The Twisted Road is a murder mystery and a political thriller. Its protagonist, Mab Winter, is an ex-cop and a refugee from Earth, hiding out on battered and anarchic Möbius Station while she battles her own demons. Reluctantly, however, she gets dragged back into her old life…
The book also a story about a clash between anarchsim/libertarianism and authoritarianism.
Prior to this book, Möbius Station has been wrested from Earth control by the people who live upon it. It becomes the Free Republic of Möbius Station – an anarchy in both senses of that word. It’s sometimes violent and chaotic – but it’s also free from any sort of hierarchy of control. There is no government; the functioning of the station depends entirely on the willingness of its people to co-operate. It’s an anarchy in the sense meant by political thinkers such as Pierre-Joseph Proudhon or Emma Goldman (ideas I studed at University long ago!)
The station works – more-or-less. Given that the set up for the book is a murder mystery, Möbius is clearly not paradise, but it’s also not as dangerous as people assume it will be. The place functions without a government. People from Möbius like to play up to the “lawless” myth, but they mostly love living there, relish its freedoms and tolerate its downsides.
So, in its own small way, The Twisted Road explores some of the same themes as one of my favourite science fiction books: Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed.
Find out more about the book on my site or on the Elsewhen Press site.
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