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?