Alexander Gromov

This article is about a Russian science fiction writer. For other persons with this name, see Gromov.

Alexander Nikolayevich Gromov (Алексáндр Николáевич Грóмов) is a Russian science fiction writer, who began writing in 1986 and was first published in the early 1990s. His work is influenced by that of the Strugatsky brothers.

While most of his novels have a well-defined "scientific" background (Gromov is a former electronic engineer and a current amateur astronomer), Gromov's main interest is "social science fiction", as he explains it:

I still have to tell a couple of words about my works — not about each one, but about all of them. Most of the things I wrote can be considered social science fiction (not in the sense of "capitalism-socialism" — this topic does not interest me). The recipe of it, worked out by H. G. Wells, has not changed till the present day and looks like this: you take a socium (limited number of people is better — easier to work) and do some ugly thing to it, and then you sit and look at the consequences...[1]

Gromov's works

None of Gromov's books have been translated into English yet.

Soft landing

The flight of the humankind will interrupt, but it will be not as an explosion, people are afraid of it being of no use, Sergei. It will be as soft landing.

This novel (Myagkaya posadka, 1995) describes life of an ordinary man, Sergei, in the epoch of great crises, finally leading to the death of humankind. The action is set in Moscow, approximately at the end of 21st century.

While the world passes through a new Ice Age, it also suffers the turning of 70% of the population into morons (such ones are ironically called oakcephalics), but the last nail in the coffin of humankind is the race of adaptants — different subspecies of Homo sapiens with less intelligence but much better survival ability. Some adaptants are dispersed among humans, looking like oakcephalics and not even realizing their nature. While the most reliable way to reveal them is genetic testing, the weird non-human fury can be seen in their eyes when they are ready to kill. The way of social life of other adaptants is forming hierarchical flocks. Adaptants are surprisingly successful at being able to survive at the expense of people. At some moment adaptants begin open war against humankind, led by the cleverest species. The novel covers the events before the war and shortly after it's onset.

Sergei works in a university (his subject concerns electricity, due to the mass need of power stations) and while he is primarily good, he sometimes acts harshly. He is able to fight, as each teacher obligatorily trains in the martial arts and he struggles for his relatives in the dying world. He is urged to show loyalty to the security service but tries to maintain loyalty to his inner principles.

The plot of the first two chapters is relatively simple and covers Sergei's work at the university, his life at home, friends and colleagues. Driving home to his wife Darja involves fighting off a band of adaptants. Later in the novel, Darja begins to exhibit oakcephaly, and Sergei tries to carry out genetic testing secretly, not believing in her being an adaptant.

The final, third part, shows the war which flares up after the sharp rise of adaptants. Small half-autonomous groups of people try to counteract elusive flocks of adaptants. Now Sergei is a recently dismissed commander of a group of his colleagues.

Unwelcome power

How did it end? A lazy and sarcastic laboratory assistant Sashka, an officer of Security Service, turned out to be a local leader of adaptants, willing to make Sergei a controlled leader of the remaining people. But when Sashka murdered the whole Headquarters for Mopping-up the city and was forcing injured Sergei for collaboration, trainer of Sergei uncle Kolya rushed in... In the instant duel uncle Kolya was killed, and Sashka was more tenacious of life:

"Raw material", Sashka uttered with an effort...

Finishing off Sashka, Sergei automatically killed the last commander, and faced the people who came in:

I still stretched and stretched them my stupid submachine gun. I could agree to all. I wouldn't resist if any of them would point on me the flat black circle, and while muttering a curse would bend his forefinger on a trigger.

None of them did this. Suddenly I became to understand and got frightened. They haven't shoot me in the first moment. Now they already couldn't shoot me, even if they have wanted to. I was needed by them. I occupied the place, that belonged earlier to someone, and now — to me. And exhausted people, armed by submachine guns, looked at me so, as if waiting for a command from me. Why, it was so.

In the epilogue we see Sergei being the first president of the humankind, that is several thousand people who settled near a thermonuclear electrostation and seem to survive for long, despite the seeming death of the rest people. Is it a happy end?..

Year of the Lemming

This section needs reworking.

This novel (God Lemminga, 1997) is a prequel to Soft Landing, set in 2039–2040 years. Appearing of a bunch of serious contagious diseases and unexpected technological failures caused establishment of four Services, harshly monitoring life of humankind in such aspects. Possible functioners (i.e., heads of the Services) were grown up in the special School and underwent a thorough selection. A slightest functioner's mistake could have serious effects and result in his death.

The main hero, functioner of Sanitary Service Michail Malakhov, got the case of sharp rise of suicides, which grew exponentially (like an epidemic). Thorough examinations and gathering statistics failed to clarify its causes. But one hypothesis was found: size of each population is limited to some critical value, and when population approaches it, the instinct of conserving the species causes suicide of some species (why Year of the Lemming?). It was developed by two scientists as well as the cure, however, they decided not to share it with the humankind... Why? After a while Malakhov, the only person possessing the cure now, realized that most of self-murderers were base people...

But what to do, if man's nature undertakes by itself healing the society so, that no functioner had ever dreamt of? It heals brutally? Yes, of course. But it doesn't know other ways. And we don't know... if we try to heal radically. Which duty is higher? before people? before the country? before the humankind?

Better not to be brought into existence, than to answer questions without answers! Every answer is a crime, every decision of way of acting is twice a crime...

The second part of the story is told parallelly. We see Malakhov as an outcast, escaping from commandos of Services. A specific feature of Malakhov is severe headache, preventing him from acts which would result in his death... and thus, leading him into safer positions. This "demon" helped him to go through numerous tests in the School, and to avoid mistakes as a functioner. This time it helped him to fly from Services time and again. But as the scale of epidemic grew, Malakhov's demon increasingly urged him to reveal the cure... Finally, when Services caught him, exhibiting symptoms of suicidal disease, he chose to reveal the cure rather than to die.

After few years public displeasure with Services will eliminate them. Loss of Services, which fought off sharp hazards will render the situation of soft landing possible...

Master of the Void

Master of the Void is a novel by Russian science fiction writer Alexander Gromov and first published in 1997. The plot involves the transition of a nation, in peace harmony with the nature on a distant planet, to a phase of an industrial dictatorship created to defend against cruel outer aggression.

The novel has not been translated to English.

Plot summary

In the post-war galaxy, ruined civilizations regain bygone greatness. Earth's cleaning ship reaches the planet, whose inhabitants rejected technology long ago, living in small forest settlements and practicing handicrafts and hunting. Not noticing them, the crew drops 50 autom-cleaners, self-conscious mechanisms consisting of active mass, which are supposed to carry out cleaning on their own or by emerging simpler mechanisms — plain cleaners. But this cleaning, being a full destruction of the biosphere and covering the continent with an envelope of active mass,means death for all residents. However, only one of them, called the Smartest, understands this.

The main character, also known as Zach Denton, is said to be a renowned scholar. Based on analysis of his dialogue in the novel, it is estimated that his IQ is 154, which places him among the most intelligent people in the world, hence the name Smartest. The post-war setting complements the protagonist's presence in the novel, and increases the intensity as he masters the void and all dark matter.

Actually, he is a former commando who dramatically arrived on this planet fifty years ago. In this critical situation he sees the only way out in rapid technological progress, but local authorities, female Keepers of knowledge, disagree with him. "You want to save people. To do it you'll have to change them. Answer me, what are people without customs worth? They are worse than savages, worse than you..."

To get the attention of Earth's ship crew, one of the autonom-cleaners has to be destroyed... Smartest understands this as well as he knows it would require a strong leader, whom people will follow. He chooses a shooter, Leon, who has managed to bring down a plain cleaner which fired his village. Drunkard and poet Kirreyn begins to propagandize Leon as the Hero and the Great Shooter. Soon several boys become Leon's "personal guards". Using violence, a group headed by Smartest captures technology data sheets and Leon calls all people to join him to manufacture weapons. At first, they don't believe in technology, but the first tank convinces all to the contrary, after its crew, headed by Leon, shoots down two plain cleaners... All adore Leon; he overworks and goes to battle first...

A lot of "plants" are built; and people who joined Leon defend only some necessary area where they live and work... Food becomes scarce and it's the reason to establish war police... Now it exhibits many features of a state.

But Leon's plane is shot down beyond the border, where the former rule of the Keepers still holds and he is captured by them. Keepers have deified the autonom-cleaners (Iron Beasts) and try to counteract Leon's "state". He meets J-Fron, the lest valuable member of crew of Earth ship, who has deserted. When he luckily returns home with J-Fron's aid (plain cleaners fired the prison, but left J-Fron alive due to a telepathic password implanted in his brain), he finds that his former position is hold by another man.

Leon can't find an occupation that would suit him; he remembers too well all the shouting crowds... And he doesn't want to be Lord of the void, an alive memorial of himself. Leon sends his "guards" to kill the new Leader, after he conducted the operation of destroying one autonom-cleaner (with the aid of J-Fron's password; however this operation involved more than a thousand people killed). This becomes a sort of point of no return for Leon, both his failure to be a normal person and his affirmation as the great Leader. He doesn't realize this; The Smartest does, "Please, don't call me a Teacher any longer; now you can teach by yourself."

But as the autonom-cleaner is destroyed, the crew of the Earth ship realizes the situation and leaves the planet alone... with 49 working autonom-cleaners. According to their notion of fairness, the society must have a chance to survive... but it is worth nothing if it doesn't manage to do so.

Leon moves his nation (now less than one tenth of the original population) under the shelter of mountains, into the ancient Capital, a system of caves... The Smartest and J-Fron decided to cover the retreat... In their last talk before probable death, Smartest tells J-Fron, that when he got to this planet 50 years ago, he met a "happy and somewhat sleepy society. Such it was, you were too late to see it. Society not changing for a thousand years, fine people who I, a cretin, couldn't stand... By the way, the best society, without experiencing shocks now and then is threatened with banal degeneration. It was my point, and it holds. It's fun — I wanted one time to be that man, who would wake this world up..."

"I have never thought that in the end I will become an adversary of progress."

The old man struck the crag with his yellow venous fist, struck once more and more.

"But why?!" shouted he, "Why are people constructed in a so way, that for them the only way to survive in a critical situation is THIS? Why?!"

Themes

Two of Gromov's books focus on a theme of power. His novella Saint Vitus Minuet (Menuet Svyatogo Vitta, 1997), deals with an emerging society on an unexplored planet and the psychological aspects of survival. His novel Master of the Void (Vlastelin Pustoty, 1997) discusses the transition of a peaceful nation in harmony with the nature to an industrial war dictatorship. It examines the surrounding mechanisms of power in the fictional government as well as the protagonist's rise to leadership.

See also

• Official web-page of A. Gromov (old enough)
• Some works of Gromov at lib.ru (Russian)
• Gromov fans forum (and the corresponding site)
• Gromov's LiveJournal