The Last Pig in the World

My original title for this story set in a research facility during a future in which all of the animals in the world are dying was “Everyone Suspected Susan.” The editor of Science Fiction Review, Elton Elliot, pulled his prefered title from the tale’s first sentence:

“After the last pig in the world disappeared from the lab, we all suspected Susan.”

Although I didn’t object to the change back in the Summer of 1991, when this was published, when the time comes to reprint the story in a collection of science-fiction stories (though who knows if that will happen, considering I didn’t bother reprinting it in my collection What We Still Talk About), I’ll restore my original title. I prefer being a little less in-your-face about the story’s subject matter.

Science Fiction Review was an interesting magazine that should have lasted longer than it did. It was killed, I think, by its attempt to grow too fast too soon. It increased its distribution drastically, and imploded under the weight of magazine returns.