Atomsk: A Novel of Suspense

Right after World War II:

“I want you to spoil the secret of Atomsk.”

“Atomsk?”

Coppersmith spelled it out, adding, “It’s the Russian atomic center. We want them to know that we know all about it. We want them to guess as to how we know about it. We want to get the information for our own use, but we don’t just want to know about it as a bombing target. We want the Russians to suspect us so much that they will not fool themselves. For that, we need a man as a weapon.”

“To go in, to get out, and, after he was out, to leave traces?”

“Right. If the Russians think we know about their precious secret, they will be less disposed to take a chance. If we ourselves do know what the secret is, we will be less inclined to wage war against an unknown and therefore exaggerated danger. This is the meanest kind of fight there is, Major. It’s a fight to keep the peace.”

* * *

Major Michael Dugan had spent the war successfully pretending to be a Japanese officer. Now he infiltrates the secret Soviet city of Atomsk. The flair he does it with, the cleverness with which he overcomes countless obstacles,and the richness of the writing, make Atomsk a unique story and a page-turner. A dash of romance helps.

This Cold War-era spy novel was written by the man who went on to science fiction fame as Cordwainer Smith. His name in daily life was Paul M. A. Linebarger, and using his own name he wrote the classic book Psychological Warfare, translated into 14 languages.

WHAT PEOPLE SAY

"Atomsk is what we now call a techno-thriller. It was written twenty-five years too early. Had it been written later, it would have been acclaimed as well, the sort of thing that Tom Clancy made millions out of! The seeds fell on ground that hadn't been ploughed and fertilized yet, as it were." -- Anthony Lewis, author of Concordance to Cordwainer Smith

"Perhaps I like Atomsk so much because of the cultural subtleties. It's one of my favorites of my father's books, even more than most of his science fiction. It's a real page-turner, too, as most of his work is." -- Rosana (Linebarger) Hart

"You should have warned me. I have to go to work but I can't stop reading." -- a friend of Rosana's