elanya: Sumerian cuneiform 'Dingir' meaning divine being/sky/heaven (Default)
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I was listening to random conversation topics today on the drive to Bath, and there was something about genetics or cloning, and rabbi.... and somethign just clicked in my head.

I want to write a story about a sect of Jews who look at DNA in the same way that Kabbalistic Jews approach the Torah.... replace the letters that form DNA sequences with the letters of the Holy name... study it to understand creation. It would be a perfect science magic story. I need details, but the concept is cool enough that I'm sure it could support a damned good plot... Something Eco-y. Or at least Mark Frost-y.

Rah! So many ideas, so little time! Maybe I can start writing stuff on my breaks on fieldschool. In otrher news, I am dead tird, but I am finishing writing up the plot for the game I am running tomorrow. I am a little nervous :o Then I have to make my lunch, and go to bed!
Music:: Track 01
Mood:: 'creative' creative
There are 4 comments on this entry. (Reply.)
 
posted by [identity profile] forthright.livejournal.com at 01:44am on 24/05/2005
Alas, I know of two stories that have already used your idea, or a variant thereof:

Ted Chiang, "Seventy-Two Letters", a sort of allegorical fantasy/SF story in which an alternate science exists in which sequences of gematria characters are capable of animating life, and in which kabbalah is a legitimate science.

Chris Lawson, "Written in Blood", a near-future SF story in which some Muslims inject themselves with coded amino acid sequences that are 'bloodwritten' into the person's DNA code as a sign of identity or religious faith, and the political consequences thereof.
 
posted by [identity profile] elanya.livejournal.com at 01:52am on 24/05/2005
Well, my bubble is not burst quite yet! I am not really surprised to see that it has been explored by other authors though. I am thinking of something that would be slightly different. But just in case, I won't read them. I don't want to be influenced, or be accused of copying ;)

Thanks for the heads up :)
 
posted by [identity profile] curtana.livejournal.com at 01:46am on 24/05/2005
You might want to look at Ted Chiang's story "Seventy-Two Letters", which is a sort of steampunk (alchemypunk?) story about kabalah if it were a working science - the right letters, names, being used to animate golems and create life.
 
posted by [identity profile] elanya.livejournal.com at 01:52am on 24/05/2005
heh, Steve beat you to it. GMTA though, I suppose ;D

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