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Sorry I can't pinpoint the magazine.

The plot was:

  • Humans were fighting a war in the distant future.
  • It was set in space.
  • As the supply of humans dwindled, the brains and other organic parts of the dead humans were integrated into parts of machines (ie: brains piloting the star ships etc...).
    • They remembered being human and remembered their names.
    • They were grappling with being re-purposed, usually without permission.
  • It was very well written, but the author was not anyone instantly recognizable. Maybe it was a pen-name?

I have been searching for this story for 28 years. Used to have a big box full 2nd or 3rd hand Amazing, Astounding and Galaxy pulp magazines from 40's and 50's, that's why the date and publication is nebulous.

If anyone has read this story, or can help me with my search, I would be everlastingly grateful! It was powerful story.

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    I have a Galaxy from 51 to 79 and I am not sure I have seen that one as it would remind me of a Book I liked a lot, "Daniel F. Galouye" - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_F._Galouye - "City of Force" Came First then was Revised to "Lords of the Psychon". Humans were forced to the edge of Extinction, by an invasion, of Energy Sphere Aliens. All of their Weapons, Structures were Made of Energy. On Earth, Animals and Humans (Humans were animals to the Aliens) brains were used/forced to hold the Structures Shape. The Aliens keep opening a Gate (space) to their home Planet and it gives ....
    – Enigma Maitreya
    May 2, 2017 at 22:16
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    The surviving humans a taste of Nightmare made real. In the back of my mind (probably the last chapter of the Rewrite that became Lords of the Psychon) Humans took the battle to the Energy Spheres home world. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lords_of_the_Psychon - I read the original version and the revised version and honestly didn't know then and I can not see now why they are considered to be the same. The City of Force establishes the World and Principles that Lords of the Psychon militarize/weaponize. I am unaware of any character from the City that appears in the Lords or vice versa.
    – Enigma Maitreya
    May 2, 2017 at 22:22
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    Thank you for responding to my query! What you are describing is not familiar, although the name of Daniel F. Galouye is not unfamiliar The story I read was very short, but it did seem like it should have been part of some longer story. All of the action took place ON the spaceship. I remember the main character (male) being overwhelmed and surprised when he learned that the ship he was on was being powered by the brain of an old friend who had died in battle. (a female). He, as well as the audience learned, at that point, about the use of dead human for powering machinery in the war effort.
    – miseichan
    May 3, 2017 at 12:47
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    Evidently, the dead people were also surprised when they "woke up" to find themselves welded to inorganic machinery for forever.
    – miseichan
    May 3, 2017 at 12:49
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    @EnigmaMaitreya He was sharpening a knife when he was snatched from 1913 to 2136.
    – user14111
    May 4, 2017 at 9:48

1 Answer 1

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It has been many years since I read it, but it sounds like Richard C. Meredith's 'We All Died At Breakaway Station', from a 1968 or '69 Amazing Stories'

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  • What parts of it sound like what the OP is describing? Could you elaborate on this answer please? Also, please check out How to write a good story-ID answer? for pointers on what to include in your answer.
    – Möoz
    May 3, 2017 at 21:31
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    That story was originally published as a two-part serial in Amazing Stories, in the January 1969 and March 1969 issues, both available at the Internet Archive. It was also published as a book.
    – user14111
    May 3, 2017 at 21:37

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