OK, a little help from the collective mind. I am trying to remember the title to two short stories I read many years ago?
Story number one. Set in Central America, main characters are a Western (maybe Americans) man and woman (maybe two women) in an immediate post apocalyptic period. These characters can not return to their homes due a cataclysmic event in the developed world (unclear if no means to return or simply nothing to return to), and they now are stranded in this third world environment. At the time of the event the characters were staying in a hotel with the amenities of the developed world, but that support system is rapidly deteriorating and they now are faced with having to deal with the 'new' world coming to being outside their little enclave. In this new world the old social order is turned upside down, the indios are now the elites (since they are free from the taint of Western ideas, the cause of the apocalytic cataclysm). Mestizos, those of mixed blood, are only slightly above the bottom, and Westerns are right at the bottom. One of the plot elements of the story as I remember it is the woman (women) characters are dealing with the new social order much better than the Western man is. Sorry this outline is so sketchy, but I read this story a long time ago (25+ yrs) Based on my description, the story almost seems like a piece of post-colonial literature.
Story number two. A post apocalyptic period in a semi-religious austere society, rigidly enforced classed state . Tell the story of the coming of age young girl in a state run school, and the persitent image of the pre-apocalyptic era was the young people of that era listening to music being plugged into the music by smalll personal entertainment devices. And the music listened to in the view of the present regime was barbaric, anarchist, and amoral, and this music forced the young people to actions which forced a societal confrontation the result of which was the story's present circumstance. And the present regimes goal is to ensure that condition never comes about again.
Those are kind of weird descriptions, but they are how I remember these two stories. I have two wild guesses, and they are only guesses, the first story was written by James Tiptree, Jr. and the second by Harlan Ellison. But I do not think those guesses are accurate. I also, thought the two stories were part of the Dangerous Visions collections, but I have not been able to find them there.
TIA for everyones help taraswizard
Allan Rosewarne N9SQT/WDX6HQV
Chicago area
W/T forever, always
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