The People Trap

by Robert Sheckley

Paperback, 1972

Status

Available

Call number

823.9

Library's review

Indeholder "The People Trap", "The Victim from Space", "Shall We Have a Little Talk?", "Restricted Area", "The Odour of Thought", "The Necessary Thing", "Redfern's Labyrinth", "Proof of the Pudding", "The Laxian Key", "The Last Weapon", "Fishing Season", "Dreamworld", "Diplomatic Immunity", "Ghost

V".

"The People Trap" handler om kapløb om jord i en overbefolket verden.
"The Victim from Space" handler om ???
"Shall We Have a Little Talk?" handler om en sprogspecialist der møder et sjovt sprog.
"Restricted Area" handler om ???
"The Odour of Thought" handler om ???
"The Necessary Thing" handler om ???
"Redfern's Labyrinth" handler om ???
"Proof of the Pudding" handler om ???
"The Laxian Key" handler om ???
"The Last Weapon" handler om ???
"Fishing Season" handler om ???
"Dreamworld" handler om ???
"Diplomatic Immunity" handler om ???
"Ghost V" handler om barndommens spøgelser.

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Genres

Science Fiction

All Topics

Fiction

Collection

English paperback sf

Publication

Macmillan (1972), Paperback, 224 pages

Description

A collection of witty science fiction including a Nebula Award-nominated story. In "Diplomatic Immunity," what happens when an alien ambassador arrives, telling the residents of Earth that they will be joining a galactic union whether they like it or not--and the ambassador is unkillable? The thirteen other stories in this collection are "The People Trap," "The Victim from Space," "Shall We Have a Little Talk?", "Restricted Area," "The Odor of Thought," "The Necessary Thing," "Redfern's Labyrinth," "Proof of the Pudding," "The Laxian Key," "The Last Weapon," "Fishing Season," "Dreamworld," and "Ghost V." 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."… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member clong

This is vintage Sheckley, and I personally find his work from the 50s and 60s to be consistently fun and entertaining (something I can't always say of his later work). These are stories that are well written and often full of witty, dry humor delivered with a wink--but don't expect characters to

leap off the pages at you, or any probing of the profound. Aliens tend to look like, act like, and be capable of having relations with people from Earth.

My favorites were "Proof of the Pudding," a story that could have come off as sexist, but was really rather touching instead; "The Odor of Thought," the tale of an insterstellar mailman stranded on a planet populated by telepathic predators; "Fishing Season" which tells of a housing track where people are going mysteriously missing; the haunted planet tale "Ghost V"; "The Victim from Space" about a clueless spacefarer who ingratiates himself with planetary natives with a dark secret; "Shall We Have a Little Talk?" in which a capitalist explorer tries to trick the natives; "The Petrified World" about a man who lives in a world where everything is constantly changing; and "The People Trap" a sort of precursor tale to "The Running Man." In fact, the only tale in this collection that left me disappointed was "Redfern's Labyrinth" a sort of Borgesian excercise in metatext that didn't really work for me.

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1 more

LibraryThing member RobertDay

Short note: the cover art on the Pan paperback (UK) (both impressions) is a rework of Chris Foss' first piece of sf artwork, originally produced for an article in the Sunday Times colour supplement in 1969.

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