# Short story ID, please. Octopus aliens, human refugees. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 28, 2015, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-story-id-please-octopus-aliens-human-refugees/711123 "2015-01-28T17:23:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Furious\_Marmot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dfb087/32.png) [@Furious\_Marmot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Furious_Marmot)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2015, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-story-id-please-octopus-aliens-human-refugees/711123/1 "2015-01-28T17:23:27Z")
I read this one in a sci-fi anthology, at least 3 years ago, but I can’t remember which one. It was set on a planet by inhabited by cephalapod aliens (their homeworld?) and a small community of human refugees. Earth had been involved in a proxy war between the octopus guys and some other aliens. The octopus guys lost, and some of their human supporters moved in with them. IIRC, the plot itself revolved around a murder mystery type thing. It was a neat setting and I’d like to see if the author ever returned to it. Any thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2015, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-story-id-please-octopus-aliens-human-refugees/711123/2 "2015-01-28T18:15:48Z")
> [@Furious\_Marmot](#): > > I read this one in a sci-fi anthology, at least 3 years ago, but I can’t remember which one. It was set on a planet by inhabited by cephalapod aliens (their homeworld?) and a small community of human refugees. Earth had been involved in a proxy war between the octopus guys and some other aliens. The octopus guys lost, and some of their human supporters moved in with them. IIRC, the plot itself revolved around a murder mystery type thing. > > It was a neat setting and I’d like to see if the author ever returned to it. Any thoughts? Oops. I had this answer all typed out and then I saw “anthology”. \* Yes. Two books by Donald Moffitt. (Genesis Quest and Second Genesis). You’re misremembering some details though (starfish, not octopuses, etc).\* That said, the plots are weirdly similiar. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2015, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-story-id-please-octopus-aliens-human-refugees/711123/3 "2015-01-29T12:36:14Z")
Sounds quite like the novel _A Darkling Sea_ (softcover due v.soon) by James Cambias. I really liked the novel in hardcover and I’m sure some of it appeared as a novella or short story - probably _The Ocean of the Blind_ although I’m guessing a little at which of his stories’ titles fits best! _The Ocean of the Blind_ was in Year’s Best Science Fiction 2005. ---
**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:** [January 29, 2015, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-story-id-please-octopus-aliens-human-refugees/711123/4 "2015-01-29T14:48:37Z")
> [@Meurglys](#): > > Sounds quite like the novel _A Darkling Sea_ (softcover due v.soon) by James Cambias. > I really liked the novel in hardcover and I’m sure some of it appeared as a novella or short story - probably _The Ocean of the Blind_ although I’m guessing a little at which of his stories’ titles fits best! > > _The Ocean of the Blind_ was in Year’s Best Science Fiction 2005. Here’s the ISFDB page for James Cambias, by the way [Summary Bibliography: James L. Cambias](http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?James%20L.%20Cambias). Looks like “Ocean of the Blind” was also in The Mammoth Book of Best New Science Fiction: 18th Annual Collection ---
**Author:** ![Furious\_Marmot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dfb087/32.png) [@Furious\_Marmot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Furious_Marmot)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2015, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-story-id-please-octopus-aliens-human-refugees/711123/5 "2015-01-29T17:39:02Z")
Thanks, but that’s not it either. After checking the synopsis, I do recall liking Ocean of the Blind and think I will check out the novel. I think the cephalopod aliens were at least somewhat humanoid, not wholly octopus-looking. Pretty sure they could breathe air and lived in wet, terrestrial cities instead of underwater. This is driving me nuts.