The Chief Designer (novella)
Encyclopedia
"The Chief Designer" is a science fiction
novella
published in 2001 by Andy Duncan
. It won the 2002 Sturgeon Award and was nominated for the 2002 Hugo Award for Best Novella
.
, an educated man who served as a slave laborer in Siberia but eventually ends up leading the Soviet Union’s space program in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Throughout his many years of service he becomes a very well respected hero in the USSR's space program. Along the way he implements several crucial designs, helps save the lives of many cosmonauts and struggles with constant political power plays.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
novella
Novella
A novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative usually longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000...
published in 2001 by Andy Duncan
Andy Duncan (writer)
Andy Duncan is an award-winning American science fiction and fantasy writer whose work frequently deals with Southern U.S. themes. He was born in Batesburg, South Carolina in 1964. He graduated from high school from W. W...
. It won the 2002 Sturgeon Award and was nominated for the 2002 Hugo Award for Best Novella
Hugo Award for Best Novella
The Hugo Awards are given every year by the World Science Fiction Society for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was once officially...
.
Plot summary
The story follows Sergey KorolyovSergey Korolyov
Sergei Pavlovich Korolev ; died 14 January 1966 in Moscow, Russia) was the lead Soviet rocket engineer and spacecraft designer in the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union during the 1950s and 1960s...
, an educated man who served as a slave laborer in Siberia but eventually ends up leading the Soviet Union’s space program in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Throughout his many years of service he becomes a very well respected hero in the USSR's space program. Along the way he implements several crucial designs, helps save the lives of many cosmonauts and struggles with constant political power plays.
External links
- The Chief Designer by Andy Duncan at BestScienceFictionStories.com - A short review of the novella and resources for finding it.