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Testimony Before an Emergency Session of the Naval Cephalopod Command
A rogue Navy squid destroys a Soviet submarine and brings the world to the edge of nuclear war. One acid-washed cephalopod psychologist knows why.
ebook
First published December 6, 2013
104 people want to read
About the author
Seth Dickinson
45 books1,842 followersSince his 2012 debut, Seth's fiction has appeared in Clarkesworld, Lightspeed, Analog, and nearly every other major science fiction and fantasy market.
He's a lapsed student of social neuroscience, where he studied the role of racial bias in police shootings, and the writer of much of the lore and fictional flavor for Bungie Studios' smash hit Destiny. In his spare time he works on the collaborative space opera Blue Planet: War in Heaven.
THE TRAITOR BARU CORMORANT is his first novel.
He's a lapsed student of social neuroscience, where he studied the role of racial bias in police shootings, and the writer of much of the lore and fictional flavor for Bungie Studios' smash hit Destiny. In his spare time he works on the collaborative space opera Blue Planet: War in Heaven.
THE TRAITOR BARU CORMORANT is his first novel.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
November 13, 2021
Terrifying neuro-philosophy, written with all the pep and verve of a tacticool political thriller. Deeply strange, but unforgettable.
November 14, 2019
This is fucking brilliant in that it pushes all of my buttons. First off, giant squids are the shit. Second, the format is kind of mockumentary-ish. Third (but really, first because this is the big one), .
Setting presentation, design and originality (how cool is the setting?): 5
Setting verisimillitude and detail (how much sense does the setting make?): 5
Plot design, presentation and originality (How well-crafted was the plot, in the dramaturgic sense?): 5
Plot and character verisimillitude (How much sense did the plot and motivations make? Did events follow from motivations?): 5
Characterization and character development: 5
Character sympatheticness: 4
Prose: 4
Page turner factor: 5
Mind blown factor: 5
Final (weighted) score: 4.9
Setting presentation, design and originality (how cool is the setting?): 5
Setting verisimillitude and detail (how much sense does the setting make?): 5
Plot design, presentation and originality (How well-crafted was the plot, in the dramaturgic sense?): 5
Plot and character verisimillitude (How much sense did the plot and motivations make? Did events follow from motivations?): 5
Characterization and character development: 5
Character sympatheticness: 4
Prose: 4
Page turner factor: 5
Mind blown factor: 5
Final (weighted) score: 4.9
October 23, 2021
There are stories that are comprehensible because they follow the normal cause and effect flow of fiction. Then there are stories that are incomprehensible (I never quite understood some of the more avant garde "science fiction" being written these days, and I'm an SF author). And then we have this tale, which follows a comprehensible plot structure...*but* has a protagonist whose thought processes and motivations are incomprehensible in normal human terms.
Scene: somewhere in the North Atlantic.
Time: late 1980s Cold War.
Premise: the Imperialist States of Amerikastan has trained giant squids (Architeuthis dux in this instance) to trail Soviet nuclear ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) and indicate their position to Amerikastani hunter killer submarines. (Why they would want to do this I couldn't tell you; giant squid aren't exactly common, long lived, or fast enough to keep up with nuclear submarines for long distances. One would conclude training them for military purposes would be not worth the effort even if possible. One might think that, as in the real world, cetaceans would be the logical choice.) But, as the story begins, one of the squid, called Nemo, has gone rogue. He's blown up the Soviet SSBN he was tracking with a limpet mine, and WWIII is about to start.
And a has-been scientist, who's been laughed out of the squid programme for his unconventional hypotheses about squid intelligence, is cacklingly determined to make an investigative committee accept his explanation of what went wrong and how to set things right.
You see, giant squids aren't mammals and don't think quite the same way as us...
I won't say more to avoid spoilers, but it's an interesting and very original premise, which is why it gets 3 stars. The handling is poor, plot structure is appalling, and the ending nonsensical, which is why it only gets 3 stars.
It's available free online if you want to read it.
Scene: somewhere in the North Atlantic.
Time: late 1980s Cold War.
Premise: the Imperialist States of Amerikastan has trained giant squids (Architeuthis dux in this instance) to trail Soviet nuclear ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) and indicate their position to Amerikastani hunter killer submarines. (Why they would want to do this I couldn't tell you; giant squid aren't exactly common, long lived, or fast enough to keep up with nuclear submarines for long distances. One would conclude training them for military purposes would be not worth the effort even if possible. One might think that, as in the real world, cetaceans would be the logical choice.) But, as the story begins, one of the squid, called Nemo, has gone rogue. He's blown up the Soviet SSBN he was tracking with a limpet mine, and WWIII is about to start.
And a has-been scientist, who's been laughed out of the squid programme for his unconventional hypotheses about squid intelligence, is cacklingly determined to make an investigative committee accept his explanation of what went wrong and how to set things right.
You see, giant squids aren't mammals and don't think quite the same way as us...
I won't say more to avoid spoilers, but it's an interesting and very original premise, which is why it gets 3 stars. The handling is poor, plot structure is appalling, and the ending nonsensical, which is why it only gets 3 stars.
It's available free online if you want to read it.
March 14, 2021
Too experimental. DNF
June 23, 2024
3.5 stars
February 28, 2025
hug for squid
September 5, 2025
The 52 Book Club Challenge : Non-human antagonist
this was fun and funny and thought provoking. bonus points for the use of the phrase "squid pro quo".
read and/or listen for free here : https://www.drabblecast.org/2013/12/0...
this was fun and funny and thought provoking. bonus points for the use of the phrase "squid pro quo".
read and/or listen for free here : https://www.drabblecast.org/2013/12/0...
March 1, 2020
This is a short story, online as text and a podcast (https://www.drabblecast.org/2013/12/0...)
It is also scary and thought-provoking and superbly done.
Merged review:
Truly strange
It is also scary and thought-provoking and superbly done.
Merged review:
Truly strange
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews