Broken Symmetries

by Paul Preuss

"Paul Preuss has done a fine thing. He has written a magnificent book in BROKEN SYMMETRIES. I admire his knowledge and artistry." ―Roger Zelazny


BROKEN SYMMETRIES introduces theoretical physicist Peter Slater and world-traveling photojournalist Anne-Marie Brand. They meet in Hawaii, where Anne-Marie is in pursuit of a story about the giant atom-smasher TERAC, the newest and biggest particle accelerator in the world, built amidst the pineapple fields of Oahu. Dr. Martin Edovich is the triumphant scientist behind the project―he claims that "his" discovery of I-particles will win him the Nobel Prize and change the face of physics.


But Peter Slater predicted the existence of I-particles long ago and suspects that they are unstable―explosive and potentially cataclysmic. And as TERAC ramps up, Slater’s theory is about to be tested.


The symmetries of matter itself are about to be unexpectedly broken, unleashing the fury of self-annihilation...

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Paul Preuss is an American writer of science fiction and science articles, who also works as science consultant for film companies. He is the author of numerous stand-alone novels as well as novels in Arthur C. Clarke's Venus Prime series, based upon incidents, characters, and places from Clarke's short stories. (source: wikipedia)

Reviews

[Kevin Phyland · Rating 3 out of 5]

On the island of Hawaii a linear accelerator known as TERAC has been built to manufacture the superheavy subatomic i-quarks. Science reporter and frustrated scientist Gardner Hey, and his photographer Anne-Marie have landed to do a story. Backgrounding has revealed that one physicist has had misgivings about the process and called into question the supposed stability of the quark. TERAC has been creating them and compounding them into liquid called Holy Water. Anne-Marie is on a bit of a marriage break, bored with her life, and has embarked on an ill-starred affair with the physicist, Peter Slater. Hey gets himself into a fight with a researcher and unwittingly exposes a spy ring who have been systematically stealing the Holy Water and replacing it with plain water. The purpose is sinister. The slivers of i-particle material are definitely NOT stable and if enough is put together it can explode with nuclear force - minus the radiation fallout. Thus begins a tense race to stop the material being taken out of the state and to apprehend the culprits - who are not afraid of committing murder. Paul Preuss has given us an exciting tale of Big Science warts and all - bitter rivalries, huge egos, political manouvering. While the actual jargon may wear away a bit for those not trained in physics, it is worth the effort for the ending.

[Eero · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a Kindle freebie. I remembered the title from the 1980s when I was an avid reader of Analog magazine; I believe Tom Easton gave this book a positive review and I wanted to read it but never came across a copy. The author I associate with a series of the Venus Prime books set in an universe loosely based on some of Arthur C. Clarke's work. I read one of them a long time ago.

This book is science fiction in a very literal sense: it is about scientists doing fictional science at a US-Japanese particle accelerator in Hawaii. It has a large cast of characters and the story is told alternating the viewpoint between them. Two of the viewpoint characters are a theoretical physicist who has some misgivings about the experiment and a photographer fleeing from her stale marriage. They are drawn together into an affair, then separated for most of the remainder of the story. The photographer works with an unpleasant journalist who thinks there is something sinister going on at the facility. He turns out to be right, by accident, when an explosion some believe to be an act of sabotage kills one person and injures another (I don't think we ever learn the ultimate fate of the second victim).

This is where the story takes on some characteristics of mystery and espionage thriller, and the nature of the weird fictional physics McGuffin is revealed. It is actually quite clever, although impossible.

I think the biggest problem I had was that initially I could not figure out what kind of story I was reading. The multiple-viewpoint structure hinted of some big disaster looming ahead, and there actually is one, but it is dealt only very briefly in the final chapters. The prose is a little too forced for me, but the book was intersting enough to endure it. Apparently there is also a sequel with the same pair of characters.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Different. Very technical with the physics; how accurate I'd have to check with my son who is a physicist. Liked learning about aspects of Japanese culture since my daughter is minoring in that language in college. I liked the happy ending for the main characters.

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good scifi read. Stimulating and imaginitive. What happened to dreaming of space? Oh yeah, TV.