the pillar of smoke by day and the pillar of fire by night: what would that have been like? There would have been no room for doubt. There He was, a constant, irrefutable presence among them. And that was just for a biblical forty years. How would it alter the trajectory of a whole civilisation if the sign of the deity was indelibly written in the heavens for millennia, to be worshipped and studied by an increasingly sophisticated society?
"I always intended to write a sequel to At the Speed of Light, because I’d left the ending open. I’m pleased with the result, but it’s up to you to decide if I’ve made it work. May the blessings of the Travelling God be with you all."
Genre: Science Fiction
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