History Literature / Spectrum

* FailedFutureForecast: When a Canadian tourist asks Martin about hotels in Moscow, Martin recommends the Rossiya as something less comfortable but cheap and in a good location. The Rossiya Hotel was closed down and the building demolished in 2005.

* FailedFutureForecast: When a Canadian tourist asks Martin about hotels in Moscow, Martin recommends the Rossiya as something less comfortable but cheap and in a good location. The Rossiya Hotel was closed down in 2005.

* DyingClue: When an Irina dies, she manages to tell Martin something about a "Marge". Martin assumes she has a pet named after a character from ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''. Later, though, he figures out that "Mardj" is the [[PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad politically-correct]] American name for the planet Fakyu (from the native word for "planet").

* PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad: Due to the unfortunate similarity of the Dio-Dao's homeworld's name (Fakyu) to a well-known English curse, the US government has decided to call the planet Mardj after the Dio-Dao word for "planet". Since the human-oriented Gates use a catalog designed by Microsoft, the name Mardj is used by any human traveler to that world.

* StunGun: Aranks have beams that paralyze muscles. Apparently, they work on most races with muscles.

* ThemeNaming: The 7 chapters are named after the 7 colours of rainbow. Each chapter is dominated by that colour.

* {{Planetville}}: Arank is entirely covered by a single city.

* The Omnipotent: [[spoiler:Keymasters, and anyone who get detonators.]]

''Spectrum'' (''Спектр'', Spektr) is a 2002 science-fiction novel from the popular Russian sci-fi and fantasy author Creator/SergeyLukyanenko. The novel is set NextSundayAD. Several years before the events of the novel, aliens who call themselves Keymasters arrive in giant black ships and offer to add Earth to their PortalNetwork by growing Gates in key cities. The world governments agree, but the Keymasters impose several conditions, including a requirement that no government attempt to prevent an individual from seeking passage through a Gate. As a form of payment, the Keymasters listen to stories told by those seeking passage. If the stories are interesting and original, they allow the individual to pass. Within the Gate, the person uses an interface designed by each species to select the destination planet and Gate. For the humans, the Keymasters use a [[UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows Windows]]-based system and an ordinary keyboard-and-mouse interface.