The occasion was the 1997 chess match between IBM's Deep Blue and Gary Kasparov where there was a link, if I remember correctly, that discussed a friendly wager between Asimov and I think, Bradbury, as to who could write the shortest Sci-Fi story. I can't remember who won but I vaguely remember the story. Who wrote it and where can I find it?

The story was a son asking his father either over a chess game they were playing or the son and father were talking about Earthlings having played chess long ago but were now extinct. The story only had something like less than 50 words as I recall.

Please, help.
Thanks.

This doesn't sound familiar to me, and I frankly doubt that it would have been Bradbury.

(As an aside, back in the mid 1990s I was the Information Officer of the British Science Fiction Association, and prompted by an inquiry from a member I research "the shortest science fiction story". The most commonly cited of these is by Fredric Brown, and is called "Knock" - but there are many who have written even shorter tales. In the end, the shortest story turned out to be one word long. The word was "Ouch!" It was a first-contact story, you see. (This is not a joke; the story actually exists!))

quote:

Originally posted by philnic:
(As an aside, back in the mid 1990s I was the Information Officer of the British Science Fiction Association, and prompted by an inquiry from a member I research "the shortest science fiction story". The most commonly cited of these is by Fredric Brown, and is called "Knock" - but there are many who have written even shorter tales. In the end, the shortest story turned out to be one word long. The word was "Ouch!" It was a first-contact story, you see. (This is not a joke; the story actually exists!))

The shortest sci-fi story is actually written by 4E (I have a copy of the book, which he gave me). The title is Cosmic Report Card: Earth. The story is one letter long.

The shortest Science Fiction stories appeared in a magazine in 1950 and apparently later in a book. Ray's offering, "The Year 2150 A.D." has not appeared in a Bradbury collection. At one sentence it was longer than 4E's which was one letter.

quote:

Originally posted by Doug Spaulding:
...The title is Cosmic Report Card: Earth. The story is one letter long.

Well, how did we do? (I would have guessed C minus...)

quote:

Originally posted by philnic:
Well, how did we do? (I would have guessed C minus...)

Sit back and relax and I shall tell you the entire story. Pour a cuppa. There, that's better. Ok, here goes: F.

Carry on.

Oh dear!

I found it! It's by Arthur C. Clarke called, "Quarantine." I remember it as being shorter but it's still quite short: a two-minute read, if that.

http://wargamerscott.tripod.co...dandshield/id14.html

If you like short true UFO stories here's one:

http://www.kingkonglomerate.com/ufo_over_la.html

Thanks.

Ha! Another story that turns out NOT to be by Bradbury!

quote:

Originally posted by philnic:
Oh dear!

Yes! Speaking of an "F", I happened to watch this fillum this very evening! Eye-opening!

quote:

Originally posted by philnic:
Oh dear!

Presumably "F" means the same in England as in the U. S.? It doesn't stand for "Fabulous" or "Fantastic"?

(A local Hispanic family had a very funny story about a little boy being spanked the first time he brought home an "A" because he had been lying to his father about what the "F" meant.)

Ouch!