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Three Early Novels
At the beginning of his career, Philip K. Dick, whose later work won him widespread acclaim as the world's greatest sf writer, wrote a number of short novels which were published as paperback originals back-to-back in dual volumes with works by writers who were then more famous. This book reprints those early titles
THE MAN WHO JAPED
DR. FUTURITY
VULCAN'S HAMMER
Considerably more straightforward than his later novels, these stories are nevertheless unmistakably the work of the author of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and Ubik in their quirky exuberance and originality.
(Source: back cover)
THE MAN WHO JAPED
DR. FUTURITY
VULCAN'S HAMMER
Considerably more straightforward than his later novels, these stories are nevertheless unmistakably the work of the author of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and Ubik in their quirky exuberance and originality.
(Source: back cover)
432 pages, Paperback
First published September 14, 2000
8 people are currently reading
144 people want to read
About the author
Philip K. Dick
1,993 books22.7k 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 - 10 of 10 reviews
August 18, 2025
This is the start of my journey to read (in most cases reread) all of PKDs SF novels (plus a few of the Realist ones).
I decided a chronological ordering would be best so that the early "juvenile" novels are got out of the way early on.
This is definitely the case with this omnibus of the of his early works.
The 2 earliest (Dr Futurity & Vulcan's Hammer) were both written in 1953 a few years before they were finally published. That must have been a busy year for him as Cosmic Puppets was also writen that same year.
These 2 novels (novellas really, all 2 books are almost exactly the same length - around 140 pages) have poor characterisation. Dick was never that great at female characters (they were either objects of sexual desire or nagging harridans) and he excels himself here with "heaving bosoms" and even "energetic loins" (whatever that could be!)
I'm hoping these are the worst I'll encounter, there's no discernible sign of the Dick to come:
1* - Dr Futurity
2* - Vulcan's Hammer
The Man Who Japed is slightly better and that may be because it was written a couple of years later. There's even a very slight hint of one of PKD's obsessions in later works - a person who becomes psychotic (or believes themselves to be having a psychotic episode). The character briefly believes they are living in some imagined reality. In later novels this would be developed much more and some ambiguity retained over what might be real and what might not. In this case there's a rather mundane (and unbelievable) explanation for it.
3* - The Man Who Japed
Onward to The Cosmic Puppets....
I decided a chronological ordering would be best so that the early "juvenile" novels are got out of the way early on.
This is definitely the case with this omnibus of the of his early works.
The 2 earliest (Dr Futurity & Vulcan's Hammer) were both written in 1953 a few years before they were finally published. That must have been a busy year for him as Cosmic Puppets was also writen that same year.
These 2 novels (novellas really, all 2 books are almost exactly the same length - around 140 pages) have poor characterisation. Dick was never that great at female characters (they were either objects of sexual desire or nagging harridans) and he excels himself here with "heaving bosoms" and even "energetic loins" (whatever that could be!)
I'm hoping these are the worst I'll encounter, there's no discernible sign of the Dick to come:
1* - Dr Futurity
2* - Vulcan's Hammer
The Man Who Japed is slightly better and that may be because it was written a couple of years later. There's even a very slight hint of one of PKD's obsessions in later works - a person who becomes psychotic (or believes themselves to be having a psychotic episode). The character briefly believes they are living in some imagined reality. In later novels this would be developed much more and some ambiguity retained over what might be real and what might not. In this case there's a rather mundane (and unbelievable) explanation for it.
3* - The Man Who Japed
Onward to The Cosmic Puppets....
February 26, 2014
This compendium is better than the sum of its parts. Any one of these three novels might not get five stars, but to have them in one binding, well, it works.
Highly inventive scenarios, each has its own weirdness.
First book - weird characterizations of anti-authoritarian attitudes.
Second book - the time travel goes beyond stock genre crap. Here we see a real twisteroo going on. Zemeckis could been inspired by this to do the sequels to Back To The Future.
Third book - computer drone-bots, in 1960? What can I say. It was here decades before we got them.
Not an ounce of time wasted here.
Highly inventive scenarios, each has its own weirdness.
First book - weird characterizations of anti-authoritarian attitudes.
Second book - the time travel goes beyond stock genre crap. Here we see a real twisteroo going on. Zemeckis could been inspired by this to do the sequels to Back To The Future.
Third book - computer drone-bots, in 1960? What can I say. It was here decades before we got them.
Not an ounce of time wasted here.
August 15, 2022
Fairly mediocre early novellas from Dick. None of this will ever rank among his top-tier work, but if you are a completist I suppose this volume is as cost-effective a way of getting them as any. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/201...
July 10, 2012
My Philip K. Dick Project
Entry #11: The Man Who Japed (written Oct. 1955, published Dec. 1956)
The Man Who Japed is not bad. It’s certainly not the most memorable of Dick’s works, it’s very slight, but it is fast-paced and entertaining. The main problem I think is that it seems a little rushed and underdeveloped. Dick wrote this one pretty quickly, even by Dick standards, and it shows. The story, since I don’t have a cover blurb, concerns Allen Purcell, head of a kind of corporate television bureau, charged with creating “packets” to promulgate the strict moral platitudes of Morec, the prevailing hegemony following an apocalyptic war in the 1980s (the time period is around 2110). It’s sort of a moralistic hellfire and brimstone Christian worldview, although Dick’s critique is not so much that of pious Christianity, but of a kind of humorless gossipy “Oh, I saw and so and so doing this with such-and-such” type of hypocritical holier-than-thou mentality, which is probably more of a parody of finger-pointing McCarthyism (Dick’s views on both McCarthy-esque authoritarianism and Communism were spelled out clearly in Eye in the Sky). Purcell, himself an easy-going, yet ardent supporter of Morec, discovers he has been subconsciously sabotaging Morec in humorous pranks, or “japes.” As I said, Japed is a slight book, but entertaining nonetheless. It’s Dick lite, if that’s what you want to call it. Purcell is one of Dick’s most likable protagonists so far, a kind of bourgeoise yet flippant guy just kind of trying to do his job (work always figures into Dick’s stories) who nonetheless finds something lacking in the world, but not consciously. In this case, what’s missing from the world is a sense of humor. Dick is not overbearing about this, which is one of the novel’s strengths. It’s not immediately apparent, but becomes obvious later on that taking the wind out of someone’s sails, not even with malevolent intent, is a crime in the world of Morec. That’s what makes the final “jape” that forms the book’s climax, so entertaining (I did actually laugh out loud), even if it doesn’t live up to its buildup. Also entertaining is Dick’s sendup of the mania concerning psychic phenomenon in an exchange between Dr. Malperto and Purcell. This can almost be thought of as Dick mocking himself considering how prominently psychic phenomenon play into his short stories around this time (No precogs, teeps, or psychics play into this story at all). But on the whole, this feels less meaty than it should. As with most of Dick’s novels up to this point, I’m haunted by the feeling that this should have been longer. Another problem this book has is a sort of abrupt, unsatisfying ending. Dick had a great idea here, but it’s not fleshed out enough. It has a real phildickian moment when Purcell questions the reality he is in, but this is resolved too quickly. It would have been an interesting direction for the book to take had this played out longer. There’s a lot in here that just could have used more development. Malperto’s sister, and her sudden attraction to Purcell, is a particularly egregious example. But on reflection, I like this book more than I thought. There’s something appealing to me about the idea of just having a sense of humor. It’s the idea of humor being a check. Maybe it’s just kind of an American idea in particular, that nothing should be above being mocked, even necessarily, that it should be, even if it’s good. It’s fun to see a bunch of guys just screwing around and making jokes about the “fearless" leader. There’s also something nice about the low stakes of this book. It’s somehow good that this totalitarian society, no matter how much value it places on its hero, will only take away leases and prestige (no executions or forced labor camps here), which makes it seem somehow more plausible. It’s good to see Dick had a healthy sense of humor, something I’ve been pleasantly surprised to see through his work so far.
--Stray thoughts
*I wonder what Hokkaido’s role in the war was to get it so bad. Also it sure seems to have a lot old western classics buried in the rubble.
Up next: “The Broken Bubble”!
-June 20th, 2012
Entry #16 - Dr. Futurity (written mid-1959, published Feb. 1960) (based on short “Time Pawn” written 6/53 and published summer ‘54)
Well, this is easily the worst Philip K. Dick novel I’ve read yet. Not that any of the others were bad, I’ve enjoyed them all, but this one is just weak sauce. Not to say it was a slog (if it had been longer, it might have been), but contrary to what the blurb says above, this feels like it could’ve been written by nearly anyone. It’s extremely unmemorable. Every other Dick book I’ve read so far had me thinking about them afterward, but this one I finished today, and haven’t even thought about much until I sat down to write this. The time paradoxes have been done much better in any number of other Dick stories. Actually, most of the time paradoxes in this hardly even made sense to me. Why did Parsons feel he had to go back and kill Corith again, instead of just returning to his own time and being done with it? Why was Stenog pretending to be Francis Drake in the first place? It’s all kind of a muddled mess. Also, the entire sequence of Parsons in the ship “exiling” him to Mars is just horribly bad, it might be the most ridiculous thing Dick’s ever written. Also, the opening of the book is pointlessly set in 2012 (That’s this year!), when it could have just as easily been the present. This just seems like Dick trying to make it more sci-fi-y
Funny that this novel should appear in the midst of Dick’s last great push at getting his literary novels published. Turns out this is an extension of a short story from 1953 ( a year that Dick wrote about forty short stories.) Unfortunately Dick’s short stories that were expanded into novels are not in the collections, so I can’t comment on the original story itself, but it probably should have stayed the way it was. So why does this exist? Probably the perpetually struggling Dick needed some easy money, but I can think of dozens of stories he could have adapted instead of this. There’s actually some interesting concepts about white supremacy following the colonization of the Americans by the Europeans and what an alternate history would have been like, not to mention the death-venerating culture of the future, but they’re wasted on this book. For Dick completists only.
Stray thoughts: “Soul Cube” is another cool Dick word creation though. Could be a sweet band name. (Of which Dick has inspired a few)
Up next: “Confessions of a Crap Artist”!
-June 29th, 2012
Entry #19 - Vulcan’s Hammer (Expanded from “Vulcan’s Hammer”, Mar-Apr. 1960, published Sep. 1960) (Short story “Vulcan’s Hammer” written 4/56 or 57, pub. 1956)
Vulcan's Hammer, like Dr. Futurity, was written and published during the era of the late 50s and very early 60s when Dick stopped writing short stories and science fiction to focus completely on his "mainstream" literary novels. And, like Dr. Futurity, was an expansion of one of his old sci-fi shorts to novel length to make him some money.
That being said, Vulcan's Hammer is not a bad book. It's certainly better than the mediocrity of Dr. Futurity. But this also reads very much like an early Dick short. The characters are one-dimensional, and the narrative lacks any of the depth or richness of his straight novels. The story is also very straightforward. This could have used some of the perspectives that Dick was infusing into his other novels of the period. In particular, it might have been enlightening to get into the perspective of Father Fields, of the Healers. As it stands, the Healers are under-utilized and under-explained.
Anyone who's ever read Asimov's short sci-fi will immediately recognize a lot of Multivac in Vulcan 3, Dick's supercomputer. They both take up acres of space, are fed information through punch cards and rolls (hey they couldn't predict everything back then), and both know pretty much everything. But where Multivac is a tool of the government (at least before he becomes God), Vulcan 3 is the government. After a devastating world war, the peoples of Earth creat "Unity", a government dedicated to carrying out Vulcan's impartial decrees for the peace of mankind.
So here we have yet another totalitarian world government risen from the ashes of all-out war (with Solar Lottery's Minimax, The World Jones Made's Fedgov, and The Man Who Japed's Morec, that's makes four, not counting short stories). It's symptomatic of the lack of real interesting ideas here. A malevolent, living computer was probably not a fresh idea even when Dick wrote this.
As always in these kind of stories, it's the little moments that stand out for me, as when Jason Dill digs through his pockets for change to pay for a drink, grumbling how he can't believe the leader of the world has to put up with this. It brings to mind a weird little phenomenon I've noticed in Dick's novels of the future, how even the biggest big-wigs in government lead kind of banal, frustrated lives. All the while with mushed-up cigarette packs in their pockets and a drink on their minds, they have to deal with stalled video lines, overpriced coffee, and cramped apartments. The world's leading media network head Purcell in Japed, Verrick and Cartwright in Solar Lottery, even Jones himself in Jones.
Still, this is a zippy little book, short, fast and entertaining. Just don't bother if you're looking for something deeper.
Stray thoughts: After recounting the four totalitarian governments above, I kind of thought about how it demonstrates how thouroughly Dick is repulsed by totalitarianism and authoritarianism. All of these governments end up having the same effect on the human spirit, despite their radically differing ideologies. Dick's variations on a theme. Totalitarian governments! Collect them all!
My edition: “Three Early Novels (together with The Man Who Japed and Dr. Futurity) Gollancz, 2000
Up next: "Humpty Dumpty in Oakland!" - Dick's final attempt at the literary novel.
-July 10, 2012
Entry #11: The Man Who Japed (written Oct. 1955, published Dec. 1956)
The Man Who Japed is not bad. It’s certainly not the most memorable of Dick’s works, it’s very slight, but it is fast-paced and entertaining. The main problem I think is that it seems a little rushed and underdeveloped. Dick wrote this one pretty quickly, even by Dick standards, and it shows. The story, since I don’t have a cover blurb, concerns Allen Purcell, head of a kind of corporate television bureau, charged with creating “packets” to promulgate the strict moral platitudes of Morec, the prevailing hegemony following an apocalyptic war in the 1980s (the time period is around 2110). It’s sort of a moralistic hellfire and brimstone Christian worldview, although Dick’s critique is not so much that of pious Christianity, but of a kind of humorless gossipy “Oh, I saw and so and so doing this with such-and-such” type of hypocritical holier-than-thou mentality, which is probably more of a parody of finger-pointing McCarthyism (Dick’s views on both McCarthy-esque authoritarianism and Communism were spelled out clearly in Eye in the Sky). Purcell, himself an easy-going, yet ardent supporter of Morec, discovers he has been subconsciously sabotaging Morec in humorous pranks, or “japes.” As I said, Japed is a slight book, but entertaining nonetheless. It’s Dick lite, if that’s what you want to call it. Purcell is one of Dick’s most likable protagonists so far, a kind of bourgeoise yet flippant guy just kind of trying to do his job (work always figures into Dick’s stories) who nonetheless finds something lacking in the world, but not consciously. In this case, what’s missing from the world is a sense of humor. Dick is not overbearing about this, which is one of the novel’s strengths. It’s not immediately apparent, but becomes obvious later on that taking the wind out of someone’s sails, not even with malevolent intent, is a crime in the world of Morec. That’s what makes the final “jape” that forms the book’s climax, so entertaining (I did actually laugh out loud), even if it doesn’t live up to its buildup. Also entertaining is Dick’s sendup of the mania concerning psychic phenomenon in an exchange between Dr. Malperto and Purcell. This can almost be thought of as Dick mocking himself considering how prominently psychic phenomenon play into his short stories around this time (No precogs, teeps, or psychics play into this story at all). But on the whole, this feels less meaty than it should. As with most of Dick’s novels up to this point, I’m haunted by the feeling that this should have been longer. Another problem this book has is a sort of abrupt, unsatisfying ending. Dick had a great idea here, but it’s not fleshed out enough. It has a real phildickian moment when Purcell questions the reality he is in, but this is resolved too quickly. It would have been an interesting direction for the book to take had this played out longer. There’s a lot in here that just could have used more development. Malperto’s sister, and her sudden attraction to Purcell, is a particularly egregious example. But on reflection, I like this book more than I thought. There’s something appealing to me about the idea of just having a sense of humor. It’s the idea of humor being a check. Maybe it’s just kind of an American idea in particular, that nothing should be above being mocked, even necessarily, that it should be, even if it’s good. It’s fun to see a bunch of guys just screwing around and making jokes about the “fearless" leader. There’s also something nice about the low stakes of this book. It’s somehow good that this totalitarian society, no matter how much value it places on its hero, will only take away leases and prestige (no executions or forced labor camps here), which makes it seem somehow more plausible. It’s good to see Dick had a healthy sense of humor, something I’ve been pleasantly surprised to see through his work so far.
--Stray thoughts
*I wonder what Hokkaido’s role in the war was to get it so bad. Also it sure seems to have a lot old western classics buried in the rubble.
Up next: “The Broken Bubble”!
-June 20th, 2012
Entry #16 - Dr. Futurity (written mid-1959, published Feb. 1960) (based on short “Time Pawn” written 6/53 and published summer ‘54)
Well, this is easily the worst Philip K. Dick novel I’ve read yet. Not that any of the others were bad, I’ve enjoyed them all, but this one is just weak sauce. Not to say it was a slog (if it had been longer, it might have been), but contrary to what the blurb says above, this feels like it could’ve been written by nearly anyone. It’s extremely unmemorable. Every other Dick book I’ve read so far had me thinking about them afterward, but this one I finished today, and haven’t even thought about much until I sat down to write this. The time paradoxes have been done much better in any number of other Dick stories. Actually, most of the time paradoxes in this hardly even made sense to me. Why did Parsons feel he had to go back and kill Corith again, instead of just returning to his own time and being done with it? Why was Stenog pretending to be Francis Drake in the first place? It’s all kind of a muddled mess. Also, the entire sequence of Parsons in the ship “exiling” him to Mars is just horribly bad, it might be the most ridiculous thing Dick’s ever written. Also, the opening of the book is pointlessly set in 2012 (That’s this year!), when it could have just as easily been the present. This just seems like Dick trying to make it more sci-fi-y
Funny that this novel should appear in the midst of Dick’s last great push at getting his literary novels published. Turns out this is an extension of a short story from 1953 ( a year that Dick wrote about forty short stories.) Unfortunately Dick’s short stories that were expanded into novels are not in the collections, so I can’t comment on the original story itself, but it probably should have stayed the way it was. So why does this exist? Probably the perpetually struggling Dick needed some easy money, but I can think of dozens of stories he could have adapted instead of this. There’s actually some interesting concepts about white supremacy following the colonization of the Americans by the Europeans and what an alternate history would have been like, not to mention the death-venerating culture of the future, but they’re wasted on this book. For Dick completists only.
Stray thoughts: “Soul Cube” is another cool Dick word creation though. Could be a sweet band name. (Of which Dick has inspired a few)
Up next: “Confessions of a Crap Artist”!
-June 29th, 2012
Entry #19 - Vulcan’s Hammer (Expanded from “Vulcan’s Hammer”, Mar-Apr. 1960, published Sep. 1960) (Short story “Vulcan’s Hammer” written 4/56 or 57, pub. 1956)
Vulcan's Hammer, like Dr. Futurity, was written and published during the era of the late 50s and very early 60s when Dick stopped writing short stories and science fiction to focus completely on his "mainstream" literary novels. And, like Dr. Futurity, was an expansion of one of his old sci-fi shorts to novel length to make him some money.
That being said, Vulcan's Hammer is not a bad book. It's certainly better than the mediocrity of Dr. Futurity. But this also reads very much like an early Dick short. The characters are one-dimensional, and the narrative lacks any of the depth or richness of his straight novels. The story is also very straightforward. This could have used some of the perspectives that Dick was infusing into his other novels of the period. In particular, it might have been enlightening to get into the perspective of Father Fields, of the Healers. As it stands, the Healers are under-utilized and under-explained.
Anyone who's ever read Asimov's short sci-fi will immediately recognize a lot of Multivac in Vulcan 3, Dick's supercomputer. They both take up acres of space, are fed information through punch cards and rolls (hey they couldn't predict everything back then), and both know pretty much everything. But where Multivac is a tool of the government (at least before he becomes God), Vulcan 3 is the government. After a devastating world war, the peoples of Earth creat "Unity", a government dedicated to carrying out Vulcan's impartial decrees for the peace of mankind.
So here we have yet another totalitarian world government risen from the ashes of all-out war (with Solar Lottery's Minimax, The World Jones Made's Fedgov, and The Man Who Japed's Morec, that's makes four, not counting short stories). It's symptomatic of the lack of real interesting ideas here. A malevolent, living computer was probably not a fresh idea even when Dick wrote this.
As always in these kind of stories, it's the little moments that stand out for me, as when Jason Dill digs through his pockets for change to pay for a drink, grumbling how he can't believe the leader of the world has to put up with this. It brings to mind a weird little phenomenon I've noticed in Dick's novels of the future, how even the biggest big-wigs in government lead kind of banal, frustrated lives. All the while with mushed-up cigarette packs in their pockets and a drink on their minds, they have to deal with stalled video lines, overpriced coffee, and cramped apartments. The world's leading media network head Purcell in Japed, Verrick and Cartwright in Solar Lottery, even Jones himself in Jones.
Still, this is a zippy little book, short, fast and entertaining. Just don't bother if you're looking for something deeper.
Stray thoughts: After recounting the four totalitarian governments above, I kind of thought about how it demonstrates how thouroughly Dick is repulsed by totalitarianism and authoritarianism. All of these governments end up having the same effect on the human spirit, despite their radically differing ideologies. Dick's variations on a theme. Totalitarian governments! Collect them all!
My edition: “Three Early Novels (together with The Man Who Japed and Dr. Futurity) Gollancz, 2000
Up next: "Humpty Dumpty in Oakland!" - Dick's final attempt at the literary novel.
-July 10, 2012
January 8, 2024
It's a new year and what do you know, I'm craving some Dick. Tee-hee, I'm so mature.
Anyway, 3 Early Novels is a fairly entertaining collection of some books PKD wrote in the 1950s, when he was still just a dime-a-dozen pulp sci fi author. They're not even close to being as good as the post-LSD books he wrote later in his career, but they're decent stories for what they are.
The overall impression I have after reading them is how amazed I am by Dick's prescience--the world they were written in was vastly different to today's world, and yet some of the themes of the stories involved are remarkably relevant to the 21st century.
Yes they're tropey, predictable and full of worn-out clichés, plus the writing in some of them leaves a bit to be desired, but if I didn't know who Philip K Dick was I'd still rank these in the upper tier of 1950s sci fi stories.
The books within this book were:
The Man Who Japed: A book about a post-apocalyptic world run by puritans with no sense of humour, in which a man starts a revolution by having a sense of humour.
Thematically it's extremely relevant to today's world and a reminder of the important role satire plays in keeping tyranny (and very hypocritical tyranny) in check. Given how society seems to be sliding into a new age of puritanism and witch-hunting thanks to certain extremist mobs online and their corporate allies, it's well worth a look.
However, it falls apart in the execution. It seems to have been written in a rush, the plot meanders a lot, there's a lot of terrible 50s sci fi tropes ham-fisted into the story that not only fail to add to it, but subtract from it (i.e. the space travel sequences).
3 stars - good ideas, lousy execution.
Dr. Futurity: This was my favourite of the three. It's basically a typical time travel story that's kind of Logan's Run meets Planet of the Apes.
While most of the plot twists, sadly, could be seen a mile off reading the book through modern eyes, it was still a hell of a ride and an absolutely gripping read.
Also interesting to read a book that explores the same questions of racism and colonialism that 21st century society has recently become obsessed with... only it was written in 1959. While I'm sure the hard left will still find some excuse to scream that the book is "racist" or "outdated", from a more moderate perspective I'm inclined to note that Dr. Futurity is decades ahead of its time in its musings on these topics.
While it didn't feel much like a Philip K Dick book (in that everything made perfect sense and followed a very normal narrative structure), I enjoyed it thoroughly and would give it 5 stars on its own.
Vulcan's Hammer: A pretty stock standard humans vs AI story that's generally pretty entertaining but otherwise nothing we've never seen before.
Oh wait. It was written 30 years before computer technology reached a point where the average person could even conceive of or comprehend ideas like artificial intelligence and computer controlled society.
And to be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if the world of this story is where the world ends up by the end of the 21st century.
So yeah, it may seem clichéd now, but actually it's lightyears ahead of it's time. On its own I'd give it 4 stars.
Overall book rating: 4 stars. Definitely worth a read, but not even close to being his best work.
Anyway, 3 Early Novels is a fairly entertaining collection of some books PKD wrote in the 1950s, when he was still just a dime-a-dozen pulp sci fi author. They're not even close to being as good as the post-LSD books he wrote later in his career, but they're decent stories for what they are.
The overall impression I have after reading them is how amazed I am by Dick's prescience--the world they were written in was vastly different to today's world, and yet some of the themes of the stories involved are remarkably relevant to the 21st century.
Yes they're tropey, predictable and full of worn-out clichés, plus the writing in some of them leaves a bit to be desired, but if I didn't know who Philip K Dick was I'd still rank these in the upper tier of 1950s sci fi stories.
The books within this book were:
The Man Who Japed: A book about a post-apocalyptic world run by puritans with no sense of humour, in which a man starts a revolution by having a sense of humour.
Thematically it's extremely relevant to today's world and a reminder of the important role satire plays in keeping tyranny (and very hypocritical tyranny) in check. Given how society seems to be sliding into a new age of puritanism and witch-hunting thanks to certain extremist mobs online and their corporate allies, it's well worth a look.
However, it falls apart in the execution. It seems to have been written in a rush, the plot meanders a lot, there's a lot of terrible 50s sci fi tropes ham-fisted into the story that not only fail to add to it, but subtract from it (i.e. the space travel sequences).
3 stars - good ideas, lousy execution.
Dr. Futurity: This was my favourite of the three. It's basically a typical time travel story that's kind of Logan's Run meets Planet of the Apes.
While most of the plot twists, sadly, could be seen a mile off reading the book through modern eyes, it was still a hell of a ride and an absolutely gripping read.
Also interesting to read a book that explores the same questions of racism and colonialism that 21st century society has recently become obsessed with... only it was written in 1959. While I'm sure the hard left will still find some excuse to scream that the book is "racist" or "outdated", from a more moderate perspective I'm inclined to note that Dr. Futurity is decades ahead of its time in its musings on these topics.
While it didn't feel much like a Philip K Dick book (in that everything made perfect sense and followed a very normal narrative structure), I enjoyed it thoroughly and would give it 5 stars on its own.
Vulcan's Hammer: A pretty stock standard humans vs AI story that's generally pretty entertaining but otherwise nothing we've never seen before.
Oh wait. It was written 30 years before computer technology reached a point where the average person could even conceive of or comprehend ideas like artificial intelligence and computer controlled society.
And to be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if the world of this story is where the world ends up by the end of the 21st century.
So yeah, it may seem clichéd now, but actually it's lightyears ahead of it's time. On its own I'd give it 4 stars.
Overall book rating: 4 stars. Definitely worth a read, but not even close to being his best work.
December 3, 2017
Vulcan's Hammer: A dystopian post apocalyptic world, where a supercomputer runs the government, is threatened by a cult known as the Healers.
Philip K. Dick's short novel examines the advancing (at the time) technological breakthroughs and progresses it into a future where the frightening thing is not that human life is in thrall to an electronic device, but that it was seen as safer than having us govern ourselves.
Philip K. Dick's short novel examines the advancing (at the time) technological breakthroughs and progresses it into a future where the frightening thing is not that human life is in thrall to an electronic device, but that it was seen as safer than having us govern ourselves.
February 3, 2018
Three Sci-Fi stories all dealing with different possible futures.
I enjoyed all of these stories and considering when they were written, roughly sixty years ago, they were all original / thought provoking.
My overall rating is 4.5 stars – as some of the Sci-Fi elements (in terms of language) were too convoluted.
I enjoyed all of these stories and considering when they were written, roughly sixty years ago, they were all original / thought provoking.
My overall rating is 4.5 stars – as some of the Sci-Fi elements (in terms of language) were too convoluted.
June 18, 2018
The Man Who Japed is a fabulous romp through desire and restriction. Full of strong emotion and humor, it's a solid read in the PKD bibliography.
October 15, 2023
*** The Man Who Japed (1956)
*** Dr. Futurity (1960)
*** Vulcan's Hammer (1960)
*** Dr. Futurity (1960)
*** Vulcan's Hammer (1960)
Want to read
July 21, 2014I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/12795334
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/12795334
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