'Dimension of Miracles- Revisited'
(Robert Sheckley's new, unpublished novella) DIMENSION OF MIRACLES REVISITED

INITIAL IMPRESSIONS 107 A4 pages, 44,000 pages, spiral bound with typing errors.

A lot to admire in this work even if it perplexed me at times!
It revisits the story of Tom Carmody and his prize Melichrone.
It started as a dream…
‘One night, as the king of infinite space lay sleeping, he dreamed a curious dream. It was about a man or at least a being called Tom Carmody..’
It could be construed in part as a satire on monarchy, a King who saw little purpose to his own kingship and whose only perk was first run movies. “The king’s job could be described as ceremonial instrumentality. He could do anything, but his job was to do nothing, and do it gracefully.” (page 52) It is the prerogative of the disenchanted to fantasise and who better to dream about than Carmody, a legend since his visit to the Galactic Centre in ‘Dimension of Miracles’- there was even a ‘Friends of TC Club’ and a souvenir business after all!
I couldn’t help being reminded of a current writer Terry Pratchett, who surely cannot be unaware of Sheckley as a predecessor in the realm of imaginative/ humorous sci-fi/ fantasy in this scene depicting a debate between an ashtray and a cigarette lighter. According to the ashtray ‘the universe is balanced on the back of a small, hard shelled crab’ whereas the lighter claims it was a medium sized armadillo’
There are some superb characters as always.
The indecisive Baron Corvo, the Chief of Secret Police
The supercilious Princess Robin who is determined to marry the King.
There are the usual quota of what The Daily Telegraph called in its review of the original book ‘sharp knocks at present-day Earth’ (including the oxymoronic Thorus, the official purveyor of illegal weapons)
I got a bit lost at times especially the bit where Tom Carmody was trying to get back to Earth with a sponsor called the Tangleblat. (He is routinely expected to swallow a quintillion Tangleblat eggs in the process and allow them to invade and take over Earth of course!)
As ever, this a clever and funny story with one or two twists at the end.Has anyone else out there read ‘Dimension of Miracles Revisited’. If so I would love to hear from you and to explore this work much, much further!