[extropy-chat] Re: evolution sentences

[David Lubkin]

At 07:41 PM 1/6/2004 -0800, Spike wrote:

>Anyone know of examples in literature in which one
>can form an evolution sentence by adding, subtracting
>or changing a single letter?

Precisely the phenomenon you describe actually occurred with an Anne 
McCaffrey collection, which she'd submitted as _Get Of The Unicorn_ but was 
"corrected" to _Get Off The Unicorn_ by a helpful copy editor.

There is conflicting evidence about whether Burgess had wanted his novel 
actually published as _A Clockwork Orang_.  (Orang, as in orangutan, 
meaning "man" in Malay; Burgess lived in Malaysia shortly before the book 
was written.)

Meanwhile, Ed Ferman had a series of contests in F&SF years ago, each 
predicated on love of wordplay and knowledge of science fiction.

One was your idea, limited to sf titles.

http://www.mit.edu/afs/sipb/project/eichin/cruft/text2/scifi-titles

Another was to take a well-known sf title and integrate the author's name, 
as in

When David Gerrold Was One
"I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream At Harlan Ellison"
I, Asimov
Robert Heinlein Is A Harsh Mistress
"Do Androids Dream of Philip K. Dick?"

The funniest are ones that play off or opposite well-known personality 
characteristics of the author, as these do.

And imaginary collaborations, e.g.,

Heinlein & Wylie, Blow Ups Happen When Worlds Collide
Ellison & Disch, The Beast That Shouted Love At the Brave Little Toaster
Zelazny & Piper, Isle of the Dead Little Fuzzy


-- David Lubkin.