"Kin" is a

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

by American writer Bruce McAllister, originally published in the February 2006 issue of the ''

Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine ''Asimov's Science Fiction'' is an American science fiction magazine which publishes science fiction and fantasy named after science fiction author Isaac Asimov. It is currently published by Penny Publications. From January 2017, the publication ...

''. "Kin" was nominated for the 2007

Hugo Award The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention and chosen by its members. The Hugo is widely considered the premier a ...

for Best Short Story.

Plot summary

The story is about a small boy named Kim, in a futuristic United States, who the readers find out is talking to an Alien and discussing Kim's desire to have a man killed. It then proceeds to describe the Alien as a race known as the "Antalou" who hail from another planet, likewise noting that interplanetary travel is possible in this story/future. The Antalou was described as an awful creature, with a long neck, and talons, along with a tremendous skull and immense eyes.

External links

* Science fiction short stories 2006 short stories Works originally published in Asimov's Science Fiction {{2000s-sf-story-stub