Sandkings (novelette)

Sandkings is a novelette by George R.R. Martin. It was the first and so far only of his works to win both the Hugo and Nebula awards. It was published in the August 1979 issue of Omni.

Summary

Simon Kress, a wealthy playboy, loves to collect dangerous, exotic animals. Tiring of his current menagerie, he buys the eggs of insect-like creatures called "sandkings" from a shop run by Wo, a girl, and the mysterious Shade. After installing them in an unused aquarium, he sees them begin to grow, build castles (with his face on the front) and fight war. As time goes on, and he becomes a more callous master, things begin to change. His visage on the castles becomes more sinister, and the sandkings grow larger and larger. Eventually, they grow too big for the aquarium and take over the house. After his residence has been rendered uninhabitable, he contacts Wo and learns the truth: the sandkings will eventually turn into human-sized bipeds; Shade themself is a sandking. Fleeing into the desert, he loses his way before finding a cabin. Thinking himself safe, he runs towards it, only to discover that it is inhabited by sandkings- and that all of them have his face.

Genesis

Martin says that the story was inspired by a fellow student at Northwestern University who had a piranha tank and would sometimes throw a goldfish into it in between horror film screenings. He had intended it to be part of a series, with Wo and Shade operating shops on many different planets, but that did not pan out.

Adaptions and anthologies

Sandkings is far and away Martin's most anthologized story. It was made into a comic book and an episode of The Outer Limits; a computer game version may be forthcoming.