Sladek was born in the USA in 1937, but from 1966 until the mid-1980s he lived in London. He soon became identified with the "new wave", then taking the science fiction world by storm, but in truth Sladek's work has always been uniquely uncategorizable. His work is humorous, satirical, often melancholy and occasionally surprisingly passionate. He is always highly readable and entertaining. His best novels include The Reproductive System (1968), Black Alice, a collaboration with Thomas M. Disch (1968), and Roderick (1980). All his novels can be recommended, but some of his best work is found in his non-fiction and short stories.

His most significant work of non-fiction is The New Apocrypha (1973) a scathing examination of pseudoscience and cult religions. See the Sladek links below for "Science Fiction and Pseudoscience", a speech he delivered while preparing this book; this outlines several of its themes with characteristic wit. His story collections include The Steam-Driven Boy (1973), containing most of his celebrated parodies of science fiction authors, Keep the Giraffe Burning (1978), and a posthumous collection edited by Ansible's David Langford, Maps: The Uncollected John Sladek (2002). Towards the end of his life, Sladek remarried and returned to the USA, to live in Minnesota.

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