Traction City (novella)

Last updated

Traction City
Traction City.jpg
Author Philip Reeve
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Series Mortal Engines Quartet
Genre Science fiction
Publisher Scholastic
Publication date
2011
Media typePrint (hardback and paperback)
Pages293
ISBN 978-1-4071-2427-8
OCLC 50714166

Traction City is a novella by Philip Reeve and is a prequel to the Mortal Engines Quartet . It was released as a flip book alongside Chris Priestly's teachers tales of terror for World Book Day. [1] The novella is set in London and introduces street urchin Smiff, policeman Anders, and a young Anna Fang.

Contents

The story was later expanded into the short story titled "Traction City Blues" as part of the Night Flights short story collection, released in July 2018.

Plot summary

Smiff is an orphan who lives on the lowest tier of London and scavenges for items which have fallen through the cracks from higher tiers. Whilst searching in London's womb for items he witnesses a murder where the attacker has removed the right hand. Whilst not a fan of the police Smiff goes to the airdock green police station where a teenage Anna Fang has just been arrested by corporal Nutter as an Anti-Tractionist saboteur for carrying an explosive device. Smiff explains about the murder to Sergeant Anders who alongside Nutter leaves to investigate the murder and come across the culprit which turns out to be a stalker. Meanwhile, constable Pym searches the records for similar incidents and find several reports about accidents which have occurred within a fortnight where the right hand has been removed and concludes that they weren't accidents but murders by the same killer. Anders and Nutter return to the police station where Anna Fang explains that she has been following the stalker called The Collector who she wants to recruit to the Anti-tractionist cause. When asked why she feels The Collector wouldn't just attack her she talks about Shrike another stalker who is a bounty hunter who refuses to harm children (like her). Concluding that it is highly likely that this is true given the fact that Smiff survived his encounter with The Collector he decides to use Anna as bait to give himself and Nutter enough time to strap the explosive device she was found with to the stalker. Along the way they find a dead apprentice engineer with a missing right hand who is younger than Anna Fang. They are surrounded by a group of Engineers who are a powerful guild in London. The Engineers explain that they brought The Collector on to London in order to see if they could use stalkers as soldiers but lost control of The Collector. Afterwards the head of the engineers orders the death of the two police officers and Anna but Smiff who had followed Anders throws a tin and shouts explosive scattering the engineers giving the group time to run and find cover. The engineers who have regrouped and are charging towards the group are killed by The Collector who proceeds to chop of the right hands and see if they are a suitable replacement for its own missing hand. Concluding that the right hands aren't a match The Collector heads towards the group but Anders begins trying to talk to it hoping to sacrifice himself to give the other time to escape but as he steps out he remembers Anna's explosive which they had bought along and talking to The Collector he manages to distract him long enough to strap the explosive to him and escape. Afterwards he allows Anna Fang to escape telling her to travel to the Anti-Traction league and allowing Smiff to stay at the station.

Reception

The book has an aggregated rating of 4 stars on Goodreads. [2]

Related Research Articles

<i>Crime and Punishment</i> 1866 Russian-language novel by Dostoyevsky

Crime and Punishment is a novel by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. It was first published in the literary journal The Russian Messenger in twelve monthly installments during 1866. It was later published in a single volume. It is the second of Dostoevsky's full-length novels following his return from ten years of exile in Siberia. Crime and Punishment is considered the first great novel of his mature period of writing. The novel is often cited as one of the supreme achievements in world literature.

<i>Escape to Witch Mountain</i> (1995 film)

Disney's Escape to Witch Mountain, commonly referred to simply as Escape to Witch Mountain, is a 1995 American made-for-television fantasy-adventure film and a remake of the 1975 film of the same name. The film was announced by American Broadcasting Company (ABC) in September 1994, as the third of four Disney film remakes to air on the channel, the other three being The Shaggy Dog, The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes, and Freaky Friday. The film was produced by Walt Disney Television and premiered on ABC on April 29, 1995, as an ABC Family Movie.

<i>Mortal Engines</i> 2001 young-adult novel by Philip Reeve

Mortal Engines is a young-adult science fantasy novel by Philip Reeve, published by Scholastic UK in 2001. The book focuses on a futuristic, steampunk version of London, now a giant machine striving to survive on a world that is running out of resources.

<i>Predators Gold</i> 2003 young-adult novel by Philip Reeve

Predator's Gold, the second book in the Mortal Engines Quartet series, is a young-adult science fiction fantasy novel written by Philip Reeve and published in 2003. In the book, Tom and Hester stumble across the ice raft of Anchorage.

<i>Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde</i> 1971 British film directed by Roy Ward Baker

Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde is a 1971 British horror film directed by Roy Ward Baker based on the 1886 novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. The film was made by British studio Hammer Film Productions and was their third adaptation of the story after The Ugly Duckling and The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll. The film is notable for showing Jekyll transform into a female Hyde; it also incorporates into the plot aspects of the historical Jack the Ripper and Burke and Hare cases. The title characters were played by the film's stars, Ralph Bates and Martine Beswick.

<i>Mortal Engines Quartet</i> Series of novels by Philip Reeve

The Mortal Engines Quartet, also known as the Predator Cities Quartet, is a series of epic young adult fantasy novels by the British novelist and illustrator Philip Reeve. He began the first volume of the series, Mortal Engines, in the 1980s, and it was published in 2001. Reeve then published three further novels, Predator's Gold in 2003, Infernal Devices in 2005, and A Darkling Plain in 2006. The series is set thousands of years after the Sixty Minute War has devastated Earth. It tells the story of young adventurers in the Traction Era, when moving cities roam for resources, achieved by attacking and devouring each other. The novels have won a number of awards, including the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize in 2002 for Mortal Engines and the 2006 Guardian Children's Fiction Prize and the 2007 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Young Adult Fiction for A Darkling Plain.

<i>Infernal Devices</i> (Reeve novel) 2005 young-adult novel by Philip Reeve

Infernal Devices is the third of four novels in Philip Reeve's children's series, the Mortal Engines Quartet.

<i>A Darkling Plain</i> 2006 young-adult novel by Philip Reeve

A Darkling Plain is the fourth and final novel in the Mortal Engines Quartet series, written by British author Philip Reeve.

Andrea Beaumont Comics character

Andrea Beaumont, also known as the Phantasm, is a fictional DC Entertainment supervillain and antiheroine created by Alan Burnett and Paul Dini, and designed by Bruce Timm. Beaumont first appeared as the main antagonist in the 1993 DC Animated Universe (DCAU) film Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, where she was established as the girlfriend-then-ex-fiancée of Bruce Wayne/Batman prior to and around the time he first began his vigilante career. Dana Delany provided the voice work for Andrea and Stacy Keach provided the electronically modified voice of her "Phantasm" alter ego.

<i>Case Closed: Captured in Her Eyes</i> 2000 Japanese film

Case Closed: Captured in Her Eyes, known as Detective Conan: Captured in Her Eyes in Japan, is a Japanese anime feature film based on the Case Closed series. It was released on December 29, 2009 in the United States. This film achieved a box office income of 2.5 billion Japanese yen.

<i>The Ministry of Fear</i> 1943 novel by Graham Greene

The Ministry of Fear is a 1943 novel written by Graham Greene. It was first published in Britain by William Heinemann. It was made into the 1944 film Ministry of Fear, directed by Fritz Lang and starring Ray Milland.

<i>The Perils of Pauline</i> (1933 serial) 1933 film

The Perils of Pauline is a 1933 American Pre-Code film serial, and sound film remake, of the Pathé original. The 12-chapter "cliffhanger" was produced by Universal Studios. Evalyn Knapp, herself a graduate of Pathé silent short subjects, starred as the heroine, Pauline Hargraves. Historic newsreel footage of the 1930 flight of the Dornier Do X seaplane is featured in chapter eight.

<i>The English Assassin</i> (Silva novel)

The English Assassin is a spy novel by Daniel Silva, published in 2002.

<i>Fever Crumb</i> 2009 young adult novel by Philip Reeve

Fever Crumb is a young adult post-apocalyptic science fiction novel by Philip Reeve, published in 2009. The first in a series, it is followed by A Web of Air in 2010 and Scrivener's Moon in 2011. The books of the Fever Crumb series are prequels to the Mortal Engines Quartet series of novels by the same author.

The Fever Crumb series is the title of a series of novels written by British author, Philip Reeve, and is the prequel series to his Mortal Engines Quartet. The series consists of three books: Fever Crumb (2009), A Web of Air (2010), and Scrivener's Moon (2011). The books follow a young woman known as Fever Crumb, and her adventures set around the time of the creation of the first traction cities that become prevalent in the Mortal Engines series. while Reeve stated in 2011 that he had always envisaged a quartet for the series, assuring readers of a fourth installment, by 2020 he said that "too much time has passed", making it difficult to revisit the series, and that he did not intend to finish and publish a fourth book.

Anders Behring Breivik Norwegian far-right domestic terrorist

Fjotolf Hansen, better known by his birth name Anders Behring Breivik and by his pseudonym Andrew Berwick, is a Norwegian far-right domestic terrorist, known for committing the 2011 Norway attacks on 22 July 2011. On that day, he killed eight people by detonating a van bomb at Regjeringskvartalet in Oslo, then killed 69 participants of a Workers' Youth League (AUF) summer camp in a mass shooting on the island of Utøya.

<i>Bill Bergson Lives Dangerously</i> Book by Astrid Lindgren

Bill Bergson Lives Dangerously is a 1951 Swedish novel written by Astrid Lindgren. It's the 2nd book about the Master Detective Kalle Blomkvist. In this book the Rövarspråket appears for the first time and is very popular until present. According to the book, Eva-Lotta's father Master Baker told her when he and his friends spoke Rövarspråket as boys.

Ricardo López (stalker) American criminal (1975–1996)

Ricardo López, also known as the "Björk stalker", was an American man who attempted to murder the Icelandic singer Björk.

<i>Mortal Engines</i> (film) 2018 film by Christian Rivers

Mortal Engines is a 2018 steampunk film directed by Christian Rivers and with a screenplay by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, and Peter Jackson, based on the 2001 novel of the same name by Philip Reeve, and starring Hera Hilmar, Robert Sheehan, Hugo Weaving, Jihae, Ronan Raftery, Leila George, Patrick Malahide, and Stephen Lang. An American–New Zealand co-production, the film is set in a post-apocalyptic world where entire cities have been mounted on wheels and motorised, and practise municipal Darwinism; its movie universe is different from that of the books.

<i>Seven Blood-Stained Orchids</i> Film

Seven Blood-Stained Orchids is a 1972 giallo film directed by Umberto Lenzi, who also co-wrote the screenplay.

References

  1. "Philip Reeve". scholastic. Archived from the original on 18 May 2009. Retrieved 17 July 2011.
  2. "The Teachers Tale of Terror, Traction City" . Retrieved 17 July 2011.