"Hannibal's Elephants"
by Robert Silverberg
Form: Short story
Year: 1988
ID: 420
Publication history:
- 1988: Omni October 1988, Magazine
- 1992: Pluto in the Morning Light (The Collected Stories of Robert Silverberg Volume 1), Grafton Trade paperback, ISBN 0-586-21369-4, 396 pp.
- 1992: Secret Sharers (The Collected Stories of Robert Silverberg Volume 1), Bantam Trade paperback, ISBN 0-553-37068-5, 546 pp.
- 1992: Secret Sharers (The Collected Stories of Robert Silverberg Volume 1), Bantam Hard cover book, 546 pp.
- 1996: Les Eléphants d'Hannibal, Denol Mass market paperback, ISBN 2-207-30579-1, in French as Les lphants d'Hannibal
- 2000: Fictionwise, Fictionwise Online
- 2001: Les Elphants d'Hannibal, Gallimard Mass market paperback, ISBN 2070417298, 365 pp., in French as Les lphants d'Hannibal
- 2003: Voile vers Byzance: Nouvelles au fil du temps, tome 3, 1981-1987, Flammarion Trade paperback, ISBN 2080682547, 768 pp., in French as Les lphants d'Hannibal
Other resources:
[None on record]
Comments:
This is one of Silverberg's rare humorous stories (not that Silverberg lacks humor, but it's somewhat unusual for the main thrust of a story to be comedic), a comic tale of alien invasion. On 5 May, 2003, an alien ship materializes in New York's Central Park. The aliens float around the park, curiously checking things out. The next day, another set of aliens appears, huge behemoths who give the story its title. Much jollity ensues.