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That's where *Polostan* comes in, the just-published inaugural volume of a new interwar series about the birth of atomic science:

https://www.harpercollins.com/products/polostan-neal-stephenson

Critics and even the publisher have called this a "spy novel" or a "historical novel" but it is neither of those. What *Polostan* is, is a science fiction novel, *about spies in an historical setting*. This isn't to say that Stephenson tramples on, or ignores spy trope: this is absolutely a first-rate spy novel.

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