Sandkings (Magill’s Guide to Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature)
At a glance:
- Author: George R. R. Martin
- First Published: 1981
- Type of Work: Stories
- Type of Plot: Science fiction—cultural exploration
- Time of Work: Various, from approximately 2100 to several million years in the future
- Setting: The Milky Way galaxy
- Genres: Short fiction, Science fiction
- Subjects: Extraterrestrial life, Future, Other worlds, Amputation, amputees, or prosthetics, Catholics or Catholic Church, Subterranean or underground regions
- Locales: Space
The Plot
Sandkings is a collection of seven wildly imaginative stories about the future, all published originally between 1976 and 1979 in various periodicals and anthologies. The title story describes armies of antlike creatures kept as pets by a decadent multimillionaire who enjoys being worshipped as their god and making them wage wars. Eventually the disillusioned sandkings turn against their sadistic god, with horrible consequences.
“The Way of Cross and Dragon” describes the Catholic church’s ongoing battle with heresy in the far distant future. A...
[The entire page is 959 words long]
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