"Les Mortes d'Arthur" | |
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Author | Harry Turtledove, as Eric G. Iverson |
First Appearance | Analog Magazine |
Collected | Departures |
Genre(s) | Science fiction |
Publication date | August, 1985 |
"Les Mortes d'Arthur" is a science fiction murder mystery short story written by Harry Turtledove and published under the Eric Iverson pseudonym. It was originally published in Analog Magazine in August 1985 (which also contained "Notes from the General Secretariat", published under the pseudonym Mark Gordian) and reprinted in the Turtledove collection Departures in 1993.
The story takes place on Mimas, a moon of Saturn during the Sixty-sixth Winter Olympic Games, where some athletes are murdered during the five-kilometer ski jump competition, with broadcaster Bill Bennett beginning his own amateur investigation.
The Arthur in the title is a crater on Mimas. At the time of publication, this crater was given a preliminary name of Arthur, with several neighboring landmarks sharing the theme of Arthurian legend. But it was subsequently christened Herschel by the International Astronomical Union, after the moon's discoverer. Turtledove has said that "Les Mortes d'Herschel" made a less exciting title.
Some of the political entities in this story later show up in "La Différence" and "Next Year in Jerusalem". However, there is no reason to believe that all of these stories are set in the same continuity; Turtledove has elsewhere shown fondness for recycling the same ideas in different timelines.
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