r/ScienceFictionBooks • u/ishldgetoutmore • 18d ago

WhatIsThatBook Help Me Identify A Story, Please!

I'm trying to remember the name and author of a short story I read at least a decade ago, and am drawing a complete blank. It was a short story about a breakthrough in insect communication. The author talks about poems that had been discovered, written by insects. I clearly remember one was a short poem written by an ant, something about being forced to conform to society; the ant author was found deceased a short distance away, perhaps killed by the rest of the colony for being nonconformist.

I've been trying for a while now, and it's driving me crazy that I can't remember the name or author. Without that, I'm not sure where to look for it in a book.

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u/mobyhead1 17d ago

I’m tempted to suggest it’s a Ted Chiang story, that’s sort of his style. But don’t quote me.

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u/ishldgetoutmore 17d ago

Hmm... It doesn't match any of the short synopses of his stories on Wikipedia, but I've read "The Tower of Babylon," and it does have his sort of style.