Damon Knight - Orbit 19

To our dismay, most readers who sent lists of words for the Little Lexicon for Personality Changers ( Orbit 18) completely missed the point: some contributed time-words appropriate to the Little Lexicon for Time Travelers ( Orbit 16); others seem to have thought that any scrambled word would do. Five dollars and a copy of this volume go to Carter Scholz, 180 Power Street, Providence, Rhode Island 02906, for “Panama Coral,” to Caroline L. Evans, Box 131, Concord, VA 24558, for “on asty,” and to Carol Springs, Route 9, Box 168, Monroe, North Carolina, for “Hetero sapiens,” the only three entries that seemed to us worthy of awards.

For the benefit of readers who came in late, we had better explain that each of the Lexicon words was made by substituting some personality trait for its opposite: e.g., “Linda Hatelace,” “Lake Excitable,” “Victor Immature,” etc. Some others that would have won prizes if any reader had thought of them are “Chicken New World,” “Busytame,” “Sly Herbert,” “depressiveotti,” and “Arrogant Oil.” Is it all clear now? We hope so.

In an effort to make up for this debacle, we offer still another Little Lexicon (see page 119), and this time we will take care to spell out the rules.

It is assumed that the imaginary Martian described in the Lexicon words has all the same parts and organs as a human being, but in different places. The rule of opposites does not apply, but parts and organs should be substituted in some logical way, e.g., “arm” for “leg,” or “eye” for “ear.”

As before, we offer five dollars and a copy of the next Orbit for each of the five most outrageous words submitted; in addition, we will pay twenty-five dollars for the best drawing or other representation of a scrambled Martian. Entries may be in any medium except pencil—pen and ink, wash, oil, etc. All entries become our property (but we will return them if a stamped self-addressed envelope is enclosed); we ourself are the judge, and all decisions are final, etc. Entries should be sent to Damon Knight, 1645 Horn Lane, Eugene, Oregon 97404, and must be received before January 1,1978.