(Found) Tavern tale about experienced spacers going mad or giving up spaceflight because of fear

[k410]

Read it in English in a Kindle collection sometime in the past few years. Narrator has to cross a social barrier to sit at the table with the elder spacers who discuss this news from the outer reaches, some or many of whom are post-human.

Edit: Pretty sure it was not by Niven, Clarke, or Robinson, but a more recent writer. Maybe in a Lovecraftian SF anthology? (not sure)

 

[Parson]

I think I've read something like this. The veteran spacers weren't part of mercenary groups were they? If so I'll dig deeper. My recollection of this has to do with mercenaries.

 

[k410]

No, I don't remember mercenaries being involved. Thanks for your reply, though!

 

[k410]

After a little more searching I think it's probably "Harmony Amid the Stars" by Ada Hoffman, in the anthology Future Lovecraft (2011). Unfortunately the ebook version is no longer available for me to confirm this.

We can mark this as solved or found.

 

[otistdog]

Thank you for coming back to post your own answer. I'm sure that future searchers will appreciate it.

 

[Danny McG]

After a little more searching I think it's probably "Harmony Amid the Stars" by Ada Hoffman, in the anthology Future Lovecraft (2011)

@k410
I have that anthology, however your query terms don't seem related to your proposed answer.

The story Harmony amid the stars is about a Chinese starship captain who is slowly going insane. She keeps sneaking around the ship during silent hours and writing KEEP OUT in Mandarin on blank walls, using her own blood.
She thinks the stars are talking to her and that's what they are saying.

Does that tie in with your memories?

 

[k410]

@k410
I have that anthology, however your query terms don't seem related to your proposed answer.

The story Harmony amid the stars is about a Chinese starship captain who is slowly going insane. She keeps sneaking around the ship during silent hours and writing KEEP OUT in Mandarin on blank walls, using her own blood.
She thinks the stars are talking to her and that's what they are saying.

Does that tie in with your memories?

Thank you, Danny. That's more info than I could glean from the internet. On Amazon, the "Look Inside" feature is disabled for that anthology.

No, that sounds like a different story than the one I had in mind. In that story, the POV character is a rookie who aspires to be a navigator (or pilot?), somehow manages to get a seat at the table reserved for the seasoned navigators, and hears from them about the rumors coming back from the spaceways.

 

[The Judge]

I'll remove the "Found" then, and leave this as still open.

 

[k410]

Found it! Sorry for the false ID earlier. This is definitely it:

Chaz Brenchley's "Ch-Ch-Changes" in the anthology Adam's Ladder (2017).

Special thanks to Danny McG for his input.

 

[k410]

Well, my blurry memory had scrambled some of the details, but that story was definitely worth another read, as some poems are, or some songs for another listen. And, as a side effect of this search, I have just come into possession of a very nice copy of Future Lovecraft (mentioned above).