Reading (most of) Robert Sheckley’s classic sci-fi series AAA online free
His AAA series was a flawed business agency—in space.
First published in the science-fiction magazines in the 1950s, Robert Sheckley (1928-2005) was a Hugo- and Nebula nominated SF writer whose “quick-witted stories and novels” were known for being hilarious, unpredictable, and sometimes even absurdist. Nominated for Nebula- and Hugo Awards, in 2001, Sheckley was named Author Emeritus by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.
“Robert Sheckley stands out from his contemporaries of the golden age of science fiction by being not just great but also often very funny,” notes Richard Sparks. “Sheckley has a wry, insightful wit, which puts him in a class of his own among the giants of the post-WW2 era.”
Research tells us that Sheckley’s only series was a few short stories featuring his AAA Ace Interplanetary Decontamination Service. In fact, this series just ran for eight short stories. (I’ll link to each of them below.)
The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction description of the series is that it stars “two hapless spacegoing entrepreneurs whose schemes tend to go awry thanks to bizarre aliens, dubious (usually alien) technology and general lack of forethought.”
“It’s basically Ghostbusters in space,” Sparks says. “What more could you want?”
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How I learned about Robert Sheckley
Science fiction writer Sheckley wrote a number of short stories and novels known for their humor. But with a lot of his fiction published in the 1950s-1980s, the main reason I only recently heard about Sheckley was because his 1968 novel Dimension of Miracles was said to be a lot like Douglas Adams’ classic sci-fi comedy book The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Of course, Hitchhiker’s Guide wasn’t published until 1978—a whole 10 years after Sheckley’s book.
In Adams’ defense, he said that he hadn’t read any of Sheckley’s fiction until he was told about some of the similarities. But once he did check it out, even he acknowledged how alike the two books turned out to be.
Robert Sheckley’s humorous SF is certainly a wonderful find for fans of Douglas Adams. Apparently, after Adams heard about the similarities between their fiction—and he read some of Sheckley’s work for himself—Adams said, “Sheckley writes better.”
I’ve now started reading Sheckley’s fiction. He wrote a lot of short stories, so I still have a long ways to go.
AAA Ace Interplanetary Decontamination Service series
One set of Sheckley’s stories I can already recommend right now: His AAA Ace Interplanetary Decontamination Service series. Apparently, it was the only series he ever wrote. (And even that was a mere eight stories.)
These AAA stories starred a couple of luckless space-traveling businessmen whose plans always went bad. Mostly published in the 1950s (with one return to the characters in the 1980s), seven of these stories are available online in scans of the original magazines in which they appeared.
(Note: Although published in a different order, the first story is actually “Ghost V.” That’s why the dates look weird.)
“Ghost V” (Read it free online: Galaxy Magazine, October 1954)
“Milk Run” (Read it free online: Galaxy Magazine, September 1954)
“The Laxian Key” (Read it free online: Galaxy Magazine, November 1954)
“Squirrel Cage” (Read it free online: Galaxy Magazine, January 1955)
“The Lifeboat Mutiny” (Read it free online: Galaxy Magazine, April 1955)
“The Necessary Thing” (Read it free online: Galaxy Magazine, June 1955)
“The Skag Castle” (Read it free online: Fantastic Universe, March 1956)
The final story in the series, “Sarkanger,” is available in the short story collection Divine Intervention. Several bookstore options can be found from the publisher here.
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