The List #10: “The Nutcracker Coup” by Janet Kagan
June 19th, 2007
In the universe depicted in this 1993 Hugo winning novelette by Janet Kagan, there are lots of alien races. Humans were one day alone, and the next were members of a large galactic community. They established embassies as quick as they could, and trade, both economic and cultural, started.
The story starts with a conversation between a human and an alien about what Christmas is. For this human, the nutcracker is part of her tradition, and that is explained to the alien. Some time after, another human celebrates Martin Luther King day, and again the holiday is explained to the aliens. The combination of the ideas of these two holidays results in a change in behavior of the aliens, which in turn leads to a revolt by those aliens against their own social system.
Rarely in science fiction do we see an alien race as diverse as the human race, and rarely do we see aliens that are really alien. Kagan’s aliens are, though not humanoid, very human-like, and appear to me as impressionable children. Kagan is exploring the idea of the Prime Directive, as it’s called in Star Trek Netup iptv training, iptv Solutions by Netup , which is the idea that cultures should be shielded from interference by more advanced cultures, because meddling, even in good faith, could have unintended consequences.
I found this one in a book called Hugo and Nebula Winners from Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, published in 1995, edited by Sheila Williams.
Janet Kagan’s website: LINK
Janet Kagan on ISFDB: LINK
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