The memes made me post this....

[nancylebov]

On a Blade of Grass, a new short story by Tim Pratt-- mostly parasitology, and a fine example of the things-are-worse-than-you-think strain in science fiction.

Anyway, it was recommended in a friendslocked post and I appreciate the recommendation, but post compares it to Tiptree's And I Awoke and Found Me Here on a Cold Hill's Side (another fine example of TAWTHYT), and that's when the memes hit because it's not the best Tiptree for the purpose. I can't remember the name of the right story, but it's the one where humans are gametes that feel compelled to go out into space to join with our other halves.

Comments

[caprine.livejournal.com]

I wasn't familiar with the other Tiptree story you mention. "And I Awoke..." occurred to me because of its "we have a biological imperative to go into space". If you remember the title of the other Tiptree story, post it in a comment to my rec post, would you? Thanks!

[vvalkyri.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the story link. The bit about the nanolitter nearly made me laugh in the quiet cube farm.

[womzilla.livejournal.com]

You might be thinking of "A Momentary Taste of Being" in The New Atlantis.

All of Lovecraft, of course, is "things are worse than you think", and some of it is science fiction, especially the later stories.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

It looks as though I didn't quite say what I meant-- I think there's a particular strain in science fiction which adds up to "people are worse than you think". Kornbluth and Tiptree wrote a fair amount of that sort of thing.

[orawnzva.livejournal.com]

You might be thinking of "A Momentary Taste of Being"

I haven't read it, but it's the subject of an absolutely chilling filk by yambrooke, "Spoke Too Soon".