There is an english series of books (Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction
Magazine) with its german counterpart having nearly the same title.
The series runs through several dozen books, collecting short stories
of numerous authors. I am now  looking for one spceific short story.
The story appeared at least ten, maybe 20, years ago, and I read it in
the german version of the series (that should not matter).

The main theme is a private detective, who, after becoming suspicious,
finds out that the owner of a coffee shop or restaurant is an immortal
(or near-immortal).
At the end of the story, she serves him a very special coffee, which
gives him a chance of becoming immortal too. (Or die in the process).
The detective is male, the coffee shop / restaurant owner is female.
Only humans are involved, the setting is contemporary earth, probably
north america. The short story in question is not written by Asimov.

The story is NOT 'cautionary tales' by Niven, and it is NOT 'Jungle of
Stars' by Jack Chalker.

To claim the money, please also include a summary of the story you
found,  and/or quote the first two or last two paragraphs.

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Request for Question Clarification by walts-ga on 02 Jun 2002 06:34 PDT

...is this the cigarettes and coffee story?

 --- REgards, walts-ga

---

Clarification of Question by philip_lynx-ga on 02 Jun 2002 11:06 PDT

I do not know what you mean by 'cigarettes and coffee story'. Can you tell me more?

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Request for Question Clarification by walts-ga on 02 Jun 2002 13:49 PDT

I remember a story, which includes your data, but also included the
love of coffee and cigarettes. I don't recall title or author - but
had my question caused you to remember more, I might have been on the
right track.

The last scene was in the coffee house and the detective was
considering "the offer" over a cup of coffee and a cigarette!

 --- REgards, walts-ga

---

Clarification of Question by philip_lynx-ga on 03 Jun 2002 09:22 PDT

Hmm. I am pretty sure the detective in the story I am looking for does
not get a chance to consider the offer. You are probably thinking of
'cautionary tales' by Niven, see
https://answers.google.com/answers/main?cmd=threadview&id=3071 for
somebody else proposing that. However, if you have a different story
in mind, please don't hesitate to add comments to this thread ;-)

You've given us some very helpful leads...now can you take a few
moments to think about when you read this story? Unless someone
happens to be familiar with it (not impossible!), it may be very
difficult to find given the 10 - 20 year range you've provided.

Perhaps reflecting on why this story made an impression on you will
jog your memory of something else that was happening in your life or
in the world, and we can narrow down the range.

Thanks!

Certainly between 1977 and 1992, probably between 1982 and 1987. Sorry
for the wide ranges... Please note that I read the story in the german
translation of the american magazine, the translations being in
themselves anthologies of the magazine. So I really have no idea when
the story originally appeared in the american magazine.

This question is tricky to answer by web research alone. For copyright
reasons few of these stories are on the internet so you'd probably
need a visit to a library, to look up the stories themselves.  So I
can't verify this suggestion at the moment, but you never know!

I came across a message on the newsgroup rec.arts.sf-lovers which
asked for identification of this story:

} A girl regenerates herself from injuries, and is essentially
immortal.
} She is tired of this and would like to die. There is a detective
} involved here in some capacity.
} She somehow succeeds.  Her organs are transplanted to other people
and
} the rest of the remains are buried.
} The people who receive the organs regenerate themselves as she did.

It was the mention of the detective that made me wonder if you are
talking about the same story. This story is called 'Perchance to
Dream' by Sally A. Sellers. It was printed in the first issue of
Science Fiction Magazine (Spring 1977).
 
To read this thread on rec.arts.sf-lovers:
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&threadm=4975%40druhi.ATT.COM&rnum=1&prev=/groups%3Fhl%3Den%26selm%3D4975%2540druhi.ATT.COM

For the entire contents of the Spring 1977 issue of Asimov's Science
Fiction magazine:
http://www.sfsite.com/isfdb-bin/plist.cgi?ASFSPRING77

For the index of every issue of  Science Fiction Magazine from 1977
(name was changed in 1992 to just 'Science Fiction').
http://www.sfsite.com/isfdb/asimovs.html

If by chance this is the right story, i can give you more information
on how to get hold of it. If not you could repost your question on
these newsgroups and someone may recognise the story. (Click on 'Post
a new message' at the top of the right hand column).

rec.arts.sf-lovers
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&group=rec.arts.sf-lovers

rec.arts.sf.written
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&group=rec.arts.sf.written

For your future reference, there is a very impressive Index to Science
Fiction Anthologies and Collections ('An index to 3,914 SF anthologies
and single-author collections published before 1984, containing over
38,000 stories by 3,880 authors') by William G. Contento here:
http://users.ev1.net/~homeville/isfac/0start.htm
 
Best wishes

Catherine

I scoured Deja.Com and came up with a post dating back 12 years ago.
It loosely sounds like what you describe, but the only way to find out
is to find the story.  You could probably order the issues online, or
in used bookstores.

You may access the link here:
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&selm=3060%40ryn.esg.dec.com

Hope it helps!

While I have no idea what story this could be, I do know there is a
database of all the Novellas, Novelettes, Short Stories, & Poems that
have been in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine here,
http://www.sfsite.com/isfdb/asimovs.html
or you can get to the database from the link at the bottom of the
timeline on A Brief History of Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine
http://www.sfsite.com/columns/asimov.htm
Maybe if you perused the database you might recognize the Title or
Authors name if you saw it.
While this does not exactly answer your question I hope it helps you
find the answer.

Hello

I've managed to track down 'Perchance to Dream' by Sally A Sellers -
the story I suggested in my earlier comment which was mentioned on
Usenet. Unfortunately it's not your story - no restaurant, no coffee.

(Brief summary of 'Perchance to Dream': A woman is attacked in a park
and left for dead but by the time the police arrive she has
mysteriously disappeared. Her cells regenerate themselves into healthy
tissue and she is unable to die. She tries to kill herself again and
again. There is a bomb alert at a bank and she goes into the building
and is very badly injured. Her husband, a medical examiner, has been
looking for her for 30 years and finally tracks her down at the
hospital. Her hearts stops and he gives permission for her organs to
be donated. Her body is cremated. The recipient of her heart is
miraculously healed after the operation.)

So you can cross that one off the list! I've asked a friend of mine
who is a science fiction writer and he's going to get back to me, so
you may want to repost your question when it expires as I hope I'll
have an answer for you at a later date.

Best wishes

Catherine-ga