Even though the term is not used in it, possibly the best sci-fi novel example of an Incident Pit is "The Wreck of the River of Stars" by Michael Flynn. A ship's crew independently make a set of small decisions, any one of which would not result in failure, but in total which result in the loss of the ship and much of its crew. It is much more character-driven than most sci-fi, since the story is basically about a breakdown of teamwork due to the crew's inaccurate perceptions of each other.
I'm just about to start this book. It's loaded up on the Kindle right now ready to go having aborted 'Man in the High Castle' about a third of the way through.
As a big fan of Alastair's work I'm hoping for a good read to get over the last failure!
