John Thomas Sladek (December 15, 1937 – March 10, 2000) was an American

science fiction author This is a list of noted science-fiction authors (in alphabetical order): A *Dafydd ab Hugh (born 1960) * Alexander Abasheli (1884–1954) *Edwin Abbott Abbott (1838–1926) *Kōbō Abe (1924–1993) * Robert Abernathy (1924–1990) *Dan Ab ...

, known for his

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or ...

and surreal novels.

Life and work

Born in

Waverly, Iowa Waverly is a city in Bremer County, Iowa, United States. The population was 10,394 at the time of the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Bremer County and is part of the Waterloo– Cedar Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area. The sister ci ...

, in 1937, Sladek was in England in the 1960s for the New Wave movement and published his first story in the magazine'' New Worlds''. His first

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

novel, published in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

by Gollancz as '' The Reproductive System'' and in the United States as '' Mechasm'', dealt with a project to build machines that build copies of themselves, a process that gets out of hand and threatens to destroy humanity. In '' The Müller-Fokker Effect'', an attempt to preserve human personality on tape likewise goes awry, giving the author a chance to satirize big business, big religion, superpatriotism, and men's magazines, among other things. '' Roderick'' and ''

Roderick at Random ''Roderick at Random'' is a novel by John Sladek published in 1983. It is the sequel to '' Roderick, or The Education of a Young Machine'' (1980); both novels were reissued together in 2001 as ''The Complete Roderick''. Plot summary ''Roderick at R ...

'' offer the traditional satirical approach of looking at the world through the eyes of an innocent, in this case a robot. Sladek revisited robots from a darker point of view in the

BSFA Award The BSFA Awards are literary awards presented annually since 1970 by the British Science Fiction Association (BSFA) to honour works in the genre of science fiction. Nominees and winners are chosen based on a vote of BSFA members. More recently, m ...

winning novel '' Tik-Tok'', featuring a

sociopathic Psychopathy, sometimes considered synonymous with sociopathy, is characterized by persistent antisocial behavior, impaired empathy and remorse, and bold, disinhibited, and egotistical traits. Different conceptions of psychopathy have been ...

robot who lacks any moral " asimov circuits", and '' Bugs'', a wide-ranging satire in which a hapless technical writer (a job Sladek held for many years) helps to create a robot who quickly goes insane. Sladek was also known for his parodies of other science fiction writers, such as

Isaac Asimov yi, יצחק אזימאװ , birth_date = , birth_place = Petrovichi, Russian SFSR , spouse = , relatives = , children = 2 , death_date = , death_place = Manhattan, New York City, U.S. , nationality = Russian (1920–1922)Soviet (192 ...

Arthur C. Clarke Sir Arthur Charles Clarke (16 December 191719 March 2008) was an English science-fiction writer, science writer, futurist, inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host. He co-wrote the screenplay for the 1968 film '' 2001: A Space ...

, and

Cordwainer Smith Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger (July 11, 1913 – August 6, 1966), better known by his pen-name Cordwainer Smith, was an American author known for his science fiction works. Linebarger was a US Army officer, a noted East Asia scholar, and a ...

. These were collected in ''

The Steam-Driven Boy and other Strangers ''The Steam-Driven Boy and other strangers'' is a science fiction short story collection by John Sladek, published in 1973. Contents *"The Secret of the Old Custard" (1966) (also known as "The Babe in the Oven") *"The Aggressor" (1969) *"The B ...

'' (1973). Under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individu ...

of "James Vogh", Sladek wrote ''

Arachne Rising Arachne (; from , cognate with Latin ) is the protagonist of a tale in Greek mythology known primarily from the version told by the Roman poet Ovid (43 BCE–17 CE), which is the earliest extant source for the story. In Book Six of his ...

'', which purports to be a nonfiction account of a thirteenth sign of the zodiac suppressed by the scientific establishment, in an attempt to demonstrate that people will believe anything. In the 1960s he also co-wrote two pseudonymous novels with his friend

Thomas M. Disch Thomas Michael Disch (February 2, 1940 – July 4, 2008) was an American science fiction author and poet. He won the Hugo Award for Best Related Book – previously called "Best Non-Fiction Book" – in 1999, and he had two other Hugo nominatio ...

, the Gothic ''The House that Fear Built'' (1966; as "Cassandra Knye") and the satirical thriller '' Black Alice'' (1968; as "Thom Demijohn"). Another of Sladek's notable parodies is of the anti-Stratfordian citation of the ''

hapax legomenon In corpus linguistics, a ''hapax legomenon'' ( also or ; ''hapax legomena''; sometimes abbreviated to ''hapax'', plural ''hapaxes'') is a word or an expression that occurs only once within a context: either in the written record of an entire ...

'' in ''

Love's Labour's Lost ''Love's Labour's Lost'' is one of William Shakespeare's early comedies, believed to have been written in the mid-1590s for a performance at the Inns of Court before Queen Elizabeth I. It follows the King of Navarre and his three companions a ...

'' "

honorificabilitudinitatibus Honorificabilitudinitatibus (''honōrificābilitūdinitātibus'', ) is the dative and ablative plural of the medieval Latin word ''honōrificābilitūdinitās'', which can be translated as "the state of being able to achieve honours". It is ment ...

" as an

anagram An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once. For example, the word ''anagram'' itself can be rearranged into ''nag a ram'', also the word ...

of ''hi ludi, F. Baconis nati, tuiti orbi'',

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

for "these plays, F. Bacon's offspring, are preserved for the world", "proving" that

Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both ...

wrote the play. Sladek noted that "honorificabilitudinitatibus" was also an anagram for ''I, B. Ionsonii, uurit rita lift'd batch'', thus "proving" that Shakespeare's works were written by

Ben Jonson Benjamin "Ben" Jonson (c. 11 June 1572 – c. 16 August 1637) was an English playwright and poet. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence upon English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for t ...

. Sladek returned from England to

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origin ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over t ...

, in 1986, where he lived until his death in 2000 from

pulmonary fibrosis Pulmonary fibrosis is a condition in which the lungs become scarred over time. Symptoms include shortness of breath, a dry cough, feeling tired, weight loss, and nail clubbing. Complications may include pulmonary hypertension, respiratory failu ...

. He was married twice, to Pamela Sladek, which ended in divorce in 1986, and to Sandra Gunter whom he married in 1994. He had a daughter from his first marriage.

Skepticism

A strict

materialist Materialism is a form of philosophical monism which holds matter to be the fundamental substance in nature, and all things, including mental states and consciousness, are results of material interactions. According to philosophical materiali ...

, Sladek subjected the occult and

pseudoscience Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable claim ...

to merciless scrutiny in ''The New Apocrypha''. The book critically examined the claims of

dowsing Dowsing is a type of divination employed in attempts to locate ground water, buried metals or ores, gemstones, oil, claimed radiations ( radiesthesia),As translated from one preface of the Kassel experiments, "roughly 10,000 active dowsers in ...

homeopathy Homeopathy or homoeopathy is a pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine. It was conceived in 1796 by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann. Its practitioners, called homeopaths, believe that a substance that causes symptoms of a d ...

parapsychology Parapsychology is the study of alleged psychic phenomena ( extrasensory perception, telepathy, precognition, clairvoyance, psychokinesis (also called telekinesis), and psychometry) and other paranormal claims, for example, those related t ...

perpetual motion Perpetual motion is the motion of bodies that continues forever in an unperturbed system. A perpetual motion machine is a hypothetical machine that can do work infinitely without an external energy source. This kind of machine is impossible, a ...

and

Ufology Ufology ( ) is the investigation of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) by people who believe that they may be of extraordinary origins (most frequently of extraterrestrial alien visitors). While there are instances of government, private, and ...

Bibliography

Science fiction novels

* '' The Reproductive System'' Gollancz 1968, Equinox/Avon SF Rediscovery 3 1977, Gollancz Classic SF #8 1986; as '' Mechasm'' Ace Special 1969, Pocket 1980 * '' The Müller-Fokker Effect'' Hutchinson 1970; William Morrow 1971, Panther 1972, Pocket 1973, Carrol & Graf 1990 * '' Roderick'' Granada 1980; Carroll & Graf 1987 * ''

'' Granada 1983, Carroll & Graf 1988 * '' Tik-Tok'' Gollancz 1983, Corgi 1984, DAW 1985 Gollancz 2001; winner of the

British Science Fiction Association The British Science Fiction Association Limited is an organisation founded in 1958 by a group of British academics, science fiction fans, authors, publishers and booksellers, in order to promote the writing, criticism, and study of science fiction ...

Best Novel award in 1984; * ''Love Among the Xoids'' Chris Drumm (chapbook) 1984;Reginald 1992, p. 905. * '' Bugs'' Macmillan UK 1989, Paladin 1991 * ''Blood and Gingerbread'' Cheap Street (chapbook) 1990; * ''Wholly Smokes'' Wildside 2003.

Science fiction collections

* ''

'' Panther 1973, Wildside 2005 * '' Keep the Giraffe Burning'' Panther 1977, Wildside 2004 * ''The Best of John Sladek'' Pocket 1981 * ''Alien Accounts'' Granada 1982, Wildside 2005 * '' The Lunatics of Terra'' Gollancz 1984, Wildside 2005 * '' Maps: The Uncollected John Sladek'', edited by

David Langford David Rowland Langford (born 10 April 1953) is a British author, editor, and critic, largely active within the science fiction field. He publishes the science fiction fanzine and newsletter ''Ansible'', and holds the all-time record for most ...

(2002).

Omnibus editions

* ''The Complete Roderick'' comprising ''Roderick'' and ''Roderick at Random'' Gollancz SF Masterworks #45 2001, Overlook Press 2004 * ''The Reproductive System'' / ''The Müller-Fokker Effect'' / ''Tik-Tok'' Gollancz 2013

Mystery novels and stories

* ''The Castle and the Key'' (as by Cassandra Knye) Paperback Library 1967 * "By an Unknown Hand", the first story featuring the detective Thackeray Phin, which was awarded the first prize in The Times Detective Story Competition in 1972, and published in ''The Times Anthology of Detective Stories'' (now included in the collection ''Maps'', edited by David Langford (2002)); * ''Black Aura'' Jonathan Cape 1974, Panther 1975, a Phin novel; * "It Takes Your Breath Away", a Phin short story, originally printed in theatre programmes for a London play, 1974 (now included in ''Maps''); * ''Invisible Green'' Gollancz 1977, the second Phin novel. Both Phin novels are locked room mysteries.

Nonfiction

* ''The New Apocrypha: A Guide to Strange Science and Occult Beliefs''

Stein and Day Stein and Day, Inc. was an American publishing company founded by Sol Stein and his wife Patricia Day in 1962. Stein was both the publisher and the editor-in-chief. The firm was based in New York City, and was in business for 27 years, until clo ...

1973, Panther 1978 * ''Arachne Rising: The Search for the Thirteenth Sign of the Zodiac'' (1977) (as James Vogh) * ''The Cosmic Factor'' (1978) (as James Vogh) * ''Judgement of Jupiter'' (1980) (as Richard A. Tilms)Clute 1995, p. 186. * ''The Book of Clues'' (1984)

With Thomas M. Disch

* ''The House that Fear Built'' (1966) * ''Black Alice'' (1968)

Selected short stories

* "

The Happy Breed "The Happy Breed" is a short story by American writer John Sladek, originally published in Harlan Ellison's anthology '' Dangerous Visions'' (1967). It is Sladek's first published story. Synopsis The last five adults discuss how their lives have ...

" * "Elephant With Wooden Leg" * " The Great Wall of Mexico" *
The Discovery of the Nullitron
(with Thomas M. Disch)

References

;Citations * *

External links

Guardian newspaper obituary
by David Langford
John Sladek at Ansible Editions
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sladek, John 1937 births 2000 deaths 20th-century American novelists American male novelists American male short story writers American science fiction writers American skeptics Critics of alternative medicine Critics of parapsychology People from Waverly, Iowa 20th-century American short story writers 20th-century American male writers