A major attraction of fantastic literature to me as a young reader was its insistence that things are not as they seem, that there are realities behind and just to the side of the visible, assumed one. Reality, for Sheckley, is never more than a skein over something else. And whatever reality there is, is likely to change dramatically with the next sentence.
Though most highly regarded for his short stories, Sheckley has written at least 40 novels. Several of these were made into movies, including his first, "Immortality, Inc." (as "Freejack"), and "The Tenth Victim," but the best of them, the wildest romps -- "Dimensions of Miracles," "Journey of Joenes," "Mindswap" -- are unfilmable.
With Roger Zelazny in the early '90s he wrote three novels with wonderful titles: "Bring Me The Head of Prince Charming," "If at Faust You Don't Succeed," and "A Farce to Be Reckoned With." Around the same time he launched a series of comic novels about Hob Draconian, a detective who lives in Spain and is forever scrambling after a place to stay, a new case, and the appearance of success: "The Alternative Detective," "Draconian New York," and "Soma Blues."
Though most highly regarded for his short stories, Sheckley has written at least 40 novels. Several of these were made into movies, including his first, "Immortality, Inc." (as "Freejack"), and "The Tenth Victim," but the best of them, the wildest romps -- "Dimensions of Miracles," "Journey of Joenes," "Mindswap" -- are unfilmable.
With Roger Zelazny in the early '90s he wrote three novels with wonderful titles: "Bring Me The Head of Prince Charming," "If at Faust You Don't Succeed," and "A Farce to Be Reckoned With." Around the same time he launched a series of comic novels about Hob Draconian, a detective who lives in Spain and is forever scrambling after a place to stay, a new case, and the appearance of success: "The Alternative Detective," "Draconian New York," and "Soma Blues."
