Help me find this science fiction story

January 20, 2020 12:16 PM

A friend of mine is trying to find a science fiction story she read when younger, in some sort of a "Years Best" collection, at some point during the 90s. The story itself is a low-stakes first person narrative where the (sheltered, religious) protagonist has to come to terms with the fact that the worldly girl he's falling in love with isn't taking the whole relationship nearly as seriously as he is. Content warning for below the fold: This story contains genital details that some might find squicky or bordering on body horror.

For the people in the story, at the climax of (penetrative) sex, the external genitals would detach from one participant and attach to the other.

More worldbuilding details: The planet was not Earth, and the story is set several generations after planetfall. The original colony ship crew is referred to as Angels, and they rebuilt humans from genetic information, adding this feature to encourage monogamy (it doesn't really work out that way)

This is for someone important to me, so I'd love any help you can give.

posted by Canageek to Writing & Language (2 answers total)

Best answer: Oh yes! It's in the Dozois's 16th Annual Year's Best, and it sure is memorable. Greg Egan, "Oceanic." Looks like the complete text is available at that first link.
posted by restless_nomad at 12:48 PM on January 20, 2020 [9 favorites]

Response by poster: They have confirmed that that is it, thank you.
posted by Canageek at 2:08 PM on January 20, 2020