THE HEIMLICH AND OTHER MANEUVERS, a comic novel by Haskell Barkin, is a departure from his writing on such TV series as THE TWILIGHT ZONE, TALES FROM THEDARKSIDE, and as story editor on JAYCE AND THE WHEELED WARRIORS. There was evidence of Huck's humor in "Act Break" from TWILIGHT ZONE and "Would You Do It for a Penny?"--his 1967 humorous colaboration with Harlan Ellison from PLAYBOY MAGAZINE--but now his comedy bursts out in this tale of Ezra Popkin, a Hollywood writer whose creative collaborator has abandoned him after 20 years, whose architect wife insists on perpetually remodeling their home, and whose agent excels at environmental activism (but agenting, not so much).