Russia, 1946, the Nazis recently defeated. Stalin gathers half a dozen of the top Soviet science fiction authors in a dacha in the countryside somewhere. Convinced that the defeat of America is only a few years away, and equally convinced that the Soviet Union needs a massive external threat to hold it together, to give it purpose and direction, he tells the writers: 'I want you to concoct a story about aliens poised to invade earth ... I want it to be massively detailed, and completely believable. If you need props and evidence to back it up, then we can create them. But when America is defeated, your story must be so convincing that the whole population of Soviet Russia believes in it--the population of the whole world!' The little group of writers gets down to the task and spends months working on it. But then new orders come from Moscow: they are told to drop the project; Stalin has changed his mind; forget everything about it. So they do. They get on with their lives in their various ways; some of them survive the remainder of Stalin's rule, the changes of the 50s and 60s. And then, in the aftermath of Chernobyl, the survivors gather again, because something strange has started to happen. The story they invented in 1946 is starting to come true ... A typically mind-blowing SF novel from one of the genre's literary stars.
Yellow Blue Tibia: A Novel
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"Part a droll comedy of manners parodying the fall of Soviet communism, part an intellectual inquiry into the idea of multiple quantum realities and part an attempt to discover why, despite the ubiquity of reported sightings, UFOs have never been proved to exist. As ever with Roberts, the writing is impeccable and the ideas riveting." (Eric Brown THE GUARDIAN )
"Yellow Blue Tibia is a more rollicking book all round. Roberts is a very witty writer, and there are moments of superb slapstick here. Who said the literary novel was dead?" (Stuart Kelly SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY )
"Combining real events such as the Chernobyl disaster with bleak, Kafkaesque humour, Adam Robert's rich and strange novel is an attempt to reconcile the non-existence of UFOs with reports of sightings. A combination of the novel's sheer ambition and unexpected romance suggests Roberts is coming of age as a writer." (Jonathan Wright BBC FOCUS )
"Gripping, captivating, wonderfully funny and magnificently written, completely mess-with-your-head weird. Fantastically evocative of what life was like in Soviet Russia, packed with telling details. Robert's style is beautifully crafted, his dialogue is superb, his charatcterisation perfect. This is a book you've got to read." (Tom Holt SFX )
"Yellow Blue Tibia speaks of the fall of Communism, deals smartly with the bizarre status of the UFO in popular culture and mixes peculiar jokes with and almost Clouseau-like action with head-spinning revelations and even a sweet little love story. A cross between Robert Harris's Fatherland and Ian McDonald's Brasyl but reading nothing like either." (Matt Bielby DEATHRAY )
Yellow Blue Tibia is certainly a different SF book. It isn't strictly an alternate history, but plays around with its ideas and tropes. It isn't a comedy either, but I guarantee it will make you laugh out loud on at least several occasions. The combination of several farcical scenes with very polite and proper Russian grammar gives rise to some entertaining linguistic combinations even Jack Vance would be proud of. A clever, confounding and strikingly amusing book." (SFFWORLD.COM )
"As always, Roberts has come up with an intriguing and original piece of SF. The story moves quickly and is driven by dialogue which combines humorous banter and philosophical discussions about UFOs and also the suggestive nature of science fiction. Yet another stimulating read from one of Britain's foremost SF writers." (Kevin Stone INTERZONE )
"From the opening act in the dacha and the banter between the five sf writers, to the scenes in Moscow and the action & aftermath in Kiev and Chernobly, 'Yellow Blue Tibia' is at times unbelievably funny, and is just a romp and very accessible. Superb and I can't recommend it enough." (FANTASY BOOK CRITIC )
"Killings, kidnappings, interrogations and everything else you'd expect from the KGB, plus a trip to Chernobyl and a most surprising love story, all wrapped up in the blackest of dark comedy with a cast of disturbed and damaged characters. Recommended." (David V Barrett FORTEAN TIMES )
"Yellow Blue Tibia is a more rollicking book all round. Roberts is a very witty writer, and there are moments of superb slapstick here. Who said the literary novel was dead?" (Stuart Kelly SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY )
"Combining real events such as the Chernobyl disaster with bleak, Kafkaesque humour, Adam Robert's rich and strange novel is an attempt to reconcile the non-existence of UFOs with reports of sightings. A combination of the novel's sheer ambition and unexpected romance suggests Roberts is coming of age as a writer." (Jonathan Wright BBC FOCUS )
"Gripping, captivating, wonderfully funny and magnificently written, completely mess-with-your-head weird. Fantastically evocative of what life was like in Soviet Russia, packed with telling details. Robert's style is beautifully crafted, his dialogue is superb, his charatcterisation perfect. This is a book you've got to read." (Tom Holt SFX )
"Yellow Blue Tibia speaks of the fall of Communism, deals smartly with the bizarre status of the UFO in popular culture and mixes peculiar jokes with and almost Clouseau-like action with head-spinning revelations and even a sweet little love story. A cross between Robert Harris's Fatherland and Ian McDonald's Brasyl but reading nothing like either." (Matt Bielby DEATHRAY )
Yellow Blue Tibia is certainly a different SF book. It isn't strictly an alternate history, but plays around with its ideas and tropes. It isn't a comedy either, but I guarantee it will make you laugh out loud on at least several occasions. The combination of several farcical scenes with very polite and proper Russian grammar gives rise to some entertaining linguistic combinations even Jack Vance would be proud of. A clever, confounding and strikingly amusing book." (SFFWORLD.COM )
"As always, Roberts has come up with an intriguing and original piece of SF. The story moves quickly and is driven by dialogue which combines humorous banter and philosophical discussions about UFOs and also the suggestive nature of science fiction. Yet another stimulating read from one of Britain's foremost SF writers." (Kevin Stone INTERZONE )
"From the opening act in the dacha and the banter between the five sf writers, to the scenes in Moscow and the action & aftermath in Kiev and Chernobly, 'Yellow Blue Tibia' is at times unbelievably funny, and is just a romp and very accessible. Superb and I can't recommend it enough." (FANTASY BOOK CRITIC )
"Killings, kidnappings, interrogations and everything else you'd expect from the KGB, plus a trip to Chernobyl and a most surprising love story, all wrapped up in the blackest of dark comedy with a cast of disturbed and damaged characters. Recommended." (David V Barrett FORTEAN TIMES )
Book Description
A PhilDickian epic of twisted realities and alien invasion set in the dog days of the Soviet Empire.
--This text refers to an alternate
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
By Sarah A. Brown
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback
Although technically it could be classed as sf, `Yellow Blue Tibia' isn't perhaps a characteristically science fictional novel. Set in Soviet Russia, its narrator hero is Skrovecky, one of a group of Russian sf writers who are given a strange task by Stalin: to write a compelling piece of science fiction describing an alien invasion of Earth. Decades later it seems that the group's `story' is coming true and Skrovecky is caught up in a series of increasingly surreal and complex events as he tries to work out what is really going on, and becomes aware of an array of multiplying realities. A few things puzzled me - for example, in a novel whose linguistic self-consciousness is ever present (most obviously in its title), why did two characters discuss the double meanings of `bluff' (p.190) as though these ambiguities were present in the Russian, as well as the English, language? The novel's many shifts and tricks perhaps prevent the reader getting fully involved in the story, but `Yellow Blue Tibia' is certainly a remarkably impressive, clever, playful book which recalls, by turns, Kurt Vonnegut, Samuel Beckett and Philip K Dick.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Heard this book referred to as "the best Science Fiction book of the year and worthy of the Booker Prize" - or words to that effect. Although no sci-fi aficionado I was intrigued....
Yellow Blue Tibia only loosely falls into the science fiction genre. It is in essence an alternative history of the Soviet Union. Konstantin Skvorecky and a group of fellow writers are brought together by Stalin and tasked with constructing a convincing alien plot. It had to be a serious threat that could be told to the people. After working cooperatively on this they were then told to forget all they had done there on pain of death and were sent on their different ways.
Years later when Skvorecky is working as a translator strange things begin to happen - and it seems that the story concocted by sci-fi writers appears to be coming true.
The strength of the book lies in its humour and quirky dialogue while at the same time raising questions of truth, belief and and reality. He raises the need for an enemy or a serious threat in order to galvanise the population - very prescient in a world of dodgy dossiers and alleged weapons of mass destructions.
My favourite scene was when Konstantin is confronted in a Moscow street by two KGB men threatening to kill him. Passers-by think that something is about to be sold and begin to form a queue hoping that there may be oranges or vodka on offer!
Yellow Blue Tibia only loosely falls into the science fiction genre. It is in essence an alternative history of the Soviet Union. Konstantin Skvorecky and a group of fellow writers are brought together by Stalin and tasked with constructing a convincing alien plot. It had to be a serious threat that could be told to the people. After working cooperatively on this they were then told to forget all they had done there on pain of death and were sent on their different ways.
Years later when Skvorecky is working as a translator strange things begin to happen - and it seems that the story concocted by sci-fi writers appears to be coming true.
The strength of the book lies in its humour and quirky dialogue while at the same time raising questions of truth, belief and and reality. He raises the need for an enemy or a serious threat in order to galvanise the population - very prescient in a world of dodgy dossiers and alleged weapons of mass destructions.
My favourite scene was when Konstantin is confronted in a Moscow street by two KGB men threatening to kill him. Passers-by think that something is about to be sold and begin to form a queue hoping that there may be oranges or vodka on offer!
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
It's been about twenty years since I last picked up a sci-fi book. How lucky I was that when I finally decided to do that again, it happened to be Adam Robert's book "Yellow, Blue, Tibia". The name might not sound coherent, but is actually an English rendering of three Russian words I have no intention of revealing to you now - there will be no spoilers here.
The book starts in the days of Stalin's rule in Russia, and moves on step by step to the Glasnost days of the late 80s. It is the first-hand account of a Russian science fiction novelist, who tells an incredible story.
The story opens with him being ordered into Stalin's offices, along with other sci-fi writers. They are asked to invent a story for him. For what purpose, I cannot tell you for fear of spoiling your pleasure. Of course, things take a wrong, or shall I say, strange, turn, and the poor novelist's life start falling apart.
The book reads like a thriller - you keep turning the pages to try and find out what is really going on. Every time you think you've got it, Roberts makes a u-turn and brings you right back to the beginning. You simply can't figure it out, and so go through the same discovery journey the main character goes through. You keep fearing Roberts himself is about to lose the plot, but that never happens - he knows exactly where he's going. It's you who doesn't know. Right to the ending, Roberts never slips into unreasonability or unplausable explanations. What a ride!
The writing is so fabulous, that Kim Stanley Robinson has said this should have won the Booker prize. I cannot help but agree. The protagonist is fantastically done, with his "ironist" (read the book to understand) sense of humor and defiance of all attempts to control his freedom of thought. The other characters are not less successfully crafted.
I wish this book would've gotten more hype when it first came out, so more people could've enjoyed it. It's just too wonderful to miss.
The book starts in the days of Stalin's rule in Russia, and moves on step by step to the Glasnost days of the late 80s. It is the first-hand account of a Russian science fiction novelist, who tells an incredible story.
The story opens with him being ordered into Stalin's offices, along with other sci-fi writers. They are asked to invent a story for him. For what purpose, I cannot tell you for fear of spoiling your pleasure. Of course, things take a wrong, or shall I say, strange, turn, and the poor novelist's life start falling apart.
The book reads like a thriller - you keep turning the pages to try and find out what is really going on. Every time you think you've got it, Roberts makes a u-turn and brings you right back to the beginning. You simply can't figure it out, and so go through the same discovery journey the main character goes through. You keep fearing Roberts himself is about to lose the plot, but that never happens - he knows exactly where he's going. It's you who doesn't know. Right to the ending, Roberts never slips into unreasonability or unplausable explanations. What a ride!
The writing is so fabulous, that Kim Stanley Robinson has said this should have won the Booker prize. I cannot help but agree. The protagonist is fantastically done, with his "ironist" (read the book to understand) sense of humor and defiance of all attempts to control his freedom of thought. The other characters are not less successfully crafted.
I wish this book would've gotten more hype when it first came out, so more people could've enjoyed it. It's just too wonderful to miss.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Science fiction is the Olympic Games of the imaginatively fit..."
Set mostly in Moscow with a diversion to Kiev this intriguing and extremely well set up novel involves a group of young Science Fiction writers invited to attend a meeting with... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Eileen Shaw
3.0 out of 5 stars
Entertaining and irritating in equal measure
An interesting and original plot, developed with gusto by a writer of obvious talent, intelligence and wit. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Ged Dixon
5.0 out of 5 stars
Then they scarred my face, now I'm a believer, or, what happens if you...
Yellow Blue Tibia is, among other things, a serious novel about the nature and consequences of belief, but don't let that put you off; you could get through the whole thing and... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Runmentionable
5.0 out of 5 stars
Yellow Blue Tibia
There's a scene in Adam Roberts' Yellow Blue Tibia in which the narrator, Konstantin Skvorecky, is interrogated by a (presumably junior) member of the KGB. Read more
Published 8 months ago by TomCat
5.0 out of 5 stars
Science fiction becomes science fact?
Stalin's Russia is needing a cause to continue its control over its citizens in the post-WWII years. What better way than by waging a new war? Read more
Published 10 months ago by Dick Johnson
4.0 out of 5 stars
An interesting, ambitious, face-paced novel that (just about) comes...
The concept is clever, the characters are interesting, and the plot is exciting. Add to that some quality prose - the author especially has a great way of describing the sky in all... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Rupan M
5.0 out of 5 stars
sf & politics
I hugely enjoyed this - it is one of the few SF books to really address politics and a venture where instead of looking into the future, this book looks back into the past to come... Read more
Published 11 months ago by cayman
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic premise, shaky execution
Great premise but I got bogged down in the middle of the book. The climax is interesting more than satisfying. Read more
Published 15 months ago by K. P. Curtis
5.0 out of 5 stars
From Russia, with love...
I'd not come across Roberts' work before, but it didn't take long to realise that this chap can write. Read more
Published 20 months ago by sjhigbee
3.0 out of 5 stars
Sci Fi but not as we know it...
I haven't read any Sci fi since I was a teenager but decided to take the plunge with this one because it sounded a bit different. Read more
Published 21 months ago by songbird
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