The Shobies' Story

"The Shobies' Story"
Cover of audiotape version; artwork by Robert Daniels, Jr.
Author	Ursula K. Le Guin
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	Hainish Cycle
Genre(s)	Science Fiction
Published in	Universe 1
Publication type	Anthology
Publisher	Broadway (AudioText, Inc. for shown image)
Media type	Print (Audiotape for shown image)
Publication date	March 1, 1990 (1996 for shown image)

"The Shobies' Story" is a 1990 science fiction novella by American writer Ursula K. Le Guin, describing the story of the first human crew to participate in a newly invented faster-than-light mode of space travel. It was first published in the anthology Universe 1 and subsequently appeared in A Fisherman of the Inland Sea published by Harper Prism in 1994.

The crew forms a miniature society in which each member must participate in creating a cohesive group narrative to alter the nature of reality, which causes the travel. "The Shobies' Story" is notable because Le Guin replaces the traditional militaristic and hierarchical chain of command used in traditional space travel with voluntary consensus.

"The Shobies' Story" was nominated for a Nebula Award in the novelette category in 1991.

A starship crew faces the physical and psychic effects of traveling faster than light from Hain, the Prime World, the source of the oldest culture and most intelligent life among the planetary group called the Ekumen. Their entire journey, including time-travel, lasts only forty-four minutes.

The crew calls themselves the Shobies after their ship's name, Shoby. The crews' ritual is gathering around a campfire to discuss the Churten theory and to tell stories that will bond them together. Gveter, the only Cetian in the crew, is much hairier than and not as gifted in language as the others, and he holds close to his knowledge. As a space crew, they operate by consensual decision using transilience rather than by chain of command. Transilience is the experience of entering the fiction world by way of the imagination. Their equipment that facilitates transilience stops functioning and they can't agree on what they perceive. They start to lose their social cohesion and in order for the Shobies to tell their story, they must establish themselves with relation to time.

"The Shobies' Story" can be classified as a realistic story in the sense that anyone can place themselves in the story or the events that take place. The short story can correlate to real life by the family values of the characters. Le Guin also shows cultures coming together to work and live in overcoming the struggles the crew faces. There is also a realistic way Le Guin lets one see how the characters perceive others and their events. In the real world people perceive events differently and believe it to be true as others perceive the same events differently and also believe them to be true.