The Stone City is a science-fiction novelette by George R. R. Martin, first published in New Voices in Science Fiction: Six Stories by Campbell Award Nominees in 1977. It takes place in the "Thousand Worlds" universe, and is set on the Damoosh Space planet of Grayrest during the post-Interregnum period (around the year ai-800). It is about a man whose ship and crew have been stranded on an alien planet for months, and whose only chance of escape is to explore an ancient underground city.
Plot Summary
— WARNING: THIS SECTION CONTAINS SPOILERS —
The human crew of the faster-than-light ship Pegasus are on an exploratory mission to the galactic core. Unfortunately, after docking on the desolate world of Grayrest, their ship is confiscated by the fox-like Dan'lai, one of the many bizarre alien species dwelling on the planet. It is rumoured that Grayrest was once home to an ancient alien civilisation, their legacy being a vast, abandoned city of stone within the desert.
After being stranded for a year, Michael Holt and Jeff Sunderland are the only members of the Pegasus crew that have not given up hope. They are convinced that the Dan'lai will release their ship, or get them a berth in another ship, in exchange for a map of the Stone City. But neither are willing to descend into the under-layers of the city, where their captain went exploring and never came back.
Holt almost manages to secure berth on a departing vessel, but at the last moment the Dan'lai administration officer requests the signature of the Pegasus' vanished captain. Incensed, Holt kills the officer and flees the city, taking refuge in the Stone City. As he wanders its complex and surreal tunnels, he begins to see visions of distant worlds and distant times.
— END OF SPOILERS —
Themes
Artwork by caffeine2, from DeviantArt
The Stone City serves as a metaphor for the allure of stories as a means of escaping the monotony of daily life, especially for people who are trapped by their circumstances. Most of the people on Grayrest, including Holt, are marooned there, physically, economically and socially, and have no opportunities to progress. Holt's stargazing and the visions he experiences in the Stone City offer mental and emotional respite from his purgatorial existence, in much the same way that books, music and art provide sanctuary for poor, marginalised and imprisoned people.
Nathaniel Kat from The Hat Rack describes the protagonist Holt as both understandable and deeply flawed. All his life, he has yearned to explore the galaxy, "but his idea of exploration is a cursory one more dependent on distance travelled than experience gained or cultures understood." He lusts after far off myths, rather than realities; as one crewmate puts it, he's just a "collector." He judges his crewmates xenophobes, while at the same time supporting himself by stealing from the hapless aliens all around him. The story finishes with a depiction of the Stone City as a "fantastic, mystical, and forever out of reach place, but in Holt's character we can see the dichotomy of self-knowledge and exploration play out on a far more relatable scale."[1]
Author's Notes
It was in The Stone City that Martin first coined the term "Manrealm." Within text, it refers to the region of space occupied by Old Earth and dominated by humanity. Metatextually, it also refers to the broader setting in which his "main future history" stories take place. Martin considered it an analogous term to Larry Niven's science-fiction setting "Known Space". Later, however, he replaced it with the term "Thousand Worlds," which he though had "a nicer ring to it," and would give him "plenty of room to add new planets as I needed them... not to mention putting me nine hundred and ninety-two worlds up on John Varley and his 'Eight Worlds.'"
While The Stone City was published in 1977, Martin claims its roots go back to the 1973 Worldcon in Toronto. Martin was nominated for the prestigious Cambell Award, along with other new writers, such as Lisa Tuttle, George Alec Effinger, Ruth Berman, and Jerry Pournelle. While he didn't win, during the after party Martin managed to convince some editors to help him produce an anthology book of the nominated stories. It was the first anthology Martin had edited and it took five more years for him to put together. While he felt a lot of pressure to produce a quality book, he enjoyed the novelty of selling himself his own story, as well as the "[un]likely" prospect that he would reject his own submission. Martin states that The Stone City "grew from that freedom and that pressure."
According to Martin, The Stone City is the closest he ever came to "capturing the yearnings of that boy stretched out in the summer grass beside the Kill van Kull, staring up at Orion," and he doesn't know if he "ever evoked the vastness of space or that elusive 'sense of wonder' any better than [he] did here." He also describes the story as "subversive," as it mixes in elements of Lovecraft and Kafka, and plants the suggestion that "when we go far enough from home, rationality, causality, and the physical laws of the universe itself begin to break down."
Publication History
The Stone City was first published in the 1977 anthology New Voices in Science Fiction: Six Stories by Campbell Award Nominees, edited by Martin.
It was included in Martin's short story collection Sandkings, published in 1981.
It was later included in his 2003 anthology Dreamsongs: A RRetrospective.
Adaptations
In 2007, Martin's short story anthology Dreamsongs was released in audiobook format. It included a recording of The Stone City read by Adrian Paul.
In 2024, a speech from The Stone City was released by YouTuber Valkyrist:
Reception
In 1978, The Stone City was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novelette and the Locus Award for Best Short Fiction.
In 2021, the Vassals of Kingsgrave podcast released a review of The Stone City:
"The Stone City" by George R. R. Martin (Review) - Bastards of Kingsgrave Ep.85
Connections to the "Thousand Worlds" Universe
The Stone City significantly expands Martin's "Thousand Worlds" universe. It takes place vast light-years away from the Manrealm, much closer to the galactic core than any of his other stories. It depicts species that have only been speculated about in other stories, such as the Damoosh (mentioned in A Song for Lya) and the Nor T'lush (mentioned in Nightflyers), and introduces completely new species, such as the Linkellars, the Cedrans, and the Dan'lai.
The protagonist of the story, Holt, is a native of Ymir, but mentions dozens of other planets in the Manrealm, the Jambles, Fyndii and Damoosh Space, and speculates about others of which he has only heard rumours.
Holt encounters a two-hundred and twenty year old shipper named Cain who claims to have visited Old Earth, Old Hranga, and attended the "Festival of the Fringe" on Worlorn as a young boy. Given that the Festival of the Fringe was held from ai-589 to ai-599, this would place The Stone City around ai-800, approximately two-hundred years after the events of Dying of the Light.
Holt mentioned a number of winter flowers that originally grow on his homeworld, including bitterblooms.
The story mentions duralloy and stardrives, technology which is ubiquitous throughout the "Thousand Worlds" universe.
Allusions to Other GRRM Works
The concept of the Damoosh wisdompools is very similar to the concept of the Old Gods and the Weirwood trees in A Song of Ice and Fire. In both stories, a wise telepathic elder commits his mind to the natural environment, to preserve and dispense knowledge to worthy pilgrims. The network of wisdompools and Weirwoods allows the elders to see and communicate far distances in the present, as well as access the past and future.
Holt's home planet Ymir, like the world in A Song of Ice and Fire, experiences harsh winters which can last for years.
Allusions to Other Media
Martin notes that The Stone City was inspired by the works of H. P. Lovecraft and Franz Kafka. Holt's realisation of the insignificance of humanity and the immense, uncaring nature of the cosmos evokes similar themes which recur in Lovecraft's stories (such as The Call of Cthulhu). Likewise, the bizarre circumstances Holt finds himself trapped in, and the existential anxiety he endures when confronted with the Din'lai's incomprehensible bureaucracy, resembles the stories of Kafka (such as The Metamorphosis).