On July 11 of this year, I was deep into the total makeover of cordwainer-smith.com and it wasn’t till well into the morning that I did a bit of math and realized that since my father was born in 1913, that was 95 years ago. Since he died so young, in his 50s, I can’t really imagine him as an old man. I chatted via email with some other family members; it happened that one of my cousins, daughter to his brother, sent me one of her now-and-then emails that day. I wrote back and said it was nice to hear from her on my father’s birthday. She wrote back that she had no idea when Uncle Paul’s birthday was. I suspect her subconscious mind knew, though!
Doing another bit of math (I can even do this bit counting on my fingers), in five years it will be the 100th anniversary of his birth. Seems like a good time for something to happen. A press release from the Cordwainer Smith Foundation, well, sure… but maybe something more attention-getting. Readers, any ideas?
Maybe by then somebody will have published a book-length biography of your father …. ?
Go for it, Alan!
Readers, this is a bit of an in-joke. Alan has been working on said book-length biography for a very long time. Click on his name to see what he’s got on his website about CS.
Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts on Mr. Linebarger. At 28, I count myself among the elusive group of ‘youngins’ whose constituents enjoy with unique pleasure the creations of Cordwainer Smith.
I was first drawn here after reading about Lindner’s Jet-Propelled Couch and Alan C Elms’s Behind the Jet-Propelled Couch. Mr. Linebarger fascinates me, as does the possibility that he might have been the basis for Lindner’s Kirk Allen. I look forward to reading more of your entries.
James