Living Fossil (short story)

"Living Fossil"
Short story by L. Sprague de Camp
Charles Schneeman's illustration of the
story in Astounding Science-Fiction
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Genre(s)Science fiction
Publication
Published inAstounding Science-Fiction
PublisherStreet & Smith Publications, Inc.
Media typePrint (Magazine)
Publication dateFebruary, 1939
Preview warning: Page using Template:Infobox short story with unknown parameter "1 = <!– See [[Wikipedia:Wiki..."

"Living Fossil" is a science fiction story by American writer L. Sprague de Camp, on the concepts of human extinction and future evolution. It was first published in the magazine Astounding Science-Fiction for February 1939.[1][2] It first appeared in book form in the anthology A Treasury of Science Fiction (Crown Publishers, 1948);[1][2] it later appeared in the anthologies Gates to Tomorrow (Atheneum, 1973),[1][2] and The SFWA Grand Masters, Volume 1 (Tor Books, 1999).[2] The story has been translated into Danish, Swedish[1] and Italian.[2]

It is perhaps the earliest work of fiction dealing with the afterwards popular theme of humanity being replaced by other intelligent primates in the future, later epitomized by Pierre Boulle's Planet of the Apes.

  1. ^ a b c d Laughlin, Charlotte, and Levack, Daniel J. H. De Camp: An L. Sprague de Camp Bibliography. San Francisco, Underwood/Miller, 1983, page 204.
  2. ^ a b c d e Living Fossil title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database

© MMXXIII Rich X Search. We shall prevail. All rights reserved. Rich X Search