''The Grand Wheel'' is the eighth

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

novel by

Barrington J. Bayley Barrington J. Bayley (9 April 1937 – 14 October 2008) was an English science fiction writer. Biography Bayley was born in Birmingham and educated in Newport, Shropshire. He worked a number of jobs before joining the Royal Air Force during 1 ...

. 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 John Scarne (; March 4, 1903 – July 7, 1985) was an American magician and author who was particularly adept at playing card manipulation. He became known as an expert on cards and other games, and authored a number of popular books on cards, g ...

Literary significance and reception

Rhys Hughes, in his survey of Bayley's work, described ''The Grand Wheel'' as an "entertaining gambling novel" with a "seedy and elegant" atmosphere. 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".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grand Wheel 1977 British novels 1977 science fiction novels Novels by Barrington J. Bayley DAW Books books English science fiction novels