The Cold Equations

Godwin, Tom. "The Cold Equations." Astounding August 1954. Frequently rpt. including Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volume 1. Robert Silverberg, ed. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1970. See Contento Indexfor other rpts. For translations and more up-to-date bibliographic information, see Internet Speculative Fiction Database, as of February 2024, here.[1]

The "cold equations" of an apparently mechanistic universe seem to condemn to death for a small offense a sympathetic girl/woman; careful reading shows that business calculations are a key part of the equations — a point Tom Godwin may not have intended.

See also Robert Sheckley's "The Cruel Equations." The premise is riffed upon, with a happier ending, by A. C. Clarke in "Refugee" (1955), much reprinted, for which see Internet Speculative Fiction Database, as of February 2024, here.[2]

For "Cold Equations" in context in the development of SF fiction in the U.S., see Barry N. Malzberg's essay "Wrong Rabbit," collected The Engines of the Night: Science Fiction in the Eighties (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1982; paperback edition NYC: Bluejay Books [publ.]/St. Martin's [dist.], 1984): 67-70, esp. p. 69.

RDE, Title, 11Aug19; translations etc. 4Feb24; 13Feb24