Emails sent to me via the contact page on this website all have the same subject: [S L Flynn] Contact Me. They are mostly spam. Yesterday was a special day. I received a [S L Flynn] Contact Me email from a real person with an interesting question: Where did you get the idea for “Raether”? In particular, the real person wanted to know how I chose the title of the book.
The old Raether’s Genesis post told the story of the story as it began life in screenplay format. It did not reveal how I chose the surname Raether to attach to the mysterious ‘enzyme’. Outside the fictions, I strive to be honest and transparent within the limits of discretion. Telling you everything would bore you or break confidences. Here’s the honest and transparent story of how I picked that name: I don’t remember. I think I ‘made it up’. Years later, I googled the name and learned that it was a rare name of German origin.
The name stuck because I thought it played well with the Z in enzyme. More so if it’s pronounced raythe-ur. A bit less if you pronounce it ray-thur. I bounced back and forth between pronunciations when talking about the book. I didn’t know how it was pronounced. Until yesterday.
The real person who wrote me was curious because that was their last name. In the spirit of honesty and transparency, I told them what I’ve told you. Perhaps I should have made up a more interesting story to justify the effort they went to in reaching out to me. As it is, they got the equivalent of a ¯_(ツ)_/¯ from me. They graciously told me how Raether is pronounced.
It is pronounced Ray-thur. Now I know.
Thank you, Real Person!