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The Grand Wheel

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The Grand Wheel
First edition
AuthorBarrington J. Bayley
Cover artistDon Maitz
LanguageEnglish
GenreScience fiction
PublisherDAW Books
Publication date
August 1977
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Media typePrint (Paperback)
Pages176
ISBN978-0-87997-318-6

The Grand Wheel is the eighth science fiction novel by Barrington J. Bayley. The novel follows Cheyne Scarne, a professor of "randomatics", as he is selected by the eponymous organization (which holds a galactic monopoly on games of chance) to represent humanity in a card game with infinitely varying rules. The name of the main character appears to be a reference to John Scarne.

Literary significance and reception

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Rhys Hughes, in his survey of Bayley's work, described The Grand Wheel as an "entertaining gambling novel" with a "seedy and elegant" atmosphere.[1] Colin Greenland, writing in Foundation 18, received the novel negatively, saying that it had been produced for the market and "would have been old in 1957".[2]

References

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  1. ^ "Annihilation Factotum: The work of Barrington J. Bayley". The Council for the Literature of the Fantastic. Archived from the original on 4 October 2012. Retrieved 30 September 2012.
  2. ^ "Astounding Worlds of Barrington J. Bayley". Foundation 18. Retrieved 30 September 2012.