Murder By Theory: Two Tales from the Ivory Tower's Dark Side

This debut duo of dark novellas casts a satirical floodlight on the gritty backstage of academia.

"Competitive Edge" welcomes us to the unremarkable town of Arlington, home to the tepidly esteemed Arlington University. Here, the local news buzzes as residents receive anonymous notes of a peculiar nature. Each note explains the physics underlying a murder that the note-writer - in theory - could have wrought upon the note-receiver, but thus far has chosen not to. As we probe the writer's identity, we confront the relationship between a university eager to please its community, and a community eager for sensational news - and the effect upon an individual competing to survive in such a circus.

"The Optimization of Milos Kriska" fast-forwards us to the speculative year of 2033, where disasters wrought by climate change and multiple pandemics have rendered the world a perilous place. In a desperate move to save humanity, the citizens of the United States have given scientists carte blanche to run the government. Scientific excellence is Priority Number One -- more precious, even, than the life of any one human being. With this stage set, we follow a group of theoretical astrophysicists who consider it their civic duty to murder a colleague, because he is obstructing the publication of an important scientific manuscript. Their ensuing antics tackle the fraught peer review process and the risk of sacrificing one's morality for career success. And they teach us that, generally, theorists are not talented murderers.