Terry Bisson's "Bears Discover Fire" (short story, non-genre, free)

I don't really get what makes this story so famous. May be it touches some US specific cord, & has local appeal there.

It's not a bad story, though. A non-genre story about the life of a family with dying mother, with some interesting observations.

There is an attempt to make the clearly non-genre story genre that didn't really work for me. We're told in parts of US countryside, bears have discovered the secret of fire, & make campfires at night.

Fact sheet.

First published: Asimov's, August 1990.
Read full text at Scribd.
Rating: B.
Winner of 1991 Hugo Award in short story category.
Winner of 1990 Nebula Award in short story category.
Related: Stories of Terry Bisson.

Free fiction: 13 stories of Terry Bisson

At Rudy Rucker's website.

Titled "Billy's Picture Book", the collection features 'thirteen off-kilter tales about an eager lad named Billy---"Billy and the Spacemen," "Billy and the Ants," "Billy and the Talking Plant," and more. The tales are like Zen parables, with an odd, rollicking humor.'

Related: Stories of Terry Bisson.

Terry Bisson's "They're Made Out of Meat" (flash fiction, science fiction, humor, free): Reason these aliens won't contact humans

In this much milder & humorous variant of Arthur Clarke's "Crusade", an alien survey ship has chosen to simply not make a record of humanity's existence because they find the idea of meat-based intelligence disgusting!

Rusty has saved me trouble of writing anymore; his post on it is detailed enough.

Fact sheet.

First published: Omni, April 1991.
Rating: A
Download full text.
Nebula Award 1991 nominee in short story category.