Tantie Merle and the Farmhand 4200

Last updated October 08, 2025

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"Tantie Merle and the Farmhand 4200" is a 2023 science fiction short story by Trinidadian author R. S. A. Garcia. It was first published in Uncanny Magazine .

Synopsis
Reception
Origin
References
External links

Synopsis

An elderly Trinidadian woman is given a robotic farmhand made of nanotechnology, with unexpected results — including that it is repeatedly eaten by her goat.

Reception

"Tantie Merle and the Farmhand 4200" won the Nebula Award for Best Short Story of 2023^[1] and the 2024 Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award.^[2]

Origin

Garcia has described the story as having been inspired by an online conversation about how goats will eat anything.^[3]

References

↑ Tantie Merle and the Farmhand 4200, at Science Fiction Writers of America; retrieved November 9, 2024
↑ Garcia Wins 2024 Sturgeon Award, at Locus Online ; posted September 9, 2024; retrieved November 9, 2024
↑ Interview: R.S.A. Garcia, by Caroline M. Yoachim; in Uncanny Magazine issue 53; retrieved November 9, 2024

External links

Text of the story, at Uncanny Magazine

v t e Nebula Award for Best Short Story
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2000–2019	"macs" by Terry Bisson (2000) "The Cure for Everything" by Severna Park (2001) "Creature" by Carol Emshwiller (2002) "What I Didn't See" by Karen Joy Fowler (2003) "Coming to Terms" by Eileen Gunn (2004) "I Live With You" by Carol Emshwiller (2005) "Echo" by Elizabeth Hand (2006) "Always" by Karen Joy Fowler (2007) "Trophy Wives" by Nina Kiriki Hoffman (2008) "Spar" by Kij Johnson (2009) "How Interesting: A Tiny Man" by Harlan Ellison / "Ponies" by Kij Johnson (2010) "The Paper Menagerie" by Ken Liu (2011) "Immersion" by Aliette de Bodard (2012) "If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love" by Rachel Swirsky (2013) "Jackalope Wives" by Ursula Vernon (2014) "Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers" by Alyssa Wong (2015) "Seasons of Glass and Iron" by Amal El-Mohtar (2016) "Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience™" by Rebecca Roanhorse (2017) "The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington" by P. Djèlí Clark (2018) "Give the Family My Love" by A. T. Greenblatt (2019)
2020–present	"Open House on Haunted Hill" by John Wiswell (2020) "Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather" by Sarah Pinsker (2021) "Rabbit Test" by Samantha Mills (2022) "Tantie Merle and the Farmhand 4200" by R. S. A. Garcia (2023) "Why Don't We Just Kill the Kid In the Omelas Hole" by Isabel J. Kim (2024)

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