AboutSue Kayton Expertise Engineer who has read thousands of science fiction books and short stories. Can recommend stories on specific subjects and comment on technical feasibility. Especially good at older out-of-print books and authors.
Question Hello -
So glad to find this site. Have been looking for an old story (probably late '60s,
early '70s) titled "Of Sand and Leaf and Grass," I think. I recall it as the title story
of an obscure paperback anthology. And it seems to me that Asimov may have
contributed a foreword or introduction, or perhaps edited the collection.
I believe the cover was fairly plain: one or two colors (the top third, or so, may
have been one color, the balance another) with a simple title, no picture?
The story concerns a woman, a healer who is brought in to treat an ill or injured
member of a clan. Her ministrations are misunderstood and she ends up having
to kill a creature that is a beneficial companion to her.
I've been trying to find this for years, am so grateful for your help.
Best wishes - TM
Answer You are probably thinking of the short story
* Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand [Snake], by McINTYRE, VONDA N(eel) (1948- ), which appears in the following hard-to-find anthologies
(nv) Analog Oct 1973
Nebula Award Stories 9, ed. Kate Wilhelm, Harper & Row 1974
The Best Science Fiction of the Year # 3, ed. Terry Carr, Ballantine 1974
Looking Ahead, ed. Dick Allen & Lori Allen, HBJ 1975
Women of Wonder, ed. Pamela Sargent, Vintage 1975
The Infinite Web, ed. Robert Silverberg, Dial 1977
Dreamsnake, Houghton Mifflin 1978
The Best of Analog, ed. Ben Bova, Baronet 1978
Fireflood and Other Stories, Houghton Mifflin 1979
Constellations, ed. Malcolm Edwards, Gollancz 1980
The Arbor House Treasury of Modern Science Fiction, ed. Robert Silverberg & Martin H. Greenberg, Arbor House 1980
The Analog Anthology #1, ed. Stanley Schmidt, Davis 1980
The Road to Science Fiction #4, ed. James E. Gunn, Mentor 1982
