"The Clockwork Atom Bomb" is a science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 short story

Short story

A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...

 written in 2005 by Dominic Green

Dominic Green (science fiction writer)

Dominic Green is a British writer of short science fiction. His short story "The Clockwork Atom Bomb" was nominated for a 2005 Hugo Award. Green is best known for his stories published in Interzone during the 1990s and 2000s, many of which have been reprinted in various Year's Best anthologies...

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The story follows Mativi, a UN Weapons Inspector who is in Kinshasa

Kinshasa

Kinshasa is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The city is located on the Congo River....

 and discovers several powerful and illegal devices left over from a Congolese war. When he tries to bring in help to remove the rogue weapons, his efforts are blocked by people who are angry that he is trying to disrupt their economy.

First appearing in the May/June 2005 issue of Interzone magazine

Interzone (magazine)

Interzone is an award-winning British fantasy and science fiction magazine. Published since 1982, Interzone is the eighth longest-running science fiction magazine in history and the longest-running British SF magazine...

 and topping the 2005 readers' poll as the most popular story of the year, it went on to be nominated for the 2006 Hugo award

Hugo Award

The Hugo Awards are given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was officially named the Science Fiction Achievement Awards...

 for the Best Short Story of 2005. It was also included in the 23rd edition of The Year's Best Science Fiction

The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Third Annual Collection

The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Third Annual Collection is a science fiction anthology edited by Gardner Dozois that was published in 2006...

- a collection of outstanding science fiction short stories edited by Gardner Dozois

Gardner Dozois

Gardner Raymond Dozois is an American science fiction author and editor. He was editor of Asimov's Science Fiction magazine from 1984 to 2004...

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