From: utzoo!decvax!decwrl!sun!gnu Newsgroups: net.suicide Title: Re: fate worse than death Article-I.D.: sun.193 Posted: Tue Feb 1 02:06:47 1983 Received: Wed Feb 2 05:43:30 1983 References: houxf.272 Van Vogt's "Weapon Shops of Isher" is not the source of this fantasy; it must be the Sheckley book. Van Vogt would not be so crass as to write about a player's "inserting his genitals" in the machine, either -- what about the 51% for whom whirling blades would only give a close shave? To give some probably undeserved credit, maybe Sheckley thought women were smart enough not to play the game... John Gilmore, Sun Microsystems PS: If you're into SF suicides, Joanna Russ wrote a short novel (title forgotten) about some shipwrecked people, one of whom refuses to go along with the prevalent "let's the 7 of us tame and populate this planet" spirit, preferring to quietly and comfortably expire. The tamers and populators refuse to give her the option, of course; they want her to make babies. It's not one of her best but what do you want in a suicide book?