Friday, January the 9th, 2004
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Reader Glyn Webster writes to broaden the topic of authorial nicknames (see below, 7th January):
Dr. Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger. His nickname “The Forest of Incandescent Bliss” was given to him by his godfather, the Chinese Nationalist leader Sun Yat Sen; it is a Chinese pun on “Paul Linebarger”. He wrote his sci-fi under the pseudonym “Cordwainer Smith”. Disappointingly “Paul ‘Forest of Incandescent Bliss' Linebarger” never appeared on book covers because he had a respectable day job devising pyschological warfare techniques for the American army:
“While in Korea, Linebarger masterminded the surrender of thousands of Chinese troops who considered it shameful to give up their arms. He drafted leaflets explaining how the soldiers could surrender by shouting the Chinese words for love, duty, humanity, and virtue—words that happened, when pronounced in that order, to sound like I surrender in English. He considered this act to be the single most worthwhile thing he had done in his life.”
“The Forest of Incandescent Bliss” is a marvellous nickname, almost on a par with the title adopted by ex-President Mbuto of Zaire, who, in the 1970s, dubbed himself “The All-Powerful Warrior Who Because Of Endurance And An Inflexible Will To Win, Will Go From Conquest To Conquest Leaving Fire In His Wake”.