| "Red Star, Winter Orbit" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Short story by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling | |||
| Country | Canada | ||
| Language | English | ||
| Genre(s) | Science fiction | ||
| Publication | |||
| Published in | Omni, Burning Chrome, Mirrorshades | ||
| Publication type | Anthology | ||
| Media type | Print (hardback and paperback) | ||
| Publication date | July 1983 | ||
| Chronology | |||
| |||
"Red Star, Winter Orbit" is a short story written by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling in the 1980s.[1] It was first published in Omni in July 1983, and later collected in Burning Chrome, a 1986 anthology of Gibson's early short fiction, and in Sterling's 1986 cyberpunk anthology Mirrorshades. The story is set in an alternate future where the Soviet Union controls most of the Earth's resources, especially oil. As a result of this the United States is no longer a dominant economic power on earth and the Soviets have won the space race.
Science fiction critic Takayuki Tatsumi regards the story as a descriptive account of "the failure of the dream of space exploration", reminiscent of J. G. Ballard's "inner space/outer space" motif.[2] Gibson scholar Tatiani Rapatzikou commented that the motif of the space station was used by the authors as a "symbol of the tension and uneasiness the characters or readers experience every time they deal with the artificiality of their technological world".[2]