A long time ago I read a short Sci-Fi story and I'm trying to figure out its Title/Author. Here is the plot and the last line: An attorney for one food producing company is trying to get the product of another company banned. He is standing up in front of a bunch of government officials or legislatures. All food is processed food in their economy; none of it is from animals. Indeed most people don't even know about meat. So the attorney has to explain what food used to be. At one point he introduces a word by spelling it out... C.A.R.N.I.V.O.R.E.... and one member of the audience gets ill (he had warned them it would be a difficult topic) and has to leave. After explaining all about meat, and different kinds of meat, and that their competitor has designed several of their foods to taste like meat,a  he says, and this is a pretty much quote, I think, &quot;So now I have to explain about another word: C.A.N.N.I...&quot; [end of story]
98326
Synthetic foods are all the rage, and while some are new and novel, many are attempts to recreate the taste and texture of a natural foods, with varying degrees of success. One company introduces a new synthetic food that becomes wildly popular. The competition analyzes it, and based on discovering what natural creature it is based on, they petition the government to ban it.      They discover that the product is synthetic human flesh, so consuming it is not technically cannibalism, but it is similar, as they explain to the panel of government officials.
117855
I think the story took place on Mars, and it had a feel like Eric Frank Russell or someone similar. The story starts with the man reporting on his return to base to explain the adventure he just went through. He had met an alien, described as looking something like an ostrich, and the two of them had gone on adventures and seen many other alien life.  Some of the aliens they met:  There was a series of pyramids, starting tiny and getting larger and larger, each one with the tip burst through. At the end of the line was a large creature who sat on the ground and didn't move but occasionally reached into its mouth and pulled out a brick, and it slowly built a pyramid around itself. The protagonist realizes that the creature is a silicon based life form, so its respiratory waste (instead of being carbon dioxide, a gas) is silicon dioxide (a solid).  They also see a series of humanoid creatures busy building and digging and doing some kind of construction, seemingly with some sort of hive mentality, all working around a glowing green object. The man and the ostrich steal the object (which the protagonist shows at the end to prove his story). After they do so, the hive-like aliens come at them, and both the man and the ostrich whip out guns of some sort and defend themselves.  I think they met more aliens but I don't remember any more details about them. The human and the alien initially teach each other a few words in each others languages. The ostrich would then comment on the life forms they met like "one one two yes. two two four no." The protagonist realized that the ostrich would say that to mean sometime like "Yes, it is life, but it is not life like us."  At the end, the colonel or whatever who is interviewing the protagonist says something about the poor man being stuck with an idiotic native. The protagonist disagrees and explains that he had figured out that the ostrich was an explorer like himself, and had never seen any of these creatures before, and yet it was able to swiftly deduce their nature and still communicate that to another alien, that the ostrich was clearly brilliant.
8087
It's a short story that I read in a book at some point in the 1990's. It was the French translation, so it might have been older. I believe it was a short story by Isaac Asimov, set in the early days of the Galactic Empire from Foundation, but I may be wrong.  The story had someone sent to visit an asteroid colony, might have been a mining colony, for some reason. The visitor is a sort of official and soon realizes that there's something wrong when he interacts with the local officials, and he's told the guy in charge of maintaining the plumbing is on strike.  Short explanation ensues and the visitor learns that no one in the colony would make direct contact with the plumber because he is unclean thus outcast, since he also deals with waste and the dead. Visitor offers to go negotiate on behalf of the colonists because he's not bound by their caste system, to which the colony official happily agree. The negotiations go well and the plumber resumes his work.  However, when the visitor tries to go back to the colony, he finds the way blocked and he is directed, through automated doors and voices coming out of speakers, back to his shuttle and asked to leave the colony because, since he was in contact with the plumber, he's become unclean too thus the colony officials cannot get in contact with him anymore.
112163
I'm trying to identify a short sci-fi story about an expedition to a distant planet, inhabited by human-like, somewhat primitive aliens that lived as a matriarchy. The story is told as a narration of the trip from one of the scientists involved to a guest at his house.  The main characteristic of this planet was a dense atmosphere (or something like that) which blocked most of the light from reaching the surface. So the aliens and animals there hyper-developed their sense of touch. The aliens hunted by leaving traps carefully designed to hypnotize or put in a trance state those touching it. The guest is touching one of these, which the scientist brought back from his trip. Other thing about this society, derived from the dense atmosphere, was that obesity was a highly sought characteristic because "more surface improves light absorption capacity" or something like that.  I don't remember how the cannibalism was justified, but towards the end, we discover the scientist has brought back with him one of these obese women, and is going to feed her his, by now, completely entranced guest.  I read it in a compilation from the late '80s, it could be older.
2437
This was a short story told in a series of letters.  The protagonist starts by writing a letter to a utility company about an error in his bill.  By the last letter he is on death row trying to get his sentence commuted.  Each letter is slightly misunderstood.  I think it's from the late 60's and may have been in anthology like "Orbit".
4821
Trying to find title/author of story I read many years ago, around 1964. Story was written from the point of view of a snail like creature. The central character describes (stream-of-consciousness?) himself and other characters moving along a path in a constant search for food. The story ends with the main character falling into what turns out to be the fuel tank of a space ship.
14365
More than a decade ago, I read a short story about a small group of people at the end of the world. The story was premised on some sort of mass-produced device which took ambient heat and turned it into power. The devices had been overused, and now the world was freezing.   I think the people were essentially bandits; the main character may have been a woman who lured men to her house and killed them for their body heat? There was also a strong implication that one person she had done this to was an alien who had come to warn that the devices were destroying the world.  I think the story was in a hardbound collection, and I think the collection was from the late 70's or very early 80's.  (Calling it a "short story" is just meant to distinguish it from a full novel — it may have actually been a novella or similar.)
82936
And thereby makes clear in 4 words what the whole story was about.  In a 60's or 70's era anthology I think.  I’ve always remembered it as being an example of good or clever writing.  I've never read another story with the same effect. If I gave any more clues it would spoil the story. I only read it once yet I can still remember it… but what was the story?  EDIT: The aliens were hiding some important information on the human race and the hero spent the whole story trying to find out what it was.
36404
I read a short story sometimes ago on Reddit, it really stuck with me but I cannot find it anymore.  The story is told by a sentient being in a universe where people have to fill their lungs in some sort of air fountains and everything in this world is powered by air.  The narrator realize at some point that the pressure difference between the reservoir and the atmosphere is decreasing and they all will eventually die or stop moving due to this. It is an allegory on the eventual death of the universe due to increasing entropy.  Does anyone know what this is?
97360
I'm trying to find an English-language short story I read in a collection about five to ten years ago (I don't have any idea of the original publication date).    Here's everything I remember:   The story is about human astronauts landing on an alien's planet, from the alien's point of view. Every organism on the alien planet is part of a single hive mind, and they can telepathically infect the humans (the aliens view this as beneficial, as any mind separated from the hive must be suffering), but choose not to once they realize that there's an entire planet of humans out there. The narrator alien is an organism that was designed by the hive to mimic a non-essential component on the spacecraft, so it can stow away when the humans return to Earth. The narrator alien is preparing to infect all of Earth as soon as the shuttle's door opens, but the component it replaced was the wire that opens the door, so it is fried instantly by the current.   Despite knowing all these elements of the story, I haven't had luck Googling it, because so many of these elements are very common sci-fi themes on their own, and I don't remember any unique names/terms.  I don't remember if I read this in a Sci-fi anthology book, or in a magazine (like 'Asimov').  Thanks in advance if anyone can help me track this one down, it's been bugging me for a long while.
16211
My dad has been trying to find the title of a short story for ages. According to him, the story goes like this:  A scientist who works on an island manages to create a miniature population with whom he can communicate. As time is proportional to their size, it goes way faster for them than the scientist, which allows the creatures to be able to make inventions humans can't yet.   The scientist, whom the creatures worship as a God, starts asking them to reveal how to make these inventions humans are unable to create. At one point, his miniature people end up developing the transport of wireless energy.  Because of the industrial lobby of the human world, the scientist and his people are under a death threat. He asks the creatures to develop the absolute protection, which they do, but this stops the communication between the scientist and his people. He can only see a grey dome in his microscope.   At the last moment, as missiles have been fired towards the island, a breach opens in the dome. The scientist gets a message from his creatures: they ask for forgiveness as they were not able to reach him anymore until then. He responds that if they want to be forgiven, they must amplify the action of the dome.  In the end, the whole island is covered with an indestructible grey dome that no one can see through.  Some parts might be added by my dad's imagination but if you find anything similar to this plot, we would be really grateful!
55639
A while back, I read a story in a collection, but I don't remember very much. I know that it was about some missionaries on Mars. Eventually they found a bunch of spheres that apparently have escaped sin by leaving the material world. I don't remember anything else about it. Someone told me that it was in "The Martian Chronicles" by Ray Bradbury, but I checked my copy and couldn't find. I'm pretty sure that it was by Ray Bradbury though. Help would be greatly appreciated.
21976
I'm looking for a short story about a man who thinks he sees a face on a piece of trash while driving to work.I think it looked like a bag or a piece of cardboard blown about by the wind.Seems like it "blew" onto a piece of roadkill and ate it. He thinks he imagined it, but keeps thinking about it. He goes back to the intersection where he first saw it and it causes him to have an accident.It ended up being some type of creature that hunted by pretending it was garbage.   I can't remember if it was in a magazine or an anthology, but I first read it about 20-25 years ago. I keep thinking it was by Harlan Ellison, but I'm in no way positive about that. It may just be that I read it around the same time I first read Ellison.
86284
Unique short SF story where aliens being invaded by other aliens, went looking for allies (to help save their galactic empire).  While being chased by the antagonistic aliens, they encountered a barrier surrounding a solar system. They somehow managed to disable it and found a solar system where the third planet from the Sun showed signs of life. When they landed, they were received by a human girl who greeted them. The enemy ship which followed them also landed, but were destroyed by the humans easily.  Upon learning of the aliens request, the humans decided to help the aliens, and moved their entire world to follow the aliens' ship. Too late the aliens realized that these humans were the ancient war mongering race which was sealed up eons ago and they had accidentally released them.  Could someone please help to identify this title for me. Thanks.
51099
Please help me identify this story.  I think it is a short story, not a novel but I could be wrong.  A scientist works on genetically engineering super intelligent cells.  He has some successes.  I don't recall the details but his research comes under scrutiny and the funding agency decides to end the experiment and destroy the test cells.  The scientist decides to save his intelligent cells by ingesting them.  The protagonist first comes down with a terrible illness.  From here on out, the writing is in the style of someone in and out of lucidity.  Essentially the cells are battling the scientist's immune system.  Eventually the intelligent cells win and begin re-engineering the human body for their needs.  Using the human body as a reservoir of resources, they expand, change the human body into more of an amoeba structure and eventually invade the city water supply through the protagonists kitchen sink.  At one point one of his colleagues checks on the scientist and the intelligent amoebas capture him/her (I think it's a her).  The implication is that the cells will eventually destroy the entire human race this way.
5594
Don't remember the exact start to the story, but it went something like "walking along a path" or something, and when he hears what sounds like a shotgun blast behind him, he then feels something strike him in the butt. He passes out, and when he awakens, he discovers that the "shotgun blast" was actually a miniature spaceship that exploded and shot miniature aliens into his body. The aliens prove to be very beneficial because they clean up all the toxins and other poisons in his body. They can be transmitted through kissing or sexual activity.  Any help with the name of the story would be greatly appreciated.  Dan
119449
I read a story in a sci-fi short story collection (about 35 years ago) in which the POV character is fleeing invading aliens with his child in his arms (I think the wife is dead).  He knows he's about to be caught and killed by these rapacious, violent aliens who just want to destroy. Finally, the alien emerges from the trees and the story describes how the hero looks - feline, with a tail.  The hero confronts the killer - man!  It was a cool story that blew my 8th grade mind.  BTW, its not Frenzy.