"The Nine Billion Names of God" is an epistolary science fiction/metafiction short story, by Carter Scholz. It was first published in 1984, in the anthology Light Years and Dark: Science Fiction and Fantasy of and for Our Time.
Synopsis After author Carter Scholz submits a story to a science fiction magazine, the editor rejects it for being an exact copy of Arthur C. Clarke's 1953 short story "The Nine Billion Names of God". Scholz and the editor then exchange several letters about the nature of reality and fiction.
Reception Orson Scott Card called the story "unforgettable",Are We At the End of Science Fiction?, at Galaxy Press; originally published in Writers of the Future volume 22 (2006) while in the Los Angeles Times, Ed Park described it as an "amusing cover version" of Clarke,Clarke’s universal sci-fi magic, by Ed Park, in the Los Angeles Times; published March 20, 2008; retrieved February 25, 2021 and "deeper-than-it-looks". Astral Weeks: An unexpected, and welcome, DeLillo discovery, by Ed Park, in the Los Angeles Times; published May 16, 2010; retrieved February 26, 2021 The New York Times felt that the story suffered from "too strong a wall of irony".BOOKS IN BRIEF: FICTION & POETRY, by Therese Littleton, in The New York Times; published February 9, 2003; retrieved February 26, 2021
Locus noted that although the story begins as "one of those epistolary-story goofs that used to turn up in the [science fiction] magazines", it soon "develops a sharper bite".Russell Letson reviews Carter Scholz, in Locus; February 2016 issue; retrieved February 25, 2021
SF Signal praised it as "a fascinating idea-centric story", and emphasized that it "works on multiple fronts, whether it’s on the metafictional level or in sheer plot."REVIEW: The Secret History of Science Fiction edited by James Patrick Kelly and John Kessel, by Charles Tan; in SF Signal; published October 26, 2009; retrieved February 25, 2021 The SF Site, conversely, felt that it "isn't SF at all", while noting that it nonetheless "could be considered a kind of science fiction criticism".The Secret History of Science Fiction, reviewed by Martin Lewis, at the SF Site; published 2010; retrieved February 25, 2021
References
External links
Audio of the story, read by Scholz, in RealMedia format