John Thomas Sladek (December 15, 1937 – March 10, 2000) was an American science fiction author, known for his

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

and surreal novels.

Life and work

Born in Waverly, Iowa, 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 (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

novel, published in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

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 Roderick, Rodrick or Roderic (Proto-Germanic , from , + , ) is a Germanic name, recorded from the 8th century onward.Förstemann, ''Altdeutsches Namenbuch'' (1856)740 Its Old High German forms are , , , , , ; in Gothic language ; in Old English ...

'' and '' Roderick at Random'' 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 winning novel '' Tik-Tok'', featuring a sociopathic 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 Isaac Asimov ( ; – April 6, 1992) was an Russian-born American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. During his lifetime, Asimov was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers, along with Robert A. H ...

, Arthur C. Clarke, and Cordwainer Smith. These were collected in '' The Steam-Driven Boy and other Strangers'' (1973). Under the

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

of "James Vogh", Sladek wrote '' Arachne Rising'', 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, 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 Fixed expression, expression that occurs only once within a context: either in the written re ...

'' 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 as ...

'' " honorificabilitudinitatibus" 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 the phrase "nag a ram"; which ...

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 spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

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) was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England under King James I. Bacon argued for the importance of nat ...

wrote the play. Sladek noted that "honorificabilitudinitatibus" was also an anagram for ''I, B. Ionsonii, uurit

rit RIT is a common abbreviated name for Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York, USA. RIT or rit may also refer to: Business * Recherche et Industrie Thérapeutiques, the former name of what is now GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals in Bel ...

a lift'd batch'', thus "proving" that Shakespeare's works were written by

Ben Jonson Benjamin Jonson ( 11 June 1572 – ) was an English playwright, poet and actor. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence on English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for the satire, satirical ...

. Sladek returned from England to

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

, in 1986, where he lived until his death in 2000 from pulmonary fibrosis. 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 according to which matter is the fundamental substance in nature, and all things, including mental states and consciousness, are results of material interactions. According to philosophical materia ...

, 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 cl ...

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, Petroleum, oil, claimed radiations (radiesthesia),As translated from one preface of the Kassel experiments, "roughly 10,000 active do ...

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 or homeopathic physicians, believe that a substance that ...

parapsychology Parapsychology is the study of alleged psychic phenomena (extrasensory perception, telepathy, teleportation, precognition, clairvoyance, psychokinesis (also called telekinesis), and psychometry (paranormal), psychometry) and other paranormal cla ...

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 indefinitely without an external energy source. This kind of machine is impossible ...

and

Ufology Ufology, sometimes written UFOlogy ( or ), is the investigation of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) by people who believe that they may be of extraordinary claims, extraordinary origins (most frequently of extraterrestrial hypothesis, extrate ...

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 * ''

'' Granada 1980; Carroll & Graf 1987 * '' Roderick at Random'' 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 person, British academics, science fiction fandom, science fiction fans, authors, publishers and booksellers in order to promote the writing, ...

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

* '' The Steam-Driven Boy and other Strangers'' 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 Literary criticism, critic, largely active within the science fiction field. He publishes the science-fiction fanzine and newsletter ''Ansible'' and holds the all-time ...

(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 cl ...

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" * "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 satirists American satirical novelists American surrealist writers American skeptics American critics of alternative medicine Critics of parapsychology People from Waverly, Iowa 20th-century American short story writers 20th-century American male writers