The Screwfly Solution
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| Author | Raccoona Sheldon |
|---|---|
| Genre(s) | science fiction, horror |
| Released in | Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact |
| Media Type | Magazine |
| Released | June 1977 |
"The Screwfly Solution" is a 1977 science fiction short story by Raccoona Sheldon, a pen name for psychologist Alice Sheldon, who was better known as James Tiptree, Jr. It received the Nebula Award for Best Novelette, and has been adapted into a television film.
The title refers to the sterile insect technique for eradicating insect species by adding sterile male insects to the wild population, a technique used against the screwworm fly or screwfly. The story concerns a different but equally drastic shift in human sexuality with disastrous results.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
The story begins with an exchange of letters and news clippings between Alan, a scientist working on parasite eradication in Colombia, and his wife Anne at home in the U.S., concerning an epidemic of organized murder of women by men. Although some scientists suspect a biological cause for this sexually selective insanity, the murderers feel it is a natural instinct and have constructed elaborate misogynistic rationalizations for it, including a new religious movement. Alan himself becomes affected, and tries to resist his violent impulses only to murder his daughter. In the end, Anne, pursued by an entire society bent on femicide, discovers the source and motivation behind the plague.
[edit] Other media
"The Screwfly Solution" was adapted into a television film by screenwriter Sam Hamm and director Joe Dante for the Showtime network's Masters of Horror series, premiering December 8, 2006.
[edit] See Also
Diana E. H. Russell Feminist author who has written (among other works) Femicide in global perspective. New York: Teachers College Press. 2001 ISBN 0-8077-4048-9.
[edit] External links
- The Screwfly Solution publication history at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- The complete story at SciFiction
- The Screwfly Solution at the Internet Movie Database
- Interview with Sam Hamm by Avedon Carol about the Masters of Horror adaptation
