# Sci Fi Short Story Question **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 5, 2004, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-short-story-question/238256 "2004-04-05T00:09:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Gail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gail)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2004, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-short-story-question/238256/1 "2004-04-05T00:09:17Z")
Years ago, I read a short story, probably in an anthology or something. The story took place after a nuclear holocaust. The characters were a family. The mother wanted to hold her baby who was in his bedroom…but when they entered the bedroom, they had to open some kind of seal…The mother could only stay in the room for a few minutes holding her baby. Turns out the baby was dead and the room, for the most part had no air in it, so that the baby’s body wouldn’t decay. Anybody know the author and title of this story? Thanks in advance. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2004, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-short-story-question/238256/2 "2004-04-05T12:02:17Z")
Author: Robert R. McCammon. Title: _Something Passed By_ Anthologized in his short story collection _Blue World_, available at many used bookstores. Dunno if it’s still in print or not. ---
**Author:** ![RobuSensei](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/919ad9/32.png) [@RobuSensei](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobuSensei)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2004, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-short-story-question/238256/3 "2004-04-05T13:15:30Z")
The story can be found online (with permission of the author) [here.](http://www.robertmccammon.com/fiction/something.html) ---
**Author:** ![Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f19dbf/32.png) [@Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Only_Mostly_Dead)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2004, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-short-story-question/238256/4 "2004-04-05T13:57:45Z")
> [@RobuSensei](#): > > The story can be found online (with permission of the author) [here.](http://www.robertmccammon.com/fiction/something.html) I read every word of it, and hated it. Sometimes I can’t decide if that’s the mark of good apocalyptic science fiction, or bad apocalyptic science fiction. ---
**Author:** ![Gail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Gail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gail)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2004, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-short-story-question/238256/5 "2004-04-05T18:42:34Z")
I read every word of it, and hated it. * * * —Only Mostly Dead Very grim story, but it stuck with me after all these years. I probably wouldn’t read it very often, but I like its creepiness. ---
**Author:** ![NicePete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ee7513/32.png) [@NicePete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NicePete)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2004, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-short-story-question/238256/6 "2004-04-05T19:14:17Z")
> [@Only Mostly Dead](#): > > I read every word of it, and hated it. Sometimes I can’t decide if that’s the mark of good apocalyptic science fiction, or bad apocalyptic science fiction. I read as much as I could stand. That’s just bad writing. ---
**Author:** ![Kaitlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/73ab20/32.png) [@Kaitlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaitlyn)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-short-story-question/238256/7 "2004-04-06T00:15:44Z")
Yeah, that’s pretty bad. I caught most of the references in the second Paragraph–King, Bloch, Bradbury, Koontz, Ellison–but Grant isn’t ring a bell for me right now. To whom does this refer? ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-short-story-question/238256/8 "2004-04-06T04:56:29Z")
1. Not sure it’s science fiction. Admittedly, they talk about how the scientists are studying all the weird new phenomena, but durned if they offer any kind of explanation or anything. Based on the general uneasiness and weirdness of the story itself, I’d call it more “horror” than “SF.” Just my opinion, though. 2. McCammon is one of those guys who happened to be writing creepy stuff about that point in the early eighties when Stephen King suddenly caught on very big. He seems to have done very well for himself during that decade writing bad horror novels (I read _Stinger_ and _The Wolf’s Hour_, and thought both of 'em frankly kind of stunk… ). ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-short-story-question/238256/9 "2004-04-06T05:14:56Z")
It would have been better without the use of all those names. I found them very distracting and unnecessary. They make the story seem as if it’s a tribute or spoof of some kind, rather than being more straightforward horror. ---
**Author:** ![Dijon\_Warlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-short-story-question/238256/10 "2004-04-06T07:07:02Z")
> [@Number Six](#): > > Yeah, that’s pretty bad. I caught most of the references in the second Paragraph–King, Bloch, Bradbury, Koontz, Ellison–but Grant isn’t ring a bell for me right now. To whom does this refer? I’m betting its Charles Grant. [Bibliography here](http://www.novelhost.net/charlesgrant/bibliography.htm).