SOLVED. Short Story, the first line was, “In the beginning was the W.O.R.D.” [s]

[Jim]

A friend is asking help to find a Science Fiction short story he read, probably 35 years ago in some long-forgotten annual short story compilation book.

It was a short story about the creation of the universe. The first line was, “In the beginning was the W.O.R.D.” where W.O.R.D. was an acronym for the project plan. The general contractor/project manager had a title with the acronym G.O.D. And the story is a bit of a farce, where the bureaucracy keeps shooting down parts of the project plan. For example, the FAA won’t approve the birds unless they’re fitted with running lights and landing radar. But the bird design team says all that extra weight will keep the birds from being able to take off. So birds get scrapped from the plan, but that creates problems with the insects and rodents, and so on. It has a pretty clever ending.

[Ayshe]

"Making Light" by James P. Hogan? You can read a sample here: http://www.jamesphogan.com/books/info... This is list of publication it's been included in: http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cg...

[Jim]

Ayshe wrote: ""Making Light" by James P. Hogan? You can read a sample here: http://www.jamesphogan.com/books/info... This is list of publication it's been included..."

I think that's it! I knew I had read it & Hogan makes sense. I'll double check, but I think this is solved.

[Jim]

That's it. Thanks so much Ayshe!

[Kris]

Glad you found your book, Jim. Here's a link for one of the publications in Ayshe's find - Stellar 7: Science-Fiction Stories by Judy-Lynn del Rey. Let us know if you think it should be shelved as a different book collection.

[Jim]

Thanks! It's also in Minds, Machines & Evolution & The Ascent of Wonder: The Evolution of Hard SF.

[Ayshe]

You're welcome! It seems to be a great story.

It is probably clear to you, but just in case: Kris means the group's bookshelf - if you or your friend remember which exact book you read it in and it's not the currently shelved for this thread "Stellar 7", moderator can replace it.

[Jim]

Oh, I hadn't realized you meant the group bookshelf. I think it was published in Stellar 7 first & in the others later, so this is fine with me. Thanks again.