Hexagons (story)

In 1933 in a world where the Roman Empire never fell but converted to Christianity, and India, China, and the Aztec Republic became the world's dominant technological powers, twelve-year-old Samuel Dunlop watches as his father tries to run for office.

"Hexagons" was a finalist for the 2004 Hugo Award for Best Novelette.[1]

Io9 has noted that, unlike many stories in which the Roman Empire did not fall, "Hexagons" is not "explicitly dystopian".[2]

Tangent Online's Chris Markwyn considered it to be a "compelling" story that is "well-told but fairly conventional", and observed that the contraband history-simulator owned by Samuel's friend's grandfather "undercut" the story's ability to "assert its own reality"; Markwyn further noted that Reed's choice of villain — a "blue-eyed, small-mustached, table-pounding ultra-nationalist who blames his country's problems on the Jews", who is "obviously an analogue of a historical figure" — results in an emphasis on the "artificial, game-like nature of [Reed's] scenario", ultimately detracting from readers' suspension of disbelief.[3]

• Text of the story