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Footvote

Peter F. Hamilton

First published 2004
Type Short Fiction
Length Short Story

Synopsis

Day after tomorrow, the UK is "going to rack and ruin" due to politicians' ineptness, well-deserved enmity of the EU but most of all, mass emigration by a wormhole to another world, whose inventor declared disquietingly draconic rules to prevent repetition of Earth's faults. A divorced mother has to make a hard choice...

Notes

In the Manhattan in Reverse introduction, Hamilton notes "I also took the opportunity to revise 'Footvote', bringing it slightly more up to date": The original opens with the date 2003 and "It was the day Tony Blair was due to give evidence to the Hutton enquiry", the revision has 2010, Gordon Brown and "to appear before the Iraq Enquiry again."
Many online retailers of the standalone story share erroneous description "Taken from [...] collection Manhattan in Reverse, Footvote is a thrilling short story featuring Paulo Myo of the Commonwealth Saga." While that also opens with discovery of wormhole transportation, the continuity is completely different; Myo appears in the title novella, "written exclusively for this collection."

Publications (19)

Date Publication Publisher Type Page
2004 Postscripts, #1 Spring PS Publishing MAGAZINE 155
2004 Postscripts, Spring 2004 PS Publishing MAGAZINE 155
July 2005 The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Second Annual Collection St. Martin's Griffin / SFBC Anthology 688
July 2005 The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Second Annual Collection St. Martin's Griffin Anthology 552
July 2005 The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Second Annual Collection St. Martin's Griffin Anthology 552
July 2005 The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Second Annual Collection St. Martin's Griffin Anthology
September 2005 The Mammoth Book of Best New Science Fiction: 18th Annual Collection Robinson Anthology
March 2008 The Mammoth Book of The Best of The Best New SF Robinson Anthology 745
March 2008 The Mammoth Book of The Best of The Best New SF Robinson Anthology |745
2009 Postscripts Sampler PS Publishing Anthology 37
September 2011 Footvote Tor UK Chapbook
October 2011 Manhattan in Reverse Macmillan UK Collection 86
October 2011 Manhattan in Reverse Macmillan UK Collection 86
October 2011 Manhattan in Reverse Tor UK Collection |3
February 2012 Manhattan in Reverse Del Rey / Ballantine Collection
March 2012 The Mammoth Book of Best New Science Fiction: 18th Annual Collection Robinson Anthology |552
May 2012 Manhattan in Reverse Pan Books Collection 86
August 2012 Manhattan in Reverse Subterranean Press Collection 97
July 2019 Manhattan in Reverse Pan Books Collection