A Short, Sharp Shock

A Short, Sharp Shock

infobox Book |
name = A Short, Sharp Shock
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption =
author = Kim Stanley Robinson
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series =
genre = Fantasy novel
publisher =
release_date = 1990
english_release_date =
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages =
isbn =
preceded_by =
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"A Short, Sharp Shock" is a novel written by Kim Stanley Robinson and published in 1990. Though Robinson works primarily in the field of science fiction, "A Short, Sharp Shock" is set in a fantasy world which features, among other things, a tribe who live in close connection to the small trees which grow out of their shoulders. The protagonist is a man who awakens on a beach with no memory, and who finds himself compelled to pursue a woman who awoke with him, a woman he knows only as the swimmer.

Their journey takes them along the narrow strip of land, surrounded by ocean, which makes up the whole world. The content is unlike anything found elsewhere in Robinson's oeuvre, yet the themes remain very similar. The strong link between the human characters and the natural world connects directly to the ecological themes of his other work, especially the Mars Trilogy, but the loose and dreamlike structure is like nothing else he has written.

The phrase "Short, sharp shock" is taken from Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta The Mikado.


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