Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog Project Gutenberg 2019-09-12 Public domain in the USA. 369 Fisher, David E. 1932 The Birds and the Bees Produced from Worlds of If Science Fiction, August 1957 Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net "The Birds and the Bees" by David E. Fisher is a science fiction story written in the late 1950s. The narrative unfolds in a dystopian future where society has relied on machines for reproduction, specifically the mysterious Maternite Machine. The central theme of the book revolves around the sudden failure of this machine, leading to a crisis regarding the continuation of humanity, touching on avenues of lost ancient knowledge and the essence of human reproduction. The story begins with Sias, an Elder, amidst the confusion caused by the failure of the Maternite Machine, which has resulted in the evaporation of all Prelife necessary for reproduction. As urgency rises, Rocsates, a learned member of the Conclave, proposes that there may be ancient knowledge regarding reproduction that humanity has forgotten. He finds a book that reveals a simpler means of reproduction, which horrifies members of the Conclave. The narrative takes a poignant turn as young characters Xeon and Melia volunteer to experiment with natural reproduction to save their species. Their courage and willingness to explore the forgotten aspects of humanity leave readers with a sense of hope for the future, blending themes of sacrifice, discovery, and the fundamental human instincts that persist beyond technological reliance. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 83.0 (6th grade). Easy to read. en Science fiction Short stories Sex -- Fiction PS Text Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Category: Novels 45443 2025-06-24T05:58:13.451461 text/html 21725 2024-10-17T13:50:38 text/html 347554 2025-06-24T05:58:15.303456 application/epub+zip 346402 2025-06-24T05:58:13.860481 application/epub+zip 84688 2025-06-24T05:58:13.627460 application/epub+zip 381911 2025-06-24T05:58:16.571443 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 374702 2025-06-24T05:58:15.085453 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 113402 2022-09-27T08:25:09.768383 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 39175 2023-09-26T04:44:30.441475 text/plain 19268 2024-10-17T13:50:38 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 16145 2025-06-24T05:58:16.705445 application/rdf+xml 31623 2025-06-24T05:58:13.715480 image/jpeg 5034 2025-06-24T05:58:13.670461 image/jpeg 500589 2025-06-24T05:58:13.465500 application/octet-stream application/zip