The_Rift_(Williams_novel)
The Rift (Williams novel)
1999 novel by Walter Jon Williams
The Rift is a 1999 science fiction novel by American writer Walter Jon Williams. It concerns the effects of a massive earthquake in the US states of Missouri, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Largely using the 1811-12[1] New Madrid earthquake as a base, he depicts the breakdown of infrastructure that would result if an earthquake of equal magnitude were to occur today.
The title of the novel is a double-entendre. It is a reference to the theory that the New Madrid quake was the result of a failed "rifting" of North America, but also to the deep racial and social divides that are portrayed throughout the story.