"The Quickening" 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 by Michael Bishop. It was first published in 1981, in the anthology '' Universe 11''.

Synopsis

All humans have instantaneously been displaced to random locations throughout the world, and civilization has been destroyed. The story follows Lawson (a man from

Lynchburg, Virginia Lynchburg is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. First settled in 1757 by ferry owner John Lynch (1740–1820), John Lynch, the city's populati ...

who awoke in Seville, Spain) throughout the first years of the development of a new society.

Reception

"The Quickening" won the Nebula Award for Best Novelette of 1981.The Quickening
at

Science Fiction Writers of America The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, doing business as Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association, commonly known as SFWA ( or ) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization of professional science fiction and fantasy writers. While ...

; retrieved August 20, 2021

Paul Di Filippo Paul Di Filippo (born October 29, 1954) is an American science fiction writer. He is a regular reviewer for print magazines ''Asimov's Science Fiction'', ''The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction'', ''Science Fiction Eye'', ''The New York Re ...

considered the story "worthy of a Borges or Barthelme.""The fantasy fiction of Michael Bishop"
by

; originally published in ''THE SCRIBNER WRITERS SERIES: SUPERNATURAL FICTION WRITERS'' (2003, edited by Richard Bleiler); archived on LiveJournal, 2007

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Quickening, The Nebula Award for Best Novelette-winning works