'Hello,' Said the Stick

March 2025 Hello,' Said the Stick Michael Swanwick United States English Science fiction Analog Science Fiction and Fact Magazine March 2002 "Hello,' Said the Stick" is a science fiction short story by American writer Michael Swanwick, published in 2002. It was nominated for the 2003 Hugo Award for Best Short Story as well as the 2003 Locus Award.LOCUS Index to SF Awards https://web.archive.org/web/20090531150702/http://www.locusmag.com/SFAwards/Db/NomLit134.html 2009-05-31 Plot summary Set in a distant future where the Earth's ex-colonies have turned the planet into a steampunkish, pseudo-medieval wasteland in order to stop their technological advancement, particularly in weapons, the story follows a foot soldier who is going to join the Iron Duke's army to help him in his siege at Port Morningstar, a town held by the despotic Council of Seven. Along the way he finds a talking stick which convinces him to take it with him. Author's comments In a 2017 interview, Swanwick said: "I came up with the idea for Hello,' Said the Stick" while listening to a friend's reading on a Friday night, started writing it the next morning after breakfast, and got it into the mail at 2:30 that afternoon. No diagrams, no outlines, no sweat. And it placed on the Hugo ballot too! If every story came that easily, I'd be a very happy man."Interview with Swanwick,2017, accessed 10/13/19 References External links 102036 Category:2002 short stories Category:2002 English-language short stories Category:Short stories by Michael Swanwick Category:Works originally published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact Category:2000s science fiction works