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 Cover of The People Maker (1959), which was revised and republished as A for Anything (1961) | |
| Author | Damon Knight |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Published | 1959 (Berkley) |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) (magazine) |
| Pages | 160 |
A for Anything is a science fiction novel by American writer Damon Knight. The author postulates the discovery, in the near future, of the "Gismo", a device that can duplicate anything—even another Gismo. Since all material objects have become essentially free, the only commodity of value is human labor, and the author suggests that a slave economy would be the inevitable result.
The novel first appeared in 1959 as The People Maker (Zenith Books), based on a story in the November 1957 issue of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Knight subsequently revised the text, which was published by Berkley in 1961 as A for Anything. It is generally considered to be Knight's finest novel.[citation needed]
Knight has said of this novel:[1] "I chose the matter duplicator, because I thought other authors had handled it badly."
- ^ Aldiss, Brian W.; Harrison, Harry (1975), Hell's Cartographers, London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, p. 246, ISBN 0-297-76882-4