"Sergeant Chip" is a
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imagination, imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, Paral ...
novella
A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian ''novella'' meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) fact ...
by American writer
Bradley Denton
Bradley Clayton Denton (born 1958) is an American science fiction author. He has also written other types of fiction, such as the black comedy of his novel ''Blackburn'', about a sympathetic serial killer.
He was born in Towanda, Kansas, and atten ...
, originally published in ''
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy fiction magazine, fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence E. Spivak, Lawrence Spiva ...
'' issue of September 2004. It was the winner of the 2005 Sturgeon Award, and was nominated for the 2005
Hugo Award for Best Novella
The Hugo Award for Best Novella is one of the Hugo Awards given each year for science fiction or fantasy stories published or translated into English during the previous calendar year. The novella award is available for works of fiction of between ...
.
The LOCUS Index to SF Awards
Plot summary
The story is told from the point of view of Chip, a specially trained military dog that has been implanted with a microchip that allows him to communicate with his trainer, Captain Dial. The two of them put on many military demonstrations until they are called to active duty in the war. In the war they are caught in an unexpected ambush and eventually come to realize who the "real" enemy is.
References
External links
*
' complete story at author's site
*{{isfdb title, 284231
2004 short stories
Science fiction short stories
Works originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
Works by Bradley Denton
Theodore Sturgeon Award-winning works