Thursday, March 19, 1970

Author - Sheckley, Robert

Birth: July 16, 1928.

Death: December 9, 2005.

Comments: Robert Sheckley was an American science fiction author with a career that began in pulp magazine era of the 1950s, and continued until his death. After graduating from high school in 1946, Sheckley took time off and traveled to California where he seems to have bummed around taking various odd jobs before joining the U.S. Army and going to Korea. After his service ended, Sheckley attended New York University, earning a B.A. in 1951.

Sheckley's most famous novel is probably Immortality, Inc., also known as Time Killer, but he was prolific and has a varied and interesting body of work, including a Babylon 5 novel based upon the Call to Arms made for television movie. His 1958 short story The Prize of Peril documents a future in which "ordinary people" star in television shows in which their lives are put in danger, which bears some similarities to the later written Stephen King novel The Running Man, and seems to have been somewhat prescient when one looks at the current state of television.

He has an official website named Robert Sheckley, but the site appears not to have been updated since his death in 2005. There is also a somewhat active fan website dedicated to the author named Dimension of Sheckley.

My reviews of Robert Sheckley's books:
None

Other books by Robert Sheckley that I have read but not reviewed:
Time Killer (aka Immortality, Inc.)

Books edited by Robert Sheckley that I have read but not reviewed:
None

Short fiction by Robert Sheckley appearing in works that I have reviewed:
The Prize of Peril found in TV: 2000

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