The Peace Machine

Overview:

• Title: The Peace Machine
• Author: Bob Shaw
• Year: 1987
• ISBN-10: 0586069917
• Publisher: Grafton
• Price: £2.50
• Pages: 187
• Binding: Paperback
• Type: Novel
• Title Reference: The Peace Machine (revised 1985)
• Notes: The copyright page states “First published in Great Britain by Transworld Publishers Ltd. 1976 as Ground Zero Man. This revised edition first published by Victor Gollanz Ltd. 1985.” Note that while the copyright page states “First published in Great Britain … 1976” the first publication was by Avon in the U.S.A. in September 1971. The copyright statement reflects this with “Copyright © Bob Shaw 1971, 1985.” A scan of Ground Zero Man (GZM) and The Peace Machine (TPM) to see what was revised finds that Chapter 17 of GZM is not included in TPM. Ground Zero Man has 18 chapters plus an epilogue and The Peace Machine has 17 chapters plus the epilogue. The deleted chapter tidies up the end of the story a bit but overall did not add anything to the story and I can see why it was deleted. The entire story is based in England except this deleted chapter which jumped to some unnamed country, presumably the United States, and gives a brief explanation of how they dealt with needing to disassemble their nuclear warheads before the deadline. On page 18 of TPM is a typo “You're fired six dozen arrows…” and in the GZM it's “You've fired six dozen arrows…” It's assumed this is a keyboarding error and not an attempt at “revision” as TPM was retypset. The publication is priced on the back cover as United Kingdom £2.50, New Zealand $11.95 RRP INC. GST, Australia $8.95 (recommended).