Palimpsest (novella)


Palimpsest is a 2009 science fiction novella by Charles Stross, exploring the conjunction of time travel and deep time. Originally published in Stross's 2009 collection Wireless, it won the 2010 Hugo Award for best novella.
Subterranean Press has announced that they will be reprinting the novella separately in 2011.

Inspiration

Stross has stated that Palimpsest is effectively a rewrite of The End of Eternity, by Isaac Asimov.

Plot

Pierce is a police officer with the Stasis, a special institution dedicated to the preservation of humanity by its agents who are able to travel through time. Every time humanity dies, the Stasis reseeds Earth with a new generation of humans to develop a civilization. However, the Opposition, an organisation that seems to struggle against the Stasis, has been created over time, and it seems that Pierce is somehow tied to it.