"Reborn Again" by Robert Sheckley
Robert Sheckley creates a complex comedy of errors with "Reborn Again." Ritchie Castleman awakens inside Moses Grelich’s body, a vessel that he purchases to replace his own decaying body. Contrary to the Mind Movers contract, Grelich’s mind is still present within the flesh. When Grelich’s friends and associates appear at the door and intrude on Ritchie’s life, the frustrations in sharing a body become evident.
This story is a trip through coincidence and complexity as one character after another makes his or her entrance into the co-existence of Grelich and Castleman and their struggle for choice, life, principle, and individuality.
The text is repetitive at times, and the resolution is too predictable for my taste. Layers of comedy weave through the story, knitting together reality and fantasy.
Ellen Klages’s drawing of a man scratching his head sums up the story eloquently.