SOLVED. SciFi Short Stories / on Rocking Chairs and Switching Bodies [s]

[M—]

Hello, everyone. I'm trying to track down a couple of scifi short stories I read years ago. Do these plots sound familiar to anyone here?

First Short Story, regarding Rocking Chairs:
FOUND : "Old Rocking Chair's Got Me" by Suzette Haden Elgin, printed in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, February 1979.

A woman is on trial for, basically, violating the Prime Directive (it's not a Star Trek story, and I don't actually remember that phrase used in the story, but it was that concept). She was like a dignified observer/anthropologist from another planet, and she was studying the Earth. The woman had been appalled to learn that humans were deaf to the voices of the planet, the music the wind makes and the stories the ocean waves tell, etc. Her crime was for telling these little telepathic, obedient, invisible, friendly pets to populate the Earth, home themselves in rocking chairs, and translate for humans what the planet is saying to them. Every time a human would sit in a rocking chair, the pets would whisper translations to him or her, and the human would be able to learn about Earth through those means. This choice to populate the Earth with these friendly pets could not be undone (I think the pets reproduced much to rapidly to allow the process to be halted, and I think recalling or eradicating the pets were not considered permissible options), the woman was found guilty of her crime, but humans were ultimately left to daydream on their rocking chairs.

I read this in early 2001, but I read a photocopied handout that a professor had provided to my college class, and I believe the story was originally published much earlier.

Second Short Story, on Switching Bodies:

(By request, this story search has been move to a separate thread: link.)

I've already posted this query in LibraryThing's Name That Book! group and in LiveJournal's What Was That Book? community, but I haven't found them yet. I'm hoping that I will be more lucky here!

[Mike]

In regards to the rocking chair story: I found your thread while I was looking for just that short story, but I'm sorry to say that I can't find the title of it quite yet. I read it about a year ago in a class, really liked it, but I had it as a handout as well. I feel like it could be Bradbury, but that's just hazarding a guess. Please let me know if you find out, my email is mnotzon@mac.com

[Ann aka Iftcan]

M--I too have read this short story--but I don't remember the title either--or even where I read it.

[Cindy]

Wow, they both sound really interesting, but I'm drawing a blank.

Have you tried emailing your professor who assigned the story? I'm sure if you lay down some cool compliments, they'd be game to respond. Especially considering the assigned work has impacted you...

[M—]

I would definitely consider contacting the professor, but she is no longer employed by that university and I don't have another way to get in touch with her.

I think I might have kept the class syllabus, where the story's title may have been listed, but, if I did, it's in long-term storage stuck inside an unlabeled box amid dozens of other unlabeled boxes. :( It will be months before I can try and dig it out.

[Snail in Danger (Sid)]

M -- if her employer is another university, you may be able to find her by doing a Google search. Or one of her old department colleagues may know how to reach her.

She'll probably be delighted to hear from someone who enjoyed the material, if she's like most professors. :)

[M—]

Well, maybe. This professor wasn't considered by the university to be a full professor – this particular class was the only one she taught, and it was an irregularly available elective. Because she wasn't a full professor, she wasn't considered a member of the faculty, was never included in the faculty directory, and never had an office. I can contact the university directly and see if I can get in touch with her that way, but I don't know what sort of contact information they might have kept. Hmm.

It looks like my search efforts are moving away from the Internet and off to the telephone tree!

[Cindy]

Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to open up a can of worms! Do you think any of your old classmates from the class might remember? (that's probably a long shot...)

[M—]

Oh, no, I hadn't been complaining! This situation is what we call a challenge.

:( I don't even remember the names of those classmates, let alone have kept up accurate contact with them.

[Ann aka Iftcan]

Hum, did the college have a printed synopsis? If so, they might still have a copy of it in their archives. You can check that too.

[Cindy]

Heh, yeah - If I was trying to remember classmates from a specific class in college I'd need a wicked talented hypnotist. Or a time machine.

I sure hope it rings some bells with someone out there, because it sounds like a very interesting story!

[M—]

I might have found the Rocking Chair Story! Or I at least found something that sounds promising! Now it's a matter of tracking down a copy of it and giving it a read.

"Old Rocking Chair's Got Me" by Suzette Haden Elgin, printed in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, February 1979.

Summary: "Explains the real function of rockingchairs in the Ozarks...."

So... does anyone have a copy of this issue of that magazine on hand?

[Snail in Danger (Sid)]

Amazon does. Also these guys, and ebay (the cheapest that I saw).

Good luck laying your hands on a copy. :)

[Lisa]

M-, Great! Do you want to move this to possibly solved or would you rather wait until you know for sure and put it in the appropriate solved folder? Please come back and let us know if these are the stories. Thanks.

[M—]

I think this story has a good chance of being the right match to my first query, but I still have no idea about the second story I was looking for, the switching bodies one. I'd like to leave this thread in this group for now.

[Lisa]

That's fine. Please let us know when you've found each one.

[M—]

"Old Rocking Chair's Got Me" is confirmed! I haven't found a reading copy, but a participate in another thread had the magazine issue on hand and was kind enough to give it a look-see. I don't think the story has ever been anthologized. No wonder it was so difficult to find!

I'm still trying to find match a title to the second story, on switching bodies.

[M.]

Hi, I just stumbled across this thread and wanted to let you know that, yes, "Old Rocking Chair's Got Me" was anthologized. Dick Allen's Science Fiction The Future. That's where I first read it. Wonderful tale. Hope this is helpful, even if it's a couple years since you first asked.

[Stacy]

That second story sounds REALLY familiar to me... I want to say either Ray Bradbury or Piers Anthony... does that ring a bell?

[Cheryl]

I'm confused though - the anthology is recorded as being copyright 1971 (both here and on half.com where it's being sold for 75 cents). But the magazine is dated 1979. Does anyone know if magazines sometimes use old material like that? I would never have thought so - maybe somewhere there's a typo?

[Cheryl]

And just to make it more interesting, the author's page at http://www.sfwa.org/members/elgin/Bib... lists
"Old Rocking Chair's Got Me"; in Fantasy And Science Fiction, 1974."

[Snail in Danger (Sid)]

F&SF reprinted The Brave Little Toaster a couple years ago. So ... rarely?

I know authors' pages are generally regarded as definitive — for good reason — but barring someone verifying that there is a 1974 F&SF with this story, I'm tempted to think that a typo has crept in.

[M.]

The version of the anthology I have is the 2nd edition published in 1983.

[Cheryl]

hm - tx
and yes, I should have also checked isfdb.org

[M—]

M. wrote: "Hi, I just stumbled across this thread and wanted to let you know that, yes, "Old Rocking Chair's Got Me" was anthologized."

Thank you so much for that information!

Stacy wrote: "That second story sounds REALLY familiar to me... I want to say either Ray Bradbury or Piers Anthony... does that ring a bell?"

No bells, sorry! I know I've read works by both Bradbury and Anthony before, but a visit to their ISFDB pages didn't turn up any likely titles. Thanks for suggesting, though!

[Kate]

I shelved the rocking chair story in the Science fiction anthology.

Now we just have to find the second story.

[Stacy]

I'm still working on it - if it's the same one I remember, the protagonist chose the body of the young man because he (the young man) was confined to a wheelchair and dying, or --- something like that. Something altruistic went on there.
I just skimmed through my Again,Dangerous Visions I and II but didn't see it in there.. I do know it though...
My sweetie suggested Heinlein?

[M—]

The only Heinlein work I can think of that relates to this is his mind-transplant novel, I Will Fear No Evil, which was an old-to-young switch but focused more on the male-to-female aspect. I googled for short stories of his, but I didn't see anything that matched....

[Jim]

I don't recall any Heinlein that matches, either. He has a couple of short time travel stories, but I don't recall a wheel or rocking chair in either.

[M.]

You're welcome! Happy to help.

[Ann aka Iftcan]

Stacy--that's the body switching story that I remember too--he was a middle-aged man (in his original body), successful, but feeling like his wife and kids were taking him for granted, right?

The switch had something to do with travel, I THINK. Don't really remember what it was for, just that there was a major FUBAR, and "they" (meaning the people who ran the transfer process) suddenly didn't know who went with what body. And I know that he was swapped between several bodies, and that everyone was supposed to signal when they landed in their own. The guy that the story was about was "remembering" from body memories who each of the bodies he was put into were. I remember that one of them was a girl who was gay. And the body he finally claimed that was a rich young man who was dieing.

[Stacy]

YEAH! That one. I still am unable to place it... Could it be one of Piers Anthony's in Anthonology?

[M—]

Yes, Anna and Stacy, I think we're all remembering the same story. Hurrah! Now if we can figure out which one it was.

I just googled for story summaries of Anthonology, and nothing summarized sounds like the one we're looking for. Actually, none of the summaries sound familiar to me; I probably never read that book.

[Stacy]

well, it's... it's got a lot of rather racy stories, but iirc, there are some that are more purely s/f as well. I've read a lot of Anthony, Asimov, and Bradbury, and I feel like I have this story in a book I own... but that's not a lot of help...

[Ann aka Iftcan]

I know I USED to own the book it was in. The problem is--I am a military brat (and I read this back when it first came out--however long ago that was)and, well, lots and lots of moves later. . .

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

M-, are you still looking for the second of these stories?

[M—]

Yup. Want me to clip out that last unsolved story and put it in a separate thread, so that we can retire this one?

[Justanotherbiblophile]

I know I'd like that.

But, definitely put a link here to the new thread, so anyone following this thread knows where to go looking for the new single thread.

[M—]

Last unsolved story has been moved to its own thread:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Thanks all for your help with this!