Over the next few weeks on the blog, I’m delving into the seven short stories and novellas contained within my recently released Love and Other Punishments dystopian sci-fi anthology.

This week: Apocalypse 1983

Soviet Russia, 1983. Colonel Andrei Fedorov is assigned to replace Colonel Stanislav Petrov for his shift at Serpukhov-15 bunker, monitoring the Oko nuclear strike early warning system, as Colonel Petrov is ill. Fedorov takes over this dull assignment from Colonel Komorovksy. The pair exchange remarks about the contraband Variety magazine Komorovksy had been reading, concerning the recent David Lynch-directed third instalment in the Star Wars trilogy, Revenge of the Jedi. Komorovksy departs. Federov watches, reflecting that lately, he hasn’t spent enough time with his wife and daughter. 

Then, the unthinkable happens.

The Revenge of the Jedi remarks makes clear this story takes place in a parallel universe. David Lynch really was once offered the job of directing what became Return of the Jedi (Revenge of the Jedi was the working title George Lucas later changed). A far bigger difference between this history of our universe and that of Colonel Fedorov is also about to become apparent because in our universe, Colonel Stanislav Petrov – a real figure from history – was on duty on the fateful day I describe.

This story was inspired by the real-life 1983 Soviet nuclear false alarm incident, in which Petrov, an officer of the Soviet Air Defence Forces, chose to ignore an alarm indicating the presence of incoming American nuclear missiles. Standing orders were to alert his superiors to wait for corroborating evidence; an instruction Petrov deliberately disregarded, as he knew this would cause the button to be pushed. When no such evidence arrived, he correctly concluded the warning had been a false alarm, caused by errors in the satellite warning system.

Petrov’s instincts are widely credited for having averted a full-scale nuclear war between the USA and USSR. Furthermore, Petrov subsequently stated that had someone else been on duty that night, a nuclear strike would almost certainly have occurred, as the other duty officers did not have a civilian background, and their military mindset would have meant orders were followed to the letter. Petrov was not rewarded for his heroic actions, but he was reprimanded by his superiors for improper filing of paperwork.

The inspiration for Apocalypse 1983 was simply to imagine what might have happened had Petrov not been on duty. Thinking about how close we came to a nuclear apocalypse freezes my blood. As for the story’s place in this collection, at a brisk 2,000 words, it acts as a palate cleanser between the suspense thrills of Sweet Dreams, and the enigmatic romantic mystery of Love and Other Punishments, the final novella in the collection.

To order a copy of the Love and Other Punishments anthology, click here (for Amazon in the US), or here (for Amazon in the UK). Digital versions are also available from Smashwords (and their various outlets) here.