Mechasm

[Mike Weaver]

J. Minnich wrote
> Now, speaking of obscure sci-fi,
>anybody ever read John Sladek's _Mechasm_?

It was called the Reproductive System in the UK and co-incidentally my copy
passed through  my hands yesterday while I was hunting for a photocopied
article on Lafferty.  It is very funny isn't it?  Sladek has written some
fine satires using the SF mode -' Tik Tok'  comes to mind as a must read in
that direction.  Sladek, with Thomas Disch and J.G. Ballard among others,
were part of the British resident  'new wave' band of SF writers fostered by
Michael Moorcock's editorial stint for the periodical New Worlds in the mid
to late sixties.  An awful lot of interesting and experimental writing came
out of that mag in that period, including several writers who later found a
place in the mainstream of novel and poetry writing.

How about James Tiptree Junior,  who must rate as one of the great short
story writers of any genre for some of those in her first four collections,
before old age destroyed her dark wit.

Mike
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      Our choicest plans have fallen through,
      Our airiest castles tumbled over.
      Because of lines we neatly drew, 
      And later neatly stumbled over.
             Piet Hein                       
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