Sat 1 Mar 2008
The evolution of trickster stories among the dogs of North Park after the Change
Saturday, Mar 1st, 2008 at 9:25 pmCategories: Death; Dogs; Literature; Anthropology; Johnson, Kij; Tricksters
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The evolution of trickster stories among the dogs of North Park after the Change
Short fiction by Kij Johnson. Excerpt:
6. One Dog Invents Death.
This is the same dog. She lives in a nice house with people. They do not let her run outside a fence and they did things to her so that she can’t have puppies, but they feed her well and are kind, and they rub places on her back that she can’t reach.
At this time, there is no death for dogs, they live forever. After a while, One Dog becomes bored with her fence and her food and even the people’s pats. But she can’t convince the people to allow her outside the fence.
“There should be death,” she decides. “Then there will be no need for boredom.”
- Kij Johnson: Link.
Via Futurismic.
Interesting idea, nicely realized. The story is a finalist for the 2007 Nebula Award — best wishes Kij!
Reminiscent of The Author of the Acacia Seeds
And Other Extracts from the Journal of the Association of Therolinguistics by Ursula LeGuin, as well as Our Neural Chernobyl by Bruce Sterling.