Disch, Thomas M(ichael)

(US, 1940– )

Born to the family of a travelling salesman, Thomas M. Disch encompasses poetry, criticism, and fiction in his work. He is a winner of two O. Henry Prizes for short stories, the W. Campbell Memorial award and the British Science Fiction award. He started his writing career with a short story, ‘The Double Timer’—bought for $112 by the editor of Fantastic Stories, and he has continued to master the medium, maintaining a prolific output since 102 H-Bombs (1966). Most of all he is known as a witty and clever science fiction entertainer. His speculative style is best displayed in novels such as the classic Camp Concentration (1968), in which American political prisoners are poisoned with experimental chemicals which boost brainpower to genius levels but bring on an awful early death. In The Business Man (1984), a jealous murder leads to a grimly fascinating haunting.

Kurt Vonnegut, William Gibson  AM