Bears Discover Fire

Short story by Terry Bisson

"Bears Discover Fire"
Short story by Terry Bisson
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre(s)	Science fiction
Publication
Published in	Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine
Publication type	Magazine
Media type	Print (Paperback)
Publication date	August 1990

"Bears Discover Fire" is a science fiction short story by American science fiction author Terry Bisson.^[1] It concerns aging and evolution in the US South, the dream of wilderness, and community. The premise is that bears have discovered fire, and are having campfires on highway medians.

It was originally published in Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine in August 1990.

Reception

"Bears Discover Fire" won the Hugo Award for Best Short Story and the Nebula Award for Best Short Story. It was the inspiration for Michael Bishop's 2005 story "Bears Discover Smut".^[2]

In popular culture

"Bears Discover Fire" has been adapted into a Columbia University MFA thesis film directed by Ben Leonberg and produced by Scott Riehs.

Awards

1991 Hugo Award for Best Short Story
1990 Nebula Award for Best Short Story
1991 Asimov's Reader's Award
1991 The Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award
1991 Locus Award
1991 SF Chronicle Award

References

^ LOCUS Index to SF Awards Archived February 9, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
^ Bears Discover Smut, by Michael Bishop, at SciFi.com, via archive.org; retrieved February 6, 2017

External links

Full text at Lightspeed Magazine
Bears Discover Fire title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
Movie short: http://www.bearsdiscoverfire.com/

Hugo Award for Best Short Story (1981–2000)

"Grotto of the Dancing Deer" by Clifford D. Simak (1981)
"The Pusher" by John Varley (1982)
"Melancholy Elephants" by Spider Robinson (1983)
"Speech Sounds" by Octavia E. Butler (1984)
"The Crystal Spheres" by David Brin (1985)
"Fermi and Frost" by Frederik Pohl (1986)
"Tangents" by Greg Bear (1987)
"Why I Left Harry's All-Night Hamburgers" by Lawrence Watt-Evans (1988)
"Kirinyaga" by Mike Resnick (1989)
"Boobs" by Suzy McKee Charnas (1990)
"Bears Discover Fire" by Terry Bisson (1991)
"A Walk in the Sun" by Geoffrey A. Landis (1992)
"Even the Queen" by Connie Willis (1993)
"Death on the Nile" by Connie Willis (1994)
"None So Blind" by Joe Haldeman (1995)
"The Lincoln Train" by Maureen F. McHugh (1996)
"The Soul Selects Her Own Society" by Connie Willis (1997)
"The 43 Antarean Dynasties" by Mike Resnick (1998)
"The Very Pulse of the Machine" by Michael Swanwick (1999)
"Scherzo with Tyrannosaur" by Michael Swanwick (2000)

Complete list
Retro
1955–1960
1961–1980
1981–2000
2001–2020
2021–present

v t e Nebula Award for Best Short Story
1966–1980	""Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman" by Harlan Ellison (1966) "The Secret Place" by Richard McKenna (1967) "Aye, and Gomorrah" by Samuel R. Delany (1968) "The Planners" by Kate Wilhelm (1969) "Passengers" by Robert Silverberg (1970) "Good News from the Vatican" by Robert Silverberg (1972) "When It Changed" by Joanna Russ (1973) "Love Is the Plan the Plan Is Death" by James Tiptree Jr. (1974) "The Day Before the Revolution" by Ursula K. Le Guin (1975) "Catch That Zeppelin!" by Fritz Leiber (1976) "A Crowd of Shadows" by Charles L. Grant (1977) "Jeffty Is Five" by Harlan Ellison (1978) "Stone" by Edward Bryant (1979) "giANTS" by Edward Bryant (1980)
1981–2000	"Grotto of the Dancing Deer" by Clifford D. Simak (1981) "The Bone Flute" by Lisa Tuttle (refused, 1982) "A Letter from the Clearys" by Connie Willis (1983) "The Peacemaker" by Gardner Dozois (1984) "Morning Child" by Gardner Dozois (1985) "Out of All Them Bright Stars" by Nancy Kress (1986) "Tangents" by Greg Bear (1987) "Forever Yours, Anna" by Kate Wilhelm (1988) "Bible Stories for Adults, No. 17: The Deluge" by James K. Morrow (1989) "Ripples in the Dirac Sea" by Geoffrey A. Landis (1990) "Bears Discover Fire" by Terry Bisson (1991) "Ma Qui" by Alan Brennert (1992) "Even the Queen" by Connie Willis (1993) "Graves" by Joe Haldeman (1994) "A Defense of the Social Contracts" by Martha Soukup (1995) "Death and the Librarian" by Esther Friesner (1996) "A Birthday" by Esther Friesner (1997) "Sister Emily's Lightship" by Jane Yolen (1998) "Thirteen Ways to Water" by Bruce Holland Rogers (1999) "The Cost of Doing Business" by Leslie What (2000)
2001–2020	"macs" by Terry Bisson (2001) "The Cure for Everything" by Severna Park (2002) "Creature" by Carol Emshwiller (2003) "What I Didn't See" by Karen Joy Fowler (2004) "Coming to Terms" by Eileen Gunn (2005) "I Live With You" by Carol Emshwiller (2006) "Echo" by Elizabeth Hand (2007) "Always" by Karen Joy Fowler (2008) "Trophy Wives" by Nina Kiriki Hoffman (2009) "Spar" by Kij Johnson (2010) "How Interesting: A Tiny Man" by Harlan Ellison / "Ponies" by Kij Johnson (2011) "The Paper Menagerie" by Ken Liu (2012) "Immersion" by Aliette de Bodard (2013) "If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love" by Rachel Swirsky (2014) "Jackalope Wives" by Ursula Vernon (2015) "Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers" by Alyssa Wong (2016) "Seasons of Glass and Iron" by Amal El-Mohtar (2017) "Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience™" by Rebecca Roanhorse (2018) "The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington" by P. Djèlí Clark (2019) "Give the Family My Love" by A. T. Greenblatt (2020)
2021–present	"Open House on Haunted Hill" by John Wiswell (2021) "Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather" by Sarah Pinsker (2022) "Rabbit Test" by Samantha Mills (2023)

v t e Locus Award for Best Short Story
1971–1980	"The Region Between" by Harlan Ellison (1971) "The Queen of Air and Darkness" by Poul Anderson (1972) "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" by Ursula K. Le Guin (1973) "The Deathbird" by Harlan Ellison (1974) "The Day Before the Revolution" by Ursula K. Le Guin (1975) "Croatoan" by Harlan Ellison (1976) "Tricentennial" by Joe Haldeman (1977) "Jeffty Is Five" by Harlan Ellison (1978) "Count the Clock that Tells the Time" by Harlan Ellison (1979) "The Way of Cross and Dragon" by George R. R. Martin (1980)
1981–2000	"Grotto of the Dancing Deer" by Clifford D. Simak (1981) "The Pusher" by John Varley (1982) "Sur" by Ursula K. Le Guin (1983) "Beyond the Dead Reef" by James Tiptree Jr. (1984) "Salvador" by Lucius Shepard (1985) "With Virgil Oddum at the East Pole" by Harlan Ellison (1986) "Robot Dreams" by Isaac Asimov (1987) "Angel" by Pat Cadigan (1988) "Eidolons" by Harlan Ellison (1989) "Lost Boys" by Orson Scott Card (1990) "Bears Discover Fire" by Terry Bisson (1991) "Buffalo" by John Kessel (1992) "Even the Queen" by Connie Willis (1993) "Close Encounter" by Connie Willis (1994) "None So Blind" by Joe Haldeman (1995) "The Lincoln Train" by Maureen F. McHugh (1996) "Gone" by John Crowley (1997) "Itsy Bitsy Spider" by James Patrick Kelly (1998) "Maneki Neko" by Bruce Sterling (1999) "macs" by Terry Bisson (2000)
2001–present	"The Missing Mass" by Larry Niven (2001) "The Bones of the Earth" by Ursula K. Le Guin (2002) "October in the Chair" by Neil Gaiman (2003) "Closing Time" by Neil Gaiman (2004) "Forbidden Brides of the Faceless Slaves in the Nameless House of the Night of Dread Desire" by Neil Gaiman (2005) "Sunbird" by Neil Gaiman (2006) "How to Talk to Girls at Parties" by Neil Gaiman (2007) "A Small Room in Koboldtown" by Michael Swanwick (2008) "Exhalation" by Ted Chiang (2009) "An Invocation of Incuriosity" by Neil Gaiman (2010) "The Thing About Cassandra" by Neil Gaiman (2011) "The Case of Death and Honey" by Neil Gaiman (2012) "Immersion" by Aliette de Bodard (2013) "The Road of Needles" by Caitlín R. Kiernan (2014) "The Truth About Owls" by Amal El-Mohtar (2015) "Cat Pictures Please" by Naomi Kritzer (2016) "Seasons of Glass and Iron" by Amal El-Mohtar (2017) "The Martian Obelisk" by Linda Nagata (2018) "The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington" by P. Djèlí Clark (2019) "The Bookstore at the End of America" by Charlie Jane Anders (2020) "Little Free Library" by Naomi Kritzer (2021) "Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather" by Sarah Pinsker (2022) "Rabbit Test" by Samantha Mills (2023)
Best Novel (1971–1981) Best SF Novel (1980–present) Best Fantasy Novel (1978–present) Best First Novel (1981–present) Best Horror Novel (1989–1997, 1999, 2017–present) Best Young Adult Book (2003–present) Best Novella (1973–present) Best Novelette (1975–present) Best Short Story (1971–present)