Elephant Song (Longyear novel)

Elephant Song is a science fiction novel by American writer Barry Longyear, published in 1982.

The Baraboo's shuttles (she was an adaptation of a regimental assault carrier) that had launched once orbit was achieved because the ship was desperately short of air had had to set down where and when they could; for instance, the shuttle assigned to the midway acts set down on an island continent halfway around the world from the rest of the show.

Without a male elephant to serve as a stud, sooner or later all of the "rubber mules" are going to die, and with them the bullhands' way of life.

Some of the descendents of the show become farmers and ranchers, but Warts is successful in obeying the Governor's final order.

Michael J. Lowrey reviewed Elephant Song in Ares Magazine Special Edition #2 and commented that "Whether or not you've ever looked wistfully at the lives of circus performers, you will understand how a new and beloved world is built on the pride expressed in their three-fourths cynical, one-fourth heartfelt motto: 'Life with a circus is just one long uninterrupted dee-light!