1. Joined
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    18 May '19 23:46
    Hoping that one of the science-fiction readers here might help.

    15 or 20 years ago I read a story in a World's Best Science Fiction collection (ed. Gardner Dozois) that starts off like a spy story with a chase after some McGuffin and ends with people who have gene-modded themselves to use chlorophyll, turning with their sunvanes in the sun.

    I thought it might have been by Greg Egan, but haven't found it in his own collections, so could be wrong about the author.
  2. SubscriberSuzianne
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    19 May '19 00:49
    @caesar-salad said
    Hoping that one of the science-fiction readers here might help.

    15 or 20 years ago I read a story in a World's Best Science Fiction collection (ed. Gardner Dozois) that starts off like a spy story with a chase after some McGuffin and ends with people who have gene-modded themselves to use chlorophyll, turning with their sunvanes in the sun.

    I thought it might have been by Greg Egan, but haven't found it in his own collections, so could be wrong about the author.
    Was it this one?

    "Gene Wars", by Paul J. McAuley, first appeared in 1991, it was in a number of anthologies, including The Year's Best Science Fiction: Ninth Annual Collection. Greg Egan also had two stories in that collection.
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    19 May '19 01:006 edits
    @suzianne said
    Was it this one?

    "Gene Wars", by Paul J. McAuley, first appeared in 1991, it was in a number of anthologies, including The Year's Best Science Fiction: Ninth Annual Collection. Greg Egan also had two stories in that collection.
    Thank you, Suzianne!!! πŸ™‚

    Just got chills reading your reply. Could very well be the one. Now I just need to dig through the piles of books. πŸ˜‰ (or get it on Kindle)

    (Lucius Shepard was my other candidate author, but hadn't thought of Paul J. McAuley.)

    "Black-cowled post-humans, gliding slowly in the sun" -- yes, now I'm sure this is the story (somewhat misremembered by me), especially because of other elements such as the pilot and the submarine.

    I remember it being a compact liqueur, which confirmed an insight Gibson's "lunar concrete" gave me about the relations between science fiction and poetry, involving both phrase-making (the art of combinations) and condensation.
  4. SubscriberSuzianne
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    19 May '19 02:39
    @caesar-salad said
    Thank you, Suzianne!!! πŸ™‚

    Just got chills reading your reply. Could very well be the one. Now I just need to dig through the piles of books. πŸ˜‰ (or get it on Kindle)

    (Lucius Shepard was my other candidate author, but hadn't thought of Paul J. McAuley.)

    "Black-cowled post-humans, gliding slowly in the sun" -- yes, now I'm sure this is the story (somewhat misr ...[text shortened]... science fiction and poetry, involving both phrase-making (the art of combinations) and condensation.
    Good, glad I could help. Your "edited by Gardner Dozois" was a big clue. That pretty much meant it had to be one of the Year's Best Science Fiction anthologies.
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    19 May '19 02:411 edit
    @suzianne said
    Good, glad I could help. Your "edited by Gardner Dozois" was a big clue. That pretty much meant it had to be one of the Year's Best Science Fiction anthologies.
    Suzianne, thank you again, and also for the correction re: the title of the anthology series.

    Just wait till I'm 3000 -- I'll be the Aunt Clara of the Spaceways! πŸ˜‰

    YouTube
  6. SubscriberSuzianne
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    19 May '19 05:18
    @caesar-salad said
    Suzianne, thank you again, and also for the correction re: the title of the anthology series.

    Just wait till I'm 3000 -- I'll be the Aunt Clara of the Spaceways! πŸ˜‰

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LERAgcuv8jg
    Great song, I have that album. Moody Blues fan from way back.
  7. Subscribermoonbus
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    19 May '19 13:42
    @suzianne said
    Was it this one?

    "Gene Wars", by Paul J. McAuley, first appeared in 1991, it was in a number of anthologies, including The Year's Best Science Fiction: Ninth Annual Collection. Greg Egan also had two stories in that collection.
    My, my, you have a secret life we know nothing about!
  8. Subscribermoonbus
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    19 May '19 13:431 edit
    @suzianne said
    Great song, I have that album. Moody Blues fan from way back.
    Timothy Leary! My, my, you have another secret life we know nothing about. Have you a secret family with three children in Canada, too?
  9. SubscriberVery Rusty
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    19 May '19 15:35
    @moonbus said
    My, my, you have a secret life we know nothing about!
    What do we really know about each other? Only the persona we see on here, some claim to be the same in person, but I have my doubts on that one, they would have to prove it to me in person which probably says something about me. πŸ˜‰

    -VR
  10. SubscriberSuzianne
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    20 May '19 00:551 edit
    @moonbus said
    My, my, you have a secret life we know nothing about!
    That's because I'm Batman (well, maybe Batgirl).

    I can keep a secret.

    And some aren't really secrets, it's just that no one's asked.
  11. SubscriberSuzianne
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    20 May '19 00:57
    @moonbus said
    Timothy Leary! My, my, you have another secret life we know nothing about. Have you a secret family with three children in Canada, too?
    Nope, never been to Canada.

    Never been pregnant, either.
  12. SubscriberSuzianne
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    20 May '19 01:01
    @very-rusty said
    What do we really know about each other? Only the persona we see on here, some claim to be the same in person, but I have my doubts on that one, they would have to prove it to me in person which probably says something about me. πŸ˜‰

    -VR
    See, this is the mentality that created all those "There are no women on the Internet" posts back in the day. Clearly, that's not the case, so how about a policy of believing what people say until they say something that you find hard to believe? Treating every post like a lie isn't going to make you any friends. And, like it or not, this IS a community, albeit a broken one, so how about simply giving people a freaking break most of the time?
  13. Standard memberchessturd
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    20 May '19 02:18
    @very-rusty said
    What do we really know about each other? Only the persona we see on here, some claim to be the same in person, but I have my doubts on that one, they would have to prove it to me in person which probably says something about me. πŸ˜‰

    -VR
    I am exactly the same in person as I am online.

    Would love to go to a redhotpawn meet up πŸ˜‰
    They used to have those back in the day.
  14. Standard memberchessturd
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    20 May '19 02:22
    ...on second thought.
    I would need confirmation on at least 4 chicks showing up.
    I'm not going to a sausage party.
  15. Subscribersonhouse
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    21 May '19 20:061 edit
    @suzianne said
    Was it this one?

    "Gene Wars", by Paul J. McAuley, first appeared in 1991, it was in a number of anthologies, including The Year's Best Science Fiction: Ninth Annual Collection. Greg Egan also had two stories in that collection.
    You really know your Science fiction. I read a lot of Sci Fi but not in any kind of organized way. I did read all the Ender series and the Alvin the Maker and a lot of Asimov and Clarke and when I was 13, Flowers for Algernon by Keyes. Saw the movie also.
    But you sound more like an encyclopedia of Sci Fi!
    I go through the used book stores and just grab mainly hard sci fi. Read most of Anderson's '7 suns' series.

    I looked at OSC and found there is another book in the series, "Shadows Alive''. Have you read that one?
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