''Splinter'' is a

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

novel by the British writer Adam Roberts, published in 2007. It is based on an earlier story by the author, "Hector Servadac, fils", which was part of ''The Mammoth Book of Jules Verne Adventures''. It is a reworking of ''

Off on a Comet ''Off on a Comet'' (french: Hector Servadac) is an 1877 science fiction novel by French writer Jules Verne. Plot The story starts with a comet called Gallia, that touches the Earth in its flight and collects a few small chunks of it. The disas ...

'', an 1877 novel by

Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...

. The hardcover edition of the novel is included in a slipcase with a hardcover edition of ''Off on a Comet''.

Plot summary

As in Verne's novel, the main character is Hector Servadac, however, instead of being stranded on the comet while serving in the French Algerian army, his father is a supporter of a

doomsday cult A doomsday cult is a cult, that believes in apocalypticism and millenarianism, including both those that predict disaster and those that attempt to destroy the entire universe. Sociologist John Lofland coined the term ''doomsday cult'' in his ...

and Servadac is stranded on a splinter of the shattered Earth when the planet is destroyed by a comet. Roberts described the central metaphor as "the trope that the world might end and that we might not even be sure it has happened. We surely wouldn't be wholly oblivious (this is the end of the world we're talking about, after all!) But we might not be wholly certain, either. There would be a lengthy transition period during which we would become increasingly convinced that something substantial had changed in our lives."

Reception

In the SF Encyclopedia,

John Clute John Frederick Clute (born 12 September 1940) is a Canadian-born author and critic specializing in science fiction and fantasy literature who has lived in both England and the United States since 1969. He has been described as "an integral part o ...

described ''Splinter'' as an "enjoyable homage to and gloss upon the Verne novel."

References

External links

Roberts' official website
2007 British novels 2007 science fiction novels British science fiction novels Works by Adam Roberts (British writer) Novels based on works by Jules Verne Novels about impact events Fiction about comets Solaris Books books {{2000s-specf-novel-stub