# Fantasy short story ID **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 16, 2018, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-short-story-id/818037 "2018-07-16T20:25:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2018, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-short-story-id/818037/1 "2018-07-16T20:25:39Z")
I think this was published in one of the Asimov SF magazines in the 1980’s. The story is told from the perspective of a lead character, as you follow them though a mild adventure. I think they’re a lone traveler arriving at an inn and needing a room. There’s some conflict, it’s resolved, and the character ends up in the room, alone, at the end of the story and it is subtly revealed that the character is female. Not once did the author use a gendered pronoun and it’s clear that most readers would assume the character was male. I thought it was a clever story idea, playing on the reader’s expectations and using them as part of the narrative. So, anyone remember this? ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2018, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-short-story-id/818037/2 "2018-07-16T20:28:02Z")
Gahhh- I think I remember this, which means that **AndyL** almost certainly remembers it right off the top of his head. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2018, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-short-story-id/818037/3 "2018-07-16T23:45:36Z")
Sounds similar to Joanna Russ’s “The Mystery of the Young Gentleman.” The gender of the “young gentleman” is totally ambiguous. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2018, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-short-story-id/818037/4 "2018-07-17T19:22:39Z")
Pulling out my Thieves’ World/Sanctuary books later today; I have a hunch it was in one of them. Plus I haven’t read them in a while and this will be a good excuse. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2018, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-short-story-id/818037/5 "2018-07-17T19:48:05Z")
Are you thinking of Marion Zimmer Bradley’s “Lythande” stories? I think Lythande’s gender was an important plot point in the beginning. But at least one of them appeared in F&SF in the 80s. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2018, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-short-story-id/818037/6 "2018-07-17T20:08:17Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Pulling out my Thieves’ World/Sanctuary books later today; I have a hunch it was in one of them. Plus I haven’t read them in a while and this will be a good excuse. 😃 Ooh, that sounds familiar. I know I had a few of those books back in the day. If it helps, I think the person in question was a mage/wizard of some sort. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2018, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-short-story-id/818037/7 "2018-07-17T20:09:17Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Are you thinking of Marion Zimmer Bradley’s “Lythande” stories? I think Lythande’s gender was an important plot point in the beginning. > > But at least one of them appeared in F&SF in the 80s. This is a possibility as well. I might be able to track this down online. It would have been the character introduction, so if that happened in a short story this could be it. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2018, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-short-story-id/818037/8 "2018-07-17T20:12:13Z")
Ah, looks like it was “The Secret of the Blue Star” by MZB. > **[THE SECRET OF THE BLUE STAR by Marion Zimmer Bradley - Thieves World](https://www.e-reading.club/chapter.php/71765/10/robert-asprin-thieves-world.html)** > > Àâòîð: Asprin Robert, THE SECRET OF THE BLUE STAR by Marion Zimmer Bradley - Thieves World, Ñåðèÿ: Thievs World, Æàíð: ôýíòåçè ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2018, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-short-story-id/818037/9 "2018-07-17T20:13:54Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2018, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-short-story-id/818037/10 "2018-07-17T20:15:39Z")
Yep; that’s the story I was thinking of. From _Thieves’ World_, alright!