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I vaguely remember reading a short story or novella, probably in the late 1980s or early 1990s, where, across the space of a couple of generations, something odd (affecting gravity maybe?) required that Earth be turned into a cube. Then, once kids had been born knowing only the cube-world, they had to reverse the process (so these kids perceived the horizon as being U-shaped, being accustomed to the edges of the cube).

That's pretty much all I remember. Any ideas?

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    This probably isn't it, but Charlie Stross wrote Missile Gap, in which the Earth was flattened out, by its being transferred to a massive disc-world (by unknown aliens). It wasn't turned back, though - but gravity was altered, to where missiles encountered increasing g-forces the higher they travelled (and so couldn't escape from the surface).
    – John C
    Commented Feb 26, 2012 at 13:30
  • @JohnC No, it's not Charlie; it's way older than that. Good book, that, though :o)
    – Owen Blacker
    Commented Feb 26, 2012 at 13:48

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This story is "Cubeworld", by Henry H. Gross. It was published in the anthology Mathenauts (1987.)

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  • That sounds familiar, thank you. I'm not 100% certain until I can find a copy (which I'm not gonna do having just arrived late to work), but I'm gonna preemptively give you the green tick anyway ;o)
    – Owen Blacker
    Commented Mar 15, 2012 at 10:08
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    If I remember tomorrow I'll dig out my copy of Mathenauts and re-read it.
    – Amos
    Commented Mar 16, 2012 at 0:05

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