"Old MacDonald Had a Farm" | |
---|---|
by Mike Resnick | |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Genre(s) | Science fiction |
Published in | Asimov's Science Fiction |
Publication type | Magazine |
Publication date | September 2001 |
"Old MacDonald Had a Farm" is a science fiction short story by American writer Mike Resnick, published in 2001. [1]
The story is about a reporter who visits a farm where millions of genetically engineered animals are raised to help alleviate the world's food shortage. What he finds there is both brilliantly wonderful and tragically disturbing.
"Old MacDonald Had a Farm" was finalist for the 2002 Hugo Award for Best Short Story.
Pulp magazines were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 to the late 1950s. The term "pulp" derives from the cheap wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed. In contrast, magazines printed on higher-quality paper were called "glossies" or "slicks". The typical pulp magazine had 128 pages; it was 7 inches (18 cm) wide by 10 inches (25 cm) high, and 0.5 inches (1.3 cm) thick, with ragged, untrimmed edges.
Alistair MacLeod, was a Canadian novelist, short story writer and academic. His powerful and moving stories vividly evoke the beauty of Cape Breton Island's rugged landscape and the resilient character of many of its inhabitants, the descendants of Scottish immigrants, who are haunted by ancestral memories and who struggle to reconcile the past and the present. MacLeod has been praised for his verbal precision, his lyric intensity and his use of simple, direct language that seems rooted in an oral tradition.
George MacDonald was a Scottish author, poet and Christian Congregational minister. He became a pioneering figure in the field of modern fantasy literature and the mentor of fellow-writer Lewis Carroll. In addition to his fairy tales, MacDonald wrote several works of Christian theology, including several collections of sermons.
The Egg and I, first published in 1945, is a humorous memoir by American author Betty MacDonald about her adventures and travels as a young wife on a chicken farm on the Olympic Peninsula in the US state of Washington. The book is based on the author's experiences as a newlywed trying to acclimate to and operate a small chicken farm near Chimacum, Washington, with her first husband, Robert Heskett, from 1927 to 1931. On visits with her family in Seattle, she told stories of their tribulations, which greatly amused them. In the 1940s, MacDonald's older sister, Mary, strongly encouraged her to write a book about these experiences. The Egg and I was MacDonald's first attempt at writing a book.
Betty MacDonald was an American author who specialized in humorous autobiographical tales, and is best known for her book The Egg and I. She also wrote the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle series of children's books. She is associated with the Pacific Northwest, especially Washington.
John Dann MacDonald was an American writer of novels and short stories. He is known for his thrillers.
Michael Diamond Resnick was an American science fiction writer and editor. He won five Hugo awards and a Nebula award, and was the guest of honor at Chicon 7. He was the executive editor of the defunct magazine Jim Baen's Universe, and the creator and editor of Galaxy's Edge magazine.
"The Colour Out of Space" is a science fiction/horror short story by American author H. P. Lovecraft, written in March 1927. In the tale, an unnamed narrator pieces together the story of an area known by the locals as the "blasted heath" in the hills west of the fictional town of Arkham, Massachusetts. The narrator discovers that many years ago a meteorite crashed there, poisoning every living being nearby; vegetation grows large but foul-tasting, animals are driven mad and deformed into grotesque shapes, and the people go insane or die one by one.
Donald MacDonald Kingsbury is an American–Canadian science fiction author. Kingsbury taught mathematics at McGill University, Montreal, from 1956 until his retirement in 1986.
Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle is a series of children's books written by Betty MacDonald. The first book is Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, published in 1947; three sequels by MacDonald are Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Magic, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Farm, and Hello, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle. Happy Birthday, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle (2007) was completed by her daughter Anne MacDonald Canham based on "notes for other stories among her mother's possessions".
Simon Brown, is an Australian science fiction writer.
"Old MacDonald Had a Farm" is a traditional children's song and nursery rhyme about a farmer and the various animals he keeps. Each verse of the song changes the name of the animal and its respective noise. For example, if the verse uses a cow as the animal, then "moo" would be used as the animal's sound. In many versions, the song is cumulative, with the animal sounds from all the earlier verses added to each subsequent verse.
Alec Forbes of Howglen is a novel by George MacDonald, first published in 1865 and is primarily concerned with Scottish country life.
Philip MacDonald was a British-born writer of fiction and screenplays, best known for thrillers.
Old MacDonald Duck is an animated cartoon by Walt Disney Productions from 1941, featuring Donald Duck.
The Listeners is a 1972 science fiction novel by American author James Gunn. It centers on the search for interstellar communication and the effect that receipt of a message has. Although the search and the message are the unifying background of the novel, the chapters explore the personal effect of these events have on the lives of the characters.
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and drama. From the twentieth century, it has expanded further into various media, including film, television, graphic novels, manga, animations and video games.
Kathy Lynn Emerson is an American writer of historical and mystery novels and non-fiction. She also uses the pseudonyms Kaitlyn Dunnett and Kate Emerson.
D. R. MacDonald is the pen name of David R. MacDonald, a Canadian-American writer who publishes novels and short stories. Born on Boularderie Island, Nova Scotia and raised in Ohio, he is a professor emeritus of creative writing at Stanford University. He still spend summers at the family homestead in Cape Breton Island, which he purchased in 1971, and his fiction is set in Cape Breton.
"The Frozen Fields" is a short story by Paul Bowles written in 1957 and first published in the July 1957 issue of Harper's Bazaar. The work is included in his collection of short fiction The Time of Friendship (1967) published by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. "The Frozen Fields", an autobiographical piece, is considered one of the 'most powerful" stories in the volume.