Robert Sheckley

American writer

Robert Sheckleywas an American writer. First published in the science-fiction magazines of the 1950s, his many quick-witted stories and novels were famously unpredictable, absurdist, and broadly comical.

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About the Robert Sheckley

Robert Sheckleywas an American writer. First published in the science-fiction magazines of the 1950s, his many quick-witted stories and novels were famously unpredictable, absurdist, and broadly comical.

Nominated for Hugo and Nebula Awards, Sheckley was named Author Emeritus by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2001.

22 Quotes by Robert Sheckley

  1. 1.

    I’m not so interested any more in how a great deal of science fiction goes. It goes into things like Star Wars and Star Trek which all go excellent in their own way.

    Robert Sheckley

    American writer

  2. 2.

    Once you find you can’t walk as far and as fast as you were able, life becomes more complicated.

    Robert Sheckley

    American writer

  3. 3.

    I don’t much like to look back with the idea that I was doing it wrong then or I’m doing it wrong now.

    Robert Sheckley

    American writer

  4. 4.

    The absurdist stuff wasn’t terribly popular at the time I was doing it.

    Robert Sheckley

    American writer

  5. 5.

    Ethical and questions of philosophy interest me a great deal.

    Robert Sheckley

    American writer

  6. 6.

    I have never been a critic of science fiction as a whole.

    Robert Sheckley

    American writer

  7. 7.

    I was forever reading outside of the field as well as in it.

    Robert Sheckley

    American writer

  8. 8.

    I’m quite influenced in this by one of my heroes, Montaigne, who thought a man’s real task was to render as honest an account of himself as he could.

    Robert Sheckley

    American writer

  9. 9.

    So I wrote what I hoped would be science fiction, I was not at all sure if what I wrote would be acceptable even. But I don’t say that I consciously wrote with humour. Humour is a part of you that comes out.

    Robert Sheckley

    American writer

  10. 10.

    A lot of us don’t want to be quite that serious about world problems. Our life is there to enjoy, not to be an eternal dissident, eternally unhappy with how things are and with the state of mankind.

    Robert Sheckley

    American writer

  11. 11.

    I’ve always thought of absurdism as a French fad I’d like to belong to.

    Robert Sheckley

    American writer

  12. 12.

    I do think that short story writing is often a matter of luck.

    Robert Sheckley

    American writer

  13. 13.

    It takes me a long time to get with a landscape. It took me 20 years before I wrote anything about Ibiza, and I haven’t written about Oregon yet, although I’ve been there 20 years – possibly I’m almost due.

    Robert Sheckley

    American writer

  14. 14.

    I’m not too fond of the hard work and the constant battle with self-doubt that goes on when I write, but I figure that’s part of the territory.

    Robert Sheckley

    American writer

  15. 15.

    There is a great deal of cyberpunk that I admire, especially the work of William Gibson which I think is excellent. Somehow he speaks from his own heart and cyber punk is what comes out.

    Robert Sheckley

    American writer

  16. 16.

    A novel is often a longer process in handling self-doubt.

    Robert Sheckley

    American writer

  17. 17.

    I was never able to write seriously about heroes because I was very aware that I was not one and that in my background there was not this heroic thing.

    Robert Sheckley

    American writer

  18. 18.

    I like to think that I have no single view nor any single situation that I think things arrive from. I try to give examples of what I think are interesting questions for me.

    Robert Sheckley

    American writer

  19. 19.

    I don’t finish every story, but I probably write and send out three out of five of them.

    Robert Sheckley

    American writer

  20. 20.

    Science fiction is very healthy in its form.

    Robert Sheckley

    American writer

  21. 21.

    I knew I was doing something right because it was selling so I didn’t want to interfere with it.

    Robert Sheckley

    American writer

  22. 22.

    As far as the mechanics go, working with other people on received ideas was for me a very interesting technical problem. I can’t say that any of my collaborations engaged my heart, but they engaged the craftsman in me.

    Robert Sheckley

    American writer