Novel about a war between the Americans and Russians in Antarctica?

Question

I remember a friend of mine was reading a novel about a war or military confrontation between the Americans and Russians in Antarctica, but neither of us can remember the title or author.

Abulafia · Accepted Answer

As Gilles points out, this is not a unique plot setting. A relatively obscure book that explore it is "White continent" (1980) by David Poyer (2). However, while a randomly picked book is likely to be obscure, a randomly picked reading is not. So I'm going to bet that this was a story by a fairly well-published scifi author.

The novelette "A Colder War" (2000) by Charles Stross would then be a fairly good fit (4) . Granted, the story takes place all over the world, but includes some kind of supernatural thing worth fighting over which is located in the antarctic.

Here are also two books that vaguely fit the vehichle-on-cover lead. Ring any bells?

Cheeriosrgood · Answer

Matthew Reilly's "Ice Station"(1998) was set in Antartica and followed the events of a small scale squad warfare, however no Russian forces were involved.
From Goodreads:

Antarctica is the last unconquered continent, a murderous expanse of howling winds, blinding whiteouts and deadly crevasses. On one edge of Antarctica is Wilkes Station. Beneath Wilkes Station is the gate to hell itself...
A team of U.S. divers, exploring three thousand feet beneath the ice shelf has vanished. Sending out an SOS, Wilkes draws a rapid deployment team of Marines-and someone else...
First comes a horrific firefight. Then comes a plunge into a drowning pool filled with killer whales. Next comes the hard part, as a handful of survivors begin an electrifying, red-hot, non-stop battle of survival across the continent and against wave after wave of elite military assassins-who've all come for one thing: a secret buried deep beneath the ice...

Don Drysdale · Answer

There was a novel turned movie called "Ice Station Zebra" (1963) by Alistair MacLean, set in the Arctic, that involved a confrontation between U.S. and Russian forces. More info on Wikipedia.
From Goodreads:

Under the Polar Ice-Cap ....
The atomic submarine 'Dolphin' has impossible orders: to sail beneath the ice-floes of the Arctic Ocean to locate and rescue the men of weather-station Zebra, gutted by fire and drifting with the ice-pack somewhere north of the Arctic Circle.
But the orders do not say what the 'Dolphin' will find if she succeeds – that the fire at Ice Station Zebra was sabotage, and that one of the survivors is a killer…

user132575 · Answer

Thunder of Erebus (1991) by Harrison Payne is US vs. Soviet war in Antarctica to acquire mineral deposits needed for new beam weapon technology.

Novel about a war between the Americans and Russians in Antarctica?

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