The Teleportation Accident

Ned Beauman

If the self-absorbed son of Terry Pratchett and Donna Tartt had hung around the fringes of the literary and scientific worlds in 1930's Western Europe and Los Angeles then this could have been his story: amazing, hilarious and yet frightening. I would like to include a challenge to identify not only a serial killer but also the author of bestselling 'Dames! And How to Lay Them.' I couldn't.

Extract

'What about the Inflation?' said Rackenham. 'That was politics' fault. And you can hardly say that didn't affect you?'
'Actually, he can, ' said Achleitner ....
'Anton is partly correct,' said Loesser, 'but he neglects to mention that both my parents died in a car accident. Thus cancelling out any egalitarian guilt I might otherwise have felt.'
... 'I'm sorry to hear that people here have to feel guilty about growing up in comfort. In England even my socialist friends wouldn't be so tiresome.'

Parallels