The Quickening (short story)

1981 short story by Michael Bishop

"The Quickening" is a science fiction short story by Michael Bishop. It was first published in 1981, in the anthology Universe 11.

Synopsis

All humans have instantaneously been displaced to random locations throughout the world, and civilization has been destroyed. The story follows Lawson (a man from Lynchburg, Virginia who awoke in Seville, Spain) throughout the first years of the development of a new society.

Reception

"The Quickening" won the Nebula Award for Best Novelette of 1981.

Paul Di Filippo considered the story "worthy of a Borges or Barthelme."

References

The Quickening, at Science Fiction Writers of America; retrieved August 20, 2021
"The fantasy fiction of Michael Bishop", by Paul Di Filippo; originally published in THE SCRIBNER WRITERS SERIES: SUPERNATURAL FICTION WRITERS (2003, edited by Richard Bleiler); archived on LiveJournal, 2007

v t e Nebula Award for Best Novelette
1966–1980	"The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth" by Roger Zelazny (1966) "Call Him Lord" by Gordon R. Dickson (1967) "Gonna Roll the Bones" by Fritz Leiber (1968) "Mother to the World" by Richard Wilson (1969) "Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones" by Samuel R. Delany (1970) "Slow Sculpture" by Theodore Sturgeon (1971) "The Queen of Air and Darkness" by Poul Anderson (1972) "Goat Song" by Poul Anderson (1973) "Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand" by Vonda N. McIntyre (1974) "If the Stars Are Gods", by Gordon Eklund and Gregory Benford (1975) "San Diego Lightfoot Sue" by Tom Reamy (1976) "The Bicentennial Man" by Isaac Asimov (1977) "The Screwfly Solution" by Raccoona Sheldon (1978) "A Glow of Candles, a Unicorn's Eye" by Charles L. Grant (1979) "Sandkings" by George R. R. Martin (1980)
1981–2000	"The Ugly Chickens" by Howard Waldrop (1981) "The Quickening" by Michael Bishop (1982) "Fire Watch" by Connie Willis (1983) "Blood Music" by Greg Bear (1984) "Bloodchild" by Octavia Butler (1985) "Portraits of His Children" by George R. R. Martin (1986) "The Girl who Fell into the Sky" by Kate Wilhelm (1987) "Rachel in Love" by Pat Murphy (1988) "Schrödinger's Kitten" by George Alec Effinger (1989) "At the Rialto" by Connie Willis (1990) "Tower of Babylon" by Ted Chiang (1991) "Guide Dog" by Michael Conner (1992) "Danny Goes to Mars" by Pamela Sargent (1993) "Georgia on My Mind" by Charles Sheffield (1994) "The Martian Child" by David Gerrold (1995) "Solitude" by Ursula K. Le Guin (1996) "Lifeboat on a Burning Sea" by Bruce Holland Rogers (1997) "The Flowers of Adult Prison" by Nancy Kress (1998) "Lost Girls" by Jane Yolen (1999) "'Mars is No Place for Children", by Mary Turzillo (2000)
2001–2020	"Daddy's World" by Walter Jon Williams (2001) "Louise's Ghost" by Kelly Link (2002) "Hell is the Absence of God" by Ted Chiang (2003) "The Empire of Ice Cream" by Jeffrey Ford (2004) "Basement Magic" by Ellen Klages (2005) "The Faery Handbag" by Kelly Link (2006) "Two Hearts" by Peter S. Beagle (2007) "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" by Ted Chiang (2008) "Pride and Prometheus" by John Kessel (2009) "Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast" by Eugie Foster (2010) "That Leviathan, Whom Thou Hast Made" by Eric James Stone (2011) "What We Found" by Geoff Ryman (2012) "Close Encounters" by Andy Duncan (2013) "The Waiting Stars" by Aliette de Bodard (2014) "A Guide to the Fruits of Hawai'i" by Alaya Dawn Johnson (2015) "Our Lady of the Open Road" by Sarah Pinsker (2016) "The Long Fall Up" by William Ledbetter (2017) "A Human Stain" by Kelly Robson (2018) "The Only Harmless Great Thing" by Brooke Bolander (2019) "Carpe Glitter" by Cat Rambo (2020)
2021–present	"Two Truths and a Lie" by Sarah Pinsker (2021) "O2 Arena" by Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki (2022) "If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Informal You" by John Chu (2023) "The Year Without Sunshine" by Naomi Kritzer (2024)

Category:

Nebula Award for Best Novelette–winning works