News comes of the death of Thomas M. Disch, a prolific American author who made even science fiction seem more twisted. He shot himself in his Manhattan apartment Friday, according to the New York Times obituary, after a string of personal setbacks. He was 68.

Disch created poetry, plays, criticism and books -- among them Camp Concentration and 334 -- as part of the "new wave" of science fiction writers with a more literary style. Oddly, though, he may best be remembered as the creator of The Brave Little Toaster -- his book was made into an animated movie. (A song from the movie.)

He never shied from controversy. In 1990, one of his plays triggered a court battle. The Roman Catholic Church sought to evict a theater company from a former parochial school where it staged a play about a cardinal who kills a pregnant woman while driving drunk. Disch said church officials were trying to censor his play, "The Cardinal Detoxes."

Photo by Jaime Spracher/The Free Press