"Kin" is a

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

by American writer

Bruce McAllister Bruce McAllister (born 1946) is an American author of fantasy, science fiction, poetry, and non-fiction. He is known primarily for his short fiction. Over the years his short stories have been published in the major fantasy and science fictio ...

, originally published in the February 2006 issue of the ''

Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine ''Asimov's Science Fiction'' is an American science fiction magazine edited by Sheila Williams and published by Dell Magazines, which is owned by Penny Press. It was launched as a quarterly by Davis Publications in 1977, after obtaining Isaac ...

''. "Kin" was nominated for the 2007

Hugo Award The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) and chosen by its members. The award is administered by th ...

for Best Short Story.

Plot summary

The story is about a small boy named Kim, in a futuristic United States, who the readers find out is talking to an Alien and discussing Kim's desire to have a man killed. It then proceeds to describe the Alien as a race known as the "Antalou" who hail from another planet, likewise noting that interplanetary travel is possible in this story/future. The Antalou was described as an awful creature, with a long neck, and talons, along with a tremendous skull and immense eyes.

External links

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Escape Pod Official Site
- For Podcast of Hugo Award-nominated Story "Kin"
LeVar Burton Reads
- For Podcast of Hugo Award-nominated Story "Kin" Science fiction short stories 2006 short stories Works originally published in Asimov's Science Fiction {{2000s-sf-story-stub