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Title: Dimensions of Sheckley : The Selected Novels of Robert Sheckley by Robert Sheckley, Sharon L. Sbarsky ISBN: 1-886778-29-9 Publisher: NESFA Press Pub. Date: March, 2002 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $29.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (4 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: I don't know, but I've been told...
Comment: I've given this book 3 out of five stars because that means a book is good. Not great. Not fair or bad, but good. I want to point this out because I've never read it. Douglas Adams said Sheckley was good, so I figure he can't be bad. Which brings me to my point. The first reviewer said that Douglas Adams had borrowed heavily from Sheckley, which is, in fact, wildly inacurate. The reviewer has probably read Gaiman's "Don't Panic: The Official Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Companion" where Adams mentions Sheckley. What the reviewer has misunderstood or forgotten, is that after having written all the Dr. Who episodes and the HHGttG radio episodes and several of the HHGttG novels, and both, I believe, Dirk Gently novels, someone asked him if he'd ever read Sheckley, and he said he hadn't, but on their recommendation, he did, and said he found the resemblances very remarkable, however coincidental. The reviewer did get the bit right about Adams saying Sheckley was better than him. I guess I'm soon to find out, though I don't think I'll agree. Adams was one of a kind.
Rating: 5
Summary: The Guide to the Hitchhiker
Comment: Apparently when he was asked how he compared himself to Robert Sheckley, whose work he had borrowed from extensively, Douglas Adams (Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy) had the grace to say 'he's better than me'. I'd be inclined to agree with that. These stories, which are all from the period when Sheckley was in the opinion of many the very best in the business, form a superb introduction to his work.
Satire, farce and old-fashioned black humor abound. Someone else who admired Sheckley and was strongly influenced by him was Philip K. Dick and you can see in these novels, which preceded Dick's most seminal work, many of Dick's origins. The only difference is that Sheckley is a whole lot funnier. When
informed by people who don't know science fiction that the genre lacks a sense of humor - this is what I recommend them to read. And it's a whole lot easier to do now that the books are back in print. May they stay in print forever. They are as fresh and as on the ball as they were when they were first written and an absolute fundamental must for anyone's basic library of sf classics.
Rating: 5
Summary: Political Polemics Disguised as Science Fiction
Comment: Sheckley is an entertaining writer whose stories stretch the imagination while making some potent points about our political landscapes and social conventions. He really is cynical about it all, without a lot of redemption for his characters. Since the situations are so preposterous you sort of don't care about the characters, but laugh at the disasters that befall them. He really makes some strong points in this compilation of stories, but you have to think about how to apply the allegories. If you could read one or two of the stories in a reading club it would be interesting discussing them.
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Title: Uncanny Tales by Robert Sheckley ISBN: 078625341X Publisher: Five Star Pub. Date: July, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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Title: Immodest Proposals: The Complete Science Fiction of William Tenn, Volume 1 by William Tenn, James A. Mann, Mary C. Tabasko ISBN: 1886778191 Publisher: NESFA Press Pub. Date: 01 February, 2001 List Price(USD): $29.00 |
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Title: Here Comes Civilization: The Complete Science Fiction of William Tenn, Volume 2 by William Tenn, Jim Mann, James A. Mann, Mary C. Tabasko ISBN: 1886778280 Publisher: NESFA Press Pub. Date: 01 August, 2001 List Price(USD): $29.00 |
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Title: From These Ashes: The Complete Short SF of Fredric Brown by Fredric Brown, Fredric Brown ISBN: 1886778183 Publisher: NESFA Press Pub. Date: 01 February, 2001 List Price(USD): $29.00 |
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Title: Martians and Madness (Nesfa's Choice Series) by Fredric Brown, Ben Yalow ISBN: 1886778175 Publisher: NESFA Press Pub. Date: October, 2002 List Price(USD): $29.00 |
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