Post #4203004

2026-07-29 15:04 UTC

I used to have a children's anthology of #SciFi #ShortStories with one about how everyone was getting on the last ship to New Earth and the girl was running to her grandfather's house to convince him to come but he's planting flowers anyway, they miss the last ship and she's crying and he says, "This is New Earth. They took the old one with them. " I've been thinking about this story for like 40 years. Wish I knew who wrote it.

Replies (4)

@venya@musicians.today 2026-07-29 19:04

I forgot that half of these stories are basically horror. But I remembered it mostly right. (I checked it out from the Archive briefly; it took literally 20 minutes to read the whole thing, if that.) ---- Old Man placed Trish's hand in his own. "This is New Earth," he said softly. "They took the old one with them."

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@tadonic@musicians.today 2026-07-29 15:17

@venya@musicians.today You might try your luck over at the Science Fiction StackExchange... https://scifi.stackexchange.com/

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@cptbutton@dice.camp 2026-07-29 15:21

RE: https://musicians.today/@venya/117003878340026554 @venya@musicians.today Almost certainly not the story you mean, but one with Earth emptying, an old man who won't go, and a little girl: "The Chapter Ends" by Poul Anderson. Collected in "The Complete Psychotechnic League: Volume 3" Some relevant hashtags: #storyidentification #whatsthatbook #whatsthetitle #bookstodon https://www.baen.com/the-complete-psychotechnic-league-volume-3.html

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@Sindemore@monads.online 2026-07-29 15:38

@venya@musicians.today https://archive.org/details/adventuresinspac00wate

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