SOLVED. scifi: short: Plant scientist starts revolution, by enabling human photosynthesis; tribe of green people. [s]

[Justanotherbiblophile]

SOLVED: "Village of the Chosen" by Alan Dean Foster (RIO)

MC is looking for scientist in Africa and/or is tracking down a rumor of a tribe of green people.

Definitely driving a land rover (or equiv) over rough terrain. Talking to people, and finding rumors about a tribe of green-skinned people.

MC might be a journalist?

Scientist was studying a certain organism that had chloroplasts in vacuoles, which they (he and his wife?) were able to get into human skin. It was either a pill or an injection. If it was super-technology at all, it was genetic engineering (not nano-tech, this was pre-nanotech as a concept)

They'd decided to alleviate famine problems in Africa, and were doing it way, way deep in the bush in Africa - obviously, this was pre-internet, pre-cell phone.

So, the treatment took a little while, but made the people green - eliminating everyone's skin color (sci-magically: no more racism!), and they only needed to drink water, eat salt and some other trace minerals, and bask in the sun for a bit each day. They'd made a ritual, and MC thought it was a cult - but scientist explained it was nice to eat together, they'd spend an hour near sunset, and hour in the morning, and an hour at noon out in the sun together, they raised their arms (maybe) to the sun, and of course were stark naked - having taken off their clothing to get the most sunlight (oh noes, nakedness is super-bad!).

MC said, nobody is going to believe this (because scientist were uninterested in leaving their nice little community). And they said, Yes, yes they are; (view spoiler)[because we injected/pilled/dosed you - and the big reveal is that the MC wakes up the next day green. They told him he only needed to spend a week (or two?) in the dark to kill off the free food, if he didn't like it. (hide spoiler)]

edit:

Short story was in an anthology. It was available in dead-tree at latest by 1994, and probably more like 1987.

It is NOT "Piper in the Woods".
It is NOT "Whatever Happened to the McGowans?".
It is NOT "Top Secret".
It is NOT "The Green Leopard Plague and Other Stories".
It is NOT "Desolation Road".
It is NOT "Beggars and Choosers".

[Andy]

That does sound vaguely familiar. Let me think on it.

[༺Kiki༻]

Edited to add The Green Leopard Plague and Other Stories. I didn't notice that you were looking for a short story, previously.

Neither are an exact match, but what about Desolation Road, or perhaps Beggars and Choosers?

Spoiler snipped from the Beggars and Choosers summary on Wikipedia, sounds like a possible match.

(view spoiler)[However, Miranda's closing words, spoken to Diana (who is also under arrest) suggest a deeper conspiracy: "More in the syringe." After extensive medical surveillance, Diana reunites with the Francys just in time to catch a time-delay broadcast by Miranda Sharifi, explaining what she meant. The "Change syringe" contains a set of nano-engineered machinery that totally remodels the human body on a cellular level. Anyone injected will be infused with nanotubules leading inward from the skin, which are capable of dissembling organic matter on a molecular level. They are also infused with bacteriorhodopsin, allowing photosynthesis. It is now possible for a human being to lie on the ground, in the sunlight, for thirty minutes, and absorb all the energy and nutrients they need for a 24-hour period. Odds and ends include nitrogen-fixing microorganisms, mechanisms to keep the digestive tract in working order in the absence of "mouth food," and of course the Cell Cleaner itself. "You are now autotrophic," Miranda ends the broadcast. "You are now free." (hide spoiler)]

[Justanotherbiblophile]

Nope, those aren't it.

Beggars and Choosers is nano-tech, for one. And this is just genetic engineering.

Also? The story I'm looking for is way old school; pre-cellphone and pre-internet.

[༺Kiki༻]

How about "Village of the Chosen" from ...Who Needs Enemies??

The story also appeared in The Best of Omni Science Fiction No. 5, Feb. 1983. It is available at Internet Archive in various formats, the story is on page 101.

The MC, Harvey Vickers, is in Africa when he encounters a woman with an emerald green face.

[Justanotherbiblophile]

This is it :D

[༺Kiki༻]

Happy reading!