(Probably Found) Help! Can't remember short story....

[LadySpades]

It's about a woman on a planet (Earth?) and large duck-like aliens come and she names one Daffy Duck.

I read so many sci fi short stories I can't remember which book this one was in, but maybe by Arthur C. Clarke?


Lady

 

[K. Riehl]

I remember a Babylon 5 tie-in book with duck like creatures. Any more information? Cover? other stories in the collection?

btw Welcome to the Chrons!

 

[LadySpades]

It wouldn't be Babylon 5, I've never read any of those. The only other thing I remember is that the woman was alone, and eventually the aliens left and when they came back she had tried to cross a frozen river? in her vehicle and had died.

It was kinda sad.

 

[K. Riehl]

There is a short story in Analog volume 107, 1987. I don't have the month. You can look at a snippet by going to Google book search, go to advanced book search, in the first field- put in daffy duck, in the subject field- put in science fiction. It's screwy because it fails to list the author, story name, or date for the issue.

It also lists the Babylon title I was thinking of.

 

[CassFrank]

This is Joseph Manzione’s “Candle in a Cosmic Wind” from Analog, August 1987. It is also in Dozois’ Year’s Best SF: Fifth Annual collection.

K. Riehl - almost nailed it, no doubt you knew it. OP’s description is very accurate - it’s a frozen Earth post-apoc - and a lone Russian woman navigates the ice fields. She meets a group of duck like aliens who are exploring. She calls one Daffy. Others she dubs Huey, Louie, etc…

Here’s her description of them: “They were ugly, she decided. They resembled three-meter-tall, rust-colored ducks, with curved fangs set in long, leathery snouts. Their arms were short and thick, and folded over large round bellies hidden in heavy cloaks. Skinny, chitinous legs held them up, and their naked knees were knobby and bent backwards. They were manifestly adapted to colder weather, and wore brightly-covered turbans around their heads. Avdotya did not know whether to laugh or be terrified, or simply amused at the irony, for their circumstances were clear now.”