A Short, Sharp Shock

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A Short, Sharp Shock
A Short, Sharp Shock (Kim Stanley Robinson novel) cover.jpg
Author Kim Stanley Robinson
Cover artist Arnie Fenner
Country United States
Language English
Genre Fantasy novel
Publisher Mark V. Ziesing
Publication date
 1990
Media type Print (Hardback & Paperback)
ISBN 978-0-929-48018-3

A Short, Sharp Shock (sometimes titled Short, Sharp Shock) is a 1990 fantasy novel by Kim Stanley Robinson. [1] The story deals with a man who awakens without memory in a strange land and journeys through it to find the woman he woke alongside.

Kim Stanley Robinson American science fiction writer

Kim Stanley Robinson is an American writer of science fiction. He has published nineteen novels and numerous short stories but 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 running through them 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. Robinson's work has been labeled by The Atlantic as "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."

His journey takes him along the narrow strip of land, surrounded by ocean, which makes up the whole world.

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

Short, sharp shock

The phrase "short, sharp shock" means "a quick, severe punishment." It is an example of alliteration. Although the phrase originated earlier, it was popularised in Gilbert and Sullivan's 1885 comic opera The Mikado, where it appears in the song near the end of Act I, "I Am So Proud". It has since been used in popular songs, song titles, literature, as well as in general speech.

Gilbert and Sullivan Victorian-era theatrical partnership

Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900) and to the works they jointly created. The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado are among the best known.

<i>The Mikado</i> opera

The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen operatic collaborations. It opened on 14 March 1885, in London, where it ran at the Savoy Theatre for 672 performances, which was the second-longest run for any work of musical theatre and one of the longest runs of any theatre piece up to that time. Before the end of 1885, it was estimated that, in Europe and America, at least 150 companies were producing the opera.

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References

  1. ↑ Kim Stanley Robinson, A Short, Sharp Shock, Harpers Collins, 1990
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