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Posted By: lord spoon Apr 14, 1999 - 12:06 pm

Frequently I am surprised and horrified to discover that some of the most widely read sci-fi enthusiasts I know have never read anything by Philip K. Dicke. The man was the most brilliant sci-fi writer of his generation, and arguably the one of the best writers of the last century, and yet more people than you might think are unaware that he wrote anything other than the book Blade Runner was based on (if they are even aware he was behind that). Philip K. Dicke, along with being an extremely prolific writer, managed to fit enormous scope into each of his works, whilst maintaining a focus and economy of language which ensured ease of reading by even as slow and easily confused as myself!
All of his books come highly recommended (my personal favourite is A Scanner Darkly, although this isn't primarily science fiction), just steer clear of Valis until you are used to all his many styles of writing, and are feeling confident, or if you happen to be God! A good starting point would be any of the five collections of short stories currently in publication.
I truly feel that the world would be a much better and more enlightened place if more people read Philip K. Dicke. (honest!).
p.s. don't be put off by the fact that you've seen Blade Runner, as Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? is much more vast in scope than the movie (although a brilliant piece of cinema) portrays.

i have added an e to the end of each reference to the author in question's surname as a result of the ludicrously misguided auto-censorship mechanism of this site.

Posted By: Archer Jun 04, 1999 - 03:13 pm

So you read Science Fiction and you've never heard of Philip K. Dick? I agree with the above writer in saying that the amount of people that i have met that are "huge" Sci-fi
fans and havnt read PKD is ubsurd. He is to the literary world in his time as van goh was to the artist community.
I was never really an avid reader until i picked up my first PKD novel. There was something in his style that just grabed me instinaniously. Ever since then i grab what every editions i can find of his novels. I would have to say that he has influenced my life greatly. You may not fill the same passion as I towards him but if you want to give his stuff a try here are a few of my favorites:

Flow my tears the policeman said (this was the first of his novels that i read
and i have to say that it is my all time favorite)
Radio free albemuth
Ubik
Do androids dream of electric sheep
A scanner darkly (a very close second in my list of favorites)
Galactic pot healer
A maze of death
the zap gun (i dont recomend reading this first but, if you find that you enjoy PKD give it a try. The first half is a real hard
read but i belive that the second makes up for it)

But i must warn you! if you want novels about
spaceships, and other star trek style sci-fi
do not read his books. But if you want a sci-fi story that is carried by its characters and plays with questions like what is reality and who are we, then you should read his stuff.

lastley i apologize for my horrible spelling/writting!

Posted By: Anonymous Mar 28, 2000 - 01:06 am

Phil K. Dick wrote in a genre that I don't think exists yet and I'm not sure what to call it. I'd put Kafka in the same boat and I'd put Frank Herbert in that boat as well. Also William Burroughs and the beats. Maybe it could be called "tanscendental fiction" or something. Writing either surrealist or spritual that goes beyond it's genre to explore consciousness. It's a hard thing to peg down of course, because there are people like this in nearly all writing genres...

Posted By: RongFo Apr 07, 2003 - 11:57 am

PKD was a god among SF writers. Unfortunately, such powers were too much for one man to possess. His writing always surprises me and makes me think. And the best thing about PDK is that he wrote a zillion books of nearly equal quality. If you become a fan, it will take years to find and read all his books. I've been reading him for almost 10 years, and I still haven't found them all.

I second all the recommendations so far, and add:

Dr. Bloodmoney
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
Martian Time Slip
and his collaboration with Zelazny: Deus Irae (sort of a sequel to Dr. Bloodmoney).

Posted By: Neuromancer May 31, 2003 - 12:16 pm

Hey some fans!!! hurah! I've just finished valis (got the appendix to read ie. the exegesis thing!) and although ive read some of his other books : do androids.... and we can build you , i have to say i found this book a real challenge: and would like to ask about a few points:
1. is there a biography of dick?
2.what can we make of the horselover/philip whichc one is he??! i could tell most of the time but the end was a little confusing: did he go round the world or simply read books about those places? and was he imagining his friends reaction or imagining travel? I am about to start doing my a-levels and this book has made me decide to take philosophy instead of psychology!

Posted By: RongFo May 31, 2003 - 07:32 pm

There are a couple more books that follow and (sort of) build on Valis. The Divine Invasion is a sequel, and Radio Free Albemuth is a sort of prequel/alternate version of Valis. All three were inspired by events that happened late in Dick's life, and he wrote them soon before he died. Honestly, I think these three books are his weakest works, but still interesting for their semiautobiographical quality.

I don't know if there's a biography, but there's an independant film with lots of interviews with his friends. Also check here: http://www.philipkdick.com/ for many resources and articles.

Posted By: RongFo May 31, 2003 - 08:51 pm

Bored at work, I started poking around and found:
Divine Invasions, A Life of Philip K. Dick by Lawrence Sutin. Likely it can be found at Amazon or somewhere.

Posted By: Neuromancer Jun 05, 2003 - 01:18 pm

So, what does everyone think did he actually go crazy!? What conclusions did everyone else draw from Valis?

Posted By: RongFo Jun 05, 2003 - 07:24 pm

That's the point of every Dick story (and in a different way the primary "theme" of the exegesis): no one but god knows for sure what reality is, and even god might be crazy.

Just IMOSVHO, though I recently hunted down his complete biblio and realized that over the years I've read all but 4 of his published novels.

I'm missing The Zap Gun, The Man Who Japed, The Simulacra, and The Broken Bubble. Dang, I sure wish there were more. Oh well, at least there are a bunch that I've only read once long ago.

Posted By: Neuromancer Jun 21, 2003 - 03:58 pm

Im just reading "the 3 stigmata of palmer eldritch" the Can-D reference is pretty funny! I've never come across this aspect of dick before: it seems always talked about in the comments about him though...

Posted By: Magus Sep 26, 2004 - 03:32 pm

We're actually reading one of his stories, The Minority report, in the book club here. Feel free to stop by and add in your two cents on the subject.

Posted By: Hyperion Sep 27, 2004 - 02:34 am

what the book club ?

Hyperion

Posted By: Bmat Sep 27, 2004 - 05:56 am

http://speculativevision.com/forum/messages/15/5490.html