You can't escape it, the legacy is everywhere

[sovay]

As I do not suppose I will ever again have the opportunity to promote my own work on the pretext of a tie-in, I will just observe that "The Trinitite Golem" in Forget the Sleepless Shores (2018) is an Oppenheimer story—Oppenheimer is in fact one of the names associated with the descendants of the Mahara"l, Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel, the creator of the Golem of Prague, although I did not know this fact when I wrote the story and I have no evidence that J. Robert ever did. It was published originally in Mike and Anita Allen's Clockwork Phoenix 5 (2016) and remains to date the only story I taught myself math to feel comfortable writing. Retroactively I soundtrack it with Dana Falconberry's "Alamogordo." I got nothing on the Barbie front, I am afraid.

Comments

[a_reasonable_man]

I had never heard of the possible genealogical connection between the Maharal and Oppie. That is so interesting, because, as you imply in your wonderful story, the themes of the Golem legend, on the one hand, and actual history of the building of the Bomb, on the other, are so strikingly similar: a brilliant leader steeped in esoteric learning creates a powerful, magical, murderous and terrifying entity to save his community, only to lose control of it. In the end, Oppie, unlike the Maharal, could not lay his creation to rest, and it symbolically destroyed him, but in your story, you compassionately give Oppie and his creation a chance to achieve peace.

I would certainly recommend everyone read the "The Trinitite Golem."

[sovay]

I had never heard of the possible genealogical connection between the Maharal and Oppie.

It is still not as strange to me as the time I discovered a relative I had invented for a fictionalized version of my family history actually existed, but I can't believe more writers have not made something of it, for the reasons you identify. It's like everyone just stops at Frankenstein and all its atomic age B-movie permutations.

That is so interesting, because, as you imply in your wonderful story, the themes of the Golem legend, on the one hand, and actual history of the building of the Bomb, on the other, are so strikingly similar: a brilliant leader steeped in esoteric learning creates a powerful, magical, murderous and terrifying entity to save his community, only to lose control of it. In the end, Oppie, unlike the Maharal, could not lay his creation to rest, and it symbolically destroyed him, but in your story, you compassionately give Oppie and his creation a chance to achieve peace.

You should write more criticism, and not just of my stories; you read things beautifully.

I would certainly recommend everyone read the "The Trinitite Golem."

Thank you!