"If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love" is a short story by American writer

Rachel Swirsky Rachel Swirsky (born April 14, 1982, in San Jose, California) is an American literary, speculative fiction and fantasy writer, poet, and editor living in Oregon. She was the founding editor of the ''PodCastle'' podcast and served as editor fro ...

. It was first published in ''

Apex Magazine ''Apex Magazine'', also previously known as ''Apex Digest'', is an American Horror fiction magazine, horror and science fiction magazine. This subscription webzine, ''Apex Magazine'', contains short fiction, reviews, and interviews. It has been ...

'' in 2013.

Synopsis

As a paleontologist lies in a coma, his fiancée tells him how things would be different if he were a ''

Tyrannosaurus rex ''Tyrannosaurus'' () is a genus of large theropoda, theropod dinosaur. The type species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' ( meaning 'king' in Latin), often shortened to ''T. rex'' or colloquially t-rex, is one of the best represented theropods. It live ...

''.

Reception

"If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love" won the 2013

Nebula Award for Best Short Story The Nebula Award for Best Short Story is a literary award assigned each year by Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) for science fiction or fantasy short stories. A work of fiction is defined by the organization as a short sto ...

, and was nominated for the 2014

Hugo Award for Best Short Story The Hugo Award for Best Short Story is one of the Hugo Awards given each year for science fiction or fantasy stories published or translated into English during the previous calendar year. The short story award is available for works of fiction of ...

. At ''

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus. The magazine's publisher, Kirkus Media, is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fiction, no ...

'', critic Ana Grilo describes it as "beautiful", "powerful", and "intense", and "almost like a piece of poetry", but questions whether it can truly be considered

speculative fiction Speculative fiction is an umbrella term, umbrella genre of fiction that encompasses all the subgenres that depart from Realism (arts), realism, or strictly imitating everyday reality, instead presenting fantastical, supernatural, futuristic, or ...

. The story was at the center of the

Sad Puppies Sad Puppies was an unsuccessful right-wing anti-diversity voting campaign run from 2013 to 2017 and intended to influence the outcome of the annual Hugo Awards, the longest-running prize (since 1953) for science fiction or fantasy works. It wa ...

controversy; it was held up as an example of "message fiction" by its detractors, symptomatic of a clique of social justice ideologues who they said were controlling the awards. It was strongly criticized by Sad Puppies-involved authors such as John C. Wright and

Sarah Hoyt Sarah A. Hoyt (born November 18, 1962) is a Portuguese-born American immigrant science fiction, fantasy, mystery, and historical fiction writer. She won the 2011 Prometheus Award for Best Libertarian SF Novel for her science fiction novel '' ...

References

External links

Text of the story
at ''Apex Magazine'' Nebula Award for Best Short Story–winning works Works by Rachel Swirsky 2013 short stories Speculative fiction short stories Works originally published in online magazines {{2010s-story-collection-stub