''Dawn'' 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 A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

by American writer Dean McLaughlin. A re-imagining of

Isaac Asimov yi, יצחק אזימאװ , birth_date = , birth_place = Petrovichi, Russian SFSR , spouse = , relatives = , children = 2 , death_date = , death_place = Manhattan, New York City, U.S. , nationality = Russian (1920–1922)Soviet (192 ...

's 1941

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

" Nightfall", it was serialized in ''

Analog Analog or analogue may refer to: Computing and electronics * Analog signal, in which information is encoded in a continuous variable ** Analog device, an apparatus that operates on analog signals *** Analog electronics, circuits which use analog ...

'' magazine (April – July 1981), with two cover illustrations, for both its first and last segments. The story was republished in hardcover in 2006.

Plot

Dawn takes place on a nameless

planet A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is neither a star nor its remnant. The best available theory of planet formation is the nebular hypothesis, which posits that an interstellar cloud collapses out of a nebula to create a you ...

in a

multiple-star system A star system or stellar system is a small number of stars that orbit each other, bound by gravitational attraction. A large group of stars bound by gravitation is generally called a ''star cluster'' or ''galaxy'', although, broadly speaking, ...

with six or seven

stars A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by its gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night, but their immense distances from Earth ma ...

, which are regarded as

gods A deity or god is a supernatural being who is considered divine or sacred. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greater ...

by the planet's inhabitants. The planet orbits around Alpher, a yellow star similar to Earth's sun, which forms a binary system with the smaller, cooler Bethe. The other four stars, Gamow, Dalton, Ephron, and Zwicky, are much farther away from Alpher and positioned in such a way that there is always at least one sun visible in the sky. The seventh "god" is the Pale One, which is either a large

moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

or a

double planet In astronomy, a double planet (also binary planet) is a binary satellite system where both objects are planets, or planetary-mass objects, that share an orbital axis external to both planetary bodies. Although up to a third of the star syst ...

. The orbits of the moon and stars are inclined enough that

eclipses An eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when an astronomical object or spacecraft is temporarily obscured, by passing into the shadow of another body or by having another body pass between it and the viewer. This alignment of three ce ...

and

occultations An occultation is an event that occurs when one object is hidden from the observer by another object that passes between them. The term is often used in astronomy, but can also refer to any situation in which an object in the foreground blocks ...

are rare events on the planet. Since there is always at least one sun in the sky, the planet never experiences darkness, except in enclosed spaces such as caves or windowless rooms. The movements of Alpher from east to west across the sky serve as the primary units of time, while longer periods are marked by seasonal shifts of Alpher's position and the overtaking of one star by another.

Hourglasses An hourglass (or sandglass, sand timer, sand clock or egg timer) is a device used to measure the passage of time. It comprises two glass bulbs connected vertically by a narrow neck that allows a regulated flow of a substance (historically sand) ...

are used to measure shorter time intervals. Isak, the protagonist of the story, is a young

scribe A scribe is a person who serves as a professional copyist, especially one who made copies of manuscripts before the invention of automatic printing. The profession of the scribe, previously widespread across cultures, lost most of its promi ...

living in the city of Center, a

feudal Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a wa ...

society that resembles the culture of

medieval Europe In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

. Despite his limited education as a scholar, he discovers that a

pendulum A pendulum is a weight suspended from a pivot so that it can swing freely. When a pendulum is displaced sideways from its resting, equilibrium position, it is subject to a restoring force due to gravity that will accelerate it back toward the ...

can be used to accurately measure long periods of time, such as the time between sunrises. Through his travels and knowledge of this discovery, Isak develops the skills to measure the cycles of the suns and formulates a theory to explain them. Isak applies his theory to make accurate, long-term predictions of the movements of the "gods." He discovers a remarkable event: Gamow will soon overtake the Pale One and pass directly behind it, blocking its light. The overtaking will last for more than half a cycle, resulting in a prolonged period of darkness for the entire world. Isak attempts to inform the priests of the Temple of Center of his prediction so that the people can prepare and avoid panic. However, both the people and the priests doubt Isak's claims about the gods. The high priests fear that if the people were to believe Isak's prediction, it would signal that the gods are angry with the priesthood and lead to societal unrest. As a result, they want to kill Isak before he can spread this foretelling. Isak seeks refuge in a merchant's home and grows close to the merchant's pregnant daughter who was attacked by the priests who disguised their actions as a religious rite. Isak learns about the corruption of the ruling

theocracy Theocracy is a form of government in which one or more deity, deities are recognized as supreme ruling authorities, giving divine guidance to human intermediaries who manage the government's daily affairs. Etymology The word theocracy origina ...

and sees an opportunity to overthrow them when his foretelling comes to fruition. Members of a secret rebellion adopt Isak as their spokesperson, and as time passes, he gains more supporters. When the priests' guards come to take him captive, Isak's followers abandon him. He is then subjected to torture and ordered to renounce his beliefs, but he refuses and is taken to the top of a tower to be further tortured in front of the people, serving as a warning to those who dare to oppose the temple priests.

Development history

McLaughlin pays homage to Asimov by naming the protagonist "Isak" and naming a historical figure Duke "Lagash", the name of the planet in "Nightfall". While Asimov simply used the

Greek letters The Greek alphabet has been used to write the Greek language since the late 9th or early 8th century BCE. It is derived from the earlier Phoenician alphabet, and was the earliest known alphabetic script to have distinct letters for vowels as we ...

Alpha, Beta, Gamma, etc. to name the stars in his story, McLaughlin named his stars Alpher, Bethe, Gamow, Dalton, Ephron, and Zwicky. The first three are an allusion to the famous Alpha-Beta-Gamma paper written in 1948 by

Ralph Alpher Ralph Asher Alpher (February 3, 1921 – August 12, 2007) was an American cosmologist, who carried out pioneering work in the early 1950s on the Big Bang model, including Big Bang nucleosynthesis and predictions of the cosmic microwave backgroun ...

and

George Gamow George Gamow (March 4, 1904 – August 19, 1968), born Georgiy Antonovich Gamov ( uk, Георгій Антонович Гамов, russian: Георгий Антонович Гамов), was a Russian-born Soviet and American polymath, theoreti ...

with

Hans Bethe Hans Albrecht Bethe (; July 2, 1906 – March 6, 2005) was a German-American theoretical physicist who made major contributions to nuclear physics, astrophysics, quantum electrodynamics, and solid-state physics, and who won the 1967 Nobel ...

Dalton Dalton may refer to: Science * Dalton (crater), a lunar crater * Dalton (program), chemistry software * Dalton (unit) (Da), the atomic mass unit * John Dalton, chemist, physicist and meteorologist Entertainment * Dalton (Buffyverse), minor cha ...

and Zwicky are also famous scientists.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dawn (Mclaughlin Novel) 1981 American novels 1981 science fiction novels Novels first published in serial form Works originally published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact Multi-star planetary systems Solar eclipses Nightfall (Asimov)

Plot

Development history

See also

References