Thomas M. Disch fu un poeta e un cinico che portò nella fantascienza della New Wave una sensibilità camp e un sarcasmo che a molta fantascienza era mancato. I suoi romanzi di fantascienza sono di una originalità sbalorditiva e tra le opere più compiute e agrodolci del genere. Negli anni successivi, Disch si dedicò a romanzi horror con una moralizzazione ironica che satirizzano l'incubo della periferia americana attraverso eventi terribili. La sua opera, spesso la più conosciuta, è una rivisitazione di una classica fiaba che divenne un riuscito musical d'animazione per bambini.
A novel that follows a former British secret agent who has quit the force, only to find himself trapped in an anonymous place called the Village; known only as 'Number 6', he struggles to maintain his identity in the face of the nameless powers-that-be, who use increasingly sophisticated and terrifying methods to extract his secrets.
Greenhouse Summer is an ambitious new SF novel about ecology, international politics, the media, and young passion. The world of the future is in a lot of trouble. Pollution, overpopulation, and ecological disasters have left the rich nations still rich, and the poor nations dying. Still, for international businesses it is business as usual. It is better to be rich. But is it all coming to a terrible end? A scientist has predicted Condition Venus, the sudden greenhouse end of the planet -- but she can't say when. So the attention of the world is on a UN conference in Paris, where all hell is about to break loose. Filled with sex, science, politics, tough moral choices, and great parties, this book will be one of the most read SF books of the year.
In this speculative fiction, Thomas M. Disch depicts an alternate 1970s where America is at war with the world and its citizens. Louis Sacchetti, a poet imprisoned for draft resistance, becomes a witness to brutal military experiments at Camp Archimedes, where a drug called Pallidine enhances intelligence but leads to death.
Op een winterse dag in het Minneapolis van de jaren 70 krijgt de jonge Billy Michaels een visioen waarin de kerstman aan hem verschijnt. Op dat cruciale ogenblik in zijn leven vangt hij voor het eerst een glimp op van de macht die zijn levensloop zal vormen en vervormen. Want deze kerstman is niemand anders dan de eeuwenoude god Mercurius, die Billy laat kennismaken met een buitengewone macht: die van de slangestaf. Gaandeweg leert Billy hoe hij deze verschrikkelijke talisman kan activeren en gebruiken, soms met rampzalige gevolgen...
Psychologický román s prvky hororu je mistrně podaným příběhem mystické hrůzy a tajemna, odehrávajícím se v nedávné minulosti a blízké budoucnosti. V rozmezí téměř čtvrt století sledujeme osudy chlapce Billyho, který se v šesti letech stal vyvolencem dávného boha lékařského umění Merkura a díky jeho talismanu byl nadán zázračnou silou léčit a uzdravovat. Neumí však jen léčit, ale i zabíjet a ničit. Děs, který taková moc plodí, se odráží během let nejen na členech rodiny, ale postupně, s Billovým přibývajícím věkem, kdy se stává věhlasným lékařem, i na celém lidstvu. Drama „božího" působení vrcholí, zlo přerůstá do neovladatelnosti a obrací se nakonec i proti jeho samotnému nositeli. Billy se dostává do soukolí obludné mašinérie, kterou sám stvořil...... celý text
Bob was the happiest man in the world. His wife was dead, and no one suspected him of the murder. His mother-in-law was dying, and would probably leave him an inheritance. With both of them gone, Bob could live the good life. But then Bob's wife came back from the grave . . . and she brought her mother with her.
