John Thomas Sladek (December 15, 1937 – March 10, 2000 ) wrote satirical and surrealistic novels. He was a native of Minnesota. Sladek was involved in the New Wave movement of science fiction. Arachne Rising, the manuscript and working documents in this collection, was a bit of a spoof, purporting to be an account of the thirteenth sign of the Zodiac. A further hoax, Judgment of Jupiter as by Richard A. Tilms, was even less successful.