Store of the Worlds

Store of the Worlds
Author: Robert Sheckley
Publisher: New York Review of Books
Total Pages: 417
Release: 2012-05-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1590175085

An NYRB Classics Original Robert Sheckley was an eccentric master of the American short story, and his tales, whether set in dystopic city­scapes, ultramodern advertising agencies, or aboard spaceships lighting out for hostile planets, are among the most startlingly original of the twentieth century. Today, as the new worlds, alternate universes, and synthetic pleasures Sheckley foretold become our reality, his vision begins to look less absurdist and more prophetic. This retrospective selection, chosen by Jonathan Lethem and Alex Abramovich, brings together the best of Sheckley’s deadpan farces, proving once again that he belongs beside such mordant critics of contemporary mores as Bruce Jay Friedman, Terry Southern, and Thomas Pynchon.

The Status Civilization

The Status Civilization
Author: Robert Sheckley
Publisher: Good Press
Total Pages: 144
Release: 2023-08-22
Genre: Fiction
ISBN:

"The Status Civilization" by Robert Sheckley. Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are user-friendly and accessible to everyone in a high-quality digital format.

Mindswap

Mindswap
Author: Robert Sheckley
Publisher: Orb Books
Total Pages: 230
Release: 2006-05-30
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1466827343

A classic science fiction novel from beloved author Robert Sheckley returns to print in Mindswap. In the future, interstellar travel to alien worlds will be too expensive for most ordinary people. It certainly is for Marvin, a college student who wants to take a really good vacation. And so he signs up for what he can afford, a mindswap, in which your consciousness is swapped into the body of an alien lifeform. But Marvin is unlucky, and finds himself in the body of an interstellar criminal, a body that he has to vacate fast. But that criminal consciousness has stolen Marvin's earthly body, and Marvin has to find a body on the black market. Travel from world to world with Marvin, each one crazier than the last, as he keeps finding far from ideal bodies in awful situations, just to stay alive. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Immortality Inc.

Immortality Inc.
Author: Robert Sheckley
Publisher: Open Road Media
Total Pages: 208
Release: 2014-04-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1480496723

A man wakes up after a fatal car accident—in someone else’s body—in this ahead-of-its-time Hugo Award–nominated classic. Thomas Blaine remembered the car accident that killed him—and then he woke up in the hospital. A nurse told him where he was. “You’d call it being in the future.” A future where bodies are sold to the highest bidder as new homes for the minds of the rich, who are greedy for more life when their own bodies wear out or are damaged. Suddenly, keeping body and soul together has taken on a new, and very sinister, meaning. From the very beginning of his career, Robert Sheckley was recognized by fans, reviewers, and fellow authors as a master storyteller and the wittiest satirist working in the science fiction field. Open Road is proud to republish his acclaimed body of work, with nearly thirty volumes of full-length fiction and short story collections. Rediscover, or discover for the first time, a master of science fiction who, according to the New York Times, was “a precursor to Douglas Adams.”

Notions: Unlimited

Notions: Unlimited
Author: Robert Sheckley
Publisher: Open Road Media
Total Pages: 191
Release: 2014-05-13
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1497650577

In “Gray Flannel Armor,” a man named Hanley finds perfection in a rigidly regular structure of social interaction—including for romance—and devises a system that the whole of humanity adopts. The eleven other stories in this collection are “Gray Flannel Armor,” “The Leech,” “Watchbird,” “A Wind Is Rising,” “Morning After,” “The Native Problem,” “Feeding Time,” “Paradise II,” “Double Indemnity,” “Holdout,” “Dawn Invader,” and “The Language of Love.” From the very beginning of his career, Robert Sheckley was recognized by fans, reviewers, and fellow authors as a master storyteller and the wittiest satirist working in the science fiction field. Open Road is proud to republish his acclaimed body of work, with nearly thirty volumes of full-length fiction and short story collections. Rediscover, or discover for the first time, a master of science fiction who, according to the New York Times, was “a precursor to Douglas Adams.”

Dimension of Miracles

Dimension of Miracles
Author: Robert Sheckley
Publisher: Open Road Media
Total Pages: 157
Release: 2014-04-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1480496901

A hapless Earthling must find his way home through a universe of absurdities in this science fiction romp from a Hugo and Nebula Award–nominated master. New York civil servant Thomas Carmody has never been particularly lucky. Imagine his surprise when he discovers he’s won the grand prize in an Intergalactic Lottery he had no idea he’d entered. Whisked far away to Galactic Central to claim his award, he has two immediate, equally troubling revelations. Not only does his Prize—a talkative device that changes shape—serve no practical purpose whatsoever, but now he’s expected to find his own way back to Earth. Of course, Carmody has no idea where, when, or even which universe he’s been stranded in. Ignoring the worthless advice and opinions of his increasingly annoying Prize, he embarks on a bizarre odyssey that takes him from alternate Earth to alternate Earth, bringing him into close contact with all manner of strangeness—and even with a bored God Almighty Himself. But Carmody’s sweepstakes “windfall” comes with yet another unexpected drawback. Suddenly, an unrelenting predator is on his tail, determined to eliminate the “glitch” wandering lost through numerous dimensions where he does not belong. A full decade before Douglas Adams devised TheHitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Robert Sheckley created his Dimension of Miracles, launching one luckless protagonist on a hilarious journey across an alien universe of intelligent dinosaurs and mothering sentient towns. Fans of Kurt Vonnegut, Roger Zelazny, Terry Pratchett’s Discworld, and Harry Harrison’s Bill the Galactic Hero will delight in Sheckley’s biting and brilliant Alice in Wonderland–like outer space adventure.

Pilgrimage to Earth

Pilgrimage to Earth
Author: Robert Sheckley
Publisher: Open Road Media
Total Pages: 186
Release: 2014-05-13
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1497650720

Science fiction tales from “one of the genre's leading humorists” (The New York Times Book Review). In “Pilgrimage to Earth,” on a long-desired trip to the home planet, a young man finds a perfectly developed society and, finally, deep, true love—which, sadly, only lasts for a very limited time before the reset button removes all trace of it. The fourteen other stories in this collection are “All the Things You Are,” “Trap,” “The Body,” “Early Model,” “Disposal Service,” “Human Man’s Burden,” “Fear in the Night,” “Bad Medicine,” “Protection,” “Earth, Air, Fire, and Water,” “Deadhead,” “The Academy,” “Milk Run,” and “The Lifeboat Mutiny.” From the very beginning of his career, Robert Sheckley was recognized by fans, reviewers, and fellow authors as a master storyteller and the wittiest satirist working in the science fiction field. Open Road is proud to republish his acclaimed body of work, with nearly thirty volumes of full-length fiction and short story collections. Rediscover, or discover for the first time, a master of science fiction who, according to the New York Times, was “a precursor to Douglas Adams.”

Options

Options
Author: Robert Sheckley
Publisher: Hachette UK
Total Pages: 150
Release: 2014-10-30
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1473207541

Tom Mishkin is piloting another routine supply flight when he hears an unusual noise and gets the distressing news: he's about to be stranded on a backward planet and forced to hike across unknown, and probably hostile, terrain to find a cache of spare parts and get going again. Mishkin's journey introduces him to strange aliens like a five-headed man-eating snake with Mob connections as his trek slowly warps into a metaphysical search for his soul and the meaning of human existence...

Ask a Foolish Question

Ask a Foolish Question
Author: Robert Sheckley
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 17
Release: 2016-04-26
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 168299757X

It's well established now that the way you put a question often determines not only the answer you'll get, but the type of answer possible. So ... a mechanical answerer, geared to produce the ultimate revelations in reference to anything you want to know, might have unsuspected limitations.