Which sci-fi short stories are these?
January 28, 2023 5:50 AM Subscribe
(Yes, another. I see I am not the only flummoxed Mefite today!) I'm pretty sure they're both Greg Egan, but I've done a keyword search on all the e-books I have of his, and on Google, and I'm finding nothing. Details inside for body horror.
I have two, because in writing the one, I remembered the other, and also came up blank.
Here's what I remember; actual details may differ.
1. A man and his girlfriend go to an underground club to experience "riding the X". I cannot remember the actual phrase. "Riding the Crocodile" is the only hit I get on Google, and I've never read that story of his. Both characters end up hooked into each other's blood stream. Using transfusion needles and tubes, they share one ciruclatory system; their hearts beat at one, but with a delay, due to the length of the route the blood has to travel. I remember this point vividly, as I nearly passed out on the train and also wondered about issues with blood typing.
2. The second I have less confidence that it was Egan. I remember people developing stomata on their skin. It could've been stigmata, but they breathed, like plants.
I'm being driven up the wall. AskMe is usually so quick with short story guessing games, so I am hoping one of you knows which these are!
I have two, because in writing the one, I remembered the other, and also came up blank.
Here's what I remember; actual details may differ.
1. A man and his girlfriend go to an underground club to experience "riding the X". I cannot remember the actual phrase. "Riding the Crocodile" is the only hit I get on Google, and I've never read that story of his. Both characters end up hooked into each other's blood stream. Using transfusion needles and tubes, they share one ciruclatory system; their hearts beat at one, but with a delay, due to the length of the route the blood has to travel. I remember this point vividly, as I nearly passed out on the train and also wondered about issues with blood typing.
2. The second I have less confidence that it was Egan. I remember people developing stomata on their skin. It could've been stigmata, but they breathed, like plants.
I'm being driven up the wall. AskMe is usually so quick with short story guessing games, so I am hoping one of you knows which these are!
If you remember a line close to "Now you are autotrophic. Now you are free." then the second one is Nancy Kress's _Beggars and Choosers_, the second of her "sleepless" books.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 9:24 AM on January 28, 2023
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 9:24 AM on January 28, 2023
Best answer: I think that first one is Riding Atlas by Ferrett Steinmetz.
Second might be The Green Leopard Plague by Walter Jon Williams?
posted by rollick at 12:36 PM on January 28, 2023
Second might be The Green Leopard Plague by Walter Jon Williams?
posted by rollick at 12:36 PM on January 28, 2023
Response by poster: The first one IS “Riding Atlas”, thank you so much!! I don’t often read online magazines, and it seemed like such a Greg Egan setup, that it didn’t occur to me when searching that it wasn’t his. Now I’m curious how I found and read it to begin with.
The second was also short story length, as far as memory serves. I suppose now it might not have been Egan, either, hm.
posted by lesser weasel at 1:23 PM on January 28, 2023
The second was also short story length, as far as memory serves. I suppose now it might not have been Egan, either, hm.
posted by lesser weasel at 1:23 PM on January 28, 2023
I’m not sure at all, but could the stomata one be Darwin’s Radio/Darwin’s Children by Greg Bear? I read it ages ago and don’t remember details, but it involves children that are an “evolutionary leap forward” and I think they have respiratory stomata.
posted by LizardBreath at 6:31 AM on January 29, 2023
posted by LizardBreath at 6:31 AM on January 29, 2023
Riding the Crocodile is great. It takes place in the Incandescence universe, which is one of the only depictions of a galaxy-spanning culture that respects the speed of light.
posted by whuppy at 10:37 AM on January 31, 2023
posted by whuppy at 10:37 AM on January 31, 2023
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by sixswitch at 6:34 AM on January 28, 2023