Experiencing Thomas M. Disch

Last night a man walked into the library asking for books by Thomas M. Disch, who, as most sf fans know, tragically took his own life last weekend. Our library system owns four Disch titles: Business Man: A Tale of Terror, The Priest: A Gothic Romance, The Sub: A Study in Witchcraft, and the new book, The Word of God: Or, Holy Writ Rewritten.

I was helping another patron while my co-worker helped the man looking for Disch books. By the time I'd finished with my patron, the man had placed requests outside the county for a couple of Disch titles we didn't carry. He also gave my co-worker his name and number, asking if she could find Disch's Casablanca and to see if she could find it for him.

I told her I'd search it for her, and found that "Casablanca" is not a novel, but a short story available on the SCIFICTION classics archive (which I have bookmarked to read later today). We called the patron and told him. He was delighted.



I have to confess that I haven't read Disch, even though I own two of his novels, 334 and Camp Concentration.



I always feel horrible when an important writer has left us and I haven't taken the time to read any of his work. I actually bought both novels years ago, knowing that they are important works in the sf canon, but used the excuse of "Well, I'm just not in the mood to read that right now" as a way of delaying reading something that might make me uncomfortable or challenge my worldview. And that type of thinking is just flat-out wrong.

I'm putting 334 at the top of my reading stack. I'd also challenge you to read something by Disch, especially if (like me) you haven't read him before.