Griffin's Egg

Author: Michael Swanwick

If many of the stories we've included on this list treat the Moon as a threat, there are equally those, like The Moon is a Harsh Mistress or Steel Beach, in which the Moon is a refuge, whether from earth politics or from the destruction of Earth. And that's what we get in this novella: a thermonuclear war back on Earth leaves the small lunar colony isolated. But survival isn't easy, many go mad, fighting breaks out, terrifying gases are unleashed within the lunar habitat. In the end, a handful of people face having to restore order. And always there is the threat of the Moon itself, and the dangerous equipment being used, so that it is very much a story of survival against the odds. Meanwhile the hero, a loner who likes nothing better than to drive his truck out into virgin territory, finds he has to start taking responsibility for others. Why it's on the list: This is the sort of hard sf that Swanwick produced effortlessly at the start of his career, and though short this is a gripping and acute picture of life on the Moon.