Name this sci-fi story ...

[spocksbrain]

Help me out, this is killing me: I read this story when I was a teenager, and I'd love to find it again. It's a comedic short sci-fi story about a guy who is petting his dog and discovers a zipper in the dog's fur. He unzips it and it turns out this dog, and all dogs everywhere, are actually unionized midgets wearing dog costumes. Ridiculous, but it was very funny.

Name, author? I might have read it in Asimov's or Fantasy & Science Fiction, I'm not sure. Anyone?

 

[Mistral]

I have read literally thousands of scifi stories and that one does not ring any bells. It sounds like something Howard Waldrop or Terry Bichon would write but I'm just guessing. Sorry. And congrats-nobody ever stumps me when it comes to scifi in written form. You did.

 

[BrotherBenny]

I did a detailed search online and can't find anything at all. have you got any more details??

 

[spocksbrain]

I've been searching, too, and can't find anything. The only thing I can add as a keyword is "cat" because I vaguely remember the little man mentioning something about how this guy had ruined things for the cat, too.

After the guy unzips the dog suit and the little man emerges, the guy pleads with the little man to just re-zip and let things go on as they were, but the little man refuses, leaves and, I think, says something about how the union won't like it. That's all I can remember from, maybe, 15 or 20 years ago.

 

[Mysterion]

Help me out, this is killing me: I read this story when I was a teenager, and I'd love to find it again. It's a comedic short sci-fi story about a guy who is petting his dog and discovers a zipper in the dog's fur. He unzips it and it turns out this dog, and all dogs everywhere, are actually unionized midgets wearing dog costumes. Ridiculous, but it was very funny.

Name, author? I might have read it in Asimov's or Fantasy & Science Fiction, I'm not sure. Anyone?

Sounds like a story I read by David Gerrold. Can't remember the title for sure at the moment, but I think it might have been A Shaggy Dog Story or Chester, both of which were most recntly included in his anthology Involuntary Human. It's a very funny story, IMO.

 

[spocksbrain]

Thanks a lot, it's probably "A Shaggy Dog Story". I did some poking around and found that it was published in Twilight Zone Magazine, which I subscribed to in 1986. I'll buy that book right now and we'll find out ...

 

[Mysterion]

Thanks a lot, it's probably "A Shaggy Dog Story". I did some poking around and found that it was published in Twilight Zone Magazine, which I subscribed to in 1986. I'll buy that book right now and we'll find out ...

Cool. If you like David Gerrold's work, that book is a very good purchase.