Science Fiction short story by
Spider Robinson.
* * 1/2
It won the
Hugo Award for Best Science Fiction Story in
1983.
Go figure. The foreword to the story collection claims the award was in 1982, but novalis' Hugo Award index shows it was 1983.
"Melancholy Elephants" explores what the world would be like if
copyright were extended
indefinitely.
It incidentally makes use of the US's
campaign finance system to move the
plot along.
Although it is
topical, we learn little about the
characters besides their relative commitments to the
issues presented in the story.
There is also a story collection called
Melancholy Elephants, printed in
1985. It contains the stories: