"Sandkings" is a Short Story by George R. R. Martin (yes, that George R. R. Martin) that was first published in the August 1979 issue of Omni. In 1980, it won the Hugo Award for Best Novelette, as well the Nebula Award for Best Novelette (among other awards).
The plot is about Simon Kress, a wealthy playboy on the planet Baldur, who loves to collect dangerous, exotic animals. After he leaves on a long business trip, most of his pets die due to lack of care and he is left to rebuild his collection. Nothing interests him much, until he comes across a mysterious, brand-new shop called Wo & Shade.
Kress meets one of the owners of the business, Jala Wo, who grabs his interest with the titular sandkings- mysterious creatures that build castles in the sand and are split up into colonies. Each colony consists of a large female called the maw, and numerous insectoid mobiles. The maw cannot move, but controls the mobiles through telepathy. Kress decides to buy four colonies of sandkings after learning that they fight coordinated wars against each other and are also capable of worship (as seen with how the sandkings belonging to Jala Wo have created artwork of her face on their castles).
Kress's new pets prove to be an instant hit among his friends, but Kress's mistreatment and underestimating of them soon leads to disaster...
This short story provides examples of:
- Accidental Murder: Kress actually didn't mean to kill Cath, and is initially horrified that he's responsible for her death. He gets over it very quickly though, and from then on has no qualms about killing people.
- Ant War: The sandkings are not actual ants, but as insectoid aliens who live in colonies they still count. They participate in coordinated warfare against each other and even form alliances with other colonies if the situation calls for it.
- Asshole Victim: Kress is a real piece of work. Even before he becomes a murderer he's arrogant and cruel. He's so cartoonishly evil that he feeds puppies to his dangerous pets.
- Being Tortured Makes You Evil: According to Jala Wo, sandkings are "courtly ritual warriors" if they are treated well by their owner. She directly blames Kress's sandkings being hostile and dangerous on him torturing and starving them. The white sandking maw is an even bigger example, she has gone insane and become twisted due to Kress stabbing her and that wound becoming infected.
- The Dog Bites Back: The sandkings are initially tiny and direct worship towards Kress in the form of making sculptures of his face. However, Kress abuses and starves them in order to ramp up their aggression and willingness to wage war on each other. This results in the sandkings turning on Kress once they're freed from their enclosure and ultimately killing him.
- Fed to the Beast: Kress gets in the habit of feeding his so-called "friends" to the sandkings once they escape their terrarium and he's trying to appease them. Kress speculates that the maws are using their psychic powers to influence him.
- The Ghost: Shade, Wo's partner, is talked about but never makes an appearance. According to Wo, he doesn't really socialize at all. This is because he's actually a mature sandking maw who has attained sapience.
- Hive Mind: Each sandking colony only has one true consciousness- that of its maw. The mobiles are really only extensions of the maw's will, and they are controlled by it via telepathy.
- It Can Think: The sandking maws are a lot smarter than they look. According to Jala Wo, their life cycle results in them becoming smarter until they reach the point of sapience, although this final step is something most sandking maws don't live long enough to reach.
- Kick the Dog: Literally. After Kress's ex-lover Cath reports the sandkings to the authorities and he has to bribe them to keep them quiet, Kress specifically buys a puppy to feed to his sandkings. He has a friend come over and film the ordeal for the sole purpose of sending the recording to Cath. What makes this even crueler is that Kress and Cath originally broke up due to Kress feeding a puppy Cath was very fond of to one of his other pets; in order to twist the knife even more, it's heavily implied that Kress bought a puppy that looked exactly like the previous one to feed to the sandkings. It's hardly any wonder that Cath is so horrified and traumatized by this that she takes it upon herself to break the sandkings' terrarium and make them invade Kress's home.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Kress spends the entire story being a horrible person and eventually even murders people to appease the sandkings. At the end of the story, he is captured by the orange sandkings and fed to their maw (which is now gigantic).
- The Little Shop That Wasn't There Yesterday: "Wo and Shade, Importers" is a mysterious shop that only popped up recently. It has a number of curious goods inside, but the story's protagonist (a Jerkass rich idiot who loves dangerous pets) is only interested in the eponymous sandkings, tiny insect-like creatures that form armies and war with each other, creating castles adorned with sculptures of their owner's face as if in worship. The story mentions that Wo and Shade have shops on multiple planets, and Martin intended to use them again in other stories, but, well, didn't.
- Psychic Powers: The sandking maws are capable of telepathy, which they use to control their mobiles. Later on in the story, the maws become powerful enough to influence Kress's thoughts and behavior.
