Looking around a bit, I came across a couple of implementations that might be of interest for those wanting to mash up "some kind of system programming" and "scheme": Bigloo (interpret / compile to executables, java byte code or experimentally dot.net) and larceny (interpret / direct compile to machine code / optionally via c):
I used Bigloo years ago to build Scheme bindings to a few of our C applications and libraries. It's so much more fun to script your applications - similar to how your can/could script The Gimp with SIOD (Scheme in one Defun) Scheme.
Looking around a bit, I came across a couple of implementations that might be of interest for those wanting to mash up "some kind of system programming" and "scheme": Bigloo (interpret / compile to executables, java byte code or experimentally dot.net) and larceny (interpret / direct compile to machine code / optionally via c):
http://www-sop.inria.fr/mimosa/fp/Bigloo/
http://www.larcenists.org/