"Paying It Forward" 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 Michael A. Burstein, published in 2003. It was nominated for the 2004

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 ...

.The Locus Index to SF Awards: 2004 Hugo Awards
It may be confused with the novel Pay it Forward by Catherine Ryan Hyde. And the term Paying it Forward is used in her book

Plot summary

The story is told from an unnamed narrator's point of view, who describes his relationship with a famous science fiction author via a series of email correspondences. The strange thing is that the correspondences don't begin until after the author's death. Throughout many years the narrator receives great wisdom from the deceased author, only learning the truth when he himself is about to die.

References

External links

* American short stories Science fiction short stories Works originally published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact 2003 short stories {{2000s-sf-story-stub