Dark sci-fi genius wrote at superhuman speed — Barry Malzberg

Could a human writer complete a readable novel in just 27 hours? Barry Malzberg, who died last week at 85, did it — and it wasn't even his most impressive achievement.

In February 1969, a 29-year-old Malzberg sat down at his typewriter and churned out Diary of a Parisian Chambermaid at a pace of 60 words per minute. The resulting 60,000-word novel, writt…