"Straw" is an alternate history short story by Gene Wolfe, first published in Galaxy Science Fiction in 1975.

In a world where hot-air balloons were invented a thousand years earlier than in reality, an elderly mercenary reminisces about his adolescence.

The Internet Review of Science Fiction considered it to be "well written", with "rounded characters";^[1] Publishers Weekly, however, felt that the story's premise was "more provocative and interesting than" the actual story, which "goes nowhere".^[2] The story has been cited as an example of "manipulative systems" in Wolfe's work, in that the mercenaries are lured into landing in a castle on the pretext that they will be provided with straw for fuel, only to be told that they must first defend the castle from attackers;^[3] Thomas D. Clareson observed that despite the story ending with an imminent attack by raiders, no detail of battle are provided.^[4]

• "Straw" at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• "Straw" at WolfeWiki

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