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The Mountain Movers single work   short story   science fiction  
Issue Details: First known date: 1971... 1971 The Mountain Movers
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

The Serpent Class Courier, Adder, is sent to Olgana to deliver mail to the Federation Survey Service base. Originally a lost colony Olgana is now inhabited by an intelligent race but still situated well off the main Galactic trade routes. With the crew given shore leave, Grimes goes on holiday with Spooky Deane, the ship's psionic communications officer, to the continent of Nevernever. They meet two Australian school teachers also on vacation and visit Cragge Rock, the largest monolith in known space. 'During a demonstration of native dance, Deane and the school teachers are overcome by their racial memories, claiming they have the blood of the "Old Ones" in them. What Grimes comes to realise far too late is that Cragge Rock isn't what it appears to be...

Notes

  • There are echoes of the Australian monolith Uluru (aka Ayer's Rock) and the Aboriginal people in this story.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Galaxy Science Fiction vol. 31 no. 4 March 1971 Z1665295 1971 periodical issue science fiction 1971 pg. 80-98
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Hard Way Up A. Bertram Chandler , New York (City) : Ace Books , 1972 Z1839007 1972 selected work short story science fiction
    — Appears in: Коммандер Граймс 2004;

    A short story collection comprising: 'With Good Intentions,' 'The Subtracter' (aka 'The Minus Effect'), 'The Tin Messiah' (aka 'The Soul Machine'), 'The Sleeping Beauty,' 'The Wandering Buoy,' 'The Mountain Movers' and 'What You Know.' The collection was first published in 1972 as one half of an Ace Doubles edition (with Robert Lory's The Veiled World).

    New York (City) : Ace Books , 1972
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Zeitgeist Machine : A New Anthology of Australian Science Fiction Damien Broderick (editor), Sydney : Angus and Robertson , 1977 Z410553 1977 anthology short story humour science fiction Sydney : Angus and Robertson , 1977 pg. 134-156
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Centaurus : The Best of Australian Science Fiction David G Hartwell (editor), Damien Broderick (editor), New York (City) : Tom Doherty , 1999 Z395822 1999 anthology short story science fiction

    'An original anthology of works from writers living down-under includes pieces by Peter Carey, Terry Dowling, Rosaleen Love, Sean McMullen, George Turner, Lucy Sussex, Greg Egan, Phillippa C. Maddern and A. Bertram Chandler. 15,000 first printing.'  (Introduction)

    New York (City) : Tom Doherty , 1999
    pg. 64-81
Last amended 1 Aug 2017 07:34:18
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