The Lucky Strike

Both stories are included in the 2010 short story collection 'The Best Of Kim Stanley Robinson' -- which collects 23 stories -- so if you have that, or plan to get it, the question is if that interview merits the purchase.

"The Lucky Strike" is an alternative history set at the end of World War 2. I enjoyed it very much, even though I accidentally read a huge spoiler on Goodreads. Mildly unfortunate, it also shows Robinson's power: appreciation for this story doesn't hinge on the power of surprise.

The story envisions an alternative course for the end of WW2: the Enola Gay crashes during an exercise, and as a result Little Boy will be dropped on Japan by a different crew. The bombardier becomes Frank January, instead of Thomas Ferebee.

'Frank' being a recurring name in Robinson's oeuvre, here he's a stand-in for the conscientious objector. Other stuff is recognizably KSR as well, like FDR worship, an emphasis on the astonishing nature of human beings, and great writing about the vastness of our planet.

With limited means, Robinson manages to paint convincing characters -- young, tribal, testosterone military men with emotions that are understandable given the stressful war environment. His understanding of consciousness shows: "The mind struggles longer in its traps than any fox." The story is nuanced, but at the same time I felt Robinson's choice to portray Frank as reader a form of tribalism itself: team emphatic readers vs. team non-reader brutes.

Whether the attacks on the city centers were necessary is up for debate. There's an interesting comment by Paul Burgess on kimstanleyrobinson.info about the matter. Yes, the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings might have saved more lives than they costed. But remarks like that miss the point of this story -- especially if you read it together with A Sensitive Dependence. The Lucky Strike isn't so much about mapping out a valid, realistic leftist alternative history, but is about the choices we can make as individuals.

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Full review on Weighing A Pig