Nine Lives

by Ursula K. Le Guin

Pulphouse Press Short Story Hardback #30.
"Nine Lives" was first published in Playboy, November 1968.


**Nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novelette in 1969.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction, Classics, American, Read For School, Speculative Fiction

47 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

Ursula K. Le Guin published twenty-two novels, eleven volumes of short stories, four collections of essays, twelve books for children, six volumes of poetry and four of translation, and has received many awards: Hugo, Nebula, National Book Award, PEN-Malamud, etc. Her recent publications include the novel Lavinia, an essay collection, Cheek by Jowl, and The Wild Girls. She lived in Portland, Oregon.

She was known for her treatment of gender (The Left Hand of Darkness, The Matter of Seggri), political systems (The Telling, The Dispossessed) and difference/otherness in any other form. Her interest in non-Western philosophies was reflected in works such as "Solitude" and The Telling but even more interesting are her imagined societies, often mixing traits extracted from her profound knowledge of anthropology acquired from growing up with her father, the famous anthropologist, Alfred Kroeber. The Hainish Cycle reflects the anthropologist's experience of immersing themselves in new strange cultures since most of their main characters and narrators (Le Guin favoured the first-person narration) are envoys from a humanitarian organization, the Ekumen, sent to investigate or ally themselves with the people of a different world and learn their ways.

Reviews

[Olga · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 'Nine Lives' the author describes a clone's pains of becoming a unique human being. He used to be one of ten ideal identical 'brothers and sisters' and now he is transforming into a less perfect but a more conscious being.

I liked the author's descriptions of the dangerous planet where the story is set.

'She was alive inside but dead outside, her face a black and dun net of wrinkles, tumors, cracks. She was bald and blind. The tremors that crossed Libra's face were mere quiverings of corruption. Underneath, in the black corridors, the halls beneath the skin, there were crepitations in darkness, ferments, chemical nightmares that went on for centuries. "O the damned flatulent planet," Pugh murmured as the dome shook and a boil burst a kilometer to the southwest, spraying silver pus across the sunset. The sun had been setting for the last two days.'

[Jemppu · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an unexpectedly team oriented mission piece from Le Guin. Akin to a lot of 'operational SciFi', directly in the action, quite unlike the author's usually more deliberate expedition POV of a lone outsider observing and recording an alien culture. Complete with the kind of banter and bonding, you'd come to expect of a crew in a work of this manner.

Going in prepared for Le Guin greatness, and still getting pleasantly surprised - who knew! This was a great treat. And despite all of its hard-SciFi-ish professionalism went to a very sweet place.

I loved this.

Concluding notes of which rather reminded me of the unspokenness in Theodore Sturgeon's short "The World Well Lost".

[Janelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

A story from 1968 about clones. An isolated pair of miners on a far planet are joined by a team of clones(a group of ten all cloned from the same individual). Some interesting ideas here and certainly ahead of its time.

[Sarah ~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

تسع حيوات قصة قصيرة مدهشة عن معاناة إنسان مستنسخ وقد أصبح واحدًا ووحيدًا وأكثر وعيًا بعد أن كان جزءً من عشرة أخوة متطابقين ومثاليين.
أفكار أورسولا كالعادة مذهلة تطرحها وتناقشتها بطريقة تسبق عصرها، نشرت هذه القصة قبل أكثر من 55 عامًا.

[Kerri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short but mighty

I'm rather enjoying these short stories.

This was a departure form the others as it seemingly did not have a connection to a series.

It made me think a lot on individuality and what it means.

[Ola G · Rating 4 out of 5]

8/10 stars

A good one. Classic, '60s SF had such a characteristic style: both science- and human-oriented. Reminded me of Lem. Possible inspiration for Wilhelm? Anyway, Le Guin never disappoints. Short, powerful, humane. Worth a read!

[Glen Engel-Cox · Rating 4 out of 5]

A more traditional SF story, in that it’s about space mining and unpredictable planetology. Since it’s Le Guin that’s just the setting for the psychological and sociological examination of what it might mean to have cloning. I’m not sure I entirely buy her premise—I believe nurture has much more of an influence on the human mind than nature, so the idea that these 10 identical clones can share so much thought processes, etc., didn’t come across. But, if you give her that impossible thing, the story works, and works well, even though I could predict the plot based on the title and the very ugly nature of the planet. Luckily, it’s not the plot that’s important, but the denouement of the clone coming to terms with a new existence. On a sentence based level, there’s some choices made by Le Guin here—fragments, run-on sentences—that I’m not sure I agreed with, but I suppose famous writers can get away with these things.

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating story. Le Guin describes it as closer to "hard" sci-fi than her other work, but while it does delve into the "science" of cloning, the real meat of the story is rooted in the human experience. When a group of clones arrive on a faraway planet to assist two human mining engineers, one of the humans, Owen Pugh, has to reckon with his own humanity, especially what it's like to be lonely. But when tragedy strikes, Pugh's opinions are turned upside down, and one of the visiting clones is thrust into the experience of humanity. Written more than 50 years ago, the story isn't really dated at all, and still provides much food for thought.

[Dee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite liked this one - Le Guin always packs so much into even the short stories.

[Tessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now this is good science fiction. I only wish it was longer so I could keep reading. Le Guin at her sci-fi best.

[Andy Hickman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ursula Le Guin: "Nine Lives"

“Come on in, the methane’s fine,” said Pugh

Humans vs clones? Individualism vs collectivism? 3/5 stars

Pugh’s opinion is that, “a clone might indeed be the first truly stable, self-reliant human being. Once adult it would need nobody’s help. It would be sufficient to itself physically, sexually, emotionally, [and] intellectually.”

Pugh’s words, “[There are] no more Irish. A couple thousand in the entire island, the last I knew. They didn’t go in for birth control, you know, so the food ran out. By the Third Famine there were no Irish left at all but the priesthood, and they [were] all celibate, or nearly all.”

[J J J · Rating 4 out of 5]

An amazing short sci-fi story!
Some truly exiting thrills!
It asks what is the self and its answer was beautifully melancholy!

[MMelania · Rating 4 out of 5]

"We're each of us alone, to be sure. What can you do but hold your hand out in the dark?"

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such an enjoyable read and a bit feel-good at the end. The concept of how cloning will impact future space exploration and research was interesting and believable.

[Harry Sumption · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not quite Le Guin at her best. There is some confusing narrative redundancy here and some focus on aspects of the story and world building that does make the wider environment feel more real and lived in but does so at the cost of making the story a little confusing and tricky to follow. But these minor criticism pale when compared to the honestly masterful ending that says so much and gives voice to so many latent emotions floating around in the world. This is a great short story/novella and it’s a giant compliment to her other writing when I say most of Le Guin other SF and Fantasy is better than this.

[Mehmet Çakıcı · Rating 5 out of 5]

Prelude to Babek

[Mitticus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, when they said that Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang was probably based on this, it might be true.

All ten clones working as one, not as ten individual but one organism.

Kaph’s never known anyone but himself

Even the famine, the sex-incest (or masturbation as a character said), the death... all is there.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a sci-fi by Le Guin which is the least fantasy of those she writes. It is basically the tale of a group of ten clones, who all die but one. The remaining one is highly depressed, having to live alone, like the rest of us. It touches on the philosophical idea of our aloneness--or not--in the universe.

[Mary Lou · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although I got lost in the sci-fi space techno details, I loved this futuristic look at cloning and the questions it raises about a multi-person self-sufficient being, how it/they might function and how it/they interact with the population of singletons.

[Derek · Rating 5 out of 5]

(Actually read in the Playboy Book of Science Fiction, but loved it so much, wanted to give it a separate review)

What an amazingly beautiful story. About cloning, sure, but also about self & other and love. Holding out a hand in the darkness. Le Guin is truly a Grand Master.

[Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting look at what it means to be an individual and what it is to be human, like so many other works by Le Guin.

[Abram Jackson · Rating 3 out of 5]

An exploration of what cloning could mean. Nothing good, which is to be expected. Unfortunately this wasn't as interesting of an exploration.

[MeowZhao · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just can't understand how so many people really believe that clones would of course have a psychic link with each other 🙄

[Ben]

Is a group of clones an individual or is it comprised of individuals ?
Ursula yet again investigates speculative human conditions in the most fascinating way.

[Inês · Rating 4 out of 5]

(...) We're each of us alone, to be sure. What can you do but hold your hand out in the dark?

Haven't read much of Ursula K. LeGuin's work (a true beginner, having read only 2 short stories before this one), I am truly amazed by the beauty of her writing and how she is able to infuse so much personality, depth and philosophical musings in her characters, something I haven't often read in science fiction (*cough, Isaac Asimov , cough*).

The author takes us to a future time, in a distant planet named Libra, where a geologist and a cartographer were sent on a mission to mine Uranium. The arrival of a set of ten clones will unsettle their dynamic and raise questions about individuality, the so-called "genetic superiority", human relationships and loneliness. Ursula explores these themes masterfully, especially after the main event of the story.

Highly recommend Nine Lives, and can't wait to explore other works by LeGuin.

[Storm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collected in The Wind's Twelve Quarters: A Story this hard science fiction story was a Nebula Award Nominee for Best Novelette (1969). A group of 10 clones of a brilliant man sent to help mine a deposit found by 2 men on a distant planet. There's an interesting philosophical take on whether this is more efficient or whether cloning is eugenics since they only clone the best and brightest? When the clones arrive they are self sufficient, work in harmony and don't need any one else. A fairly interesting, thought provoking story that kicks into high gear after an earthquake leads to a mining disaster.

[Rahel · Rating 4 out of 5]

cn incest (but is it incest if you're clones??? is clonefucking a content-note-worthy topic?)

I didn't think this one would stick with me as much as it has, but especially after having just read Vaster Than Empires, And More Slow, these two stories seem like fitting counterparts to one another. I think there is a greater analysis one can dive into on what love means and _who_ we are able to love - and how we can learn to love even after we think we've lost our ability to do so. I especially loved the compact setting of the research base and the minimal cast, a good ol' fashioned, well, _old fashioned scifi_.

[büşra · Rating 4 out of 5]

“good night, you one-lunged Welshman.”
i like how science fiction is all about what it is to be a human after all. i like how messy, complex and chaotic the “humans” in this story are. i like how our chattering character just exchanged lives with our quiet one at the time they got vulnerable. they don’t know anything, anything about being a human just as Kaph doesn’t, but still, they give it a try. all the same, they were there. 🥺

[doggirl butler · Rating 3 out of 5]

this story has an interesting concept! personally I think the ending would have been more impactful if the characters and theme had more time to cook (we're told the clones are unsettling but never really *shown* their odd behavior, which is a bit disappointing, and the clone sex aspect is almost entirely non-existent in the text itself despite being the best-known part of this story) but I've never won either the nebula or hugo award before so what do I know

[Meghan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in a future unknown time, on an unknown planet, two men from Earth grapple with the ethical and moral questions prompted by the arrival of 10 "worker" clones. Written in 1969, Ursula K. Le Guin's timeless novella is especially relevant with recent advances of AI.

Read for the January Reading Challenge for the Massachusetts Center for the Book: Read a book that's under 100 pages