John Sladek - Free Library Land Online - War

Mechasm

Wed, 14 Sep 1977 23:46:01 +0300

This inventive and delightful science fiction adventure is the story of the Reproductive System, a new kind of machine that can feed on any metal and drink at power outlets in order to grow and reproduce itself. But the System quickly gets out of control, and almost before its creators realize what's happening the gray boxlike machines are well on their way to conquering and absorbing the entire state of Utah, then the United States, and . .. tomorrow the world?

Filled with memorable comic characters and featuring a plot that barrels along with the speed of a Marx Brothers movie, MECHASM is both nightmarish and riotously funny. Either way, it's a book to remember.

The Complete Roderick

Mon, 19 Nov 2001 21:41:01 +0200

Never before published in its entirety in the United States, The Complete Roderick is John Sladek's masterpiece. Roderick is a robot who learns. He begins life looking like a toy tank, thinking like a child, and knowing nothing about human ways. But as he will discover, growing up and becoming fully human is no easy task in a world where many people seem to have little trouble giving up their humanity.
The Complete Roderick is widely considered to be the most ambitious and genius work of a novelist described by The Encyclopedia of ScienceFiction as "the most formally inventive, the funniest, and very nearly the most melancholy of modern US science fiction writers."

Review

"Superb comparable with early Kurt Vonnegut." Time Out

About the Author

John Sladek (1937-2000) was born in the United States andmoved to the U.K. in 1966, where he became involved with the British New Wave movement and New Worlds Magazine, sometimes collaborating with his childhood friend, Thomas M. Disch. Sladek's other novels include The Reproductive System, The Muller-Fokker Effect, and Tik-Tok.

Wholly Smokes

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 10:12:06 +0200

The Reproductive System (Gollancz SF Library)

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 10:12:06 +0200

Bugs

Sat, 19 Nov 2011 19:28:34 +0200

Tik-Tok

Tue, 20 Nov 2012 10:12:07 +0200

'A Robot shall not injure a human being, or through inaction allow a human being to come to harm'.That's Asimov's celebrated First Law of Robotics. And in the 21st century, all domestic robots are programmed according to that Law.But something had gone terribly wrong with Tik-Tok's 'asimov circuits', and he sets out to injure as many people as possible - preferably fatally - while maintaining the exterior of a mild-mannered artist and a sincere campaigner for robot rights. So, like any self-respecting crook and murderer, he moves into politics, becoming the first robot candidate for Vice-President of the United States.Tik-Tok follows his maniacal progress humble beginnings to the top of the heap - or almost. Because in his devious cunning, there was one element that Tik-Tok had forgotten

The Müller-Fokker Effect

Sat, 19 Nov 2011 21:41:00 +0200