It’s been reported that science fiction author Robert Sheckley died earlier today.
Sheckley was one of my favorites growing up; I still think his Dimension of Miracles is one of the funniest SF books ever. He also wrote some great short stories in the 50s.
Sheckley also had several of his novels translated into film. Movies have been made of his “The Seventh Victim,” “The Prize of Peril” (twice), “The Game of X” (in Condorman a film so obscure that the production company’s flak couldn’t remember it five years later), and “Immortality, Inc.” (as Freejack).
He was a fine writer, with one of the best senses of humor in SF (even better than Douglas Adams) and will be missed.
Damn! He was one of the first SF writers I read a lot of. His short stories were witty and subtle. His The Status Civilization was one of the first SF novels I read. Typically, I took it on the surface, not realizing it was actually parodying the genre. I’m convinced they strip-mined it for Total Recall. His best stuff was from the fifties. His later things were flightier, and I didn’t like them as much.
Douglas Adams admitted that Sheckley had been a big influence on him. I (and others) have long held that the Hitchiker’s guide to the Universe owes quite a bit to Dimension of Miracles.
Unfortunately, none of his things were ever adapted well to the screen – the movies nominally based on his works are pretty awful. Maybe someday they’ll do a decent version of Immortality Inc./Immortality Delivered or The Leech or some of his other stuff.
I’ll remember him for his short stories because apart from 3/4 novels that’s what I read of his work. It was usually lighthearted stuff and I was rarely disappointed with them. I never miss a chance to pick up any second hand copy of one of his books.
When I was overseas I had a friend who would send me books that I requested. I regulary requested SF by Sheckley. He was a wonderful science-fiction author. He knew how to combine science and fiction. So many SF authors forget the essentials of being a good writer just to get their stuff in there. He never did.
I’m linking to this rather than quote it. http://www.ansible.co.uk/cc/cc132.html
(Guest of Honour appreciations written for the programme book of Skycon, the 29th British Easter SF Convention, 1978)
For myself, I read The People Trap collection repeatedly as a child. I will always love the AAA Ace Planetary Decontamination Service, & check packages to make sure they are not extra-dimensional fishermen’s simulacra.
Well, damn. I think the first one of his I read was the novel Mindswap … I came across Dimension of Miracles a little bit later (and am inclined to agree with CalMeacham on that one). I’ll miss him.
After having devoured the Heinlein juveniles in the 7th Grade, my mom handed me Untouched by Human Hands. I’ve always remembered those stories; they were cute, irreverent, insightful, and thought-provoking, all at the same time.
Many of his classic short stories were adapted to the radio programs, Dimension X and X-Minus One. Especially loved the stories Skulking Permit and Something For Nothing.
The latter was also adapted to film in the 90s–a short film, maybe 30-40 minutes long. Forget what they retitled it, but recall seeing it shown on Bravo, or somesuch channel, and Sheckley, in an accompanying interview, said it was the best film adaptation of any of his work.
I could’ve sworn that Adams claimed not to have read Sheckley until after writing the Guide.
Anyway, quite a shame that he died. I never read any of his novels (not because I didn’t want to, but simply because I couldn’t find any of them), but I read two different collections of his short stories and loved them both. If memory serves me correctly, they were called Is that what People do? and Can you feel anything when I do this?.
One of them started with a quote about 3 different people looking through some sort of telescope and seeing different things, and then went on to explain that they were just seeing what they always saw. I’d love to see that full quote again, does anyone recognize that?
