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The Lunatics
Free online fiction (novelette) from tor.com.
Originally published in the Beth Meacham-edited original anthology Terry’s Universe (Tor, 1988), Kim Stanley Robinson’s dystopian SF tale “The Lunatics” has been reprinted several times, most recently in John Joseph Adams’s superb collection of dystopian SF Brave New Worlds (Night Shade, 2011).
Writes Adams in his story intro:
At the end of the nineteenth century, coal mining had become one of the biggest, meanest industries in the United States. Unhealthy working conditions and a reliance on child labor caused accidents and blackened men’s lungs. Crooked business practices like debt bondage and wage-cheating were just part of the misery. But it was dangerous to stand up against the mining companies. Miners didn’t just face losing their jobs—their lives were often at stake, as mining companies fought against unionizing with violence.
The coal miners’ struggles for better conditions were captured in photos and songs that have become a warning for the workers of the world. But in the future, miners might not be so lucky.
What could be worse than working deep beneath the ground, never seeing the light of day? What could be worse than knowing the money in your paycheck was a token worthless outside the company’s store?
[“The Lunatics”] gives us a vision of a mine worse than anything in Pennsylvania. Powered by slavery and jump-started by torment, this mine might as well be hell.
Originally published in the Beth Meacham-edited original anthology Terry’s Universe (Tor, 1988), Kim Stanley Robinson’s dystopian SF tale “The Lunatics” has been reprinted several times, most recently in John Joseph Adams’s superb collection of dystopian SF Brave New Worlds (Night Shade, 2011).
Writes Adams in his story intro:
At the end of the nineteenth century, coal mining had become one of the biggest, meanest industries in the United States. Unhealthy working conditions and a reliance on child labor caused accidents and blackened men’s lungs. Crooked business practices like debt bondage and wage-cheating were just part of the misery. But it was dangerous to stand up against the mining companies. Miners didn’t just face losing their jobs—their lives were often at stake, as mining companies fought against unionizing with violence.
The coal miners’ struggles for better conditions were captured in photos and songs that have become a warning for the workers of the world. But in the future, miners might not be so lucky.
What could be worse than working deep beneath the ground, never seeing the light of day? What could be worse than knowing the money in your paycheck was a token worthless outside the company’s store?
[“The Lunatics”] gives us a vision of a mine worse than anything in Pennsylvania. Powered by slavery and jump-started by torment, this mine might as well be hell.
45 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 1988
95 people want to read
About the author
Kim Stanley Robinson
254 books7,552 followersKim Stanley Robinson is an American science fiction writer. He has published 22 novels and numerous short stories and is best known for his Mars trilogy. His work has been translated into 24 languages. Many of his novels and stories have ecological, cultural, and political themes and feature scientists as heroes. Robinson has won numerous awards, including the Hugo Award for Best Novel, the Nebula Award for Best Novel and the World Fantasy Award. The Atlantic has called Robinson's work "the gold standard of realistic, and highly literary, science-fiction writing." According to an article in The New Yorker, Robinson is "generally acknowledged as one of the greatest living science-fiction writers."
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 17, 2022
Kim Stanley Robinson is easily one of my favorite authors.
Every single time he writes, it's full of so much depth of worldbuilding, whether history, science, or philosophy, that it always places his stories head and shoulders above all the rest.
In this dystopian novelette taking place on the moon, the miners there are living in such horrid darkness and never-ending toil that the only kind of happiness might actually be a blast. Ka-boom.
Of course, a simple story like this, with everything else KSR offers, is a bit more than a simple story.
Every single time he writes, it's full of so much depth of worldbuilding, whether history, science, or philosophy, that it always places his stories head and shoulders above all the rest.
In this dystopian novelette taking place on the moon, the miners there are living in such horrid darkness and never-ending toil that the only kind of happiness might actually be a blast. Ka-boom.
Of course, a simple story like this, with everything else KSR offers, is a bit more than a simple story.
June 29, 2016
A very dark story built in crescendo about slavery and freedom. More than the story itself, it is a writing exercise of great virtuosity, one I only encountered in KSR works.
August 11, 2018
This short story is about a mining colony on the moon where the workers spend the bulk of their lives toiling in darkness. Folks slowly start disappearing, causing great concern. I really liked the writing and the story felt complete. I do wish it had a bit more depth.
February 7, 2017
Imagine a life where you lived in such complete darkness that light was used as a punishment. What a sad, sad story.
March 28, 2020
Amazing.
April 2, 2022
A very dark story without any glimmer of redemption or retribution. It was well-written. But the reading experience was not pleasurable by any means.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews