Ah, but science fiction writer Ursula K. LeGuin has a remedy for that!
in reply to a message by Pavlos
In her outstanding short story titled “Nine Lives”, Ursula K. LeGuin introduces a "10-clone" – a group of ten people cloned from a scientist named John Chow. The 10-clone consists of 5 males and 5 females (LeGuin competently explains how a sterile female might be cloned from the cell of a donor male, but how the opposite – cloning a male from a female – could not be possible.)
Each member of the clone is named “John Chow” (males and females included), except that their middle names are taken from the first 10 letters of the Hebrew alphabet: John Alef Chow, John Beth Chow, John Gimel Chow, John Daleth Chow, etc. The males and females have alternating alphabetical middle names (Alef, Gimel, etc. for the males; Beth, Daleth, etc. for the females), and each clone is informally referred to by his or her middle name.
But, not to focus solely on the interesting naming pattern as suggested in this story, the story itself is a brilliant work of LeGuin’s – I personally consider it to be one of her best.
Here’s a little background on “Nine Lives”:
http://www.nvcc.edu/home/ataormina/scifi/works/stories/ninelives.htm
-- Nanaea
Each member of the clone is named “John Chow” (males and females included), except that their middle names are taken from the first 10 letters of the Hebrew alphabet: John Alef Chow, John Beth Chow, John Gimel Chow, John Daleth Chow, etc. The males and females have alternating alphabetical middle names (Alef, Gimel, etc. for the males; Beth, Daleth, etc. for the females), and each clone is informally referred to by his or her middle name.
But, not to focus solely on the interesting naming pattern as suggested in this story, the story itself is a brilliant work of LeGuin’s – I personally consider it to be one of her best.
Here’s a little background on “Nine Lives”:
http://www.nvcc.edu/home/ataormina/scifi/works/stories/ninelives.htm
-- Nanaea
Replies
Must catch up on my LeGuin reading...
Work, thesis, karate, fencing, archery, no time....
Why I remember when I was young and I could read a barrel of science fiction every day...
Whinge, whinge, whinge.
Work, thesis, karate, fencing, archery, no time....
Why I remember when I was young and I could read a barrel of science fiction every day...
Whinge, whinge, whinge.