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The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick #4
The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick 4: The Minority Report
Many thousands of readers consider Philip K. Dick the greatest science fiction mind on any planet. Since his untimely death in 1982, interest in Dick's works has continued to mount and his reputation has been further enhanced by a growing body of critical attention. The Philip K. Dick Award is now given annually to a distinguished work of science fiction, and the Philip K. Dick Society is devoted to the study and promulgation of his works.
This collection includes all of the writer's earliest short and medium-length fiction (including some previously unpublished stories) covering the years 1954-1964.
"A useful acquisition for any serious SF library or collection" -- Kirkus
"The collected stories of Philip K. Dick is awe inspiring". -- The Washington Post
"More than anyone else in the field, Mr. Dick really puts you inside people's minds". -- Wall Street Journal
Volume 4/5. Includes stories from 1954-1964:
- Autofac (1955)
- Service Call (1955)
- Captive Market (1955)
- The Mold of Yancy (1955)
- The Minority Report (1956)
- Recall Mechanism (1959)
- The Unreconstructed M (1957)
- Explorers We (1959)
- War Game (1959)
- If There Were No Benny Cemoli (1963)
- Novelty Act (1964)
- Waterspider (1964)
- What the Dead Men Say (1964)
- Orpheus with Clay Feet (1987)
- The Days of Perky Pat (1963)
- Stand-By (1963)
- What'll We Do with Ragland Park? (1963)
- Oh, to Be a Blobel! (1964)
Other editions of this volume have the same stories, and were published under these titles:
- The Days of Perky Pat,
- The Minority Report,
- The Minority Report and Other Classic Stories.
396 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1987
359 people are currently reading
9914 people want to read
About the author
Philip K. Dick
2,001 books22.3k followersPhilip Kindred Dick was a prolific American science fiction author whose work has had a lasting impact on literature, cinema, and popular culture. Known for his imaginative narratives and profound philosophical themes, Dick explored the nature of reality, the boundaries of human identity, and the impact of technology and authoritarianism on society. His stories often blurred the line between the real and the artificial, challenging readers to question their perceptions and beliefs.
Raised in California, Dick began writing professionally in the early 1950s, publishing short stories in various science fiction magazines. He quickly developed a distinctive voice within the genre, marked by a fusion of science fiction concepts with deep existential and psychological inquiry. Over his career, he authored 44 novels and more than 100 short stories, many of which have become classics in the field.
Recurring themes in Dick's work include alternate realities, simulations, corporate and government control, mental illness, and the nature of consciousness. His protagonists are frequently everyday individuals—often paranoid, uncertain, or troubled—caught in surreal and often dangerous circumstances that force them to question their environment and themselves. Works such as Ubik, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, and A Scanner Darkly reflect his fascination with perception and altered states of consciousness, often drawing from his own experiences with mental health struggles and drug use.
One of Dick’s most influential novels is Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, which served as the basis for Ridley Scott’s iconic film Blade Runner. The novel deals with the distinction between humans and artificial beings and asks profound questions about empathy, identity, and what it means to be alive. Other adaptations of his work include Total Recall, Minority Report, A Scanner Darkly, and The Man in the High Castle, each reflecting key elements of his storytelling—uncertain realities, oppressive systems, and the search for truth. These adaptations have introduced his complex ideas to audiences well beyond the traditional readership of science fiction.
In the 1970s, Dick underwent a series of visionary and mystical experiences that had a significant influence on his later writings. He described receiving profound knowledge from an external, possibly divine, source and documented these events extensively in what became known as The Exegesis, a massive and often fragmented journal. These experiences inspired his later novels, most notably the VALIS trilogy, which mixes autobiography, theology, and metaphysics in a narrative that defies conventional structure and genre boundaries.
Throughout his life, Dick faced financial instability, health issues, and periods of personal turmoil, yet he remained a dedicated and relentless writer. Despite limited commercial success during his lifetime, his reputation grew steadily, and he came to be regarded as one of the most original voices in speculative fiction. His work has been celebrated for its ability to fuse philosophical depth with gripping storytelling and has influenced not only science fiction writers but also philosophers, filmmakers, and futurists.
Dick’s legacy continues to thrive in both literary and cinematic spheres. The themes he explored remain urgently relevant in the modern world, particularly as technology increasingly intersects with human identity and governance. The Philip K. Dick Award, named in his honor, is presented annually to distinguished works of science fiction published in paperback original form in the United States. His writings have also inspired television series, academic studies, and countless homages across media.
Through his vivid imagination and unflinching inquiry into the nature of existence, Philip K. Dick redefined what science fiction could achieve. His work continues to challenge and inspire, offering timeless insights into the human condition a
Raised in California, Dick began writing professionally in the early 1950s, publishing short stories in various science fiction magazines. He quickly developed a distinctive voice within the genre, marked by a fusion of science fiction concepts with deep existential and psychological inquiry. Over his career, he authored 44 novels and more than 100 short stories, many of which have become classics in the field.
Recurring themes in Dick's work include alternate realities, simulations, corporate and government control, mental illness, and the nature of consciousness. His protagonists are frequently everyday individuals—often paranoid, uncertain, or troubled—caught in surreal and often dangerous circumstances that force them to question their environment and themselves. Works such as Ubik, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, and A Scanner Darkly reflect his fascination with perception and altered states of consciousness, often drawing from his own experiences with mental health struggles and drug use.
One of Dick’s most influential novels is Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, which served as the basis for Ridley Scott’s iconic film Blade Runner. The novel deals with the distinction between humans and artificial beings and asks profound questions about empathy, identity, and what it means to be alive. Other adaptations of his work include Total Recall, Minority Report, A Scanner Darkly, and The Man in the High Castle, each reflecting key elements of his storytelling—uncertain realities, oppressive systems, and the search for truth. These adaptations have introduced his complex ideas to audiences well beyond the traditional readership of science fiction.
In the 1970s, Dick underwent a series of visionary and mystical experiences that had a significant influence on his later writings. He described receiving profound knowledge from an external, possibly divine, source and documented these events extensively in what became known as The Exegesis, a massive and often fragmented journal. These experiences inspired his later novels, most notably the VALIS trilogy, which mixes autobiography, theology, and metaphysics in a narrative that defies conventional structure and genre boundaries.
Throughout his life, Dick faced financial instability, health issues, and periods of personal turmoil, yet he remained a dedicated and relentless writer. Despite limited commercial success during his lifetime, his reputation grew steadily, and he came to be regarded as one of the most original voices in speculative fiction. His work has been celebrated for its ability to fuse philosophical depth with gripping storytelling and has influenced not only science fiction writers but also philosophers, filmmakers, and futurists.
Dick’s legacy continues to thrive in both literary and cinematic spheres. The themes he explored remain urgently relevant in the modern world, particularly as technology increasingly intersects with human identity and governance. The Philip K. Dick Award, named in his honor, is presented annually to distinguished works of science fiction published in paperback original form in the United States. His writings have also inspired television series, academic studies, and countless homages across media.
Through his vivid imagination and unflinching inquiry into the nature of existence, Philip K. Dick redefined what science fiction could achieve. His work continues to challenge and inspire, offering timeless insights into the human condition a
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 756 reviews
July 19, 2020
Sigh, I should just have read the short stories, they are much better than the rest of his work.
The huge advantage of these short pieces of fiction is that Dick can´t endlessly drivel about pseudo philosophical topics and getting high and enlightened all the time like in all of his novels and tells real stories instead, making it the best parts of his work. Seriously, I was never really convinced that Dick came just close to the other titans of Sci-Fi and the many unknown, underrated authors nobody talks about today, but this short story collections showed that he could be ingenious, but just if focused on a shorter format. And, well, his mind probably still not so destroyed by drug induced madness and paranoia.
I may read the other 3 collections over the coming years, because it´s still Dick and no real pleasure to read as it´s more a collection of weird, eccentric writing experiments than normal literature, I will need breaks between. And think about the importance of not to do hard drugs and lurk on how it influenced his muse.
I´ve read very much Sci-Fi, which leads me to the conclusion that there are the two groups of the maybe and definitively ingenious Sci-Fi authors. The definitive ones are Lem, Clarke, Capek, Verne, Asimov, some unknown classic and new authors and the maybes are Heinlein, Dick, and some classics. It´s interesting that they are similar controversial as beat poets like Kerouac and all this kind of arty, experimental, pop psychology, fringe philosophy, or over the top literature stuff.
Or, maybe the best example, try to find someone who has a substantial problem she/he can point the finger at in the case of the real prodigy authors close to everyone enjoys. This is often accompanied by the feeling that it must be impossible for normal authors to write such literature, an impression many of the overhyped authors can´t awake.
Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...
The huge advantage of these short pieces of fiction is that Dick can´t endlessly drivel about pseudo philosophical topics and getting high and enlightened all the time like in all of his novels and tells real stories instead, making it the best parts of his work. Seriously, I was never really convinced that Dick came just close to the other titans of Sci-Fi and the many unknown, underrated authors nobody talks about today, but this short story collections showed that he could be ingenious, but just if focused on a shorter format. And, well, his mind probably still not so destroyed by drug induced madness and paranoia.
I may read the other 3 collections over the coming years, because it´s still Dick and no real pleasure to read as it´s more a collection of weird, eccentric writing experiments than normal literature, I will need breaks between. And think about the importance of not to do hard drugs and lurk on how it influenced his muse.
I´ve read very much Sci-Fi, which leads me to the conclusion that there are the two groups of the maybe and definitively ingenious Sci-Fi authors. The definitive ones are Lem, Clarke, Capek, Verne, Asimov, some unknown classic and new authors and the maybes are Heinlein, Dick, and some classics. It´s interesting that they are similar controversial as beat poets like Kerouac and all this kind of arty, experimental, pop psychology, fringe philosophy, or over the top literature stuff.
Or, maybe the best example, try to find someone who has a substantial problem she/he can point the finger at in the case of the real prodigy authors close to everyone enjoys. This is often accompanied by the feeling that it must be impossible for normal authors to write such literature, an impression many of the overhyped authors can´t awake.
Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...
September 24, 2025
These were fun, but not at all what I was expecting.
The Minority Report
The basis for the 2002 movie Minority Report. Pretty different story.
Ok, so you know how Tom Cruise finds out that this system of pre-arresting people for crimes they haven't committed yet is flawed, so he fights to take it down?
Well, the dude in this story doesn't care! Yeah, he is willing to do whatever he has to do to make the prediction come true, so they don't shut down this wonderful program.
Wtf kind of crazypants nonsense is this, sir?!
We Can Remember It For You Wholesale
The basis for the 1990 movie Total Recall. Again. This is not that story.
Unless Arnold Schwarzenegger secretly saved the planet from teeny rat aliens because he was a nice child?
This one was completely unexpected and made me laugh at the end.
Paycheck
The basis for the 2003 movie Paycheck. Totally different story.
You can really tell that people's priorities have changed as the hero of the story is a blackmailer, whose demands to be made partner seemingly deserve a pat on the back instead of a swift kick in the ass.
Second Variety
The basis for the 1995 movie Screamers. No idea how it stacks up because there is apparently at least one schlocky sci-fi movie out there that I haven't seen. Yet.
The story has a lone soldier on Earth stumbling on a group of survivors who have found out that the AI weapons originally intended to take out America's enemies are now sentient and creating human-looking versions of themselves to infiltrate and take out what's left of humanity.
If you're thinking it probably won't end well for homo sapiens, you're not wrong.
The Eyes Have It
The blurb says it's hilarious. It's not.
It's a fun short about someone who takes phrases like his eyes rolled out of his head literally, like some kind of a conspiracy theory nut, believing that aliens are invading.
The End.
The Minority Report
The basis for the 2002 movie Minority Report. Pretty different story.
Ok, so you know how Tom Cruise finds out that this system of pre-arresting people for crimes they haven't committed yet is flawed, so he fights to take it down?
Well, the dude in this story doesn't care! Yeah, he is willing to do whatever he has to do to make the prediction come true, so they don't shut down this wonderful program.
Wtf kind of crazypants nonsense is this, sir?!
We Can Remember It For You Wholesale
The basis for the 1990 movie Total Recall. Again. This is not that story.
Unless Arnold Schwarzenegger secretly saved the planet from teeny rat aliens because he was a nice child?
This one was completely unexpected and made me laugh at the end.
Paycheck
The basis for the 2003 movie Paycheck. Totally different story.
You can really tell that people's priorities have changed as the hero of the story is a blackmailer, whose demands to be made partner seemingly deserve a pat on the back instead of a swift kick in the ass.
Second Variety
The basis for the 1995 movie Screamers. No idea how it stacks up because there is apparently at least one schlocky sci-fi movie out there that I haven't seen. Yet.
The story has a lone soldier on Earth stumbling on a group of survivors who have found out that the AI weapons originally intended to take out America's enemies are now sentient and creating human-looking versions of themselves to infiltrate and take out what's left of humanity.
If you're thinking it probably won't end well for homo sapiens, you're not wrong.
The Eyes Have It
The blurb says it's hilarious. It's not.
It's a fun short about someone who takes phrases like his eyes rolled out of his head literally, like some kind of a conspiracy theory nut, believing that aliens are invading.
The End.
December 21, 2018
Limited: 250 numbered copies, bound in leather
Trade: Fully cloth bound hardcover copies
This collection contains 18 stories and novellas written between 1954 and 1963,
The Minority Report is the fourth installment of a uniform, five-volume edition of The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick. This generous collection contains 18 stories and novellas written between 1954 and 1963, years in which Dick produced some of his most memorable work, including such novels as Martian Time Slip and the Hugo Award-winning The Man in the High Castle. Included here are “Autofac,” a post-apocalyptic tale in which humans share the devastated Earth with the machines they have created but no longer fully control; “The Mold of Yancy,” a portrait of a world reduced to bland conformity by the vapid—and ubiquitous -- pronouncements of a virtual demagogue; and “The Days of Perky Pat,” another post-apocalypse story in which Earth’s survivors find temporary solace in the Perky Pat game, a game rooted in the images and memories of a world that no longer exists. Finally, the classic title story, filmed by Steven Spielberg as Minority Report, posits a future state in which the “Precrime” bureau, aided by a trio of pre-cognitive mutants, arrests and incarcerates “criminals” for crimes they have not yet committed. Like its predecessors, this extraordinary volume is a treasure house of story, offering narrative pleasures and intellectual excitement in equal measure.
Table of Contents:
"Autofac"
"Service Call"
"Captive Market"
"The Mold of Yancy"
"The Minority Report"
"Recall Mechanism"
"The Unreconstructed M"
"Explorers We"
"War Game"
"If There Were No Benny Cemoli"
"Novelty Act"
"Waterspider"
"What the Dead Men Say"
"Orpheus with Clay Feet"
"The Days of Perky Pat"
"Stand-By"
"What’ll We Do with Ragland Park?"
"Oh, to be a Blobel!"
Dust jacket by Bill Sienkewicz.
Trade: Fully cloth bound hardcover copies
This collection contains 18 stories and novellas written between 1954 and 1963,
The Minority Report is the fourth installment of a uniform, five-volume edition of The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick. This generous collection contains 18 stories and novellas written between 1954 and 1963, years in which Dick produced some of his most memorable work, including such novels as Martian Time Slip and the Hugo Award-winning The Man in the High Castle. Included here are “Autofac,” a post-apocalyptic tale in which humans share the devastated Earth with the machines they have created but no longer fully control; “The Mold of Yancy,” a portrait of a world reduced to bland conformity by the vapid—and ubiquitous -- pronouncements of a virtual demagogue; and “The Days of Perky Pat,” another post-apocalypse story in which Earth’s survivors find temporary solace in the Perky Pat game, a game rooted in the images and memories of a world that no longer exists. Finally, the classic title story, filmed by Steven Spielberg as Minority Report, posits a future state in which the “Precrime” bureau, aided by a trio of pre-cognitive mutants, arrests and incarcerates “criminals” for crimes they have not yet committed. Like its predecessors, this extraordinary volume is a treasure house of story, offering narrative pleasures and intellectual excitement in equal measure.
Table of Contents:
"Autofac"
"Service Call"
"Captive Market"
"The Mold of Yancy"
"The Minority Report"
"Recall Mechanism"
"The Unreconstructed M"
"Explorers We"
"War Game"
"If There Were No Benny Cemoli"
"Novelty Act"
"Waterspider"
"What the Dead Men Say"
"Orpheus with Clay Feet"
"The Days of Perky Pat"
"Stand-By"
"What’ll We Do with Ragland Park?"
"Oh, to be a Blobel!"
Dust jacket by Bill Sienkewicz.
March 23, 2017
18 classic PKD stories from 1955 to 1964, including:
- Autofac - 4/5 - post-apocalyptic Earth with automated factories running out of control
- Service Call - 4/5 - the trouble with Swibbles
- Captive Market - 4/5 - time-travel commerce has a nice twist at the end
- The Mold of Yancy - 4/5 - we're not long from the day when this story is non-fiction
- The Minority Report - 4/5 - interesting to see a more action-oriented PKD story
- Recall Mechanism - 3/5 - PKD is occasionally fascinated with precognition
- The Unreconstructed M - 3/5 - this story about a mechanical killer drags on too long and never comes together well
- Explorers We - (re-read) - 5/5 - I enjoyed this one mostly for the Twilight Zone-ish twist in the story
- War Game - 4/5 - a devious children's game manufactured off-planet
- If There Were No Benny Cemoli - 4/5 - chasing down the leader of a resistance movement on post-apocalyptic Earth
- Novelty Act - 3/5 - jug-playing musical acts of the future
- Waterspider - 5/5 - I know I should compare this to "A Connecticut Yankee..." but I thought of Galaxy Quest with time travel and Golden Age SF writers.
- What Dead Men Say - 3/5 - like Ubik, but without all the funny parts
- Orpheus With Clay Feet - 4/5 - time travel story that loops around and eventually references itself
- The Days of Perky Pat - 3/5 - Barbies of the future
- Stand-By - 3/5 - Presidential succession in the future
- What'll We Do with Ragland Park? - (re-read) - 4/5 - sequel to Stand-By
- Oh, to Be A Blobel! - 4/5 - Blobels in love
- Autofac - 4/5 - post-apocalyptic Earth with automated factories running out of control
- Service Call - 4/5 - the trouble with Swibbles
- Captive Market - 4/5 - time-travel commerce has a nice twist at the end
- The Mold of Yancy - 4/5 - we're not long from the day when this story is non-fiction
- The Minority Report - 4/5 - interesting to see a more action-oriented PKD story
- Recall Mechanism - 3/5 - PKD is occasionally fascinated with precognition
- The Unreconstructed M - 3/5 - this story about a mechanical killer drags on too long and never comes together well
- Explorers We - (re-read) - 5/5 - I enjoyed this one mostly for the Twilight Zone-ish twist in the story
- War Game - 4/5 - a devious children's game manufactured off-planet
- If There Were No Benny Cemoli - 4/5 - chasing down the leader of a resistance movement on post-apocalyptic Earth
- Novelty Act - 3/5 - jug-playing musical acts of the future
- Waterspider - 5/5 - I know I should compare this to "A Connecticut Yankee..." but I thought of Galaxy Quest with time travel and Golden Age SF writers.
- What Dead Men Say - 3/5 - like Ubik, but without all the funny parts
- Orpheus With Clay Feet - 4/5 - time travel story that loops around and eventually references itself
- The Days of Perky Pat - 3/5 - Barbies of the future
- Stand-By - 3/5 - Presidential succession in the future
- What'll We Do with Ragland Park? - (re-read) - 4/5 - sequel to Stand-By
- Oh, to Be A Blobel! - 4/5 - Blobels in love
November 14, 2015
Minority Report and Other Stories: 4 PKD stories that inspired movies
Originally posted at Fantasy Literature
Philip K. Dick is the classic case of a brilliant but struggling artist who only got full recognition after he passed away. Despite publishing an incredible 44 novels and 121 stories during his lifetime, it was not until the Ridley Scott film Blade Runner was released in 1982 that PKD gained more mainstream attention, and sadly he died before being able to see the final theatrical release.
A number of his short stories were adapted into feature-length films, and this audibook contains “The Minority Report” (1956), which inspired the 2002 Steven Spielberg film Minority Report starring Tom Cruise, “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale” (1966), which was the loose basis for the 1990 Paul Verhoeven film Total Recall and a 2012 reboot starring Colin Farrell, “Paycheck” (1953), which John Woo directed in 2003 and starred Ben Affleck, and “Second Variety” (1953), which was adapted in 1995 as Screamers, starring Peter Weller. This audiobook also includes an ultra-short whimsical SF story called “The Eyes Have It” (1953) that has no reason for being here. Instead, it should have included the short story “Adjustment Team” (1954), which was made into the entertaining 2011 film The Adjustment Bureau starring Matt Damon and Emily Blunt. That film had a lot of nice character development, and strong romantic chemistry between the two leads.
The audiobook narrator is Keir Dullea, a name that didn’t ring a bell but turns out to be none other than David Bowman from the iconic Stanley Kubrick film 2001: A Space Odyssey. He does a good job with PDK’s material.
There’s no question in my mind that Minority Report and Total Recall are the most successful films that have been adapted from Philip K. Dick short stories (the other strong films came from his novels: Blade Runner was adapted from his novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and A Scanner Darkly was adapted from his novel A Scanner Darkly). But honestly, it’s quite a stretch to say that a 20-30 page short story can really form the basis for a feature film. That’s why marketing teams use the terms “inspired by” and “loosely-based on” to distance the films from their source material. That often stems complaints by the author or fans when filmmakers produce a real stinker, which happens all too often.
So the first thing you’ll notice is that these short stories are dramatically different from their film versions. Of course they are. Normally you have a 200-300 page novel that a writer will adapt for the screen, usually going through dozens of versions throughout the filmmaking process. And frequently the job of a skilled screenwriter is knowing what aspects and characters to cut from the story that still preserves the core narrative of the original, while also allowing room for the visual aspects of film to be emphasized over some of the background details of the story.
But if you are trying to make a 20-page story into a 90-minute film, you need to do the opposite, adding whole new characters or storylines to make a complete story. So it wouldn’t be fair to judge the film adaptations based on the story that provided it inspiration. And that’s why I will look at the short stories in this collection and their film adaptations as separate creations below.
"The Minority Report"(1956) short story — I think this is one of the most intricate and thought-provoking stories that PKD ever wrote. John Anderton, the head of the Precrime unit, is a believer in the criminal justice system, which has reduced crime by almost 100% by using the predictions of three ‘precogs,’ whose visions of possible futures allow the police to apprehend suspects before they commit crimes. It seems to be a perfect system, until one day Anderton receives the ‘precog’ report that he will kill a man named Leo Kaplan that he has never heard of. To prove his innocence, he goes on the run and his assistant Ed Witner takes over and seeks to bring him to justice.
The excitement of the story lies in Anderton hunting down the ‘minority report,’ which is a dissenting report when not all three ‘precogs’ see the same future event. While on the run, Anderton approaches his wife for support, is confronted by Leo Kaplan, learns what motivation he might have for killing Kaplan, realizes that Witner and he are not necessarily enemies, and has time to question whether the ‘precog’ crime prevention is really a ‘just’ system, whether it negates human free will, and whether right and wrong can exist if people are prevented from making their own choices. The story has all the classic PKD themes of paranoia, betrayal, and moral conundrums. The resolution of the story involves three separate ‘minority reports,’ each intricately connected to the other, and Anderton’s decision and its consequences are very different from the Spielberg film version.
Minority Report(2002) film — This Steven Spielberg film is very successful because it takes the ideas of the story and then builds a complete future society around them. The film makes significant changes to the story details, but preserves the core moral questions that PDK raised. The visual details are very striking, with washed-out blacks and whites that give it a unique look. The biggest changes are to Anderton’s wife, the greater involvement of one of the precogs in providing Anderton help in clearing his name, and a completely new subplot involving Witner, Anderton’s boss Lamar Burgess, and a murder from the past that has been carefully covered up.
The resolution of the film version is much more Hollywood than the story, since there is never any question that Anderton is a good person seeking justice who is wrongly accused. Questions about the justification of the precog system are not as prominent, and the moral dilemmas of Anderson’s final decision in the story are missing. But as a thought-provoking and pulse-pounding SF thriller, it’s a pretty impressive achievement.
“We Can Remember It For You Wholesale”(1966) short story — This story is only 22 pages long, and is a far cry from the big-budget, special effects-laden and hyper-violent Schwartzenegger extravaganza from Paul Verhoeven. Basically, the story version covers just the opening third of the film, before Arnold gets to Mars. Douglas Quail is a typical nobody who dreams of going to Mars. He decides to visit Rekal Incorporated, which implants false memories that feel real, and requests one in which he is a secret government agent. But when the Rekal staff begin the procedure, they discover that he already has real memories of being a secret agent on Mars, but they have been erased from his conscious mind. They decide the best recourse is to leave his memories alone and send him on his way. However, his real memories are surfacing and suddenly he is confronted by two police officers intent on killing him for knowing too much.
Unlike in the film, the Rekal staff are not killed in painful and graphic ways, Quail’s wife is not a sexy but treacherous Sharon Stone, and there is no action-packed chase as he tries to escape his enemies. Instead, Quail cuts a deal with his pursuers that he will agree to have his memories erased if they promise to leave him alone. But when he returns to Rekal for the procedure, they discover an even deeper embedded memory that reveals exactly how important Quail is to the safety of Earth. It’s a pretty far-fetched development, but keep in mind this is a 22-page story and PDK never anticipated that it would be expanded into a blockbuster SF action film starring a Austrian former bodybuilder who would later become governor of California. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction!
Total Recall (1990) film — What’s left to say about this film? It’s directed by one of my favorite directors, who made one of the best futuristic cop films of all time, 1987’s Robocop, as well as 1997’s satirical take on Robert A. Heinlein’s classic military SF novel Starship Troopers (1959). Total Recall was one of Verhoeven’s greatest moments, pairing Arnold Schwartzenegger at the peak of his acting powers (I can’t believe I just typed that) with a propulsive, action-packed, ultra-violent romp through a future Earth and Mars. Its satirical and black humor were augmented by the complex plot involving real and false memories, so it could be enjoyed on a basic visceral level as well as a more cerebral one. I’d have to say that Total Recall is one of my favorite SF action films, but it is so different from the story that it wouldn’t be fair to compare them.
“Paycheck” (1953) short story — This is another PDK short story about erased memories, a hero on the run trying to unravel the meaning behind a series of mysterious objects, surrounded by people who may be allies or enemies. In that sense, it shares many elements with the above two stories. It’s about an engineer named Jennings who accepts a secret contract with Rethrick Construction, under the condition that he will be given a fat paycheck in two years time, but will have his memories erased of his confidential work. However, when he wakes up, his paycheck is not the big wad of cash he expected, but a bunch of seemingly-useless trinkets.
The story revolves around Jennings using each of the trinkets one by one to get him out of various scrapes, all leading to a showdown with the owner of Rethrick Corporation. I won’t reveal the details of who gave him the trinkets and why, but it does involve many of PKD’s favorite themes. And while the story is well constructed, I thought it was a bit too predictable once the basic conceit was revealed. In addition, the resolution of the story wasn’t particularly impressive. Considering how many stories PDK has written, I’m not really sure why this was deemed film-worthy.
Paycheck (2002) film — This was not a good SF film, unfortunately. More than anything, casting Ben Affleck as a whip-smart engineer who prepares an intricate series of clues based on knowledge of future events is just painful to watch. Affleck’s acting skills are abysmal (I think his directorial skills are infinitely better, based on Gone Baby Gone and Argo). Here his leading-man charisma was non-existent, and his chemistry with Uma Thurman was sometimes embarrassingly off. The other problem was handing this vehicle to John Woo, a HK director best known for super-high body count action flicks starring Chow Yun Fat. He’s made the transition to Hollywood, but only to make kinetic but ham-handed films like Face Off, Hard Target, Broken Arrow, and Mission Impossible II. So basically the film takes the basic plot elements of the story for the first 30 minutes, and then adds 90 minutes of mindless and fairly boring chase scenes and mayhem. Strangely enough, even the action scenes are quite tame when you think about the brutality of The Killer or Hard Boiled. Overall, this was a very forgettable film and shouldn’t really be associated with PKD.
“Second Variety” (1953) short story — This is one of PKD’s best, a surprisingly tense and chilling story about a future nuclear war which has reduced civilization to rubble, but the war continues thanks to “claws,” which are self-replicating robots that attack any human being and slice them to bits with whirring blades. They were made by the US against the Russians, but they have apparently begun to made newer versions of themselves to be more effective killing machines, including humanoid forms. The entire time I listened to this I was reminded of James Cameron’s TERMINATOR films, since the ‘claws’ ruthlessly try to infiltrate the remnants of humanity hidden in bunkers, and wreak havoc when they get in. The story focuses on several characters who are trying to identify the unknown “second variety” of humanoid robots, and we can see all the classic paranoia over who is human and who is robot, which would later be explored in greater depth in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and Blade Runner.
Screamers (1995) film — I didn’t know this film existed until I read up on “Second Variety,” and it looks like a low-budget, direct-to-video type flick released in 1995. The film stars Peter Weller, but it gets only 30% on Rotten Tomatoes, and having watched the trailer, it looks really, really bad, a typical SF B-movie with grainy cinematography, whirring blades, screaming soldiers, and cheesy music. I just can’t make myself watch this.
Originally posted at Fantasy Literature
Philip K. Dick is the classic case of a brilliant but struggling artist who only got full recognition after he passed away. Despite publishing an incredible 44 novels and 121 stories during his lifetime, it was not until the Ridley Scott film Blade Runner was released in 1982 that PKD gained more mainstream attention, and sadly he died before being able to see the final theatrical release.
A number of his short stories were adapted into feature-length films, and this audibook contains “The Minority Report” (1956), which inspired the 2002 Steven Spielberg film Minority Report starring Tom Cruise, “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale” (1966), which was the loose basis for the 1990 Paul Verhoeven film Total Recall and a 2012 reboot starring Colin Farrell, “Paycheck” (1953), which John Woo directed in 2003 and starred Ben Affleck, and “Second Variety” (1953), which was adapted in 1995 as Screamers, starring Peter Weller. This audiobook also includes an ultra-short whimsical SF story called “The Eyes Have It” (1953) that has no reason for being here. Instead, it should have included the short story “Adjustment Team” (1954), which was made into the entertaining 2011 film The Adjustment Bureau starring Matt Damon and Emily Blunt. That film had a lot of nice character development, and strong romantic chemistry between the two leads.
The audiobook narrator is Keir Dullea, a name that didn’t ring a bell but turns out to be none other than David Bowman from the iconic Stanley Kubrick film 2001: A Space Odyssey. He does a good job with PDK’s material.
There’s no question in my mind that Minority Report and Total Recall are the most successful films that have been adapted from Philip K. Dick short stories (the other strong films came from his novels: Blade Runner was adapted from his novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and A Scanner Darkly was adapted from his novel A Scanner Darkly). But honestly, it’s quite a stretch to say that a 20-30 page short story can really form the basis for a feature film. That’s why marketing teams use the terms “inspired by” and “loosely-based on” to distance the films from their source material. That often stems complaints by the author or fans when filmmakers produce a real stinker, which happens all too often.
So the first thing you’ll notice is that these short stories are dramatically different from their film versions. Of course they are. Normally you have a 200-300 page novel that a writer will adapt for the screen, usually going through dozens of versions throughout the filmmaking process. And frequently the job of a skilled screenwriter is knowing what aspects and characters to cut from the story that still preserves the core narrative of the original, while also allowing room for the visual aspects of film to be emphasized over some of the background details of the story.
But if you are trying to make a 20-page story into a 90-minute film, you need to do the opposite, adding whole new characters or storylines to make a complete story. So it wouldn’t be fair to judge the film adaptations based on the story that provided it inspiration. And that’s why I will look at the short stories in this collection and their film adaptations as separate creations below.
"The Minority Report"(1956) short story — I think this is one of the most intricate and thought-provoking stories that PKD ever wrote. John Anderton, the head of the Precrime unit, is a believer in the criminal justice system, which has reduced crime by almost 100% by using the predictions of three ‘precogs,’ whose visions of possible futures allow the police to apprehend suspects before they commit crimes. It seems to be a perfect system, until one day Anderton receives the ‘precog’ report that he will kill a man named Leo Kaplan that he has never heard of. To prove his innocence, he goes on the run and his assistant Ed Witner takes over and seeks to bring him to justice.
The excitement of the story lies in Anderton hunting down the ‘minority report,’ which is a dissenting report when not all three ‘precogs’ see the same future event. While on the run, Anderton approaches his wife for support, is confronted by Leo Kaplan, learns what motivation he might have for killing Kaplan, realizes that Witner and he are not necessarily enemies, and has time to question whether the ‘precog’ crime prevention is really a ‘just’ system, whether it negates human free will, and whether right and wrong can exist if people are prevented from making their own choices. The story has all the classic PKD themes of paranoia, betrayal, and moral conundrums. The resolution of the story involves three separate ‘minority reports,’ each intricately connected to the other, and Anderton’s decision and its consequences are very different from the Spielberg film version.
Minority Report(2002) film — This Steven Spielberg film is very successful because it takes the ideas of the story and then builds a complete future society around them. The film makes significant changes to the story details, but preserves the core moral questions that PDK raised. The visual details are very striking, with washed-out blacks and whites that give it a unique look. The biggest changes are to Anderton’s wife, the greater involvement of one of the precogs in providing Anderton help in clearing his name, and a completely new subplot involving Witner, Anderton’s boss Lamar Burgess, and a murder from the past that has been carefully covered up.
The resolution of the film version is much more Hollywood than the story, since there is never any question that Anderton is a good person seeking justice who is wrongly accused. Questions about the justification of the precog system are not as prominent, and the moral dilemmas of Anderson’s final decision in the story are missing. But as a thought-provoking and pulse-pounding SF thriller, it’s a pretty impressive achievement.
“We Can Remember It For You Wholesale”(1966) short story — This story is only 22 pages long, and is a far cry from the big-budget, special effects-laden and hyper-violent Schwartzenegger extravaganza from Paul Verhoeven. Basically, the story version covers just the opening third of the film, before Arnold gets to Mars. Douglas Quail is a typical nobody who dreams of going to Mars. He decides to visit Rekal Incorporated, which implants false memories that feel real, and requests one in which he is a secret government agent. But when the Rekal staff begin the procedure, they discover that he already has real memories of being a secret agent on Mars, but they have been erased from his conscious mind. They decide the best recourse is to leave his memories alone and send him on his way. However, his real memories are surfacing and suddenly he is confronted by two police officers intent on killing him for knowing too much.
Unlike in the film, the Rekal staff are not killed in painful and graphic ways, Quail’s wife is not a sexy but treacherous Sharon Stone, and there is no action-packed chase as he tries to escape his enemies. Instead, Quail cuts a deal with his pursuers that he will agree to have his memories erased if they promise to leave him alone. But when he returns to Rekal for the procedure, they discover an even deeper embedded memory that reveals exactly how important Quail is to the safety of Earth. It’s a pretty far-fetched development, but keep in mind this is a 22-page story and PDK never anticipated that it would be expanded into a blockbuster SF action film starring a Austrian former bodybuilder who would later become governor of California. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction!
Total Recall (1990) film — What’s left to say about this film? It’s directed by one of my favorite directors, who made one of the best futuristic cop films of all time, 1987’s Robocop, as well as 1997’s satirical take on Robert A. Heinlein’s classic military SF novel Starship Troopers (1959). Total Recall was one of Verhoeven’s greatest moments, pairing Arnold Schwartzenegger at the peak of his acting powers (I can’t believe I just typed that) with a propulsive, action-packed, ultra-violent romp through a future Earth and Mars. Its satirical and black humor were augmented by the complex plot involving real and false memories, so it could be enjoyed on a basic visceral level as well as a more cerebral one. I’d have to say that Total Recall is one of my favorite SF action films, but it is so different from the story that it wouldn’t be fair to compare them.
“Paycheck” (1953) short story — This is another PDK short story about erased memories, a hero on the run trying to unravel the meaning behind a series of mysterious objects, surrounded by people who may be allies or enemies. In that sense, it shares many elements with the above two stories. It’s about an engineer named Jennings who accepts a secret contract with Rethrick Construction, under the condition that he will be given a fat paycheck in two years time, but will have his memories erased of his confidential work. However, when he wakes up, his paycheck is not the big wad of cash he expected, but a bunch of seemingly-useless trinkets.
The story revolves around Jennings using each of the trinkets one by one to get him out of various scrapes, all leading to a showdown with the owner of Rethrick Corporation. I won’t reveal the details of who gave him the trinkets and why, but it does involve many of PKD’s favorite themes. And while the story is well constructed, I thought it was a bit too predictable once the basic conceit was revealed. In addition, the resolution of the story wasn’t particularly impressive. Considering how many stories PDK has written, I’m not really sure why this was deemed film-worthy.
Paycheck (2002) film — This was not a good SF film, unfortunately. More than anything, casting Ben Affleck as a whip-smart engineer who prepares an intricate series of clues based on knowledge of future events is just painful to watch. Affleck’s acting skills are abysmal (I think his directorial skills are infinitely better, based on Gone Baby Gone and Argo). Here his leading-man charisma was non-existent, and his chemistry with Uma Thurman was sometimes embarrassingly off. The other problem was handing this vehicle to John Woo, a HK director best known for super-high body count action flicks starring Chow Yun Fat. He’s made the transition to Hollywood, but only to make kinetic but ham-handed films like Face Off, Hard Target, Broken Arrow, and Mission Impossible II. So basically the film takes the basic plot elements of the story for the first 30 minutes, and then adds 90 minutes of mindless and fairly boring chase scenes and mayhem. Strangely enough, even the action scenes are quite tame when you think about the brutality of The Killer or Hard Boiled. Overall, this was a very forgettable film and shouldn’t really be associated with PKD.
“Second Variety” (1953) short story — This is one of PKD’s best, a surprisingly tense and chilling story about a future nuclear war which has reduced civilization to rubble, but the war continues thanks to “claws,” which are self-replicating robots that attack any human being and slice them to bits with whirring blades. They were made by the US against the Russians, but they have apparently begun to made newer versions of themselves to be more effective killing machines, including humanoid forms. The entire time I listened to this I was reminded of James Cameron’s TERMINATOR films, since the ‘claws’ ruthlessly try to infiltrate the remnants of humanity hidden in bunkers, and wreak havoc when they get in. The story focuses on several characters who are trying to identify the unknown “second variety” of humanoid robots, and we can see all the classic paranoia over who is human and who is robot, which would later be explored in greater depth in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and Blade Runner.
Screamers (1995) film — I didn’t know this film existed until I read up on “Second Variety,” and it looks like a low-budget, direct-to-video type flick released in 1995. The film stars Peter Weller, but it gets only 30% on Rotten Tomatoes, and having watched the trailer, it looks really, really bad, a typical SF B-movie with grainy cinematography, whirring blades, screaming soldiers, and cheesy music. I just can’t make myself watch this.
November 8, 2015
Minority Report and Other Stories by Philip K. Dick is classic PKD and well worth the short time to read.
Composed of the title story, We Can Remember it for You Wholesale, Paycheck, Second Variety and The Eyes Have It; it is a great read for a PKD fan and would be a great introduction for a new reader of his works. What is difficult to imagine is how far ahead of his time he was, and like so many other artists with this kind of anachronistic genius he paid for it in poverty.
Three of the stories have been made into major motion pictures and Second Variety must have been a great influence on the producers of The Terminator.
Composed of the title story, We Can Remember it for You Wholesale, Paycheck, Second Variety and The Eyes Have It; it is a great read for a PKD fan and would be a great introduction for a new reader of his works. What is difficult to imagine is how far ahead of his time he was, and like so many other artists with this kind of anachronistic genius he paid for it in poverty.
Three of the stories have been made into major motion pictures and Second Variety must have been a great influence on the producers of The Terminator.
December 1, 2020
-Muy ilustrativo a la hora de presentar los diferentes temas recurrentes en la obra del autor.-
Género. Relatos.
Lo que nos cuenta. El libro Cuentos completos IV (publicación original: The Days of Perky Pat. Volume Four of the Collected Stories, 1987), con introducción de James Tiptree Jr. y notas del propio Philip K. Dick, es una recopilación de relatos (novela corta en algún caso) de ciencia ficción del autor publicados entre 1955 y 1964 que nos permitirán conocer a algún viajero del tiempo, supervivientes en distintas clases de postapocalipsis o en otra realidad, electrodomésticos que no existen todavía pero que tienen servicio técnico, personas con habilidades psiónicas de diferentes tipos o varias formas de manipular las opiniones a través de los medios de comunicación, entre otros asuntos.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...
Género. Relatos.
Lo que nos cuenta. El libro Cuentos completos IV (publicación original: The Days of Perky Pat. Volume Four of the Collected Stories, 1987), con introducción de James Tiptree Jr. y notas del propio Philip K. Dick, es una recopilación de relatos (novela corta en algún caso) de ciencia ficción del autor publicados entre 1955 y 1964 que nos permitirán conocer a algún viajero del tiempo, supervivientes en distintas clases de postapocalipsis o en otra realidad, electrodomésticos que no existen todavía pero que tienen servicio técnico, personas con habilidades psiónicas de diferentes tipos o varias formas de manipular las opiniones a través de los medios de comunicación, entre otros asuntos.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...
February 17, 2019
Cuarta entrega de los cuentos completos de Philip K. Dick. Se trata de dieciocho relatos que rozan a un nivel muy alto, donde se incluye una introducción de James Tiptree, Jr., además de notas del propio Dick a algunos de sus cuentos.
Entre los que más me han gustado se encuentran ‘Araña de agua’, donde el protagonista es el escritor Poul Anderson, donde será trasladado al futuro creyendo que tiene poderes precognitivos. Es un estupendo homenaje a los clásicos de la ciencia ficción. ‘Servicio técnico’ nos presenta a un empleado de reparaciones que comete un equívoco. ‘Autofab’ nos presenta a una sociedad humana abastecida por fábricas automatizadas. ‘El informe de la minoría’ es un increíble relato sobre una unidad pre crimen. ‘Mercado cautivo’ es un gran relato, que trata sobre una anciana que vende suministros a precios muy caros a unos viajeros perdidos.
En resumen, una antología muy recomendable, quizá para muy dickianos, con los temas comunes de este autor: viajes en el tiempo, conspiraciones, paranoia, capacidades psiónicas, hecatombes nucleares, etc.
Entre los que más me han gustado se encuentran ‘Araña de agua’, donde el protagonista es el escritor Poul Anderson, donde será trasladado al futuro creyendo que tiene poderes precognitivos. Es un estupendo homenaje a los clásicos de la ciencia ficción. ‘Servicio técnico’ nos presenta a un empleado de reparaciones que comete un equívoco. ‘Autofab’ nos presenta a una sociedad humana abastecida por fábricas automatizadas. ‘El informe de la minoría’ es un increíble relato sobre una unidad pre crimen. ‘Mercado cautivo’ es un gran relato, que trata sobre una anciana que vende suministros a precios muy caros a unos viajeros perdidos.
En resumen, una antología muy recomendable, quizá para muy dickianos, con los temas comunes de este autor: viajes en el tiempo, conspiraciones, paranoia, capacidades psiónicas, hecatombes nucleares, etc.
April 6, 2024
So I have to warn you, anything you think may be held against you.
We Can Remember It For You Wholesale
Question reality, usually served up with a healthy does of paranoia, was a theme that Philip K. Dick returned to repeatedly. Both Minority Report and We Can Remember It For You Wholesale deliver excellent variations on that theme. The other tales aren’t up to their standard, but are interesting sample of PKD’s early style.
Minority Report: John Anderton is proud of the Pre-Crime police unit he runs. It has all but eliminated major crime, as the unit’s mutant precogs see the crimes before they happen, and the would be perps are arrested and incarcerated before the crime is committed. Anderton believes strongly in the efficiency of his system, until the precogs predict he will murder a man he’s never heard of. Question reality with a side order of question free will.
4 ⭐️
We Can Remember It For You Wholesale: What happens if an insignificant guy with a mundane job discovers that the most grandiose fantasies he can imagine are reality? (It’s actually pretty disconcerting.) This one becomes predictable by the end, but without hurting the tale.
4 ⭐️
Paycheck: Our protagonist signed a contract to do a two year job for a huge paycheck, but have his memory wiped of those two years. Now he is caught between governmental security police who want to know what he was up to, and a powerful, secret corporation. And oh yeah, he apparently agreed (before the memory wipe) to forgo his massive payout for a small bag of random trinkets. Those trinkets are now his only hope of staying alive and solving the mystery that was excised from his memory.
3 ⭐️
Second Variety: An apocalyptic war has left Earth a wasteland, with few survivors and mutants. A handful of soldiers remain on the planet, mechanically continuing the war that everyone has already lost. They are assisted by the vicious weapons they designed — Claws. But the Claws have started to replicated and evolve, and there’s nothing the humans can do about it.
This story aggravated me, as it depends on all the characters being stupid to work.
2 1/2 ⭐️
The Eyes Have It: A short, goofy tale, where a hysterical literalist interprets common figures of speech as clues of an alien invasion. Slight tale, slightly funny, and short.
3 ⭐️
We Can Remember It For You Wholesale
Question reality, usually served up with a healthy does of paranoia, was a theme that Philip K. Dick returned to repeatedly. Both Minority Report and We Can Remember It For You Wholesale deliver excellent variations on that theme. The other tales aren’t up to their standard, but are interesting sample of PKD’s early style.
Minority Report: John Anderton is proud of the Pre-Crime police unit he runs. It has all but eliminated major crime, as the unit’s mutant precogs see the crimes before they happen, and the would be perps are arrested and incarcerated before the crime is committed. Anderton believes strongly in the efficiency of his system, until the precogs predict he will murder a man he’s never heard of. Question reality with a side order of question free will.
4 ⭐️
We Can Remember It For You Wholesale: What happens if an insignificant guy with a mundane job discovers that the most grandiose fantasies he can imagine are reality? (It’s actually pretty disconcerting.) This one becomes predictable by the end, but without hurting the tale.
4 ⭐️
Paycheck: Our protagonist signed a contract to do a two year job for a huge paycheck, but have his memory wiped of those two years. Now he is caught between governmental security police who want to know what he was up to, and a powerful, secret corporation. And oh yeah, he apparently agreed (before the memory wipe) to forgo his massive payout for a small bag of random trinkets. Those trinkets are now his only hope of staying alive and solving the mystery that was excised from his memory.
3 ⭐️
Second Variety: An apocalyptic war has left Earth a wasteland, with few survivors and mutants. A handful of soldiers remain on the planet, mechanically continuing the war that everyone has already lost. They are assisted by the vicious weapons they designed — Claws. But the Claws have started to replicated and evolve, and there’s nothing the humans can do about it.
This story aggravated me, as it depends on all the characters being stupid to work.
2 1/2 ⭐️
The Eyes Have It: A short, goofy tale, where a hysterical literalist interprets common figures of speech as clues of an alien invasion. Slight tale, slightly funny, and short.
3 ⭐️
May 9, 2024
Five years after Philip K. Dick’s death in 1982, Underwood-Miller (US) published a definitive five-volume hardcover series containing a collection of all but three of his short stories, put into order of their receipt by Dick’s agent (not the same as order of publication). That year, Gollancz (UK) also published a trade paperback series of the same five volumes, but with retitled volumes 4 and 5. Unfortunately for the collector or completist, there are also other multi-volume series of his collected short stories, in other order, but with similar subtitles. If you are looking to complete the set, be sure to stick with the same series. If you are looking to read in order, I recommend the Gollancz series. To help you recognize those, here is a summary of The Collected Short Stories of Philip K. Dick, Gollancz Science Fiction, Orion Publishing Company, 1987.
Volume 1 “Beyond Lies the Wub”, 1947, 1951-1952, Introduction by Roger Zelazny
Volume 2 “Second Variety” 1952-1953, Introduction by Norman Spinrad
Volume 3 “The Father-Thing” 1953-1954, Introduction by John Brunner
Volume 4 “Minority Report” 1954-1963, Introduction by James Tiptree, Jr.
(original Underwood-Miller title “The Days of Perky Pat”)
Volume 5 “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale” 1963-1981, Introduction by Thomas M. Disch
(original Underwood-Miller title “The Little Black Box”)
This review is of Volume 4 of the Gollancz series, subtitled for “Minority Report”.
In 1990, Gollancz also republished Volume 4 as a stand-alone trade paperback collection under its original title “The Days of Perky Pat”. These stories are from the peak time of PKD’s career, many of them assuming a nuclear holocaust. There are enough good ones here to make the collection worthwhile singly. No Hugo or Nebula winners, but that’s only because they were published before the awards began. Several of these stories developed ideas that PKD later re-used in his novels. And a few of them were later (much later) developed into feature films; that probably accounts for PKD’s ongoing popularity. I describe and rate the individual stories from * to ***** below. My favorites were “Autofac” and “The Minority Report.”
Autofac (1955) ***** In a bleak post-nuclear-apocalyptic setting, a fully automated and self-contained network of factories provide needed (or maybe not so needed) consumer products for the survivors. The problem is that, even though the war is over, the long-term consequences of the automated assistance were poorly conceived, and the shut-down conditions will never be reached. Three men plot to subvert the system.
Service Call (1955) *** A man arrives at David Courtland’s apartment, to service a device that Courtland supposedly owns, but has never heard of. Sensing a business opportunity, Courtland assembles a team from his corporate workplace to ferret out the details of the device. The story is a warning about technology’s growing dominance of our lives.
Captive Market (1955) *** An elderly woman makes a mysterious weekly trip making deliveries that produce income for her store. Her young assistant is itching to go along, but never suspects the SFnal truth. It bothered me that there is no good reason why Edna Berthelson should have the ability she does, while others do not.
The Mold of Yancy (1955) **** A team of “Yance-man” technicians in the Callisto colony are using a synthesized video Eisenhoweresque everyman named John Edward Yancy to manipulate the public opinion on all things, from favorite drink to war. Intended as a statement on advertising manipulation and conformity, PKD’s notions on the roots of totalitarianism seem quite relevant to the politics and media of 2021. Note that while PKD’s 1964 novel The Penultimate Truth was based largely on his 1953 story “The Defenders”, it also drew ideas from “The Mold of Yancy” and “The Unreconstructed M.”
The Minority Report (1956) ***** John Anderton is a veteran Commissioner of Police, who prevents crimes by detecting the criminals before the crimes are committed. This is done by three captive human pre-cogs; who are sensitive to future events. Anderton panics when his own name comes up as a future murderer, who needs to be arrested.
Recall Mechanism (1959) *** In a post-nuclear war America, some people have, like Humphries’ latest patient, developed rudimentary pre-cog abilities, without knowing it.
The Unreconstructed M (1957) **** Using a computerized database that contains the full characteristics of every living human being, police detective Ackers obtains ten pieces of evidence at the scene of the crime, each of which narrows down the list to the one precise perpetrator, who can be confidently picked up. The problem is that two rival interstellar oligarchs (Paul Tirol and David Lantano) have the technology to fool the system, for purposes of one framing the other. Note that while PKD’s 1964 novel The Penultimate Truth was based on his 1953 story “The Defenders”, it also drew ideas from “The Mold of Yancy” and “The Unreconstructed M.”
Explorers We (1959) ** A group of astronauts returns to Earth from Mars and do not receive the welcome they are expecting. It’s like an episode of a story without the story.
War Game (1959) *** The toys imported to Earth from the Ganymedean manufacturing industry are technologically sophisticated. In order to keep Earth safe, they must be tested extensively before being released to the market. Are they a Trojan Horse for military aggression?
If There Were No Benny Cemoli (1963) **** On a post-apocalyptic Earth, re-claimers from Mars and Venus must confront the newly arrived armada from the former colony at Alpha Centauri. The Centaurians restart the fully automated New York Times, and find that it is creating fake news. Very implausible technology, but it is an interesting read so recently after the Trump regime.
Novelty Act (1964) **** Two barely-getting-by brothers re-unite for a chance to perform for the powerful near-immortal First Lady Nicole Thibodeaux. Their act consists of classical jug music, accompanied by a dancing Martian papoola. It is a weird vision of a totalitarian post-world-war-3 United States, but richly conceptualized, and that fascinated me. The story was expanded into PKD’s 1964 novel The Simulacra (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...).
Waterspider (1964) *** This is a clever time travel story, in which future engineers, attempting to solve a problem in interstellar colonization, decide to consult with some expert pre-cogs who lived back in the 1950s. The fun of the story lies in who those pre-cogs turn out to be.
What the Dead Men Say (1964) ** This was first published in the June 1964 issue of Worlds of Tomorrow, which I where I had previously read it (in 2017). Mega-billionaire Louis Sarapis has arranged to take advantage of his two years’ worth of post-death “half life” awareness to continue to rule his financial empire after death, and to get his hand-picked candidate elected President. His PR Agent Johnny Barefoot is responsible to administering his half-life, but his surviving granddaughter and business associates have plans of their own and intrigue against one another. The story meanders around this concept for much too long. PKD’s 1969 novel Ubik re-used the idea of half-life reanimation from this story.
Orpheus with Clay Feet (1964) *** It is a short time travel story about a bored consultant who goes back to the 1956 to play the role of muse to the great (fictional) science fiction writer Jack Dowland. It cleverly references itself, and was published using the pen name of Jack Dowland.
The Days of Perky Pat (1963) *** A community of nuclear apocalypse survivors live off packages dropped by Martian aid-workers, and play competitively with their Barbie-like Perky Pat dolls. Only PKD could pull off an engaging story built around such a bizarre concept. It seems like the kind of story that Kurt Vonnegut parodied with his science fiction writing Kilgore Trout character. Note that PKD’s 1965 novel The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch also drew on the idea of Perky Pat and Connie Companion dolls.
Stand-by (1963) *** An alien invasion knocks out the automated US president, leaving power in the hands of the unlikely human back-up president. In the hands of normal writer, this might lead to an inspiring story of a human rising to the need – but remember this is PKD!
What’ll We Do With Ragland Park? (1963) *** A sequel to "Stand-by", the human back-up president has returned to power, but now must contend with a media mogul and a banjo-playing psi-powered minstrel.
Oh, To Be A Blobel! (1964) *** A mixed marriage between a human and amoeba-like blobel, both veterans of the same war, is fraught with complexity.
Volume 1 “Beyond Lies the Wub”, 1947, 1951-1952, Introduction by Roger Zelazny
Volume 2 “Second Variety” 1952-1953, Introduction by Norman Spinrad
Volume 3 “The Father-Thing” 1953-1954, Introduction by John Brunner
Volume 4 “Minority Report” 1954-1963, Introduction by James Tiptree, Jr.
(original Underwood-Miller title “The Days of Perky Pat”)
Volume 5 “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale” 1963-1981, Introduction by Thomas M. Disch
(original Underwood-Miller title “The Little Black Box”)
This review is of Volume 4 of the Gollancz series, subtitled for “Minority Report”.
In 1990, Gollancz also republished Volume 4 as a stand-alone trade paperback collection under its original title “The Days of Perky Pat”. These stories are from the peak time of PKD’s career, many of them assuming a nuclear holocaust. There are enough good ones here to make the collection worthwhile singly. No Hugo or Nebula winners, but that’s only because they were published before the awards began. Several of these stories developed ideas that PKD later re-used in his novels. And a few of them were later (much later) developed into feature films; that probably accounts for PKD’s ongoing popularity. I describe and rate the individual stories from * to ***** below. My favorites were “Autofac” and “The Minority Report.”
Autofac (1955) ***** In a bleak post-nuclear-apocalyptic setting, a fully automated and self-contained network of factories provide needed (or maybe not so needed) consumer products for the survivors. The problem is that, even though the war is over, the long-term consequences of the automated assistance were poorly conceived, and the shut-down conditions will never be reached. Three men plot to subvert the system.
Service Call (1955) *** A man arrives at David Courtland’s apartment, to service a device that Courtland supposedly owns, but has never heard of. Sensing a business opportunity, Courtland assembles a team from his corporate workplace to ferret out the details of the device. The story is a warning about technology’s growing dominance of our lives.
Captive Market (1955) *** An elderly woman makes a mysterious weekly trip making deliveries that produce income for her store. Her young assistant is itching to go along, but never suspects the SFnal truth. It bothered me that there is no good reason why Edna Berthelson should have the ability she does, while others do not.
The Mold of Yancy (1955) **** A team of “Yance-man” technicians in the Callisto colony are using a synthesized video Eisenhoweresque everyman named John Edward Yancy to manipulate the public opinion on all things, from favorite drink to war. Intended as a statement on advertising manipulation and conformity, PKD’s notions on the roots of totalitarianism seem quite relevant to the politics and media of 2021. Note that while PKD’s 1964 novel The Penultimate Truth was based largely on his 1953 story “The Defenders”, it also drew ideas from “The Mold of Yancy” and “The Unreconstructed M.”
The Minority Report (1956) ***** John Anderton is a veteran Commissioner of Police, who prevents crimes by detecting the criminals before the crimes are committed. This is done by three captive human pre-cogs; who are sensitive to future events. Anderton panics when his own name comes up as a future murderer, who needs to be arrested.
Recall Mechanism (1959) *** In a post-nuclear war America, some people have, like Humphries’ latest patient, developed rudimentary pre-cog abilities, without knowing it.
The Unreconstructed M (1957) **** Using a computerized database that contains the full characteristics of every living human being, police detective Ackers obtains ten pieces of evidence at the scene of the crime, each of which narrows down the list to the one precise perpetrator, who can be confidently picked up. The problem is that two rival interstellar oligarchs (Paul Tirol and David Lantano) have the technology to fool the system, for purposes of one framing the other. Note that while PKD’s 1964 novel The Penultimate Truth was based on his 1953 story “The Defenders”, it also drew ideas from “The Mold of Yancy” and “The Unreconstructed M.”
Explorers We (1959) ** A group of astronauts returns to Earth from Mars and do not receive the welcome they are expecting. It’s like an episode of a story without the story.
War Game (1959) *** The toys imported to Earth from the Ganymedean manufacturing industry are technologically sophisticated. In order to keep Earth safe, they must be tested extensively before being released to the market. Are they a Trojan Horse for military aggression?
If There Were No Benny Cemoli (1963) **** On a post-apocalyptic Earth, re-claimers from Mars and Venus must confront the newly arrived armada from the former colony at Alpha Centauri. The Centaurians restart the fully automated New York Times, and find that it is creating fake news. Very implausible technology, but it is an interesting read so recently after the Trump regime.
Novelty Act (1964) **** Two barely-getting-by brothers re-unite for a chance to perform for the powerful near-immortal First Lady Nicole Thibodeaux. Their act consists of classical jug music, accompanied by a dancing Martian papoola. It is a weird vision of a totalitarian post-world-war-3 United States, but richly conceptualized, and that fascinated me. The story was expanded into PKD’s 1964 novel The Simulacra (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...).
Waterspider (1964) *** This is a clever time travel story, in which future engineers, attempting to solve a problem in interstellar colonization, decide to consult with some expert pre-cogs who lived back in the 1950s. The fun of the story lies in who those pre-cogs turn out to be.
What the Dead Men Say (1964) ** This was first published in the June 1964 issue of Worlds of Tomorrow, which I where I had previously read it (in 2017). Mega-billionaire Louis Sarapis has arranged to take advantage of his two years’ worth of post-death “half life” awareness to continue to rule his financial empire after death, and to get his hand-picked candidate elected President. His PR Agent Johnny Barefoot is responsible to administering his half-life, but his surviving granddaughter and business associates have plans of their own and intrigue against one another. The story meanders around this concept for much too long. PKD’s 1969 novel Ubik re-used the idea of half-life reanimation from this story.
Orpheus with Clay Feet (1964) *** It is a short time travel story about a bored consultant who goes back to the 1956 to play the role of muse to the great (fictional) science fiction writer Jack Dowland. It cleverly references itself, and was published using the pen name of Jack Dowland.
The Days of Perky Pat (1963) *** A community of nuclear apocalypse survivors live off packages dropped by Martian aid-workers, and play competitively with their Barbie-like Perky Pat dolls. Only PKD could pull off an engaging story built around such a bizarre concept. It seems like the kind of story that Kurt Vonnegut parodied with his science fiction writing Kilgore Trout character. Note that PKD’s 1965 novel The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch also drew on the idea of Perky Pat and Connie Companion dolls.
Stand-by (1963) *** An alien invasion knocks out the automated US president, leaving power in the hands of the unlikely human back-up president. In the hands of normal writer, this might lead to an inspiring story of a human rising to the need – but remember this is PKD!
What’ll We Do With Ragland Park? (1963) *** A sequel to "Stand-by", the human back-up president has returned to power, but now must contend with a media mogul and a banjo-playing psi-powered minstrel.
Oh, To Be A Blobel! (1964) *** A mixed marriage between a human and amoeba-like blobel, both veterans of the same war, is fraught with complexity.
July 14, 2021
Short Stories You’ll Keep in Mind for Long
This much can be said of most of the stories written by PKD that I have read, not only in this but also in all the other four volumes. It is not only that Dick’s stories are often surprising and spin a captivating yarn, but they are also teeming with fascinating ideas which ensure their ability to age well and keep modern readers interested – even though aspects like Dick’s attitude towards women have become obsolete. So whenever you read one of his stories, they might set your mind thinking and wondering, and this way it came about that I felt motivated enough to write individual reviews on every single one of his short stories – from his earliest tale Stability (1947) to his final story The Alien Mind (1981) –, the only exception being A Terran Odyssey, a story I did not review because it is basically an abridged version of Dick’s novel Dr. Bloodmoney.
It was really a pleasure to deal with all these intriguing stories, and now I may do the same with Dick’s science fiction novels just like my GR friend Glenn did. This fourth volume of his short stories offers a lot of the tales he wrote in the late 50s and early 60s, a time when he had not yet turned towards mysticism but stuck to classical science fiction. You will also find some satirical stories in this collection, but generally, the sci fi element prevails. All in all, a highly recommendable volume, like all of its companions.
This much can be said of most of the stories written by PKD that I have read, not only in this but also in all the other four volumes. It is not only that Dick’s stories are often surprising and spin a captivating yarn, but they are also teeming with fascinating ideas which ensure their ability to age well and keep modern readers interested – even though aspects like Dick’s attitude towards women have become obsolete. So whenever you read one of his stories, they might set your mind thinking and wondering, and this way it came about that I felt motivated enough to write individual reviews on every single one of his short stories – from his earliest tale Stability (1947) to his final story The Alien Mind (1981) –, the only exception being A Terran Odyssey, a story I did not review because it is basically an abridged version of Dick’s novel Dr. Bloodmoney.
It was really a pleasure to deal with all these intriguing stories, and now I may do the same with Dick’s science fiction novels just like my GR friend Glenn did. This fourth volume of his short stories offers a lot of the tales he wrote in the late 50s and early 60s, a time when he had not yet turned towards mysticism but stuck to classical science fiction. You will also find some satirical stories in this collection, but generally, the sci fi element prevails. All in all, a highly recommendable volume, like all of its companions.
March 13, 2023
This was delightfully exciting, with the titular story being the worst of them all, haha.
Minority Report: 3 Stars
The speculative thought was wonderful, but the movie carried it out much more. Also, I love Agatha in the movie.
We Can Remember It for You Wholesale: 4.5 Stars
This was interesting to know that Total Recall came from this story. The intro is a great start, but the movie ran with it to great lengths. The idea was terrific, and so crazy to think about being inside Philip K. Dick's phenomenally gifted mind and the implications of such technology.
Paycheck-4 Stars
I love the objects he decides to keep and how they come into play. I want to rewatch the movie now.
The Second Variety: 4.5 Stars
After that first twist, I knew what would happen, and it was still thrilling anyway. I loved the feel of this one. (I now need to check out the movie Screamers)
The Eyes Have It: 4.5-5 Stars
A brilliant micro-story about literary interpretations of the English language.
Overall a pretty solid 4.5 Stars.
Minority Report: 3 Stars
The speculative thought was wonderful, but the movie carried it out much more. Also, I love Agatha in the movie.
We Can Remember It for You Wholesale: 4.5 Stars
This was interesting to know that Total Recall came from this story. The intro is a great start, but the movie ran with it to great lengths. The idea was terrific, and so crazy to think about being inside Philip K. Dick's phenomenally gifted mind and the implications of such technology.
Paycheck-4 Stars
I love the objects he decides to keep and how they come into play. I want to rewatch the movie now.
The Second Variety: 4.5 Stars
After that first twist, I knew what would happen, and it was still thrilling anyway. I loved the feel of this one. (I now need to check out the movie Screamers)
The Eyes Have It: 4.5-5 Stars
A brilliant micro-story about literary interpretations of the English language.
Overall a pretty solid 4.5 Stars.
February 8, 2010
4.0 to 4.5 stars. Five really good stories are included in this collection. Please note that I listened to the audio version of this collection and I am not postive that all of the stories listed below are contained in the print version.
1. The Minority Report: An excellent story that has some significant differences from the movies version (which I also thought was very good)
2. We Can Remember It For You Wholesale: Almost completely different in tone and content than the movie "Total Recall" on which this story is based. I liked the movie, but loved the story.
3. Paycheck: A very good story though not as good as the other two.
4. Second Variety: Another excellent short story with a very good ending.
5. The Eyes Have It: My favorite story in the collection.
1. The Minority Report: An excellent story that has some significant differences from the movies version (which I also thought was very good)
2. We Can Remember It For You Wholesale: Almost completely different in tone and content than the movie "Total Recall" on which this story is based. I liked the movie, but loved the story.
3. Paycheck: A very good story though not as good as the other two.
4. Second Variety: Another excellent short story with a very good ending.
5. The Eyes Have It: My favorite story in the collection.
June 13, 2012
My Philip K. Dick Project #8
Whereas the first three volumes of short stories all spanned barely a years worth of time, this collection chronicles the nine year period between 1954 and 1963. This is the period when Dick’s career as a novelist took off and the up to that point insane rush of short stories slowed to a trickle. As such, this book has quite a different feel than the previous collections. (As an aside, since the next book on the project list was written in ‘55, we’ll be sort of sneaking ahead project-wise and getting a look into the future, so to speak.) Many of the stories in here are longer than in the earlier volumes. Dick is obviously used to writing novels by now, and he doesn’t have a problem approaching novelette length.
The feel of this volume is a lot more low-key, and frankly, didn’t grab me the way Volume 3 did. Not to say this volume isn’t excellent as well, but Dick is operating differently here, especially in the longer stories. Some of these are sort of slow-burning mystery stories without any greater theme or concept apparent. Also, a number of stories just sort of suddenly end abruptly here. It’s as if Dick couldn’t stick the landing or lost interest halfway-through, although apparently a number of stories in here end up being reworked into novels.
However, there are some fun surprises here. Dick is lot more comfortable with himself as a writer in this period. “Waterspider” and “Orpheus With Clay Feet” are amusing self-referential stories in which Dick weaves himself and other famous sci-fi writers into the plot, mostly for laughs. I couldn’t have imagined an earlier Dick writing this. Dick’s cynical side is showcased often here, especially in concern with government and media (“The Mold of Yancy”, “Novelty Act”, ”Stand-By”). Of course, if you still want those kind of mind-twisting sci-fi yarns, there a few in here as well (”Autofac”, “Captive Market”, “The Minority Report”, “Explorers We”). However, I miss Dick’s weird straight-up fantasy stories, which have become fewer and fewer in preceding volumes. I don’t think they’re coming back.
On the whole this is an excellent volume, just perhaps not quite on par with Volume 3. It’s clear that Dick’s focus during this period is on his novels, but that shouldn’t stop you from checking this out. It has some great stories.
My highlights: “Captive Market”, “The Minority Report”, “Explorers We”, “Waterspider”, “Orpheus With Clay Feet”, “The Days of Perky Pat” “Stand-by/What’ll We Do With Ragland Park?” Low points: “Recall Mechanism”, “War Game”.
Stray Thoughts:
# I love the whole strange universe of “Stand-By” and “Ragland Park”, with its world of (unexplained) Unionized presidents, news clowns, pointless alien invasions, televised balladeers, and shady legal maneuvering.
# Dick’s word creations are always great. I particularly love “Berkeley Flukers” and “Oakland Flukers”, as well as Jim-Jam Briskin, television’s top-ranking news clown.
# Actually, I just love Jim-Jam Briskin. He’s great. I love news clowns.
# Dick sure loves Ganymede.
My edition: Citadel Press, 1987, Paperback
Next Up: “Eye In The Sky”
June 13, 2012
Whereas the first three volumes of short stories all spanned barely a years worth of time, this collection chronicles the nine year period between 1954 and 1963. This is the period when Dick’s career as a novelist took off and the up to that point insane rush of short stories slowed to a trickle. As such, this book has quite a different feel than the previous collections. (As an aside, since the next book on the project list was written in ‘55, we’ll be sort of sneaking ahead project-wise and getting a look into the future, so to speak.) Many of the stories in here are longer than in the earlier volumes. Dick is obviously used to writing novels by now, and he doesn’t have a problem approaching novelette length.
The feel of this volume is a lot more low-key, and frankly, didn’t grab me the way Volume 3 did. Not to say this volume isn’t excellent as well, but Dick is operating differently here, especially in the longer stories. Some of these are sort of slow-burning mystery stories without any greater theme or concept apparent. Also, a number of stories just sort of suddenly end abruptly here. It’s as if Dick couldn’t stick the landing or lost interest halfway-through, although apparently a number of stories in here end up being reworked into novels.
However, there are some fun surprises here. Dick is lot more comfortable with himself as a writer in this period. “Waterspider” and “Orpheus With Clay Feet” are amusing self-referential stories in which Dick weaves himself and other famous sci-fi writers into the plot, mostly for laughs. I couldn’t have imagined an earlier Dick writing this. Dick’s cynical side is showcased often here, especially in concern with government and media (“The Mold of Yancy”, “Novelty Act”, ”Stand-By”). Of course, if you still want those kind of mind-twisting sci-fi yarns, there a few in here as well (”Autofac”, “Captive Market”, “The Minority Report”, “Explorers We”). However, I miss Dick’s weird straight-up fantasy stories, which have become fewer and fewer in preceding volumes. I don’t think they’re coming back.
On the whole this is an excellent volume, just perhaps not quite on par with Volume 3. It’s clear that Dick’s focus during this period is on his novels, but that shouldn’t stop you from checking this out. It has some great stories.
My highlights: “Captive Market”, “The Minority Report”, “Explorers We”, “Waterspider”, “Orpheus With Clay Feet”, “The Days of Perky Pat” “Stand-by/What’ll We Do With Ragland Park?” Low points: “Recall Mechanism”, “War Game”.
Stray Thoughts:
# I love the whole strange universe of “Stand-By” and “Ragland Park”, with its world of (unexplained) Unionized presidents, news clowns, pointless alien invasions, televised balladeers, and shady legal maneuvering.
# Dick’s word creations are always great. I particularly love “Berkeley Flukers” and “Oakland Flukers”, as well as Jim-Jam Briskin, television’s top-ranking news clown.
# Actually, I just love Jim-Jam Briskin. He’s great. I love news clowns.
# Dick sure loves Ganymede.
My edition: Citadel Press, 1987, Paperback
Next Up: “Eye In The Sky”
June 13, 2012
May 30, 2023
This is a very nice collection of PKD's early stories from 1954 to 1964. As I'm completing my PKD library, this will definitely take a place there. I can see PKD's early fascination with capitalism and his visions of late-stage forms. It's a bit funny to read about union representatives being portrayed as evil guys and socialism depicted as some version of hell. However, I understand that this is a product of his time, and his stories are nevertheless amazing. Among the eighteen collected stories, these are the ones that stood out the most:
"Service Call": A very interesting horror story. What if you agree to get something that can completely ruin your life? It had a nice "Man in the Black" vibe.
"The Minority Report": The namesake of this collection is quite different from the movie itself (which I saw first). It was a bit darker than the movie, with a rather bleak ending. I liked it, but it wasn't the strongest story in the book.
"The Unreconstructed M": This was a very atmospheric (almost horror) story. The plot itself was a bit weak but masterfully implemented.
"Explorers We": This felt like something from The Twilight Zone. A very simple premise of alien impostors not even being aware of themselves being impostors.
"What Dead Men Say": I think this was the best story in the collection. The whole idea of a voice from the stars emanating from the dead, almost god-like Louis Sarapis, was amazing. Was it the mad babbling of a strong individual with goals set in motion even after his death, or is it something else? Very chilling.
"The Days of Perky Pat": This is about the danger of Barbie dolls. It's a very good story, and I really enjoyed PKD's commentary from the notes.
"Oh, to Be a Blobel!": This was a nice variation on common human problems and the ridiculousness of war. Very blobery.
"Service Call": A very interesting horror story. What if you agree to get something that can completely ruin your life? It had a nice "Man in the Black" vibe.
"The Minority Report": The namesake of this collection is quite different from the movie itself (which I saw first). It was a bit darker than the movie, with a rather bleak ending. I liked it, but it wasn't the strongest story in the book.
"The Unreconstructed M": This was a very atmospheric (almost horror) story. The plot itself was a bit weak but masterfully implemented.
"Explorers We": This felt like something from The Twilight Zone. A very simple premise of alien impostors not even being aware of themselves being impostors.
"What Dead Men Say": I think this was the best story in the collection. The whole idea of a voice from the stars emanating from the dead, almost god-like Louis Sarapis, was amazing. Was it the mad babbling of a strong individual with goals set in motion even after his death, or is it something else? Very chilling.
"The Days of Perky Pat": This is about the danger of Barbie dolls. It's a very good story, and I really enjoyed PKD's commentary from the notes.
"Oh, to Be a Blobel!": This was a nice variation on common human problems and the ridiculousness of war. Very blobery.
May 13, 2010
4.0 to 4.5 stars. Five really good stories are included in this audio collection.
1. The Minority Report: An excellent story that has some significant differences from the movies version (which I also thought was pretty good)
2. We Can Remember It For You Wholesale: Almost completely different in tone and content than the movie "Total Recall" on which this story is based. I liked the movie, but loved the story.
3. Paycheck: A very good story though not as good as the other two.
4. Second Variety: Another excellent short story with a very good ending.
5. The Eyes Have It: The shortest story in the collection and my favorite. Funny and very smart.
1. The Minority Report: An excellent story that has some significant differences from the movies version (which I also thought was pretty good)
2. We Can Remember It For You Wholesale: Almost completely different in tone and content than the movie "Total Recall" on which this story is based. I liked the movie, but loved the story.
3. Paycheck: A very good story though not as good as the other two.
4. Second Variety: Another excellent short story with a very good ending.
5. The Eyes Have It: The shortest story in the collection and my favorite. Funny and very smart.
March 25, 2020
Lu dans l'édition Folio SF chez Gallimard. Un recueil de ce qui se fait de mieux parmi les nouvelles atypiques de l'écrivain californien.
Liste des nouvelles :
Rapport minoritaire = Minority Report
Un jeu guerrier = War Game
Ce que disent les morts = What the Dead Men Say
Ah, être un Gélate... = Oh, To Be a Blobel
Souvenirs à vendre = We Can Remember It for You Wholesale
La foi de nos pères = Faith of Our Fathers
La fourmi électrique = The Electric Ant
Nouveau modèle = Second Variety
L'imposteur = Impostor
Matching Soundtrack :
Epitaph album - Front Line Assembly
Liste des nouvelles :
Rapport minoritaire = Minority Report
Un jeu guerrier = War Game
Ce que disent les morts = What the Dead Men Say
Ah, être un Gélate... = Oh, To Be a Blobel
Souvenirs à vendre = We Can Remember It for You Wholesale
La foi de nos pères = Faith of Our Fathers
La fourmi électrique = The Electric Ant
Nouveau modèle = Second Variety
L'imposteur = Impostor
Matching Soundtrack :
Epitaph album - Front Line Assembly
March 29, 2009
You don't need to know a whole bunch (or anything at all) about the amazing worlds that Phillip K Dick has created in his mind, and as long as you can keep an open mind, you can immerse yourself in this fantasy future right off the bat. You don't need to know about Archimedes to follow the story of the (always) male protagonist, and the backstory of the character or plausibility of this future doesn't hinder his storytelling. Each tale is filled with twists and turns, and it's a total pageturner.
March 22, 2019
I really have a tough time reading Philip K Dick’s full length novels and even some of his short stories don’t flow very well even if the ideas in them are just so awesome. For this reason, I chose the audiobook version and I wasn’t disappointed. This is a really good collection including ‘The Minority Report’, ‘We Can Remember It for You Wholesale’, ‘Paycheck’, and ‘Second Variety’. I really think it is important to keep going back to the original stories and not be seduced by the movies they gave birth to. Comparing Spielberg’s “The Minority Report” to the original short story, we can see how the director smoothed out all the rough edges, but also took out the most important philosophical center of it. It is that philosophical dilemma that the short story is about, and is why the ending of the short story is very different from that of the movie and, for me, much more satisfying.
June 10, 2011
PKD seems a little more accessible in the short-story format; I adore the guy's books, but they can be difficult reads. I usually have to let my brain unwind with some literary candy fluff after an encounter with him, but this collection didn't have that effect on me at all. A lot of the stories in this collection had a Twilight Zone-ish twist, and unlike most short story collections, the quality of 90% of the included stories was really solid.
August 25, 2023
★★★½
A collection of 9 short stories, each with progressive ideas at their core, much ahead of their time.
Favorite: Oh, to be a Blobel!
Least appealing: What the Dead Men Say
Adapted to films:
Minority Report
We can remember it for you Wholesale (twice adapted as Total Recall)
Recommended if you like a book for its core ideas and creativity.
Not recommend if you prefer reading (watching) the polished and further developed versions of the idea.
Notes:
Was surprised to notice a couple of glaring mistakes in this famous edition!
1. On page 7: Then, the Army people would check over their cards and discovery the discrepancy.
2. On page 35:
June 13, 2024
To err is human, but to deny redemption is inhumane.
Great set of stories, many of which were the germ of later novels. Waterspider is likely my fave here—a near-future generation look on the 50s sci-fi writers as pre-cogs and send a team back in time to kidnap Poul Anderson from a convention in SF to solve their contemporary physics conundrum. I loved this surprisingly clear window into how PKD saw several of his contemporaries! Ray Bradbury receives high praise, as do a few others including Anderson. Safe to say Campbell didn't even rate into the story, or did he?
Great set of stories, many of which were the germ of later novels. Waterspider is likely my fave here—a near-future generation look on the 50s sci-fi writers as pre-cogs and send a team back in time to kidnap Poul Anderson from a convention in SF to solve their contemporary physics conundrum. I loved this surprisingly clear window into how PKD saw several of his contemporaries! Ray Bradbury receives high praise, as do a few others including Anderson. Safe to say Campbell didn't even rate into the story, or did he?
August 23, 2018
PKD is amazing, and it's depressing to compare him to modern sci-fi authors. His short stories are probably his best work, as they present the weird, mind-twisting premise without distraction. These four short stories are among his best, and I think all (or at least 3 of them) have been made into movies.
August 22, 2025
I’ve been waiting however many years to read The Minority Report.
What a disappointment.
How Spielberg excavated that gem of a movie from this mediocre story is quite impressive. Dick gets the credit for the idea (some of it anyway, the basics), yes, but both times I’ve read him it just feels so, lackluster. I don’t think the motivations for story Anderton are remotely as believable or impactful as movie Anderton. I’d put Minority Report up there as one of my favorite movies… if not top ten, top fifteen surely. I return to it every so often. Thought I’d love the story even more and I just found it so simplistic in comparison.
Granted, in the movie the cinematography and the visuals do a lot of the heavy lifting but for a story described as cyberpunk Dick fails to inspire any kind of setting or place. Just…
God.
Dreadful.
Maybe if I hadn’t already seen the movie I could have appreciated it more.
Total Recall or: “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale” - yeah sure. Cool. I guess. I don’t care. Guy wants to have exciting memories so goes to a company that invents memories and puts them in heads only to discover that his real memories are MORE exciting and also very dangerous.. action ensues.. I think… I didn’t care a whole lot about this one either.
In its defense, I am also not a fan of the movie. (I don’t dislike the movie, it just doesn’t capture my attention long enough to make it all the way through. I’ve tried.)
“Paycheck” - pretty sure this is not what the Ben Affleck movie is based on? (guys calm down I’m kidding. 😂) I actually did like this one. Guy receives a package from future self and has to riddle his way out of a predicament he finds himself in due to his former job. I liked the concept. I don’t think it was super philosophical or deep but I liked the puzzle aspect.
“Second Variety” - okay spoiler ahead that I’m not hiding because this book is like fifty years old you been warned: as soon as chickie started unbuttoning her shirt I knew who the second variety was. It was further confirmed as soon as she went “oh it’s you klaus.” 😂 so, predictable. But, I kinda liked that Mexican stand off vibe off everyone standing around pointing a gun at each other not knowing who it was, even if I did.
“The Eyes Have It” - real quick, blink and you’ll miss it. I had to listen to it twice. This is funny. It’s dumb as hell. Dick was probably high as a kite and laughing his ass off when he wrote it, but it was funny, I’ll give it that.
So started out rough, a disappointment for sure… but it did get better as it went on. I think it’s vastly overrated here. I don’t foresee myself running out and reading more PKD right away but.. ya know too each their own.
What a disappointment.
How Spielberg excavated that gem of a movie from this mediocre story is quite impressive. Dick gets the credit for the idea (some of it anyway, the basics), yes, but both times I’ve read him it just feels so, lackluster. I don’t think the motivations for story Anderton are remotely as believable or impactful as movie Anderton. I’d put Minority Report up there as one of my favorite movies… if not top ten, top fifteen surely. I return to it every so often. Thought I’d love the story even more and I just found it so simplistic in comparison.
Granted, in the movie the cinematography and the visuals do a lot of the heavy lifting but for a story described as cyberpunk Dick fails to inspire any kind of setting or place. Just…
God.
Dreadful.
Maybe if I hadn’t already seen the movie I could have appreciated it more.
Total Recall or: “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale” - yeah sure. Cool. I guess. I don’t care. Guy wants to have exciting memories so goes to a company that invents memories and puts them in heads only to discover that his real memories are MORE exciting and also very dangerous.. action ensues.. I think… I didn’t care a whole lot about this one either.
In its defense, I am also not a fan of the movie. (I don’t dislike the movie, it just doesn’t capture my attention long enough to make it all the way through. I’ve tried.)
“Paycheck” - pretty sure this is not what the Ben Affleck movie is based on? (guys calm down I’m kidding. 😂) I actually did like this one. Guy receives a package from future self and has to riddle his way out of a predicament he finds himself in due to his former job. I liked the concept. I don’t think it was super philosophical or deep but I liked the puzzle aspect.
“Second Variety” - okay spoiler ahead that I’m not hiding because this book is like fifty years old you been warned: as soon as chickie started unbuttoning her shirt I knew who the second variety was. It was further confirmed as soon as she went “oh it’s you klaus.” 😂 so, predictable. But, I kinda liked that Mexican stand off vibe off everyone standing around pointing a gun at each other not knowing who it was, even if I did.
“The Eyes Have It” - real quick, blink and you’ll miss it. I had to listen to it twice. This is funny. It’s dumb as hell. Dick was probably high as a kite and laughing his ass off when he wrote it, but it was funny, I’ll give it that.
So started out rough, a disappointment for sure… but it did get better as it went on. I think it’s vastly overrated here. I don’t foresee myself running out and reading more PKD right away but.. ya know too each their own.
April 15, 2012
autofac - 3/5 a little odd story about people trying to break automated factories by making them war against one another.
service call - 3/5 a nice story about a swibble and the possible visitor from the future.
captive market - 3/5 an excellent wee story about a women selling goods.
the mold of yancy - 3/5
the minority report - 4/5 very good short story
recall mechanism - 4/5 very short story that reminded me of Eye In the Sky or Ubik except the different realities were one persons. Nice ending thats made me think.
unreconstructed m - about a portable tv, banishment out of earth/solar system, murder, deceit. 5/5. Toss up between this and minority report for the best story.
explorers, we: 3/5 6 astronauts return to earth from mars.
war games: 2/5 monopoly/syndrome, toy soldiers and testers. Not great.
If There Were No Benny Cemoli: 2/5 better than war games. Did/Does Benny Cemoli exist or just propaganda?
Novelty Act - 1/5 story about people living in large high rises, 2 men who make music with jugs, a papoola from mars which isnt real.Not very good.
Waterspider - 5/5. lots of name dropping of other authors and himself. Poul Anderson is kidnapped and brought into the future, all goes well until they wipe his recent memory. An excellent short story.
What dead men say - 5/5 another fantastic short story that is reminiscent of UBIK. Half-life, presidential elections, paramoia... great.
Orpheus with Clay Feet - 4/5 time traveling story, very good.
The Days of Perky Pat - 3/5 this was the story i was looking forward to most but it wasnt the greatest in the book. Story of post-apocalyptic survivors who spend there spare time playing with dolls that represented the world before the disaster. It was a good story but didnt have any real ending.
Stand by - 1/5 rubbish
what;ll we do with ragland park - 2/5
oh, to be a blobel - 3/5
service call - 3/5 a nice story about a swibble and the possible visitor from the future.
captive market - 3/5 an excellent wee story about a women selling goods.
the mold of yancy - 3/5
the minority report - 4/5 very good short story
recall mechanism - 4/5 very short story that reminded me of Eye In the Sky or Ubik except the different realities were one persons. Nice ending thats made me think.
unreconstructed m - about a portable tv, banishment out of earth/solar system, murder, deceit. 5/5. Toss up between this and minority report for the best story.
explorers, we: 3/5 6 astronauts return to earth from mars.
war games: 2/5 monopoly/syndrome, toy soldiers and testers. Not great.
If There Were No Benny Cemoli: 2/5 better than war games. Did/Does Benny Cemoli exist or just propaganda?
Novelty Act - 1/5 story about people living in large high rises, 2 men who make music with jugs, a papoola from mars which isnt real.Not very good.
Waterspider - 5/5. lots of name dropping of other authors and himself. Poul Anderson is kidnapped and brought into the future, all goes well until they wipe his recent memory. An excellent short story.
What dead men say - 5/5 another fantastic short story that is reminiscent of UBIK. Half-life, presidential elections, paramoia... great.
Orpheus with Clay Feet - 4/5 time traveling story, very good.
The Days of Perky Pat - 3/5 this was the story i was looking forward to most but it wasnt the greatest in the book. Story of post-apocalyptic survivors who spend there spare time playing with dolls that represented the world before the disaster. It was a good story but didnt have any real ending.
Stand by - 1/5 rubbish
what;ll we do with ragland park - 2/5
oh, to be a blobel - 3/5
November 29, 2019
When we were little, my sister and I had pretty weird Christmas traditions.
One of them was watching Minority Report on Christmas's Eve. We used to find it so exciting and terrifying and we felt very rebellious picking it up instead of rewatching Harry Potter or all those Disney Channel Santa Claus movies (we felt brave watching it, and yet we closed our eyes every time there was the eye transplant scene: to this day, I have never watched it).
Thing it, the movie is brilliant and thought-provoking, and so is the novella it is based on.
Unfortunately, not every short story in this collection was so enthralling, but I will always cherish this book for making me finally understand what is exactly the meaning of the film's title.
One of them was watching Minority Report on Christmas's Eve. We used to find it so exciting and terrifying and we felt very rebellious picking it up instead of rewatching Harry Potter or all those Disney Channel Santa Claus movies (we felt brave watching it, and yet we closed our eyes every time there was the eye transplant scene: to this day, I have never watched it).
Thing it, the movie is brilliant and thought-provoking, and so is the novella it is based on.
Unfortunately, not every short story in this collection was so enthralling, but I will always cherish this book for making me finally understand what is exactly the meaning of the film's title.
February 28, 2012
PKD's shorter stories are largely terrific but, like his novels, perhaps somewhat uneven sometimes. And reading many collected together is overwhelming, because they are thought-provoking and strange like his books, and it's a lot to take all together. All in all, some super great stuff.
April 4, 2020
Volume 4 of Dick's collected short stories contain some of his finer more mature shorts. There are 18 goot to very very good tales, including the blockbuster franchise movie-to-be and book title - Minority Report.
March 18, 2017
I would just echo what John W. Campbell said about PKD stories: "Nuts."
More complete review to follow.
More complete review to follow.
November 5, 2022
Second Variety - лучший рассказ из сборника.
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