The Ballad of Lost C'Mell

https://gutenberg.ca/ebooks/smithcordwainer-balladoflostcmell/smithcordwainer-balladoflostcmell-00-h.html

Sci-fi Radio (ep05) The Ballad of Lost CMell

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"The Ballad of Lost C'Mell" is a science fiction novella by American writer Cordwainer Smith. It was first published in October 1962 in Galaxy Magazine, and since reprinted in several compilations and omnibus editions.

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She was a girly girl and they were true men, the lords of creation, but she pitted her wits against them and she won. It had never happened before, and it is sure never to happen again, but she did win. She was not even of human extraction. She was cat-derived, though human in outward shape, which explains the C in front of her name. Her father's name was C'mackintosh and her name was C'mell. She won her trick against the lawful and assembled Lords of the Instrumentality.

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