Sci-Fi Short Story in anthology. Shakespeare is cloned for profit by investors, recreate Stratford-upon-Avon with actors. Future world runs out of ways to create more fiction and readers are desperate. Nature vs. nurture. Read around 1979-1981.

[Valerie]

I've been looking for a particular short story for ages. I read it about 1979-81, but it could have been published before that. I don't remember the appearance of the book, but I believe the short story I'm seeking was in an anthology of science fiction short stories.

As I recall, perhaps this is partly my interpretation, a future world had run out of possibilities for creating more fiction and readers had become desperate and would pay almost any price for a wonderful and really new story.

Seeing the opportunity, eager for astonishing profit, and aware of the potential in both nature and nurture, a group of investors direct scientists to obtain Shakespeare's DNA and clone him. They also commission designers to recreate a 16th-century Stratford-upon-Avon in exacting detail, and they hire actors to play all the major figures in Shakespeare's life, creating a nurturing world similar to "The Truman Show."

Did anyone else ever read this? I've been looking for it for about 30 years now and would love to read it again.

Thank you,
Valerie

[Kris]

Valerie, what's the common theme of the sci-fi stories in this anthology? For adults?

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[Valerie]

Thank you so much for the edit, Kris.

I'm pretty sure it was an anthology, mostly because I can't imagine any other place I would find a short story. I don't remember any other story in the book, and I can't say for sure if it was adult fiction or YA. I'm guessing adult but only guessing.

I can't picture the cover, and I don't know how old it was when I read it, but I borrowed the book from the high school library sometime between 1979 and 1981.

[Kris]

You're welcome.