We Will Drink a Fish Together
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"We Will Drink A Fish Together" is a 1997 science fiction story by Bill Johnson. It was first published in Asimov's Science Fiction, in May 1997.
Synopsis
When Tony quits his job as part of the security detail for alien Ambassador Foremost so that he can attend a funeral in the small South Dakota town of Summit, Foremost follows him, in hopes that Tony can keep him safe.
Reception
"We Will Drink A Fish Together" won the 1998 Hugo Award for Best Novelette,[1] and was a finalist for the Nebula Award for Best Novelette of 1997.[2]
At Infinity Plus, Keith Brooke stated that "apart from its wash of [19]90s detail, [the story] could easily have appeared at any time in the last 50 years", but commended Johnson for "strik[ing] a fine balance between an easy, laid-back, never-quite-folksy narrative voice and a taut suspenseful thriller".[3]
Origin
Johnson was inspired to write the story after leaving Chicago to attend a funeral in South Dakota, and "be[ing] struck by the difference in attitudes between very rural areas and cities"; ultimately, despite the presence of extraterrestrials in the story, "the true aliens are the different people, their cultures, and how they interact".[4]
Sequel
In 2018, Johnson published a sequel, "Bury Me in the Rainbow", depicting further events in Summit.[4]