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Overview: In the Urban Nucleus sequence comprising A Little Knowledge (1977) and its sequel, Catacomb Years (fixup 1979), a theocratic regime repressively dominates a Near-Future Atlanta, Georgia, until the conversion of some Alien "Cygnusians" begins to destabilize society; the vision of Atlanta as a domed City whose various levels and intersections literally map the new social order may be cognitively daring, but – for reasons hinted at above – it thins out in the mind’s eye when described without joy. The collaborative, non-urban Under Heaven’s Bridge (1980) with Ian Watson is loosely connected to Urban Nucleus in that it builds on Watson’s fascination with the Cygnusians (here the Kybers) and their home world, which is visited via Starship and found to be doomed.
Genre: Fiction > Sci-Fi/Fantasy
1. A Little Knowledge (1977) (Jerry eBooks, 2024)
In the domed city of Atlanta, after the breakup of the United States, a young writer named Julian Cawthorn is in trouble. Because he insulted the daughter of a public official, Cawthorn is out of work, and virtually unemployable. He begs a temporary job on the city newspaper and finds himself assigned to cover the first public appearance of the aliens Cygnusians, travelers from outer space who have been living in seclusion in Atlanta while visiting Earth.
A Christian revivalist dictatorship rules Atlanta; church services are as much social as they are religious events. When one of the aliens chooses to appear at a church service, Julian watches as the first alien from space stands up and is "saved". The alien’s voluntary salvation is taken as a sign that the state religion is indeed the one true religion, and minority groups, previously tolerated, are attacked by gangs, leaving Atlanta in turmoil.
The service is a turning point in Julian’s life. He is hired by Fiona Bitler, hostess to and protector of the aliens; at her invitation he goes to work in the secret alien enclave. In this environment Julian comes to know the fascinating aliens. He is mystified by the aliens’ interest in his personal life and cannot understand how they have acquired so many oddly human characteristics in their brief period on Earth.
2. Catacomb Years (1979) Not available
3. Under Heaven’s Bridge (1980) (with Ian Watson)
A multinational expedition has landed on the planet Onogoro, a cold and dour world circling one star of a binary pair. Their objective is to investigate a strange alien race, known to the human visitors as the Kybers. These aliens, dwelling in a great network of ruined palaces, are partly biological creatures and partly machines, with the ability to switch themselves off at will. Expedition scientists discover that the Kyber’s sun is soon to blaze up in a nova, yet the Kybers are not alarmed.
4. The City and the Cygnets: An Alternative History of the Atlanta Urban Nucleus in the 21st Century(2019)
"[These] stories . . . elliptically chronicle the life of an alternative Atlanta, Georgia, 2000-2070. Beneath a huge artificial dome that blocks out the stars, hierarchically stashed on nine subterranean levels with computer-controlled simulations of weather and seasonal change, the citizens of this grim, bureaucracy-ridden sardine tin . . . contrive not just to endure but to prevail. Through 70 years of increasing repression, various free spirts turn a living cubicle into a facsimile of a starship in deep space, experiment with multipartner ‘marriages’ for the elderly, or dearly earn moments of mutual benison with an unwanted cubicle-mate. . . . bearing witness to the weedlike survival of human instinct and aspiration in the most confining and programmed environment." [from Kirkus Reviews]
Urban Nucleus: The Complete Stories (Jerry eBooks, 2024)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Novels
A Little Knowledge (1977)
Novellas
Allegiances, Galaxy Science Fiction, February 1975
Old Folks at Home, Universe 8, May 1978
A Little Knowledge (revised version), The City and the Cygnets: An Alternative History of the Atlanta Urban Nucleus in the 21st Century, August 2019
Novelettes
If a Flower Could Eclipse, Worlds of Fantasy, Winter 1970, December 1970
The Samurai and the Willows, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, February 1976
Death Rehearsals, Catacomb Years, January 1979
If a Flower Could Eclipse (revised version), The City and the Cygnets: An Alternative History of the Atlanta Urban Nucleus in the 21st Century, August 2019
Old Folks at Home (revised version), The City and the Cygnets: An Alternative History of the Atlanta Urban Nucleus in the 21st Century, August 2019
The Windows in Dante’s Hell (revised version), The City and the Cygnets: An Alternative History of the Atlanta Urban Nucleus in the 21st Century, August 2019
The Samurai and the Willows (revised version), The City and the Cygnets: An Alternative History of the Atlanta Urban Nucleus in the 21st Century, August 2019
Allegiances (revised version), The City and the Cygnets: An Alternative History of the Atlanta Urban Nucleus in the 21st Century, August 2019
Death Rehearsals (revised version), The City and the Cygnets: An Alternative History of the Atlanta Urban Nucleus in the 21st Century, August 2019
Short Stories
The Windows in Dante’s Hell, Orbit 12, July 1973
At the Dixie-Apple with the Shoofly-Pie Kid: A Story by Julian Kosturko-Cawthon, Cosmos Science Fiction and Fantasy Magazine, November 1977
At the Dixie-Apple with the Shoofly-Pie Kid: A Story by Julian Kosturko-Cawthon (revised version), The City and the Cygnets: An Alternative History of the Atlanta Urban Nucleus in the 21st Century, August 2019
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