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The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick #3
Upon the Dull Earth and Other Stories
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 This collection includes all of the writer's earliest short and medium-length fiction (including some previously unpublished stories) covering the years 1952-1955. These fascinating stories include Second Variety, Foster, You're Dead and The Father-Thing, and many others.
"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
"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 3/5. Includes stories from 1953-1959:
- Fair Game
- The Hanging Stranger
- The Eyes Have It
- The Golden Man
- The Turning Wheel
- The Last of the Masters
- The Father-Thing
- Strange Eden
- Tony and the Beetles
- Null-O
- To Serve the Master
- Exhibit Piece
- The Crawlers
- Sales Pitch
- Shell Game
- Upon the Dull Earth
- Foster, You're Dead
- Pay for the Printer
- War Veteran
- The Chromium Fence
- Misadjustment
- A World of Talent
- Psi-Man Heal My Child!
Other editions of this volume are titled:
- The Father-Thing,
- Second Variety [by Citadel],
- Second Variety and Other Classic Stories [by Citadel],
- Upon the Dull Earth
Editions published by Citadel include "Second Variety" into Volume 3, whereas other editions had it in Volume 2.
200 pages, Audiobook
First published May 1, 1987
135 people are currently reading
3831 people want to read
About the author
Philip K. Dick
2,006 books22.4k 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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August 21, 2022
Cada cuento de Philip K. Dick contiene tantas ideas que es el germen de muchas otras historias y ha influido en gran medida las obras de CF posteriores, tanto en literatura como en adaptaciones al cine. Por ejemplo, el cuento que da nombre a este tomo, El padre-cosa, es el origen de una película tan fundamental como La invasión de los ladrones de cuerpos.
Una gran virtud de este autor es que, con una prosa escueta, sabe crear ambientes en unas pocas líneas, ambientes siempre extraños, que te rodean y en los que te sumerges a placer:
Gritos y estampidos ahogados, procedentes de los camiones de los mercaderes rurales que se arrastraban por la autopista hacia Karnet. La luz rojiza del día aumentó de intensidad. Beltegeuse ascendía con lentitud y majestuosidad.
Cada cuento nos introduce en una distopía, que al mismo tiempo tiene un aire cotidiano, con personajes demasiado parecidos a nosotros mismos:
La campaña publicitaria perfecta. Compra o muere, el nuevo lema. Pon en tu patio trasero un nuevo refugio antibombas de la General Electronics o te matarán.
No entraré más a fondo en los relatos porque sería agotador - e innecesario. Simplemente decir que fueron escritos en los años 50, pero que no han envejecido y contienen una riqueza de ideas asombrosa.
Una gran virtud de este autor es que, con una prosa escueta, sabe crear ambientes en unas pocas líneas, ambientes siempre extraños, que te rodean y en los que te sumerges a placer:
Gritos y estampidos ahogados, procedentes de los camiones de los mercaderes rurales que se arrastraban por la autopista hacia Karnet. La luz rojiza del día aumentó de intensidad. Beltegeuse ascendía con lentitud y majestuosidad.
Cada cuento nos introduce en una distopía, que al mismo tiempo tiene un aire cotidiano, con personajes demasiado parecidos a nosotros mismos:
La campaña publicitaria perfecta. Compra o muere, el nuevo lema. Pon en tu patio trasero un nuevo refugio antibombas de la General Electronics o te matarán.
No entraré más a fondo en los relatos porque sería agotador - e innecesario. Simplemente decir que fueron escritos en los años 50, pero que no han envejecido y contienen una riqueza de ideas asombrosa.
June 12, 2019
This third volume of Philip K. Dick’s collected short stories represents a transition period in his struggle to become a successful commercial fiction writer. Written in the years 1953–54—a year and a half after Dick began writing full-time and a year before he published his first novel Solar Lottery—these stories represent both a decline and an advance in quality. My sense of decline comes from a feeling that, overall, these tales are less daring than many which preceded them, less likely to question the nature of reality or turn the world upside down. On the other hand, these tales are more polished, more concentrated, and the endings—which before were often hasty or superficial—are well conceived and carefully developed. Even more important, perhaps, is that Dick has here begun to explore—methodically, in a series of variations—a few themes that would continue to inform his work for the rest of his life as a writer. And that impulse to turn the whole world on its head? It would return—with a vengeance—in the mind-bending novels of the ‘60’s.
Philip Dick deals effectively—and uniquely—with various common science fiction themes: post-apocalyptic social structures, robot servants and overlords, consumerism, alienation, human mutation, etc., but he is at his best when he continues to explore the questions that lies behind these themes. What exactly does it mean to be human? Can humans devolve, evolve or be replaced? If so, do these beings ever cease to be human? And how can the rest of us tell the difference?
Of the twenty four stories and short novellas included in this collection, nineteen of them explore these questions in some depth, and each of them is well worth a read. Of these there are five that I would recommend highly to anyone with even a passing interest in science fiction: “Tony and the Beetles” (a young boy on a planet colonized by humans begins to suspect the indigenous “beetle” children are not really his friends), “Second Variety” (robots, in the last stage of a war, develop weapons that look and act like people), “A World of Talent” (mutants of various abilities begin to explore—and transcend—their humanity), and—my two favorites and two of the scariest stories I have read--”The Hanging Stranger” (humans being replaced by insects in human form—written a few years before “Body Snatchers) and “The Father-Thing” (what’s a boy do when he begins to realize his father is no longer his father?
A great collection of classic sci-fi magazine pieces. Dive right in, and enjoy.
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 3 of the Gollancz series, subtitled for “The Father-Thing”.
It has been interesting to read them in the order Dick wrote them, as it is possible to watch him develop particular concepts through different story plots – for example his exploration of psi during the summer of 1954. No blockbusters here, but my favorites from among the 23 stories were The Golden Man, The Father-Thing, and War Veteran. My overall rating is a numerical average of my individual story ratings below.
Fair Game, received 4/21/53, published in If, September 1959, ***. A senior professor is observed by giant aliens. Is it because of his expertise in nuclear physics? Tomato surprise ending.
The Hanging Stranger, received 5/4/53, published in Science Fiction Adventures, December 1953, ****. A small store owner notices a body hanging from a lamppost in his small town, but no one else seems to care. Is this a precursor to alien invasion, or is he losing his mind?
The Eyes Have It, received 5/13/53, published in Science Fiction Stories, Number 1, 1953, *. A too-cute little piece that plays on the taking of common expressions literally.
The Golden Man (“The God Who Runs”), received 6/24/53, published in If, April 1954, *****. Many years after a nuclear war, the DCA hunts down and exterminates human mutations. But their latest discovery defies previous experience, and might have survival skills superior to humanity’s. The 2007 film "Next" was very loosely based on this story.
The Turning Wheel, received 7/8/53, published in Science Fiction Stories, Number 2, 1954, *. A future in which Caucasian technos are controlled by higher Asian castes. Frankly, a racist concept. It is illuminating about post-WW2 America, that this could be published.
The Last of the Masters (“Protection Agency”), received 7/15/53, published in Orbit Science Fiction, Nov-Dec 1954, ****. A League of individualistic anarchists have toppled authoritarian governments around the world, except in one particular valley where a decrepit robotic overlord still rules. The plot demonstrates the superiority of distributed power over centralized power.
The Father-Thing, received 7/21/53, published in Fantasy & Science Fiction, December 1954, *****. A young boy accidently discovers that his father has been replaced by an alien. A childish fantasy, which in this case is actually true. The boy is powerless to convince his mother or other adults, and must address the problem himself along with a couple other children.
Strange Eden (“Immolation”), received 8/4/53, published in Imagination, Dec 1954, ***. After landing on a new planet, a crewmember encounters a beautiful immortal woman, whose race has a long history with Earth. Sex with her transforms him.
Tony and the Beetles, received 8/31/53, published in Orbit Science Fiction, No 2, 1953, ****. After centuries of successful aggression against the alien Beetles, young Tony finds what it’s like for his people to be the losers. His experience is not unlike children’s experience in human wars.
Null-O (“Loony Lemuel”), received 8/31/53, published in If, Dec 1958, **. Young Lemuel is incapable of human emotion, and desires to put everything into a high entropy state. When he goes to a psychiatrist and gets hooked up with others, things are carried forward preposterously.
To Serve The Master (“Be As Gods!”), received 10/21/53, published in Imagination, Feb 1956, ***. Mail carrier Applequist finds a decrepit robot in the ravine. The truth of the robot is key to the truth of a historical war whose entire basis has been rewritten.
Exhibit Piece, received 10/21/53, published in If, Aug 1954, ****. A future historian is responsible for an exhibit of mid twentieth century American life. When he goes native, there is trouble on both sides. But he is unable to escape. As the older of two brothers, this story triggered in me a huge nostalgic response for my own 1960s childhood.
The Crawlers (“Foundling Home”), received 10/29/53, published in Imagination, July 1954, ****. The crawling creatures which are living near the Radiation Lab are indeed pretty creepy.
Sales Pitch, received 11/19/53, published in Future, June 1954, ***. In the future, advertising has become so invasive as to make Ed Morris want to emigrate to the interstellar frontier. The robot salesman who won’t leave is the last straw.
Shell Game, received 12/22/53, published in Galaxy, Sept 1954, **. A hospital ship crashes onto a planet marooning its paranoid patients, with predictable consequences.
Upon the Dull Earth, received 12/30/53, published in Beyond Fantasy Fiction, Nov 1954, ***. I did not know that PKD wrote fantasy/horror. In this story, a young woman has been nurturing spirits from the afterlife, only to be pulled over herself in a premature death. Her fiancé connives to bring her back.
Foster, You’re Dead, received 12/31/53, published in Star Science Fiction Stories No 3, 1955, ****. A young boy, drawn in by powerful advertising and peer pressure, is embarrassed that his family has not bought their own fall-out shelter. PKD is telling us that the threat of mutual nuclear destruction is driven by an economic need for limitless consumption.
Pay for the Printer (“Printer’s Pay”), received 1/28/54, published in Satellite Science Fiction, Oct 1956, ***. Humanity has become dependent on the Biltong, who print duplicates of our every material need without need to actually make anything ourselves. It is interesting that PKD’s use of the term “print” here precedes modern 3D-printers by over a half a century.
War Veteran, received 2/17/54, published in If, March 1955, *****. An old war veteran is somehow propelled from his death during the defeat of Earth back to a time before the war began. High tension intrigue ensues as various parties act to prevent or provoke the war. The rapid reversals pulled me along right to the end of this somewhat longer story.
The Chromium Fence, received 4/9/54, published in Imagination, July 1955, **. In a world politically polarized over minutia, Don Walsh wants to ride the fence. Eventually, his society will deal with that.
Misadjustment, received 5/14/54, published in Science Fiction Quarterly, Feb 1957, *. Society must watch out for parakineticists living amongst us. The executive committee that watches out for that has created an agency of Immunes who are able to identify them, and give them 24-hour advance notification before they become subject to execution by the public at large. But who watches the watchers? Unfortunately, the policies of the executive committee seem completely arbitrary and unworkable to me, other than to deliver the ending.
A World of Talent (“Two Steps Right”), received 6/4/54, published in Galaxy, Oct 1954, ****. In a subsociety of diverse psi-talented individuals, one pair of precogs have married for breeding purposes, but share no love. They have produced a son who appears to be not just without psi, but of substandard intelligence. The husband uses a colleague to fetch a young woman from a distant planet who appears to be a new class of talent – the ability to block the psi of others. But everyone already knows that she will develop into a romantic relationship with him.
Psi-Man Heal My Child (“Outside Consultant”, “Psi-Man”), received 6/8/54, published in Imaginative Tales, Nov 1955, **. A poorly structured story that encompasses two tangentially related plots. In a post-apocalyptic setting, where psi-talented individuals exist outside the surviving militarized communes, a family desperately seeks healing for their newest child. Meanwhile, in a second plotline, a different one of the psi-talented individuals is a time traveler. Jack repeatedly swaps places with an earlier self, and attempting to convince the critical American general not to provoke his Soviet counterpart into nuclear war. Perhaps this is the groundwork for a longer novel, that didn’t happen.
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 3 of the Gollancz series, subtitled for “The Father-Thing”.
It has been interesting to read them in the order Dick wrote them, as it is possible to watch him develop particular concepts through different story plots – for example his exploration of psi during the summer of 1954. No blockbusters here, but my favorites from among the 23 stories were The Golden Man, The Father-Thing, and War Veteran. My overall rating is a numerical average of my individual story ratings below.
Fair Game, received 4/21/53, published in If, September 1959, ***. A senior professor is observed by giant aliens. Is it because of his expertise in nuclear physics? Tomato surprise ending.
The Hanging Stranger, received 5/4/53, published in Science Fiction Adventures, December 1953, ****. A small store owner notices a body hanging from a lamppost in his small town, but no one else seems to care. Is this a precursor to alien invasion, or is he losing his mind?
The Eyes Have It, received 5/13/53, published in Science Fiction Stories, Number 1, 1953, *. A too-cute little piece that plays on the taking of common expressions literally.
The Golden Man (“The God Who Runs”), received 6/24/53, published in If, April 1954, *****. Many years after a nuclear war, the DCA hunts down and exterminates human mutations. But their latest discovery defies previous experience, and might have survival skills superior to humanity’s. The 2007 film "Next" was very loosely based on this story.
The Turning Wheel, received 7/8/53, published in Science Fiction Stories, Number 2, 1954, *. A future in which Caucasian technos are controlled by higher Asian castes. Frankly, a racist concept. It is illuminating about post-WW2 America, that this could be published.
The Last of the Masters (“Protection Agency”), received 7/15/53, published in Orbit Science Fiction, Nov-Dec 1954, ****. A League of individualistic anarchists have toppled authoritarian governments around the world, except in one particular valley where a decrepit robotic overlord still rules. The plot demonstrates the superiority of distributed power over centralized power.
The Father-Thing, received 7/21/53, published in Fantasy & Science Fiction, December 1954, *****. A young boy accidently discovers that his father has been replaced by an alien. A childish fantasy, which in this case is actually true. The boy is powerless to convince his mother or other adults, and must address the problem himself along with a couple other children.
Strange Eden (“Immolation”), received 8/4/53, published in Imagination, Dec 1954, ***. After landing on a new planet, a crewmember encounters a beautiful immortal woman, whose race has a long history with Earth. Sex with her transforms him.
Tony and the Beetles, received 8/31/53, published in Orbit Science Fiction, No 2, 1953, ****. After centuries of successful aggression against the alien Beetles, young Tony finds what it’s like for his people to be the losers. His experience is not unlike children’s experience in human wars.
Null-O (“Loony Lemuel”), received 8/31/53, published in If, Dec 1958, **. Young Lemuel is incapable of human emotion, and desires to put everything into a high entropy state. When he goes to a psychiatrist and gets hooked up with others, things are carried forward preposterously.
To Serve The Master (“Be As Gods!”), received 10/21/53, published in Imagination, Feb 1956, ***. Mail carrier Applequist finds a decrepit robot in the ravine. The truth of the robot is key to the truth of a historical war whose entire basis has been rewritten.
Exhibit Piece, received 10/21/53, published in If, Aug 1954, ****. A future historian is responsible for an exhibit of mid twentieth century American life. When he goes native, there is trouble on both sides. But he is unable to escape. As the older of two brothers, this story triggered in me a huge nostalgic response for my own 1960s childhood.
The Crawlers (“Foundling Home”), received 10/29/53, published in Imagination, July 1954, ****. The crawling creatures which are living near the Radiation Lab are indeed pretty creepy.
Sales Pitch, received 11/19/53, published in Future, June 1954, ***. In the future, advertising has become so invasive as to make Ed Morris want to emigrate to the interstellar frontier. The robot salesman who won’t leave is the last straw.
Shell Game, received 12/22/53, published in Galaxy, Sept 1954, **. A hospital ship crashes onto a planet marooning its paranoid patients, with predictable consequences.
Upon the Dull Earth, received 12/30/53, published in Beyond Fantasy Fiction, Nov 1954, ***. I did not know that PKD wrote fantasy/horror. In this story, a young woman has been nurturing spirits from the afterlife, only to be pulled over herself in a premature death. Her fiancé connives to bring her back.
Foster, You’re Dead, received 12/31/53, published in Star Science Fiction Stories No 3, 1955, ****. A young boy, drawn in by powerful advertising and peer pressure, is embarrassed that his family has not bought their own fall-out shelter. PKD is telling us that the threat of mutual nuclear destruction is driven by an economic need for limitless consumption.
Pay for the Printer (“Printer’s Pay”), received 1/28/54, published in Satellite Science Fiction, Oct 1956, ***. Humanity has become dependent on the Biltong, who print duplicates of our every material need without need to actually make anything ourselves. It is interesting that PKD’s use of the term “print” here precedes modern 3D-printers by over a half a century.
War Veteran, received 2/17/54, published in If, March 1955, *****. An old war veteran is somehow propelled from his death during the defeat of Earth back to a time before the war began. High tension intrigue ensues as various parties act to prevent or provoke the war. The rapid reversals pulled me along right to the end of this somewhat longer story.
The Chromium Fence, received 4/9/54, published in Imagination, July 1955, **. In a world politically polarized over minutia, Don Walsh wants to ride the fence. Eventually, his society will deal with that.
Misadjustment, received 5/14/54, published in Science Fiction Quarterly, Feb 1957, *. Society must watch out for parakineticists living amongst us. The executive committee that watches out for that has created an agency of Immunes who are able to identify them, and give them 24-hour advance notification before they become subject to execution by the public at large. But who watches the watchers? Unfortunately, the policies of the executive committee seem completely arbitrary and unworkable to me, other than to deliver the ending.
A World of Talent (“Two Steps Right”), received 6/4/54, published in Galaxy, Oct 1954, ****. In a subsociety of diverse psi-talented individuals, one pair of precogs have married for breeding purposes, but share no love. They have produced a son who appears to be not just without psi, but of substandard intelligence. The husband uses a colleague to fetch a young woman from a distant planet who appears to be a new class of talent – the ability to block the psi of others. But everyone already knows that she will develop into a romantic relationship with him.
Psi-Man Heal My Child (“Outside Consultant”, “Psi-Man”), received 6/8/54, published in Imaginative Tales, Nov 1955, **. A poorly structured story that encompasses two tangentially related plots. In a post-apocalyptic setting, where psi-talented individuals exist outside the surviving militarized communes, a family desperately seeks healing for their newest child. Meanwhile, in a second plotline, a different one of the psi-talented individuals is a time traveler. Jack repeatedly swaps places with an earlier self, and attempting to convince the critical American general not to provoke his Soviet counterpart into nuclear war. Perhaps this is the groundwork for a longer novel, that didn’t happen.
December 16, 2018
Impresionante e imprescindible colección de 23 relatos de Philip K. Dick, escritos a mediados de los años 50 del pasado siglo. Los hay buenos, muy buenos y excelentes. En ellos se pueden apreciar algunas de las inquietudes del autor: invasiones silenciosas, el peligro atómico, conflictos con los extraterrestres, paranoia, mutantes, el miedo a los extraño o ajeno, o directamente la xenofobia, que nos muestra lo más despreciable del ser humano.
Entre mis cuentos favoritos podría citar casi todos, pero donde me di cuenta de lo grande que era esta antología fue con el relato ‘Foster, estás muerto’. El protagonista es Mike Foster, un niño que se siente menospreciado por todos sus compañeros al no tener lo que poseen todos, su propio refugio para ataques nucleares. Y es que el Gobierno ha decidido que cada cual se apañe con su seguridad, juego al que no quiere entrar el padre de Mike.
Entre mis cuentos favoritos podría citar casi todos, pero donde me di cuenta de lo grande que era esta antología fue con el relato ‘Foster, estás muerto’. El protagonista es Mike Foster, un niño que se siente menospreciado por todos sus compañeros al no tener lo que poseen todos, su propio refugio para ataques nucleares. Y es que el Gobierno ha decidido que cada cual se apañe con su seguridad, juego al que no quiere entrar el padre de Mike.
April 9, 2019
The Adventure Still Continues
If there is one thing that makes reading Dick’s short stories a difficult enterprise it is to stick to my resolution not to read them all in one go but to put some time in between the single tales in order to think about them. Most of them offer a lot of food for thought, and so it’s not surprising that I wrote a short review for every single story you can find in the third volume.
There are, of course, some few rather flat stories, e.g. the silly and exaggerated satire Null-O, which did not work at all for me, or other tales whose endings are all too obvious, such as Strange Eden or Fair Game. But then there are also truly brilliant stories that will keep haunting you for quite some time. One of the first candidates coming to my mind is the dark and bitter dystopia of The Hanging Stranger, in which Dick tells us something about empathy and conformity but in which he also spins a compelling yarn. Then there is Tony and the Beetles, an equally pessimistic story about identity and the sense of belonging. Another story of pristine quality is Foster, You’re Dead, which comments on fear-mongering and human isolation. Then there are stories which creep down your spine and leave a chill behind, such as The Father-Thing and The Crawlers. And last, but not least, this volume gives us astounding examples of Dick’s skill of world-building and of employing various ideas within the frames of comparatively short stories. Just consider the length and then the depth of stories like The Turn of the Wheel, The Last of the Masters (one of my personal favourites in the collection) and A World of Talent. There are movie scripts hidden around here, and if I could make a wish as to what director should dig them up, I’d go for the Coens! They seem most congenial to PKD.
I think I’ll start with the fourth volume sometime in autumn, and I can’t wait!
If there is one thing that makes reading Dick’s short stories a difficult enterprise it is to stick to my resolution not to read them all in one go but to put some time in between the single tales in order to think about them. Most of them offer a lot of food for thought, and so it’s not surprising that I wrote a short review for every single story you can find in the third volume.
There are, of course, some few rather flat stories, e.g. the silly and exaggerated satire Null-O, which did not work at all for me, or other tales whose endings are all too obvious, such as Strange Eden or Fair Game. But then there are also truly brilliant stories that will keep haunting you for quite some time. One of the first candidates coming to my mind is the dark and bitter dystopia of The Hanging Stranger, in which Dick tells us something about empathy and conformity but in which he also spins a compelling yarn. Then there is Tony and the Beetles, an equally pessimistic story about identity and the sense of belonging. Another story of pristine quality is Foster, You’re Dead, which comments on fear-mongering and human isolation. Then there are stories which creep down your spine and leave a chill behind, such as The Father-Thing and The Crawlers. And last, but not least, this volume gives us astounding examples of Dick’s skill of world-building and of employing various ideas within the frames of comparatively short stories. Just consider the length and then the depth of stories like The Turn of the Wheel, The Last of the Masters (one of my personal favourites in the collection) and A World of Talent. There are movie scripts hidden around here, and if I could make a wish as to what director should dig them up, I’d go for the Coens! They seem most congenial to PKD.
I think I’ll start with the fourth volume sometime in autumn, and I can’t wait!
April 30, 2020
Philip K. Dick penned over 210 short stories! Here's another excellent collection with the majority written between1954 and 1957. Highlights include THE TURNING WHEEL, THE LAST OF THE MASTERS, TONY AND THE BEETLES, TO SERVE THE MASTER, SHELL GAME, and THE CHROME FENCE. Highly recommend for die-hard Dick Heads.
FAIR GAME: ☆☆☆☆
THE HANGING STRANGER: ☆☆☆☆
THE EYES HAVE IT: ☆☆☆☆
THE GOLDEN MAN*:☆☆☆☆
*The basis for the motion picture NEXT
THE TURNING WHEEL: ☆☆☆☆☆
THE LAST OF THE MASTERS: ☆☆☆☆☆
THE FATHER-THING:☆☆☆
STRANGE EDEN: ☆☆☆
TONY AND THE BEETLES: ☆☆☆☆☆
NULL-O: ☆☆☆☆☆
TO SERVE THE MASTER: ☆☆☆☆☆
EXHIBIT PIECE: ☆☆☆☆
THE CRAWLERS: ☆☆☆☆
SALES PITCH:☆☆☆
SHELL GAME: ☆☆☆☆☆
UPON THE DULL EARTH: ☆☆☆
FOSTER, YOU'RE DEAD: ☆☆☆☆
PAY FOR THE PRINTER: ☆☆☆☆
WAR VETERAN: ☆☆
THE CHROME FENCE: ☆☆☆☆☆
MISADJUSTMENT: ☆☆
A WORLD OF TALENT: ☆☆
PSI-MAN HEAL MY CHILD!: ☆☆☆
SECOND VARIETY: ☆☆☆☆
FAIR GAME: ☆☆☆☆
THE HANGING STRANGER: ☆☆☆☆
THE EYES HAVE IT: ☆☆☆☆
THE GOLDEN MAN*:☆☆☆☆
*The basis for the motion picture NEXT
THE TURNING WHEEL: ☆☆☆☆☆
THE LAST OF THE MASTERS: ☆☆☆☆☆
THE FATHER-THING:☆☆☆
STRANGE EDEN: ☆☆☆
TONY AND THE BEETLES: ☆☆☆☆☆
NULL-O: ☆☆☆☆☆
TO SERVE THE MASTER: ☆☆☆☆☆
EXHIBIT PIECE: ☆☆☆☆
THE CRAWLERS: ☆☆☆☆
SALES PITCH:☆☆☆
SHELL GAME: ☆☆☆☆☆
UPON THE DULL EARTH: ☆☆☆
FOSTER, YOU'RE DEAD: ☆☆☆☆
PAY FOR THE PRINTER: ☆☆☆☆
WAR VETERAN: ☆☆
THE CHROME FENCE: ☆☆☆☆☆
MISADJUSTMENT: ☆☆
A WORLD OF TALENT: ☆☆
PSI-MAN HEAL MY CHILD!: ☆☆☆
SECOND VARIETY: ☆☆☆☆
June 20, 2008
I can only conclude that Dick wrote this batch of stories while battling the amphetamine induced cockroaches that where crawling out of his mouth.
Stories like The Father Thing, Second Variety, The Last Of The Masters, Upon The Dull Earth, have tones that range between extremely paranoid to soul numbing shrieking terrified despair.
It's stories like this that help me appreciate Dick's genius, lord knows if I had to live with that level of terror daily I could hardly get out of bed, let alone write about it with such sheer brilliance.
There are a few duds here and there, but all in all this would serve as an excellent primer for anyone looking to jump into the dark world of Dick.
Stories like The Father Thing, Second Variety, The Last Of The Masters, Upon The Dull Earth, have tones that range between extremely paranoid to soul numbing shrieking terrified despair.
It's stories like this that help me appreciate Dick's genius, lord knows if I had to live with that level of terror daily I could hardly get out of bed, let alone write about it with such sheer brilliance.
There are a few duds here and there, but all in all this would serve as an excellent primer for anyone looking to jump into the dark world of Dick.
November 21, 2021
Ezt a kiadást olvastam, nem a másikat.
Ellentmondásos érzéseim voltak korábban, legelőször csak a Szárnyas fejvadász filmet láttam, ami nagy kedvenc lett. Azonban utána két könyvét olvastam, melyek elrettentőek voltak nekem, miközben a műveiből készült többi film megint tetszett.
/Ubik, A kozmosz bábjai/
Majd végre megszereztem a Blade Runner film alapjául szolgáló könyvet, Álmodnak-e az androidok elektromos bárányokkal-teljesen más, mint a film, de jónak tartom.
Ez a novella-válogatás viszont kitűnő! A 14 írás szinte mindegyike nagyon tetszett, remek írások, érdekesek a témák, jó a stílus-így természetesen 5 csillag.
Ellentmondásos érzéseim voltak korábban, legelőször csak a Szárnyas fejvadász filmet láttam, ami nagy kedvenc lett. Azonban utána két könyvét olvastam, melyek elrettentőek voltak nekem, miközben a műveiből készült többi film megint tetszett.
/Ubik, A kozmosz bábjai/
Majd végre megszereztem a Blade Runner film alapjául szolgáló könyvet, Álmodnak-e az androidok elektromos bárányokkal-teljesen más, mint a film, de jónak tartom.
Ez a novella-válogatás viszont kitűnő! A 14 írás szinte mindegyike nagyon tetszett, remek írások, érdekesek a témák, jó a stílus-így természetesen 5 csillag.
August 25, 2013
All in all another great read. I love reading Philip K. Dick before bed at night or early in the morning over breakfast. Such a comfort.
I felt like this collection wasn't as strong as a whole as Volume 1, but is still commendable and was definitely worth the read. I think the stories I enjoyed the most were "Foster, You're Dead," "The Father Thing" and "The Golden Man." "Foster" asks what a world would be like if governments expected us to pay for bomb shelters. "The Father Thing" is a creepy horror story I am unlikely to forget anytime soon--it's about every kid's worst nightmare, your parents being replaced by impostors. "The Golden Man" is like Dick's version of X-Men, with kinky sex and a fun twist ending.
Philip K. Dick is definitely someone you read for his ideas rather than his prose or characterization, which I am totally okay with. I think Dick's stories are at their strongest when they're driven by one or two strong ideas and a relatively small cast of characters--when his cast gets too big, trouble starts happening because it gets difficult to remember who's who or how to tell them apart. The same thing happens with ideas--as much as I love his whirling dervish creativity and seemingly boundless capacity to imagine, In some of these stories there are just TOO MANY ideas and it gets overwhelming! That being said, it's fun to see early hints of his novels in these stories--in "Shell Game," a story about a planet dominated by paranoiacs, you see the early genesis of "Clans of the Alphane Moon" (a terrific novel but not a great story--just too much going on!).
In this collection you also start seeing some religious themes popping up--"Upon the Dull Earth" is one of the weirdest, trippiest things I have ever read in my life, with a haunting end sequence, and in "The Last of the Masters," I love how the robot is basically a stand-in for Jesus's resurrection. Reading Dick's short stories are also teaching me things I didn't know about him--I've learned about his fascination with toys and games that go wrong, for example (is this a reflection of his feelings for technology in general?), and his obsession with insects and sponge-like blobby creatures (I am inevitably reminded of Lord Running Clam, the psychic slime mold in "Clans").
In conclusion Dick makes me feel both inspired and intimidated--HOW IN THE HELL DID HE WRITE SO MUCH?! Was it really just the amphetamines? Is that the key? Did he have hypergraphia? (The compulsive desire to write?) Who knows... but I guess we are all the better for it.
I felt like this collection wasn't as strong as a whole as Volume 1, but is still commendable and was definitely worth the read. I think the stories I enjoyed the most were "Foster, You're Dead," "The Father Thing" and "The Golden Man." "Foster" asks what a world would be like if governments expected us to pay for bomb shelters. "The Father Thing" is a creepy horror story I am unlikely to forget anytime soon--it's about every kid's worst nightmare, your parents being replaced by impostors. "The Golden Man" is like Dick's version of X-Men, with kinky sex and a fun twist ending.
Philip K. Dick is definitely someone you read for his ideas rather than his prose or characterization, which I am totally okay with. I think Dick's stories are at their strongest when they're driven by one or two strong ideas and a relatively small cast of characters--when his cast gets too big, trouble starts happening because it gets difficult to remember who's who or how to tell them apart. The same thing happens with ideas--as much as I love his whirling dervish creativity and seemingly boundless capacity to imagine, In some of these stories there are just TOO MANY ideas and it gets overwhelming! That being said, it's fun to see early hints of his novels in these stories--in "Shell Game," a story about a planet dominated by paranoiacs, you see the early genesis of "Clans of the Alphane Moon" (a terrific novel but not a great story--just too much going on!).
In this collection you also start seeing some religious themes popping up--"Upon the Dull Earth" is one of the weirdest, trippiest things I have ever read in my life, with a haunting end sequence, and in "The Last of the Masters," I love how the robot is basically a stand-in for Jesus's resurrection. Reading Dick's short stories are also teaching me things I didn't know about him--I've learned about his fascination with toys and games that go wrong, for example (is this a reflection of his feelings for technology in general?), and his obsession with insects and sponge-like blobby creatures (I am inevitably reminded of Lord Running Clam, the psychic slime mold in "Clans").
In conclusion Dick makes me feel both inspired and intimidated--HOW IN THE HELL DID HE WRITE SO MUCH?! Was it really just the amphetamines? Is that the key? Did he have hypergraphia? (The compulsive desire to write?) Who knows... but I guess we are all the better for it.
March 13, 2014
-Nuevas muestras de los trabajos cortos de Dick al inicio de su carrera con rumbos y alcances variados.-
Género. Relatos.
Lo que nos cuenta. Tercer volumen recopilatorio de relatos del autor, en este caso 23, escritos entre 1953 y 1959 y todos publicados en su momento en diferentes revistas y publicaciones de género, que tocan temas tan dispares como diferentes tipos de contacto inesperado con otras especies y/o civilizaciones que normalmente tienen intenciones negativas hacia los humanos, la relación olvidada de los robots con una enorme guerra que lo cambió todo, el intento de eliminar mutantes de la sociedad y el encuentro con uno que ha desarrollado importantes habilidades de supervivencia, formas futuras de religiosidad frente a desarrollos sectarios, organizaciones postapocalípticas con liderazgos inesperados y discutibles, entre otros muchos temas.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...
Género. Relatos.
Lo que nos cuenta. Tercer volumen recopilatorio de relatos del autor, en este caso 23, escritos entre 1953 y 1959 y todos publicados en su momento en diferentes revistas y publicaciones de género, que tocan temas tan dispares como diferentes tipos de contacto inesperado con otras especies y/o civilizaciones que normalmente tienen intenciones negativas hacia los humanos, la relación olvidada de los robots con una enorme guerra que lo cambió todo, el intento de eliminar mutantes de la sociedad y el encuentro con uno que ha desarrollado importantes habilidades de supervivencia, formas futuras de religiosidad frente a desarrollos sectarios, organizaciones postapocalípticas con liderazgos inesperados y discutibles, entre otros muchos temas.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...
December 2, 2013
Nearly all of these stories reflect Dick's own paranoia. The ones that don't reflect it aren't as interesting.
June 1, 2023
* Coto de caza 4 estrellas /16-05-2020
* El ahorcado 4.5 estrellas / 04-07-2020
* Peculiaridades de los ojos / 05-05/2022
* El ahorcado 4.5 estrellas / 04-07-2020
* Peculiaridades de los ojos / 05-05/2022
October 12, 2022
Abunda la ciencia ficción del comercio y la economía por sobre las guerras y viajes estelares. Aparecen los mutantes en toda su dimensión: precogs, telépatas, psicokineticos, viajeros del tiempo, desechos radiactivos y otras rarezas sólo pensadas para ese cuento, pocos extraterrestres en verdad. Lleva al límite los deseos y motivos del hombre actual, imaginando futuros fácilmente plausibles, muchos claramente pesimistas, pero nunca descabellados. Varios finales sorprenden (o tratan de hacerlo) y como siempre aparecen diálogos delirantes de individuos paranoides en situaciones extremas. Baja el nivel, en todo caso, si lo comparo con los dos tomos anteriores, hay menos relatos a destacar.
Mis favoritos: "El ahorcado", "El hombre dorado", "Nul-0", "Servir al amo", "Los reptadores", "Campaña publicitaria" (jajaja), "Un mundo de talentos", "¡Cura a mi hija, mutante!" y en especial "Sobre la desolada Tierra", un Dick más terrorífico y espectral, el que más me gustó.
Mis favoritos: "El ahorcado", "El hombre dorado", "Nul-0", "Servir al amo", "Los reptadores", "Campaña publicitaria" (jajaja), "Un mundo de talentos", "¡Cura a mi hija, mutante!" y en especial "Sobre la desolada Tierra", un Dick más terrorífico y espectral, el que más me gustó.
March 4, 2018
I had a really blast time with this mind blowing science fiction short story. It is both brutal and scary at many levels- I was hooked from the first few pages. The Russians nuclear bombs obliterated the most of Europe and North America. Few people survived the catastrophe that deemed their life endangered by high radiation levels.The UN and its allies devised robotic claws and human shaped robots to counterattack the Russians. The robots posed a greater threat to humanity that is greater than radiation itself. The AI of the robots is developing of its own. They are smart and evolving. Mistaken identity stems from the inability to tell humans apart from androids which raised the tension and made the plot opened to different possibilities.It is no longer humans fighting humans anymore. It is robots wiping out humanity. The protagonist left his base to found out that the robots took over it. Living on terra is no longer an option. The protagonist unknowingly sent a robot that would ruin the last surviving human base on the moon. A lot of thinkers and intellectuals predict now the end of our human race by very sophisticated AIs that can subdue human creators. It is becoming more and more relevant than any time before.I wished the author wrote a longer book on the basis of this masterpiece. It would lay the ground for a refined longer work of fiction.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 2, 2013
First time I have read Philip K. Dick and I thoroughly enjoyed his stories and the suspense that he puts into them. I can also especially in this collection what a major influence he has been on science fiction and SF movies. Definitely will read more of his.
October 21, 2025
4.3 stars
The Crawlers - 4 stars
Sales Pitch - 5 stars
Shell Game - 4 stars
Upon the Dull Earth - 5 stars
Foster, You’re Dead - 5 stars
Pay For the Printer - 5 stars
War Veteran - 3 stars
The Chromium Fence - 5 stars
Misadjustment - 4 stars
A World of Talent - 3 stars
Psi-Man Heal My Child! - 3 stars
Autofac - 5 stars
Service Call - 5 stars
Captive Market - 5 stars
The Mold of Yancy - 5 stars
The Minority Report - 5 stars
Recall Mechanism - 5 stars
The Unreconstructed M - 4 stars
Explorers We - 5 stars
War Game - 4 stars
If There Were No Benny Cemoli - 3 stars
Novelty Act - 4 stars
Waterspider - 5 stars
What the Dead Men Say - 3 stars
The Crawlers - 4 stars
Sales Pitch - 5 stars
Shell Game - 4 stars
Upon the Dull Earth - 5 stars
Foster, You’re Dead - 5 stars
Pay For the Printer - 5 stars
War Veteran - 3 stars
The Chromium Fence - 5 stars
Misadjustment - 4 stars
A World of Talent - 3 stars
Psi-Man Heal My Child! - 3 stars
Autofac - 5 stars
Service Call - 5 stars
Captive Market - 5 stars
The Mold of Yancy - 5 stars
The Minority Report - 5 stars
Recall Mechanism - 5 stars
The Unreconstructed M - 4 stars
Explorers We - 5 stars
War Game - 4 stars
If There Were No Benny Cemoli - 3 stars
Novelty Act - 4 stars
Waterspider - 5 stars
What the Dead Men Say - 3 stars
February 7, 2019
Yetenekliler Dünyası - Philip K. Dick
Av Mevsimi
Bu adamın paranoyalarından, sanrılarından ve o kaos dolu kafasından çıkan garip şeylerden birisiydi. Yani balık yerine konan insan, ne denir ki?
İpteki Yabancı
İşte istila hikayesi böyle anlatılır. Heyecanı, gerilimi her şeyiyle en iyilerdendi.
Gözlerinde
...
Altın Adam
Mutasyonun evrimin bir sonraki basamağı olduğu, insanların evrimle ilginç doğaüstü güçler kazandığı hikayeler zibilyon tane ama Sayın Dick yazınca seviye çok yukarda oluyor.
Çarkıfelek
Şu artık fazlaca kullanılmış ama vaktinde denenmemiş olan, dini tarikatlarıi kıyamet sonrası dünyanın içine yediren ve eski dünyanın yenisini şekillendirirken kendisine benzetmesinde ki süreci anlatan o güzel hikayelerden birisiydi.
Son Efendi
Mükemmeldi. Enfes bir hikaye, efendi-köle ilişkisiyle, anarşizm denemesiyle, robot yöneticileriyle, sonuyla her şeyiyle harika bir hikayeydi.
Yaratık Baba
Ucuz korku filmi ama Dick farkıyla.... Olmasa da olurmuş. Pek ilgimi çekmedi.
Tuhaf Cennet
Uyarıcıları fazla kaçırdığı bir dönemde yazmış olmalı. Bir önceki hilaye gibi olmasa da olurmuş.
Tony ve Böcekler
Savaş, mağlup ve galip, mağlubun umudu, galibin kibri kirlenmemesi gereken çocukların yetişkinlerin pisliklerine bulaşmaları, üzücü, sarsıcı bir hikayeydi.
Sıfır-O
Pek hoşlanmadım. Fakat hikayesi ilgimi çekmedi bu sefer, olayların hızlı, hikayenin kısa değil uzun olması gerektiğini hissettiğim bir öyküydü.
Efendi ve Kulları
Robotlar, onların yıkımı, insanın kendi elleri ile kıyamet unsurları ile ilgi çekici bir hikayeydi.
Sergideki Parça
Hadi zaman yolculuğu hikayesi okumak istiyorum derken karşıma çıkması ile ilgimi çekmişti ama nötr kaldığım bir hikaye oldu.
Sürünenler
Tremor filmini bilenlerinin varsa onun gibi bir şey çıkacak diye beklerken ortaya yine mutasyon, çoğunluğun farklılık karşısında gösteridği tepkiyi anlatmak açısından başarılı bir hikaye çıktı.
Satış Konuşması
Çok ilgimi çekmedi ama reklam mantığı açısından günümüz dünyası için korkutucu bir önsezi göstermiş.
Alicengiz Oyunu
Şunun filmini yapın da izleyelim. Hatta belki vardır. Bilen varsa yeşillendirsin. Stallone, Schwazanger (bakmadım), Statham bir nevi The Expandables kadrosu ile harika bir şey çıkar ortaya, pusudayım. Hatta varsa bilen haber etsin.
Şu Sıkıcı Dünya
Fantastik esintileri taşıyan, hatta olan bir Dick hikayesi okumak için neler vermezdim, diyenlerdenseniz okumanız için sizi bekleyen bir hikaye olmuş. Muhteşem.
Foster, Öldün Sen
Soğuk Savaş'ın, nükleer tehdit gölgesinde ki insanlar içn yazılması anlaşılabilir, dönemin korkularını anlamak adına okuması yapılabilir.
Yazıcının Ödülü
Bu muhteşem bir eleştiri, yaratıcılığına kendi elleriyle, tembelliğiyle ket vuran bir toplumun yıkılışının okuması için enfes bir örnek olmuş.
Savaş Gazisi
Harika bir Casus Beli hikayesi böyle yazılmalı. Bir filmin ana kemik senaryosu bu olmalı. Diplomasi, şirketoloji, gezegenlerarası ırkçılık vb. fikirler için okunası bir öykü olmuş. Yani bu hikayeyle günümüzde 5-10 kitaplık yarısı çöp olan seriler var. (mübalağa edilmiş bir örnekdir.)
Orta Yol
Tam bizim toplumun fotoğrafı gibi. Körü körüne inanmış iki grubun birbirine uyguladığı şiddet ve yıkımın ortasında kalmış farklı bireyin kafa karışıklığı, her dönemin adamı ve dava kimliği diye anılan o vıcık vıcık ucuz romantizm kokan düşünceler için korkutucu, bir o kadar da düşündürücü bir hikayeydi.
Uyumsuz
Güzel bir X-Men hikayesi. Okuyun dostlar, çizgi roman severler için daha eğlenceli olacağını düşünüyorum.
Yetenekliler Dünyası
Yıllar önce henüz bu fikirlerin bu kadar popülerleşip herkesin elinde kalitesizleşmediği bir çağda böyle bir hikayeyi anlatmak sadece bu adamda bulunan bir yetenek olabilir. Bu yetenekleri anlatırken toplumda ki ötekinin izole edilerek dışlanması ve değişime kapalı yönetimlerin yıkımının kaçınılmaz olacağı üzerine söyleyebilecekleri var. Bugün yazılan mutant senaryolarını görünce buna hayran olmamak elde değil.
Kurtar Çocuğumu Süper İnsan!
Bu hikaye derlemeyi bir çıta daha yukarı çıkaranlardan olmuş. Yine bir mutant hikayesi fakat bu sefer post apokaliptik bir dünya yaratımında kıyamet öncesi ve sonrası arasında olanlar ve toplumun ötekiyi verdiği tepkiyi okumak adına mükemmel bir örnek olmuş.
Devamını istiyorum, okumalayım.
Av Mevsimi
Bu adamın paranoyalarından, sanrılarından ve o kaos dolu kafasından çıkan garip şeylerden birisiydi. Yani balık yerine konan insan, ne denir ki?
İpteki Yabancı
İşte istila hikayesi böyle anlatılır. Heyecanı, gerilimi her şeyiyle en iyilerdendi.
Gözlerinde
...
Altın Adam
Mutasyonun evrimin bir sonraki basamağı olduğu, insanların evrimle ilginç doğaüstü güçler kazandığı hikayeler zibilyon tane ama Sayın Dick yazınca seviye çok yukarda oluyor.
Çarkıfelek
Şu artık fazlaca kullanılmış ama vaktinde denenmemiş olan, dini tarikatlarıi kıyamet sonrası dünyanın içine yediren ve eski dünyanın yenisini şekillendirirken kendisine benzetmesinde ki süreci anlatan o güzel hikayelerden birisiydi.
Son Efendi
Mükemmeldi. Enfes bir hikaye, efendi-köle ilişkisiyle, anarşizm denemesiyle, robot yöneticileriyle, sonuyla her şeyiyle harika bir hikayeydi.
Yaratık Baba
Ucuz korku filmi ama Dick farkıyla.... Olmasa da olurmuş. Pek ilgimi çekmedi.
Tuhaf Cennet
Uyarıcıları fazla kaçırdığı bir dönemde yazmış olmalı. Bir önceki hilaye gibi olmasa da olurmuş.
Tony ve Böcekler
Savaş, mağlup ve galip, mağlubun umudu, galibin kibri kirlenmemesi gereken çocukların yetişkinlerin pisliklerine bulaşmaları, üzücü, sarsıcı bir hikayeydi.
Sıfır-O
Pek hoşlanmadım. Fakat hikayesi ilgimi çekmedi bu sefer, olayların hızlı, hikayenin kısa değil uzun olması gerektiğini hissettiğim bir öyküydü.
Efendi ve Kulları
Robotlar, onların yıkımı, insanın kendi elleri ile kıyamet unsurları ile ilgi çekici bir hikayeydi.
Sergideki Parça
Hadi zaman yolculuğu hikayesi okumak istiyorum derken karşıma çıkması ile ilgimi çekmişti ama nötr kaldığım bir hikaye oldu.
Sürünenler
Tremor filmini bilenlerinin varsa onun gibi bir şey çıkacak diye beklerken ortaya yine mutasyon, çoğunluğun farklılık karşısında gösteridği tepkiyi anlatmak açısından başarılı bir hikaye çıktı.
Satış Konuşması
Çok ilgimi çekmedi ama reklam mantığı açısından günümüz dünyası için korkutucu bir önsezi göstermiş.
Alicengiz Oyunu
Şunun filmini yapın da izleyelim. Hatta belki vardır. Bilen varsa yeşillendirsin. Stallone, Schwazanger (bakmadım), Statham bir nevi The Expandables kadrosu ile harika bir şey çıkar ortaya, pusudayım. Hatta varsa bilen haber etsin.
Şu Sıkıcı Dünya
Fantastik esintileri taşıyan, hatta olan bir Dick hikayesi okumak için neler vermezdim, diyenlerdenseniz okumanız için sizi bekleyen bir hikaye olmuş. Muhteşem.
Foster, Öldün Sen
Soğuk Savaş'ın, nükleer tehdit gölgesinde ki insanlar içn yazılması anlaşılabilir, dönemin korkularını anlamak adına okuması yapılabilir.
Yazıcının Ödülü
Bu muhteşem bir eleştiri, yaratıcılığına kendi elleriyle, tembelliğiyle ket vuran bir toplumun yıkılışının okuması için enfes bir örnek olmuş.
Savaş Gazisi
Harika bir Casus Beli hikayesi böyle yazılmalı. Bir filmin ana kemik senaryosu bu olmalı. Diplomasi, şirketoloji, gezegenlerarası ırkçılık vb. fikirler için okunası bir öykü olmuş. Yani bu hikayeyle günümüzde 5-10 kitaplık yarısı çöp olan seriler var. (mübalağa edilmiş bir örnekdir.)
Orta Yol
Tam bizim toplumun fotoğrafı gibi. Körü körüne inanmış iki grubun birbirine uyguladığı şiddet ve yıkımın ortasında kalmış farklı bireyin kafa karışıklığı, her dönemin adamı ve dava kimliği diye anılan o vıcık vıcık ucuz romantizm kokan düşünceler için korkutucu, bir o kadar da düşündürücü bir hikayeydi.
Uyumsuz
Güzel bir X-Men hikayesi. Okuyun dostlar, çizgi roman severler için daha eğlenceli olacağını düşünüyorum.
Yetenekliler Dünyası
Yıllar önce henüz bu fikirlerin bu kadar popülerleşip herkesin elinde kalitesizleşmediği bir çağda böyle bir hikayeyi anlatmak sadece bu adamda bulunan bir yetenek olabilir. Bu yetenekleri anlatırken toplumda ki ötekinin izole edilerek dışlanması ve değişime kapalı yönetimlerin yıkımının kaçınılmaz olacağı üzerine söyleyebilecekleri var. Bugün yazılan mutant senaryolarını görünce buna hayran olmamak elde değil.
Kurtar Çocuğumu Süper İnsan!
Bu hikaye derlemeyi bir çıta daha yukarı çıkaranlardan olmuş. Yine bir mutant hikayesi fakat bu sefer post apokaliptik bir dünya yaratımında kıyamet öncesi ve sonrası arasında olanlar ve toplumun ötekiyi verdiği tepkiyi okumak adına mükemmel bir örnek olmuş.
Devamını istiyorum, okumalayım.
March 5, 2012
Si hay algo que Philip K. Dick sabe hace tremendamente bien es transmitir sus miedos al papel, seguramente no es el primer escritor que lo hace pero seguro es uno de los pocos que puede transportarlo bien a la ficción especulativa.
Varios de los cuentos presentados son distopias, siempre estoy fascinado con las ideas de Dick por que siento que estaban muy allá de los ideales de la ciencia ficción en los 50's, "Foster estás muerto" bien podría hablar del consumismo en este siglo, varios cuentos de la colección hablan de la segregación de personas (extraterrestres, robots) distintas a los "normales".
El personaje que más destaca a través de los cuentos de esta colección es la paranoia, es increíble la manera en que PKD juega con ella, muchos relatos dependen de ella como Veterano de Guerra, El ahorcado, Desajuste, Servir al amo, de verdad te dejan dudando tanto como los personajes.
Pero el arma secreta de Dick, sin duda sera la sustitución de realidades para crear cosas hiperreales, El Padre-Cosa que lidia con la sustitución de personas que conocemos tan bien ¿que pasaría si un diorama fuera tan real que franqueara el tiempo? Como ocurre en Pieza de colección, La barrera de cromo sustituye los valores por los que luchan las personas por valores como no sudar o no tener halitosis y La paga del duplicador nos dirá que pasa si los seres humanos no fabricamos sino duplicamos.
Todo esto nos lo entregan en bandeja de cobalto, sí hay algo en verdad obvio es el miedo de Dick (y de cualquiera en aquél entonces) a la guerra nuclear, no se sorprendan si la mayor parte los cuentos ocurren después de una guerra nuclear.
Y esto aderezado con los psi, que protagonizan algunos cuentos, pronto entraran en un universo de pre-cogs, psionicos, telepatas y anti-telepatas, paraquineticos, animadores y resucitadores ¿podrían ser la inspiración de los x-men? No quisiera decir que sí, pero me gusta pensar que sí.
No es sorpresa que muchas de las ideas de Dick las estamos viendo apenas en la televisión o en el cine, la mayor parte del libro en serio se siente como si lo hubieran remojado en LSD, cuando seguramente varios cuentos no son tan brillantes como sus novelas posteriores se nota que que sus ideas están en pie, y nos tomará un rato comprenderlas, solo sean pacientes y recuerden, todo lo que leeran en este libro, es ficción o eso espero.
Más información acerca de la hiperrealidad: http://deoxy.org/pkd_how2build.htm
Varios de los cuentos presentados son distopias, siempre estoy fascinado con las ideas de Dick por que siento que estaban muy allá de los ideales de la ciencia ficción en los 50's, "Foster estás muerto" bien podría hablar del consumismo en este siglo, varios cuentos de la colección hablan de la segregación de personas (extraterrestres, robots) distintas a los "normales".
El personaje que más destaca a través de los cuentos de esta colección es la paranoia, es increíble la manera en que PKD juega con ella, muchos relatos dependen de ella como Veterano de Guerra, El ahorcado, Desajuste, Servir al amo, de verdad te dejan dudando tanto como los personajes.
Pero el arma secreta de Dick, sin duda sera la sustitución de realidades para crear cosas hiperreales, El Padre-Cosa que lidia con la sustitución de personas que conocemos tan bien ¿que pasaría si un diorama fuera tan real que franqueara el tiempo? Como ocurre en Pieza de colección, La barrera de cromo sustituye los valores por los que luchan las personas por valores como no sudar o no tener halitosis y La paga del duplicador nos dirá que pasa si los seres humanos no fabricamos sino duplicamos.
Todo esto nos lo entregan en bandeja de cobalto, sí hay algo en verdad obvio es el miedo de Dick (y de cualquiera en aquél entonces) a la guerra nuclear, no se sorprendan si la mayor parte los cuentos ocurren después de una guerra nuclear.
Y esto aderezado con los psi, que protagonizan algunos cuentos, pronto entraran en un universo de pre-cogs, psionicos, telepatas y anti-telepatas, paraquineticos, animadores y resucitadores ¿podrían ser la inspiración de los x-men? No quisiera decir que sí, pero me gusta pensar que sí.
No es sorpresa que muchas de las ideas de Dick las estamos viendo apenas en la televisión o en el cine, la mayor parte del libro en serio se siente como si lo hubieran remojado en LSD, cuando seguramente varios cuentos no son tan brillantes como sus novelas posteriores se nota que que sus ideas están en pie, y nos tomará un rato comprenderlas, solo sean pacientes y recuerden, todo lo que leeran en este libro, es ficción o eso espero.
Más información acerca de la hiperrealidad: http://deoxy.org/pkd_how2build.htm
October 19, 2013
This was another brilliant collection of short stories from Philip K Dick. The focus of a lot of the stories had shifted away from robots and nuclear war and instead there were a lot about alternate realities and people developing psi abilities. The collection was huge with so many stories. Most of the stories had something to say about society. It was interesting to see how 50 years later so many of the fears and criticism was still relevant. Highly recommended.
November 27, 2016
As incredible a writer as PKD was, Jesus, did he write women terribly. It does seem to improve as I read further into these volumes but even at the best of times...yikes. I've read enough about women's tits to last a lifetime. Mine have never "quivered with fright" or "pulsed with resentment" so, obviously, they're defective. And there are a few times when men describe their daughters in ways that are goddamn disturbing!
May 2, 2020
Der schwächste Band bisher, ein paar Höhepunkte waren natürlich dabei, und dass Dick nicht wirklich schreiben konnte ist ja auch nichts neues, aber gerade bei den kürzeren Geschichten waren einfach zu viele zu vorhersehbar. Offenbar liegen mir die Romane einfach mehr, da kommen seine Stärken besser zur Geltung und der Stil wirkt auch irgendwie reifer, falls ich mir das nicht nur einbilde.
October 14, 2015
Reading
December 8, 2015
Truly another masterpiece of vintage science fiction by Philip K. Dick.
June 9, 2022
P K Dick lol funny name
May 20, 2023
De las tres colecciones de relatos que he leído del autor esta es la que menos me ha gustado. Los cuentos de las otras dos antologías, especialmente de la primera (y de la segunda destaco la segunda variedad, que es buenísimo), me gustaron más que los de este volumen. Aun así, hay algunos con conceptos muy interesantes, como el hombre dorado o veterano de guerra, que me han fascinado. Este autor no deja de sorprenderme.
May 31, 2012
My Philip K. Dick Project #5
Something is happening here. Dick is evolving. This collection contains plenty of the fun little trifles of the kind I’ve come to love reading volumes 1 and 2, but a number of these are much meatier and more substantial. Dick is dealing with bigger ideas here and his stories have more emotional resonance than they’ve had. These are the kind of stories where you put the book down, and just have to think about them when you’ve finished. They stay with you.
Dick is painting with a larger brush here, and some of the themes with which he has become associated begin to emerge with greater clarity and frequency. The nature of reality, which Dick became more and more suspicious of as he aged, is dealt with a number of times in this collection, notably in “Exhibit Piece” (fascinating, although the ending is a little too unambiguous and unsatisfying) and “Misadjustment” (which is excellent). A major theme to emerge in this volume is the questionable future of the human race in the face of mutation. Dick takes a cynical view of mutations (psionic or otherwise) that is in direct contrast to the mainstream of science fiction in this era. Rather than seeing mutants and telepaths as the vanguard that will benevolently lead humanity to a new golden age, Dick takes in my opinion the more realistic view that such people will have little need or interest in what to them would be more primitive peoples. What purpose could normal men serve in a world with telepaths and psycho-kinetics? And what will the next evolution of man be? “The Golden Man” is a fantastic exploration of natural selection that proposes that man’s successor need not necessarily be intelligent, only better equipped to survive and procreate. “The Golden Man” is fascinating. A man who can see into the future the same way we recall the past, and yet cannot conceive of the past would be almost completely intellectually stunted and at the same time nearly unstoppable.
And yet Dick’s love of the common man is more pronounced here than ever. I was moved when the last survivors of humanity, a motley collection of average professionals ruins the plans of the Null-Os, brutally logical scientists of extreme logic beyond morality (“Null-O”). Or when the protagonist of “The Chromium Fence” decides to finally take a stand and sacrifice his life on principle in the face of political partisanship run amok. Dick also deals with freedom in this volume a lot, particularly in the excellent “The Last of the Masters”, a rumination on stagnant yet free anarchy vs. a warlike yet productive government that does not deliver any easy answers.
This volume contains more of Dick’s withering satires of consumerism and advertising run amok (“Foster, You’re Dead” and “Sales Pitch”). Dick also dips into the theme of what it means to be human (the question that haunted him most) most notably in “Second Variety” (which will instantly bring to mind “The Terminator” and even more so the new Battlestar Galactica, which I think Dick would have enjoyed).
This book really has every kind of Dick story you could want. It has the quirky little tales with twists familiar from Volume 1 and 2 (“Fair Game”, “The Hanging Stranger”, “Tony and the Beetles”, “Null-O”, “To Serve The Master” “The Father-Thing”, “Strange Eden”, etc), the thrillers (“War Veteran”, “Second Variety”, “The Last of the Masters”), the satires and comedies (“Foster, You’re Dead”, “Sales Pitch”, “The Chromium Fence”) “The Eyes Have It” is a unique and surprising little comedy curve-ball from Dick, and “The Turning Wheel” even gets in a fairly obvious jab at L. Ron Hubbard. You have the mindbenders (“Exhibit Piece”, “The Golden Man”, “Misadjustment”). And “A World of Talent” was very memorable. The ending left me both in awe and strangely touched. I mentioned in my review of the Volume 2 that Dick’s endings had gotten a bit predictable, but he has gotten over that problem here. These stories are satisfying and give you plenty of food for thought. However the highlight of this book for me was probably “Upon the Dull Earth”. This is probably the closest Dick has come to horror. It is genuinely disturbing and not a day has gone by that I did not replay the story and see the imagery in my mind since I’ve read it. It gets you in the gut.
However, if you thought that Dick had given up on his favorite setting, the post nuclear wasteland, think again. Offhand I’d say nearly half of these stories take place in or mention an Earth devastated by nuclear war. At this point it’s just kind of amusing. A few of these stories are fairly unmemorable and don’t really go anywhere (“Tony and the Beetles”, “Psi-Man, Heal My Child!”)
On another note, this volume is afflicted with the same problem of Volume 2, that of shuffling stories around to capitalize on “Total Recall”. That means “Second Variety” should have been in Volume 2. This especially annoys me, because “Jon’s World” in Volume 2 is actually a sort of sequel to “Second Variety”, and it spoils the surprise.
On the whole though, this is really an excellent collection that I could not recommend more.
Up Next --- “Solar Lottery”!
Something is happening here. Dick is evolving. This collection contains plenty of the fun little trifles of the kind I’ve come to love reading volumes 1 and 2, but a number of these are much meatier and more substantial. Dick is dealing with bigger ideas here and his stories have more emotional resonance than they’ve had. These are the kind of stories where you put the book down, and just have to think about them when you’ve finished. They stay with you.
Dick is painting with a larger brush here, and some of the themes with which he has become associated begin to emerge with greater clarity and frequency. The nature of reality, which Dick became more and more suspicious of as he aged, is dealt with a number of times in this collection, notably in “Exhibit Piece” (fascinating, although the ending is a little too unambiguous and unsatisfying) and “Misadjustment” (which is excellent). A major theme to emerge in this volume is the questionable future of the human race in the face of mutation. Dick takes a cynical view of mutations (psionic or otherwise) that is in direct contrast to the mainstream of science fiction in this era. Rather than seeing mutants and telepaths as the vanguard that will benevolently lead humanity to a new golden age, Dick takes in my opinion the more realistic view that such people will have little need or interest in what to them would be more primitive peoples. What purpose could normal men serve in a world with telepaths and psycho-kinetics? And what will the next evolution of man be? “The Golden Man” is a fantastic exploration of natural selection that proposes that man’s successor need not necessarily be intelligent, only better equipped to survive and procreate. “The Golden Man” is fascinating. A man who can see into the future the same way we recall the past, and yet cannot conceive of the past would be almost completely intellectually stunted and at the same time nearly unstoppable.
And yet Dick’s love of the common man is more pronounced here than ever. I was moved when the last survivors of humanity, a motley collection of average professionals ruins the plans of the Null-Os, brutally logical scientists of extreme logic beyond morality (“Null-O”). Or when the protagonist of “The Chromium Fence” decides to finally take a stand and sacrifice his life on principle in the face of political partisanship run amok. Dick also deals with freedom in this volume a lot, particularly in the excellent “The Last of the Masters”, a rumination on stagnant yet free anarchy vs. a warlike yet productive government that does not deliver any easy answers.
This volume contains more of Dick’s withering satires of consumerism and advertising run amok (“Foster, You’re Dead” and “Sales Pitch”). Dick also dips into the theme of what it means to be human (the question that haunted him most) most notably in “Second Variety” (which will instantly bring to mind “The Terminator” and even more so the new Battlestar Galactica, which I think Dick would have enjoyed).
This book really has every kind of Dick story you could want. It has the quirky little tales with twists familiar from Volume 1 and 2 (“Fair Game”, “The Hanging Stranger”, “Tony and the Beetles”, “Null-O”, “To Serve The Master” “The Father-Thing”, “Strange Eden”, etc), the thrillers (“War Veteran”, “Second Variety”, “The Last of the Masters”), the satires and comedies (“Foster, You’re Dead”, “Sales Pitch”, “The Chromium Fence”) “The Eyes Have It” is a unique and surprising little comedy curve-ball from Dick, and “The Turning Wheel” even gets in a fairly obvious jab at L. Ron Hubbard. You have the mindbenders (“Exhibit Piece”, “The Golden Man”, “Misadjustment”). And “A World of Talent” was very memorable. The ending left me both in awe and strangely touched. I mentioned in my review of the Volume 2 that Dick’s endings had gotten a bit predictable, but he has gotten over that problem here. These stories are satisfying and give you plenty of food for thought. However the highlight of this book for me was probably “Upon the Dull Earth”. This is probably the closest Dick has come to horror. It is genuinely disturbing and not a day has gone by that I did not replay the story and see the imagery in my mind since I’ve read it. It gets you in the gut.
However, if you thought that Dick had given up on his favorite setting, the post nuclear wasteland, think again. Offhand I’d say nearly half of these stories take place in or mention an Earth devastated by nuclear war. At this point it’s just kind of amusing. A few of these stories are fairly unmemorable and don’t really go anywhere (“Tony and the Beetles”, “Psi-Man, Heal My Child!”)
On another note, this volume is afflicted with the same problem of Volume 2, that of shuffling stories around to capitalize on “Total Recall”. That means “Second Variety” should have been in Volume 2. This especially annoys me, because “Jon’s World” in Volume 2 is actually a sort of sequel to “Second Variety”, and it spoils the surprise.
On the whole though, this is really an excellent collection that I could not recommend more.
Up Next --- “Solar Lottery”!
February 10, 2025
Full review soon. Read it to write the entries for Dickapedia.
December 15, 2017
This is a rather mixed collection of short stories by Philip K. Dick, chronicling his writing in the mid-1950's, and containing an average of 1.2 references to women's breasts per story.
I picked up this collection in order to read the original "The Golden Man" which was made into the movie "Next" starring Nicolas Cage and Jessica Biel in 2007. I thought the concept was fascinating and I wondered how Mr. Dick might have pulled this off in prose. Well, as it turns out, the movie was better in a lot of ways (which is saying something because it wasn't that great and scores just a 6.2 at imdb.com), but of course, the screenwriters had 50 years to improve upon his idea. (I had a similar experience with "Paycheck" from another collection.)
And "idea" is definitely the key word. When it comes to Philip K. Dick, I have come to respect his ability to come up with original and intriguing ideas, and there are definitely plenty of wacky ones in this collection. From over-the-top salesmen, to neurotic colonists, to town conspiracies, to trans-dimensional vampires... each story pokes at your brain and makes you see the universe in a new way. This collection is exhaustive and not selective, so it contains a lot of 3 star stories among the 4 and 5 star ones. I was surprised to see him rehash the premise to Invasion of the Body Snatchers in one of the stories (Jack Finney's novel had been serialized during 1954, and Dick's story was published in December 1954) because his ideas in general seem very original; I admit his version was well-written, though.
As to the breasts, well, I have seen Mr. Dick use descriptions of women's bodies for titillation in the past, but when I jumped right into The Golden Man and waded through references to lithe figures and heaving bosoms from virtually the first page, I felt I needed to start a tally. I managed to count 19 uses of "breasts", "full-breasted", or "bosom" in the 16 stories I read, with my favorite quote being the following:
"Sally swept breathlessly into the living room, her breasts quivering with excitement."
As you can see, they are basically one of the characters in his stories. There were actually stories without references to female anatomy, but in general these were stories without any woman characters at all. So the takeaway seems to be, read his stories if you want to think about cool science fiction concepts, and don't mind the fact that women will be window dressing.
What's interesting to me is that he does this in his novels and his short stories, but because he tends to do it only once or twice per female character, it feels less distracting in his longer works. When he has two women characters in a 200 page book, the ration of ogling to story plot is a lot lower than in a short story, where he might have only one woman character but a short 10 or 20 pages to spend on story. I think with reading a collection like this, the repetition just became too much for me (I skipped the last 6 stories), and I need to take a little Philip K. Dick break until I'm strong enough to brave the locker room nudges again, or until I can convince myself that there are other sci-fi writers out there whose high concepts don't require low necklines...
Noteworthy 5 star stories from this collection:
Tony and the Beetles - a tour de force about colonisation/genocide
The Father Thing - Dick's version of Body Snatchers
The Crawlers - mutations gone horribly, horribly wrong
Sales Pitch - the perfect torture scenario
Shell Game - what a perfect storm!
I picked up this collection in order to read the original "The Golden Man" which was made into the movie "Next" starring Nicolas Cage and Jessica Biel in 2007. I thought the concept was fascinating and I wondered how Mr. Dick might have pulled this off in prose. Well, as it turns out, the movie was better in a lot of ways (which is saying something because it wasn't that great and scores just a 6.2 at imdb.com), but of course, the screenwriters had 50 years to improve upon his idea. (I had a similar experience with "Paycheck" from another collection.)
And "idea" is definitely the key word. When it comes to Philip K. Dick, I have come to respect his ability to come up with original and intriguing ideas, and there are definitely plenty of wacky ones in this collection. From over-the-top salesmen, to neurotic colonists, to town conspiracies, to trans-dimensional vampires... each story pokes at your brain and makes you see the universe in a new way. This collection is exhaustive and not selective, so it contains a lot of 3 star stories among the 4 and 5 star ones. I was surprised to see him rehash the premise to Invasion of the Body Snatchers in one of the stories (Jack Finney's novel had been serialized during 1954, and Dick's story was published in December 1954) because his ideas in general seem very original; I admit his version was well-written, though.
As to the breasts, well, I have seen Mr. Dick use descriptions of women's bodies for titillation in the past, but when I jumped right into The Golden Man and waded through references to lithe figures and heaving bosoms from virtually the first page, I felt I needed to start a tally. I managed to count 19 uses of "breasts", "full-breasted", or "bosom" in the 16 stories I read, with my favorite quote being the following:
"Sally swept breathlessly into the living room, her breasts quivering with excitement."
As you can see, they are basically one of the characters in his stories. There were actually stories without references to female anatomy, but in general these were stories without any woman characters at all. So the takeaway seems to be, read his stories if you want to think about cool science fiction concepts, and don't mind the fact that women will be window dressing.
What's interesting to me is that he does this in his novels and his short stories, but because he tends to do it only once or twice per female character, it feels less distracting in his longer works. When he has two women characters in a 200 page book, the ration of ogling to story plot is a lot lower than in a short story, where he might have only one woman character but a short 10 or 20 pages to spend on story. I think with reading a collection like this, the repetition just became too much for me (I skipped the last 6 stories), and I need to take a little Philip K. Dick break until I'm strong enough to brave the locker room nudges again, or until I can convince myself that there are other sci-fi writers out there whose high concepts don't require low necklines...
Noteworthy 5 star stories from this collection:
Tony and the Beetles - a tour de force about colonisation/genocide
The Father Thing - Dick's version of Body Snatchers
The Crawlers - mutations gone horribly, horribly wrong
Sales Pitch - the perfect torture scenario
Shell Game - what a perfect storm!
August 2, 2014
i'm always of two minds with pkd.
on the one hand, he's a pretty ungreat writer. nothing much in the form of style, chauvinistic, repetitive.
on the other hand, so many great ideas are born in these stories. not just the paranoia and abuse of power he's famous for, but real compelling ideas about alienation, racism, and the violence inevitable when leaving overlooking social justice. all in these stories of parakinetics, golden gods, where people of the future smoke cigarettes, have secretaries bring them coffee, and are somehow still named doris.
the title story cuts to the heart of the entire 'battlestar galactica' franchise. add it to the one previous and you've got the 'terminator' series wrapped up. well ok, maybe not - for all his flaws as a writer pkd never conceived of a character as unlikely as arnold schwarzenegger.
on the one hand, he's a pretty ungreat writer. nothing much in the form of style, chauvinistic, repetitive.
on the other hand, so many great ideas are born in these stories. not just the paranoia and abuse of power he's famous for, but real compelling ideas about alienation, racism, and the violence inevitable when leaving overlooking social justice. all in these stories of parakinetics, golden gods, where people of the future smoke cigarettes, have secretaries bring them coffee, and are somehow still named doris.
the title story cuts to the heart of the entire 'battlestar galactica' franchise. add it to the one previous and you've got the 'terminator' series wrapped up. well ok, maybe not - for all his flaws as a writer pkd never conceived of a character as unlikely as arnold schwarzenegger.
August 15, 2017
There are some lesser known gems in this collection. The otherwise forgettable "The Eyes Have it" is interesting because it is the most un-PKDickian story I've come across, as if he were somehow channeling Edgar Allan Poe - the style and sense of humor so different. "Upon the Dull Earth" was an unexpected masterpiece. Also, the little read - or heeded - story of "The Chromium Fence" shows the danger to any society due to intransigence from both sides of a political dispute. The power of PKD's voice builds with each story:
LET'S HAVE EMPATHY AND KINDNESS
MY FELLOW HUMAN BEINGS
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