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  Various Fiction

  Robert Sheckley

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  Jerry eBooks

  Title Page

  About Robert Sheckley

  Pseudonyms

  “Introducing the Author”

  Bibliography

  Short Fiction Bibliography: chronological

  Short Fiction Bibliography: alphabetical

  Short Fiction Series

  Epigraph

  1952

  FEAR IN THE NIGHT

  FINAL EXAMINATION

  PROOF OF THE PUDDING

  WARRIOR RACE

  WE ARE ALONE

  THE LEECH

  COST OF LIVING

  KILLER’S MASQUERADE

  THE IMPACTED MAN

  WRITING CLASS

  1953

  THE LAST WEAPON

  THE ODOR OF THOUGHT

  WATCHBIRD

  THE MONSTERS

  FEEDING TIME

  THE DEMONS

  FOOL’S MATE

  TIME CHECK FOR CONTROL

  SEVENTH VICTIM

  SPECIALIST

  OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS

  WHAT GOES UP

  ASK A FOOLISH QUESTION

  RESTRICTED AREA

  THE ALTAR

  THE KING’S WISHES

  COAST TO COAST

  WARM

  DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY

  FISHING SEASON

  THE HOUR OF BATTLE

  CLOSED CIRCUIT

  WILD TALENTS, INC.

  THE SPECIAL EXHIBIT

  BESIDES STILL WATERS

  KEEP YOUR SHAPE

  POTENTIAL

  ULTIMATUM!

  WHAT A MAN BELIEVES

  ONE MAN’S POISON

  THE PERFECT WOMAN

  1954

  RITUAL

  CARRIER

  HANDS OFF!

  PARADISE II

  OFF-LIMITS PLANET

  SOMETHING FOR NOTHING

  THE HUNGRY

  THE ACCOUNTANT

  A THIEF IN TIME

  THE OGRE TEST

  SUBSISTENCE LEVEL

  THE ACADEMY

  MILK RUN

  THE BATTLE

  HEX ON HAX

  GHOST V

  THE SLOW SEASON

  CONQUEROR’S PLANET

  THE LAXIAN KEY

  MINORITY GROUP

  SKULKING PERMIT

  UNCLE TOM’S PLANET

  1955

  SQUIRREL CAGE

  THE FORTUNATE PERSON

  THE LIFEBOAT MUTINY

  THE NECESSARY THING

  THE DEEP DARK HOLE TO CHINA

  DEADHEAD

  PARADISE II (1955 UK revised version)

  EARTH, AIR, FIRE AND WATER

  HUNTING PROBLEM

  SPY STORY

  A TICKET TO TRANAI

  WARRIOR’S RETURN

  LONE SURVIVOR

  THE MOUNTAIN WITHOUT A NAME

  1956

  THE BODY

  TRAP

  THE SKAG CASTLE

  PROTECTION

  DEATH WISH

  THE MOB

  BAD MEDICINE

  ALL THE THINGS YOU ARE

  EARLY MODEL

  LOVE, INCORPORATED

  HUMAN MAN’S BURDEN

  THE NATIVE PROBLEM

  1957

  ALONE AT LAST

  THE MARTYR

  DAWN INVADER

  COUNTRY CAPER

  THE VICTIM FROM SPACE

  THE LANGUAGE OF LOVE

  A WIND IS RISING

  THE DEATHS OF BEN BAXTER

  THE MACHINE

  DOUBLE INDEMNITY

  DISPOSAL SERVICE

  MORNING AFTER

  GRAY FLANNEL ARMOR

  HOLDOUT

  1958

  ACCEPT NO SUBSTITUTES

  THE PRIZE OF PERIL

  THE GUN WITHOUT A BANG

  THE MINIMUM MAN

  TIME KILLER (Beginning A 4-Part Serial)

  TIME KILLER (Second of Four Parts)

  JOIN NOW

  TIME KILLER (Third Part of Four)

  1959

  FOREVER

  TIME KILLER (Conclusion of Four Parts)

  THE SWEEPER OF LORAY

  TRIPLICATION

  IF THE RED SLAYER

  THE WORLD OF HEART’S DESIRE

  PROSPECTOR’S SPECIAL

  SVENGALI IN WESTCHESTER

  1960

  MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE BROMIDE

  MEETING OF THE MINDS

  THE GIRLS AND NUGENT MILLER

  THE COVENANT

  OMEGA! (First of Two Parts)

  OMEGA! (Conclusion)

  1962

  THE JOURNEY OF JOENES (First Part)

  THE JOURNEY OF JOENES (Conclusion)

  1965

  SHALL WE HAVE A LITTLE TALK?

  1968

  I SEE A MAN SITTING ON A CHAIR, AND THE CHAIR IS BITING HIS LEG

  STREET OF DREAMS, FEET OF CLAY

  THE PETRIFIED WORLD

  BUDGET PLANET

  THE PEOPLE TRAP

  REDFERN’S LABYRINTH

  DREAMWORLD

  1969

  CAN YOU FEEL ANYTHING WHEN I DO THIS?

  CORDLE TO ONION TO CARROT

  1970

  THE SAME TO YOU DOUBLED

  STARTING FROM SCRATCH

  1971

  DOWN THE DIGESTIVE TRACT

  THREE SINNERS IN THE GREEN JADE MOON

  ASPECTS OF LANGRANAK

  THE CRUEL EQUATIONS

  DOCTOR ZOMBIE AND HIS FURRY LITTLE FRIENDS

  GAME—FIRST SCHEMATIC

  NOTES ON THE PERCEPTION OF IMAGINARY DIFFERENCES

  THE MNEMONE

  PLAGUE CIRCUIT

  TAILPIPE TO DISASTER

  TRIPOUT

  1972

  ZIRN LEFT UNGUARDED THE JENGHIK PALACE IN FLAMES, JON WESTERLY DEAD

  1973

  WELCOME TO THE STANDARD NIGHTMARE

  THE ROBOT WHO LOOKED LIKE ME

  VOICES

  A SUPPLIANT IN SPACE

  1974

  THE SLAVES OF TIME

  1975

  SYNCOPE & FUGUE

  END CITY

  1976

  THE NEVER-ENDING WESTERN MOVIE

  IN A LAND OF CLEAR COLORS

  WHAT IS LIFE?

  1977

  SILVERSMITH WISHES

  SNEAK PREVIEWS

  1978

  IS THAT WHAT PEOPLE DO?

  BODY GAME

  1979

  GOOD-BY FOREVER TO MR. PAIN

  1980

  THE FUTURE LOST

  THE LAST DAYS OF (PARALLEL?) EARTH

  1981

  THE HELPING HAND

  THE MAN WHO LOVED

  THE WISH

  THE SWAMP

  SHOOTOUT IN THE TOY SHOP

  1982

  MISS MOUSE AND THE FOURTH DIMENSION

  FIVE MINUTES EARLY

  THE EYE OF REALITY

  1983

  DRAMOCLES

  1984

  MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE BROMIDE (1984 revised version)

  THE LIFE OF ANYBODY

  THE SHAGGY AVERAGE AMERICAN MAN STORY

  ROBOTGNOMICS

  1986

  THE UNIVERSAL KARMIC CLEARING HOUSE

  ROBOTVENDOR REX

  “JULEEEEEEEEEN!”

  1987

  SPECTATOR PLAYOFFS

  1988

  KLAXON

  MESSAGE FROM HELL

  TRAITOR’S
SAGA

  1989

  THE HOMECOMING

  KHASARA

  DEATH OF THE DREAMMASTER

  MIND-SLAVES OF MANITORI

  CARHUNTERS OF THE CONCRETE PRAIRIE

  LOVE SONG FROM THE STARS

  THE RESURRECTION MACHINE

  1990

  THE JOKER’S WAR

  MYRYX

  TROJAN HEARSE

  ALIEN STARSWARM

  MINOTAUR MAZE

  1991

  BREAKOUT

  END CITY

  SARKANGER

  AT THE CONFERENCE OF THE BIRDS

  DIVINE INTERVENTION

  THE DESTRUCTION OF ATLANTIS

  DIAL-A-DEATH

  WORMWORLD

  THERE WILL BE NO WAR AFTER THIS ONE

  THE OTHER MARS

  THE SEAL OF SOLOMON

  1992

  DUKAKIS AND THE ALIENS

  THE STAND ON LUMINOS

  THE DREAM COUNTRY

  1993

  DISQUISITIONS ON THE DINOSAUR

  DIAGHILEV PLAYS RIVERWORLD

  A NEW CHRISTMAS CAROL

  1994

  THE CITY OF THE DEAD

  1995

  SEVEN SOUP RIVERS

  THE DAY THE ALIENS CAME

  A PLAGUE OF UNICORNS

  1998

  FUGUE PLAYERS OF NEW VENICE

  THE ERYX

  EMISSARY FROM A GREEN AND YELLOW WORLD

  1999

  DEEP BLUE SLEEP

  VISIONS OF THE GREEN MOON

  KENNY

  2000

  THE NEW HORLA

  THE THREE CIGARS

  PANDORA’S BOX—OPEN WITH CARE

  MAGIC, MAPLES, AND MARYANNE

  2001

  AN INFINITY OF ANGELS

  A TRICK WORTH TWO OF THAT

  MIRROR GAMES

  THE QUIJOTE ROBOT

  2002

  SHOES

  AGAMEMNON’S RUN

  SIGHTSEEING, 2179

  A STRANGE BUT FAMILIAR COUNTRY

  THE OBSIDIAN MIRROR

  ON AN EXPERIENCE IN A CORNFIELD

  2003

  PRIVILEGE OF AGE

  LEGEND OF THE CONQUISTADORS

  THE REFUGE ELSEWHERE

  MESSAGE FROM PLUTO

  DROP-IN CENTERS AND THE REVOLT OF THE HOMELESS

  THE SYMPATHETIC DOCTOR

  THE DREAM OF MISUNDERSTANDING

  THE TALES OF ZANTHIAS

  HUNGER

  BEETLE

  2004

  A CONVERSATION WITH THE WEST NILE VIRUS

  THE FOREST ON THE ASTEROID

  GAME FACE

  THE OLD CURIOSITY SHOP

  2005

  REBORN AGAIN

  CONVERSATION ON MARS

  THE OMEGA EGG

  THE TWO SHECKLEYS

  Robert Sheckley was born on July 16, 1928, to an assimilated Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York. In 1931 the family moved to Maplewood, New Jersey. Sheckley attended Columbia High School, where he discovered science fiction. He graduated in 1946 and hitchhiked to California the same year, where he tried numerous jobs: landscape gardener, pretzel salesman, barman, milkman, warehouseman, and general laborer “board man” in a hand-painted necktie studio. Finally, still in 1946, he joined the U.S. Army and was sent to Korea. During his time in the army he served as a guard, an army newspaper editor, a payroll clerk, and guitarist in an army band. He left the service in 1948.

  Sheckley then attended New York University, where he received an undergraduate degree in 1951. The same year he married for the first time, to Barbara Scadron. The couple had one son, Jason. Sheckley worked in an aircraft factory and as an assistant metallurgist for a short time, but his breakthrough came quickly: in late 1951 he sold his first story, Final Examination, to Imagination magazine. He quickly gained prominence as a writer, publishing stories in Imagination, Galaxy, and other science fiction magazines. The 1950s saw the publication of Sheckley’s first four books: short story collections Untouched by Human Hands (Ballantine, 1954), Citizen in Space (1955), and Pilgrimage to Earth (Bantam, 1957), and a novel, Immortality, Inc. (first published as a serial in Galaxy, 1958).

  Sheckley and Scadron divorced in 1956. The writer married journalist Ziva Kwitney in 1957. The newly married couple lived in Greenwich Village. Their daughter, Alisa Kwitney, born in 1964, would herself become a successful writer. Applauded by critic Kingsley Amis, Sheckley was now selling many of his deft, satiric stories to mainstream magazines such as Playboy. In addition to his science fiction stories, in 1960s Sheckley started writing suspense fiction. More short story collections and novels appeared in the 1960s, and a film adaptation of an early story by Sheckley, The 10th Victim, was released in 1965.

  Sheckley was a prolific and versatile writer. His works include not only original short stories and novels, but also TV series episodes (Captain Video and His Video Rangers), novelizations of works by others (Babylon 5: A Call to Arms, after the film), stories in shared universes such as Heroes in Hell, and collaborations with other writers. He was best known for his several hundreds of short stories, which he published in book form as well as individually. Typical Sheckley stories include “Bad Medicine” (in which a man is mistakenly treated by a psychotherapy machine intended for Martians), “Protection” (whose protagonist is warned of deadly danger unless he avoids the common activity of “lesnerizing”, a word whose meaning is not explained), and “The Accountant” (in which a family of wizards learns that their son has been taken from them by a more sinister trade—accountancy). In many stories Sheckley speculates about alternative (and usually sinister) social orders, of which a good example is the story “A Ticket to Tranai” (that tells of a sort of Utopia designed for human nature as it actually is, which turns out to have terrible drawbacks).

  One of the most famous of Sheckley’s stories was the AAA Ace Series involving two partners in the far future encountering various unusual problems.

  In the 1990s Sheckley wrote a series of three mystery novels featuring detective Hob Draconian, as well as novels set in the worlds of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Alien. Before his death Sheckley had been commissioned to write an original novel based upon the TV series The Prisoner for Powys Media, but died before completing the manuscript.

  His novel Dimension of Miracles is often cited as an influence on Douglas Adams’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, although in an interview for Neil Gaiman’s book Don’t Panic: The Official Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Companion, Adams said he had not read it until after writing the Guide.

  Sheckley spent much of 1970s living on Ibiza. He and Kwitney divorced in 1972 and the same year Sheckley married Abby Schulman, whom he had met in Ibiza. The couple had two children, Anya and Jed. The couple separated while living in London. In 1980, the writer returned to the United States and became fiction editor of the newly established OMNI magazine. Sheckley left Omni in 1981 with his fourth wife, writer Jay Rothbell a.k.a. Jay Sheckley, and they subsequently traveled widely in Europe, finally ending up in Portland, Oregon, where they separated. He married Gail Dana of Portland in 1990. Sheckley continued publishing further science fiction and espionage/mystery stories, and collaborated with other writers such as Roger Zelazny and Harry Harrison.

  During a 2005 visit to Ukraine for the Ukrainian Sci-Fi Computer Week, an international event for science fiction writers, Sheckley fell ill and had to be hospitalized in Kiev on April 27. His condition was very serious for one week, but he appeared to be slowly recovering. Sheckley’s official website ran a fundraising campaign to help cover Sheckley’s treatment and his return to the United States. Sheckley settled in Red Hook, in northern Dutchess County, New York, to be near his daughters Anya and Alisa.

  On November 20. 2005 he had surgery for a brain aneurysm; he died in a Poughkeepsie hospital on December 9, 2005.

  PSEUDONYMS

  Phillips Barbee

  Phillip Barbee

  Ned Lang

  Finn O’Donn
evan

  Роберт Шекли

  Robert Šekli

  INTRODUCING THE AUTHOR

  Robert Sheckley

  I WAS born in New York in 1928, but my parents moved soon after to Maplewood, New Jersey. I started to write in the fourth or fifth grade, as near as I can remember, and determined at that time to become a free-lance writer. My output was largely short plays and poetry, with an occasional short story!

  Through high school I was an avid, though silent, Science-fiction fan. My first science-fiction story, at the age of fourteen, went to the now-defunct Astonishing Stories. It dealt with the idea that our planets are really gigantic eggs, our sun an incubator, and the mama bird on her way back. I was surprised to hear from the editor that the idea had been used. Someone had gotten there before me.

  After graduating from high school, I hitchhiked, to California, worked a few months, hitchhiked back and joined the army. I wrote nothing in service except a few letters home. My time was taken up walking guard on the thirty-eighth parallel, and later, playing guitar in a dance band in Seoul. Discharged in 1948, I enrolled in New York University and started to write again, this time nothing-but short stories.

  Three years later I graduated, with a wife, (whom I had met in a writing class given by Irwin Shaw), a trunkful of stories and moderately high hopes.

  After a few months of writing I still had the wife and the trunkful of stories. I took a job in an aircraft plant as assistant metallurgist. I had almost decided that science-fiction wasn’t for me, when the great day came. My very first sale—to IMAGINATION. Needless to say, I felt three hundred feet tall that day.

  Perversely enough, I wrote very little in the next few months. But after another sale, I quit the aircraft business to devote full time to free-lancing.

  That was almost two years ago. Since then, I’ve made about sixty sales to most of the science-fiction magazines, plus sales to Colliers, Esquire and Today’s Woman. Also sold fifteen television scripts. By and large, free-lancing is as pleasant as I hoped it would be, and I expect to stay at it.

  —Robert Sheckley

  Originally appeared in Imagination, May 1954

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  Novels

  Immortality Delivered (1958)

  The Man in the Water (1961)

  The Game of X (1965)

  Mindswap (1966)

  Options (1975)

  Crompton Divided (1978)

  Dramocles: An Intergalactic Soap Opera (1983)

  Godshome (1999)

  The Grand Guignol of the Surrealists (2000)

  The Omega Egg [Part 4 of 17] (2005)

  Serials

  Time Killer, Galaxy Magazine, October 1958-February 1959

  Omega!, Amazing Science Fiction Stories, August-September 1960

  The Journey of Joenes, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, October-November 1962