Slow Life (novelette)

Short story by Michael Swanwick

"Slow Life"
Short story by Michael Swanwick

Genre(s)	Science fiction
Publication
Publisher	Analog Science Fiction
Publication date	December 2002

"Slow Life" is a science fiction novelette by American writer Michael Swanwick, originally published in the December 2002 issue of Analog Science Fiction. It won the Hugo Award for Best Novelette in 2003.

The story is set on Titan. The author wrote: "I liked Titan specifically because there was a lot known about its chemistry and geography, but most people were not familiar with it, so a story set there would feel fresh to them."^[1]

Plot summary

The first explorers on Titan find that the ocean is a weird chemical soup. There does not seem to be any life in it until one of the expedition members begins to believe that something is talking to her through her dreams.

References

^ Stocks, Erin (August 2012). "Author Spotlight: Michael Swanwick". Lightspeed Magazine. No. 27. Retrieved July 9, 2019.

Sources

Slow Life title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
Slow Life, story online

Hugo Award for Best Novelette

Retro Hugos

"Rule 18" by Clifford D. Simak (1939)
"The Roads Must Roll" by Robert A. Heinlein (1941)
"Foundation" by Isaac Asimov (1943)
"Mimsy Were the Borogoves" by Lewis Padgett (1944)
"First Contact" by Murray Leinster (1946)
"The Little Black Bag" by Cyril M. Kornbluth (1951)
"Earthman, Come Home" by James Blish (1954)

1955–1960

"The Darfsteller" by Walter M. Miller Jr. (1955)
"Exploration Team" by Murray Leinster (1956)
"The Big Time" by Fritz Leiber (1958)
"The Big Front Yard" by Clifford D. Simak (1959)

1967–1980

"The Last Castle" by Jack Vance (1967)
"Gonna Roll the Bones" by Fritz Leiber (1968)
"The Sharing of Flesh" by Poul Anderson (1969)
"Goat Song" by Poul Anderson (1973)
"The Deathbird" by Harlan Ellison (1974)
"Adrift Just Off the Islets of Langerhans: Latitude 38° 54' N, Longitude 77° 00' 13" W" by Harlan Ellison (1975)
"The Borderland of Sol" by Larry Niven (1976)
"The Bicentennial Man" by Isaac Asimov (1977)
"Eyes of Amber" by Joan D. Vinge (1978)
"Hunter's Moon" by Poul Anderson (1979)
"Sandkings" by George R. R. Martin (1980)

1981–1990

"The Cloak and the Staff" by Gordon R. Dickson (1981)
"Unicorn Variation" by Roger Zelazny (1982)
"Fire Watch" by Connie Willis (1983)
"Blood Music" by Greg Bear (1984)
"Bloodchild" by Octavia E. Butler (1985)
"Paladin of the Lost Hour" by Harlan Ellison (1986)
"Permafrost" by Roger Zelazny (1987)
"Buffalo Gals, Won't You Come Out Tonight" by Ursula K. Le Guin (1988)
"Schrödinger's Kitten" by George Alec Effinger (1989)
"Enter a Soldier. Later: Enter Another" by Robert Silverberg (1990)

1991–2000

"The Manamouki" by Mike Resnick (1991)
"Gold" by Isaac Asimov (1992)
"The Nutcracker Coup" by Janet Kagan (1993)
"Georgia on My Mind" by Charles Sheffield (1994)
"The Martian Child" by David Gerrold (1995)
"Think Like a Dinosaur" by James Patrick Kelly (1996)
"Bicycle Repairman" by Bruce Sterling (1997)
"We Will Drink a Fish Together..." by Bill Johnson (1998)
"Taklamakan" by Bruce Sterling (1999)
"10¹⁶ to 1" by James Patrick Kelly (2000)

2001–2010

"Millennium Babies" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (2001)
"Hell Is the Absence of God" by Ted Chiang (2002)
"Slow Life" by Michael Swanwick (2003)
"Legions in Time" by Michael Swanwick (2004)
"The Faery Handbag" by Kelly Link (2005)
"Two Hearts" by Peter S. Beagle (2006)
"The Djinn's Wife" by Ian McDonald (2007)
"The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" by Ted Chiang (2008)
"Shoggoths in Bloom" by Elizabeth Bear (2009)
"The Island" by Peter Watts (2010)

2011–2020

"The Emperor of Mars" by Allen Steele (2011)
"Six Months, Three Days" by Charlie Jane Anders (2012)
"The Girl-Thing Who Went Out for Sushi" by Pat Cadigan (2013)
"The Lady Astronaut of Mars", by Mary Robinette Kowal (2014)
"The Day the World Turned Upside Down" by Thomas Olde Heuvelt, translated by Lia Belt (2015)
"Folding Beijing" by Hao Jingfang (2016)
"The Tomato Thief" by Ursula Vernon (2017)
"The Secret Life of Bots" by Suzanne Palmer (2018)
"If at First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again" by Zen Cho (2019)
"Emergency Skin" by N. K. Jemisin (2020)

2021–present

"Two Truths and a Lie" by Sarah Pinsker (2021)
"Bots of the Lost Ark" by Suzanne Palmer (2022)
"The Space-Time Painter" by Hai Ya (2023)
"The Year Without Sunshine" by Naomi Kritzer (2024)

v t e Works by Michael Swanwick
Novels	In the Drift (1984) Vacuum Flowers (1987) Stations of the Tide (1991) The Iron Dragon's Daughter (1993) Jack Faust (1997) Bones of the Earth (2002) The Dragons of Babel (2008) Dancing With Bears (2011) Chasing the Phoenix (2015) The Iron Dragon's Mother (2019)
Short stories	"Dogfight" (1985) "The Dead" (1996) "The Very Pulse of the Machine" (1998) "Radiant Doors" (1999) "Ancient Engines" (1999) "Scherzo with Tyrannosaur" (1999) "The Dog Said Bow-Wow" (2001) "Slow Life" (2002) "'Hello,' Said the Stick" (2002) "Legions in Time" (2003)
Short story collections	Gravity's Angels (1991) A Geography of Unknown Lands (1997) Moon Dogs (2000) Puck Aleshire's Abecedary (2000) The Periodic Table of Science Fiction (2005)