Icehenge

Icehenge is a science fiction novel by American author Kim Stanley Robinson, published in 1984.

Though published almost ten years before Robinson's Mars trilogy, and taking place in a different version of the future, Icehenge contains elements that also appear in his Mars series, such as extreme human longevity, Martian political revolution, historical revisionism, and shifts between primary characters.

Plot

Icehenge is set at three distinct time periods, and told from the perspective of three different characters.

The first narrative is the diary of an engineer caught up in a Martian political revolution in 2248. Effectively kidnapped aboard a mutinous Martian spaceship, she provides assistance to the revolutionaries in their quest for interstellar travel, but ultimately chooses not to travel with them but to return to the doomed revolution on Mars.

The second narrative is told from the perspective of an archaeologist three centuries later. He is involved in a project investigating the failed revolution, and during this finds the engineer's diary buried near the remains of a ruined city. At the same time, a mysterious monument is found at the north pole of Pluto, tying up with a passing mention in the engineer's diary.

In the final narrative, the great-grandson of the archaeologist visits the monument on Pluto, a scaled-up version of Stonehenge carved in ice. He is investigating the possibility that both the diary and the monument were planted by a reclusive and wealthy businesswoman who lives in the orbit of Saturn.

Development history

The first part of this novel was originally published as the novella To Leave a Mark in the November 1982 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The third part of Icehenge was originally published as the novella On the North Pole of Pluto in 1980 in the anthology Orbit 18 edited by Damon Knight.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Robinson gave the novella in rough form to Ursula K. Le Guin to read and edit while he was enrolled in her writing workshop at UCSD in the spring of 1977.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Views of Saturn from the space station visited by the narrator of the novel's third section were inspired by images of Saturn taken during the Voyager flybys in 1980–1981.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Publication history

• 1984, United States, Ace Books Template:ISBN, Pub date October 1984, paperback
• 1985, United Kingdom, Futura Orbit Template:ISBN, Pub date December 1985, paperback
• 1986, United Kingdom, MacDonald Template:ISBN, Pub date October 1986, hardback
• 1986, France, Denoël Template:ISBN, Pub date September 1986, paperback
• 1986, Italy, Editrice Nord Template:ISBN, Pub date 1986, paperback
• 1987, West Germany, Bastei-Lübbe Template:ISBN, Pub date 1987, paperback
• 1990, United States, Tor Books Template:ISBN, Pub date September 1990, paperback
• 1997, United Kingdom, Voyager Template:ISBN, Pub date 15 September 1997, paperback
• 1997, Croatia, Zagrebačka naklada Template:ISBN, Pub date 1997, paperback
• 1997, Bulgaria, Лира Принт Template:ISBN, Pub date 1997, paperback
• 1998, United States, Tor Orb Template:ISBN, Pub date July 1998, paperback
• 2001, People's Republic of China, 漓江出版社 Template:ISBN, Pub date 2001, paperback
• 2003, France, Gallimard Template:ISBN, Pub date December 2003, paperback
• 2004, Spain, Minotauro Template:ISBN, Pub date 9 March 2004, paperback
• 2009, United Kingdom, Voyager Template:ISBN, Pub date 1 August 2009, paperback

External links

• The work of disenchantment never ends: Kim Stanley Robinson’s Icehenge by Jo Walton
• Template:Trim {{#if: | " | }}Icehenge{{#if: | " | }} title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database