Project Gutenberg 2020-02-13 Public domain in the USA. 117 Grow, Julian F. Countdown Produced from Worlds of If Science Fiction, March 1963 Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net "Countdown" by Julian F. Grow is a science fiction story written in the early 1960s. This book explores the dire implications of nuclear warfare, set against the backdrop of a tense geopolitical climate. Through a countdown structure, it emphasizes the precarious balance of power between nations and the human capacity for destruction. The narrative unfolds in a world marked by ten years of uneasy peace after a catastrophic event, known as the Hour of Tragedy. The story revolves around three men from different nations, each positioned at the helm of their respective military networks, and faced with a dire choice: press the red button to unleash chaos or wait in uncertainty. Each man grapples with the burden of responsibility over millions of lives while confronting their existential fears. As tensions rise, the story delves into the fragility of the human psyche, ultimately culminating in a climactic moment where one man’s finger hovers over the button that could change the course of history forever. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 74.7 (7th grade). Fairly easy to read. en Science fiction Short stories Cold War -- Fiction Nuclear weapons -- Fiction PS Text Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Category: Novels 30766 2025-06-24T10:32:16.725243 text/html 6860 2024-10-17T16:17:35 text/html 96949 2025-06-24T10:32:18.247228 application/epub+zip 95795 2025-06-24T10:32:17.083230 application/epub+zip 79621 2025-06-24T10:32:16.886210 application/epub+zip 127384 2025-06-24T10:32:19.338203 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 120152 2025-06-24T10:32:18.069222 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 104132 2022-09-27T17:55:53.124701 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 25075 2023-09-26T08:51:47.136519 text/plain 5292 2024-10-17T16:17:35 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 15474 2025-06-24T10:32:19.456256 application/rdf+xml 30145 2025-06-24T10:32:16.968226 image/jpeg 4880 2025-06-24T10:32:16.927244 image/jpeg 316937 2025-06-24T10:32:16.735243 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog