''Immortality, Inc.'' is a 1959 science fiction novel by American writer
Robert Sheckley
Robert Sheckley (July 16, 1928 – December 9, 2005) was an American writer. First published in the science-fiction magazines of the 1950s, his many quick-witted stories and novels were famously unpredictable, absurdist, and broadly comical.
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. It is also his first novel. A striking concept in the novel is its description of random killings of strangers by people who intend to die. The novel remains one of Sheckley's most popular and critically acclaimed. The serialised form (published under the title ''Time Killer'' in the magazine ''
Galaxy Science Fiction
''Galaxy Science Fiction'' was an American digest-size science fiction magazine, published in Boston from 1950 to 1980. It was founded by a French-Italian company, World Editions, which was looking to break into the American market. World Editi ...
'') was nominated for the
Hugo Award for
Best Novel the same year it was released (1959). The novel has been released in 51 editions since Its initial publication, with the latest being released in 2014 as an
e-book
An ebook (short for electronic book), also known as an e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Alt ...
.
Premise and plot
The novel starts with its protagonist, Thomas Blaine, waking in an operating room during the procedure to give him a new host body and thus a new life. He is then soon conscious and aware of the fact he is living in the year 2110, a result of his mind being transferred into a new host body and the procedure completed. He must then learn to live with his new circumstances, as his last living moments were in 1958 and an existential struggle ensues with the new world he now finds himself living in.
In film and television
This story was first adapted as the opening episode for the third series of the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
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as Tom Clarke (a renamed Thomas Blaine). The master videotape for the episode was later
by the corporation, and only brief video and audio clips are known to exist. The Beatles discuss watching it in the first part of ''The Beatles: Get Back.''
The story was loosely adapted into the 1992 film ''Freejack''.
A famous scene from the novel involving a character lost in a future New York City and mistakenly getting in line for a suicide booth was parodied in Space Pilot 3000, the pilot episode of ''Futurama''.