# Seeking ANOTHER lost SF story **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 14, 2013, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-another-lost-sf-story/655686 "2013-04-14T16:02:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MsBatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@MsBatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsBatt)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2013, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-another-lost-sf-story/655686/1 "2013-04-14T16:02:28Z")
Since y’all did so well on yesterdays’ thread… The story I’m looking for was published in one of the SF mags in the late 80s, early 90s, and concerns a ‘plague’ that causes women—eventually, all the women in the world—to become sterile. After several years, scientists come up with, not a ‘cure’, but a solution. A woman can conceive if she eats this bland paste, and nothing BUT this bland paste, for at least 30 days. One slip, and she has to start over again. It’s never explicitly said, but the implication is there that the scientists who come up with this solution were also responsible for the plague in the first place and deliberately infected the population. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2013, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-another-lost-sf-story/655686/2 "2013-04-14T16:15:41Z")
They have a lot of paste they need to sell? ---
**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:** [April 14, 2013, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-another-lost-sf-story/655686/3 "2013-04-14T18:01:24Z")
Sounds like Thodore Sturgeon’s “Not an Affair.” One of his last published stories, with a powerhouse of a last line. Appeared in F&SF in 1983. ---
**Author:** ![MsBatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@MsBatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsBatt)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2013, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-another-lost-sf-story/655686/4 "2013-04-14T20:18:51Z")
Well, I _think_ I’d remember if it was by Sturgeon, since I’ve always loved his work so dearly. I can’t seem to find a plot summary of it on the web, so I can’t be certain. Other suggestions? ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2013, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-another-lost-sf-story/655686/5 "2013-04-14T21:06:40Z")
I remember reading that story but I cannot remember the title. And the women weren’t sterile but rather could only ovulate after taking drugs that made them nauseous and their hair to fall out. ---
**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:** [April 14, 2013, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-another-lost-sf-story/655686/6 "2013-04-14T23:12:12Z")
Yes. The summary: A man is seducing women into sleeping with them by telling them he doesn’t want an affair, but just a romantic interlude (think the movie **Don Juan DeMarco** ). The purpose of the seduction is to transmit a type of venereal disease (condoms won’t help) that makes it very difficult for a woman to conceive – she has to go through some long process for it to work. The kicker is the end: the man spreading the virus is asked why he did it and he says, “So there will never be an unwanted child.” ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-another-lost-sf-story/655686/7 "2013-04-15T13:54:37Z")
> [@MsBatt](#): > > Well, I _think_ I’d remember if it was by Sturgeon, since I’ve always loved his work so dearly. I can’t seem to find a plot summary of it on the web, so I can’t be certain. Other suggestions? Here’s a link (a long one -sorry) [Case and the Dreamer: Volume XIII: The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon - Theodore Sturgeon - Google Books](http://books.google.com/books?id=zkyyHJ_NzWsC&pg=PR17&lpg=PR17&dq=%22not+an+affair%22+sturgeon&source=bl&ots=k0QRLwaucX&sig=I5pXM65LUulBPvObSZtp6pO6IEw&hl=en&sa=X&ei=PwZsUb-GJ9SI0QH0v4CgDg&ved=0CFYQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=%22not%20an%20affair%22%20&f=false) to the story at Google books - not all pages are available, but should be enough to recognize.