Puff Love

Puff Love is John Sladek’s final novel, completed just before his early death in 2000. A mystery story with the traditional elements of a discovered corpse, a crowd of suspects and a reluctant sleuth with an unusual sidekick, Puff Love has all the qualities associated with John Sladek’s best work: a gentle parodic wit, inventive ideas and a wholly original way of looking at modern life. Born in Iowa in 1937, Sladek lived and worked in Britain for many years, and became a key member of the New Wave movement. He wrote many science fiction and mystery novels, as well as scores of short stories (many of which are included in Ansible’s collections Maps and New Maps). He also produced some deeply amusing works of sceptical non-fiction, debunking cults, astrology and anti-Stratfordians. Sladek returned to the USA in 1986.