Imperial Earth
Appearance
Imperial Earth is a novel (subtitled "A Fantasy of Love and Discord") written by Arthur C. Clarke, and published in time for the U.S. bicentennial in 1976 by Ballantine Books. It follows the protagonist (Duncan Makenzie) on a trip to Earth from his home on Titan, ostensibly for a diplomatic visit to the U.S. for its 500th birthday, but really in order to have a clone of himself produced.
The puzzle game Pentominos features in a prominent subplot of the novel.
A number of other sub-plots suggest some sort of greater mystery, but remain unexplored. The book ends with him returning home with his new "child" (who is a clone of a brilliant but erratic former best friend), leaving the other plot threads dangling.