Dimension of Miracles Revisited

Dimension of Miracles #2

by Robert Sheckley

Genres: Science Fiction

214 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

One of science fiction's great humorists, Sheckley was a prolific short story writer beginning in 1952 with titles including "Specialist", "Pilgrimage to Earth", "Warm", "The Prize of Peril", and "Seventh Victim", collected in volumes from Untouched by Human Hands (1954) to Is That What People Do? (1984) and a five-volume set of Collected Stories (1991). His first novel, Immortality, Inc. (1958), was followed by The Status Civilization (1960), Journey Beyond Tomorrow (1962), Mindswap (1966), and several others. Sheckley served as fiction editor for Omni magazine from January 1980 through September 1981, and was named Author Emeritus by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2001.

Reviews

[Jason]

This book was self-published by Sheckley and is considered very rare. Some research indicates that there were likely 50 - 100 copies printed. Mine is No. 43 so there are at least that many. I read it the minute it came in the mail in 1999 or 2000 but have no memory of the story. My copy is accompanied by two short stories: Sightseeing, 2179 and A Trick Worth Two of That.

It so happened that I was in correspondence with Mr. Sheckley during the time he was selling his book through mail-order and I was able to procure one. I wish it was better available and have no idea how you can pick one up today.

The links below are the only other information I could find about the book.

Cheers.

https://www.kgbfantasticfiction.org/2...

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedi...

[J.W. · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a damn shame that this is so rare and was never published in English. It’s delightful. Really feels like a proper follow-up, with lots of fun characters, philosophical bickering, political satire, and, of course, Tom Carmody. The new setting and all its quirks are a joy to explore. It’s a bit messy, with frequent typos and the occasional sequence where Sheckley even admits he didn’t know what to do with the story, but those all give it an almost endearing quality. But it’s definitely DoM, and worth a read. The final page is especially bittersweet. The 2 short stories included are really good, too (they showed up in his final collection Uncanny Tales as well), the first of which ruminates on what surely must’ve been on Sheckley’s mind at that age. Anyway, I could go on, but basically it’s still very Sheckley - witty, absurdist, philosophical, extremely deadpan - and I’m sad it didn’t get noticed because if it did I think people would have found lots to be delighted in.