The story initially deals with the fate of a crew of three male astronauts falling toward the Sun Then it develops a familiar feminine domination sub-plot ("I woke up in the future, the only male left in a society of women"). I seem to remember there was a popular Polish movie along these lines (IMDB lists is as Seksmisja - English as Sexmission), shown in some countries as The New Amazons. It was quite an engrossing movie - recommended). The female space-travelers in this story turn out to be wacky clones of a remnant human population from the freshly nuked Earth. They decide to keep astronauts as male specimens, which could spell either bliss or a curse for them, depending on how you look at it.
Harlan Ellison
"From A to Z, In the Chocolate Alphabet"
© F&SF, October 1976
Strange Wine, 1978
--short story : 1977 Locus award /11th place
One of the stories Harlan Ellison wrote in a bookstore's window, sitting with a typewriter under the obligation to write a story an hour, or something like that. It is definitely a quick fix, light entertainment - but the idea of using short alphabetized entries is cool, and has been used many times since. Michael Swanwick used a similar approach in his "Periodic Table of SF Elements". By the way, successful bloggers use the same technique to maximize the profit from their blogs: they split long entries into short "bursts" and keep you coming back for more, all the time counting the AdSense revenue. Ellison did not have a blog in the Seventies, but this story shows he could've made a fortune having one...
Robert Bloch
"A Case Of The Stubborns"
© F&SF, October 1976
Such Stuff As Screams Are Made Of, 1979
Cantankerous grandpa won't believe he is dead, but gets up the following morning, as if it never happened - causing consternation (to say the least!) for the family. He keeps coming to meals and demands service. Even the Reverend can't convince him and finally his family resorts to voodoo. Fun and whimsical story, it was made into a TV episode in Tales from the Dark Side.
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