Philip K. Dick High

by David Bischoff

THE HIGH SCHOOL OF THE FUTURE . . . "You've never wondered what the meaning of life is, have you?" asked my teacher. I shook my head. "I thought people who were depressed asked those kind of questions." "Okay. Then Quinn, I'll have to be more direct. Middlevale isn't Middlevale. Eisenhower isn't truly an accredited American high school. I'm not me, and you're not you!" "Then who are we?" "Victims!" Her finger shot in the air. "Victims of some sort of experiment! Some kind of psycho-social experiment perpetrated by scientists without principle, a government without morals!" Her dewlaps quivered with indignity. My head was spinning again. I tried to speak but I couldn't. "These ears . . . open them up and you'll find microchip monitors and controls. And judging by the kind of 'visions' we've both seen, I'd also say you'd also find some kind of mind-cloak device, adjusted to auditory and visual aspects of our brains, normalizing the odd things that may abound in this laboratory environment." I blinked. "You mean, it's all a joke?" "A bad one. A total farce." "You're telling me . . . You're saying that it's all a set-up? But how long has this been going on, then?" "Hard to say. Part of your memories could have been programmed." "Programmed?" I stared. "Like computers."

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

151 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

aka Mark Grant (with Bruce King), Brad Quentin (with Terry Bisson)

Born in Washington D.C. and now living in Eugene, Oregon, David Bischoff writes science fiction books, short stories, and scripts for television. Though he has been writing since the early 1970s, and has had over 80 books published, David is best known for novelizations of popular movies and TV series including the Aliens, Gremlins, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and WarGames.

Reviews

[Saul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here's a question for all those high-school football stars who don't have a care in the world: What do you do when you realize your teacher is an alien? Freak out, because it's much worse than that :)

This is a playful look at an American high-schooler's life. Lots of SF action and good story telling. If you enjoy books with strange plot twists and a humorous take on American lifestyle, give this a read. Highly recommended for all fans of David Bischoff.

[Pachyderm Bookworm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Author David Bischoff has deservedly "hit the robot on the head" with the publication and advent of this novel published over twenty years ago. Broadly reminiscent of Philip K. Dick's own wildly inventive forays into unreality, viz; "The Simulacra," "We Can Build You," "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (the same award-winning novel that inspired director James Cameron's cinematic extravaganza "Blade-Runner") and the shorter more existential short fiction "Imposter," along with "The Electric Ant."

Because the novel takes place in a Dwight D. Eisenhower High School, the plot twists and interactions between students and teachers alike (both friend and foe) will most certainly remind movie-goers and cinema buffs of an alien invasion cut from similar cloth, viz; "The Faculty." Going back further into the late seventies and early eighties are also the trope-filled and turgidly triumphant "Class of 1984" and its sequel "Class of 1994," (both theatrical releases which immediately when both "straight to VHS home video" and late-night "television syndication" sci-fi viewership markets, w/Pam Grier, Stacey Keach, and that "actor's everyman," Roddy McDowell.

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not sure what I think of this book..it defies explanation