"The Byrds"
| Title | "The Byrds" |
| Year for Search | 1983 |
| Authors | Coney, Michael G[reatrex](1932-2005) |
| Secondary Authors | Bishop, Michael [Lawson](1945-2023), and Watson, Ian(b. 1943) |
| Secondary Title | Changes: Stories of Metamorphosis. An Anthology of Speculative Fiction About Startling Metamorphoses, Both Psychological and Physical |
| Pagination | 97-111 |
| Date Published | 1983 |
| Publisher | Ace Books |
| Place Published | New York |
| Keywords | Canadian author, English author, Male author |
| Annotation | The story, which is about people who use technology, such as anti-gravity belts, to emulate birds, is set in a future with restrictions on population size that encourages the elderly to be euthanized. The Department of Rest establishes how much the population has to fall and sends out a monthly brochure Your Choice for Peace to senior citizens with a form in which that are asked to “describe all that is good about their life, and a few of the things which bug them. At the end of the form is a box in which the oldster indicates his preference for Life or Peace. If he does not check the box, or if he fails to complete the form, it is assumed that he has chosen Peace, and the send the Wagon for him” (189). This is a very small part of the story. |
| Additional Publishers | Rpt. in Northern Stars. The Anthology of Canadian Science Fiction. Ed. David G. Hartwell and Glenn Grant (New York: Tor, 1994), 188-99. |
| Holding Institutions | Merril, PSt |
| Author Note | The author (1932-2005) was born in England and moved to Canada in 1973. |
| Full Text | 1983 Coney, Michael G[reatrex] (1932-2005). “The Byrds.” Changes: Stories of Metamorphosis. An Anthology of Speculative Fiction About Startling Metamorphoses, Both Psychological and Physical. Ed. Michael Bishop and Ian Watson (New York: Ace Books, 1983), 97-111. Rpt. in Northern Stars. The Anthology of Canadian Science Fiction. Ed. David G. Hartwell and Glenn Grant (New York: Tor, 1994), 188-199. Merril, PSt The story, which is about people who use technology, such as anti-gravity belts, to emulate birds, is set in a future with restrictions on population size that encourages the elderly to be euthanized. The Department of Rest establishes how much the population has to fall and sends out a monthly brochure Your Choice for Peace to senior citizens with a form in which that are asked to “describe all that is good about their life, and a few of the things which bug them. At the end of the form is a box in which the oldster indicates his preference for Life or Peace. If he does not check the box, or if he fails to complete the form, it is assumed that he has chosen Peace, and the send the Wagon for him” (189). This is a very small part of the story. The author was born in England and moved to Canada in 1973. |
