The Steam-Driven Boy is John Sladek's first collection of brilliant, eccentric, darkly satirical and downright weird science fiction stories. As a bonus it includes his parodies of SF authors, uproariously spoofing Asimov (and the Laws of Robotics), Ballard, Bradbury, Dick, Poe, Cordwainer Smith, and more.

John Sladek's hilarious SF satires may show a world riddled with shambolic flaws, but this (he pointed out) is actually the good news: "My own small ray of hope concerns human frailty. All conspiracies, no matter how monstrous, are ultimately the work of mere imperfect people, whose irresolution or bad judgement or even bad conscience works against the system. They get bunions, their cars break down, their children run away -and all this grit gets into the smooth-running gears of their world domination plans. I hope."

Alien Accounts, published in British paperback in 1982, was the third collection of John Sladek's brilliant and eccentric short stories. There has never been an American edition until now.

The last book by one of the most original, brilliant and under-rated American writers of the 20th century. Like many of Sladek's earlier books, Wholly Smokes is almost impossible to categorize, other than to say it is the fictionalized history of a tobacco company, one which seems to have been present at, or had bizarre influence on, many of the great moments of history.

Maps: The Uncollected John Sladek is a compilation of 60 of John Sladek's previously uncollected short stories, including a few poems, playlets, essays and collaborations with Thomas Disch