Laika's Ghost
Stories by Karl Schroeder
by Karl Schroeder

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Ukrainian nuclear engineer Gennady Malianov would rather camp in the ruins of Chornobyl or explore abandoned anthrax factories than talk to another human being. Painfully shy as he is, he finds it soothing dismantling the abandoned genocide-machines of the Cold War, but he inevitably encounters others who have come to the same remote places with more sinister aims. In these widely acclaimed stories, collected here for the first time, Gennady encounters: • An Azerbaijani beer company that may or may not have stolen two hydrogen bombs • A young American being chased by the CIA, Google, and a band of elderly ex-Soviet spies because he claims to have spotted a pyramid on Mars • A woman who is hunting for her missing son, who has disappeared into an alternate universe of Steampunk computer games • A killer robot in Vancouver that refuses to kill • A towering carbon-capture facility somehow connected to the greatest mass extinction in Earth’s history. And meanwhile, in the deadly caldera of the Chornobyl reactor, something is stirring… All Gennady’s adventures, previously published and successful on their own, are brought together for the first time in Laika’s Ghost. New and old fans of this slightly offbeat hero will find the tales connected by a larger, chronological framework that showcases Gennady’s life and career, as he struggles not to buckle beneath the weight of an ever-growing responsibility to the world … and to himself.

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Lean and hugely engaging ... and highly recommended. --Open Letters Monthly, an Arts and Literature Review, on Lockstep "Outrageously brilliant and absolutely not to be missed." —The Kirkus Reviews, on Sun of Suns “Schroeder's deft alchemy fuses scrupulously detailed, mind-expanding world-building with unabashed, rip-roaring pulp adventure to produce a twenty-four carat story sparkling with science fiction's finest virtues.” —Paul McAuley, on Sun of Suns

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Karl Schroeder is an award-winning Canadian science-fiction writer whose dozen novels have been translated into as many languages. Since 1983, his many short stories and serializations have appeared in venues as diverse as Analog Magazine, Slate, and many numerous anthologies. A member of the Association of Professional Futurists (with a master's degree in strategic foresight and design from OCAD University), he frequently works as a foresight consultant and guest speaker. Three of the stories in this collection were republished in "Year's Best" collections, one won an Audie Award, and another was nominated for American science fiction's top award: the Hugo. As well as other literary honors, he has also won three Canadian Aurora Awards, for Best Short Work in English (1993), Best Canadian Science-Fiction Novel (2003), and Best YA Novel (2015). Born into the same Manitoba Mennonite community as famous "Golden Age" science fiction writer A.E. van Vogt, Schroeder now lives in Toronto with his wife and daughter. To connect with or follow the author, please visit: https://kschroeder.substack.com. (Substack newsletter) or https://www.kschroeder.com.

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Karl Schroeder