Thomas M. Disch has been called by one critic "very likely the finest intellect in science fiction today." He is more than that, however. He is one of the finest writers of fiction today. Disch is a writer who constantly challenges the ultimately limiting dichotomy between science fiction and so-called mainstream literature. Early and late, his works display the wit, intelligence, moral seriousness, and stylistic energy usually associated with mainstream writers. Indeed, Disch seems to delight in skirting the edge of science fiction, in blurring easy distinctions. He often employs standard science-fiction themes--such as alien invasions or future technological advances--for dramatically untraditional effects, and he does not hesitate to introduce into his work the kind of technical experimentation and aesthetic novelty usually reserved for serious fiction.

Disch himself clearly rejects the second-rate status to which science fiction is often relegated. In a witty and iconoclastic lecture, "The Embarrassments...