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The Other Side of Philip K. Dick
“As a literary figure, Philip K. Dick is popularly perceived as a crazed, drug-addled mystic with a sinister Third Eye. Nothing could be further from the truth - the Phil I knew was a warm, humane, very funny man. Maer Wilson understands these truths far better than I, and The Other Side of Philip K. Dick casts a welcome shaft of daylight upon the real PKD, as opposed to the dark, distorted caricature Dick has become.” Paul M. Sammon, Author of Future The Making of Blade Runner
What is the truth behind the legend of Science Fiction great, Philip K. Dick?
In spring, 1972, Phil Dick moved to Fullerton, CA, where he met Theatre student Mary (Maer) Wilson. Amid marriage proposals, marathon talk-fests and a love for music and films, they forged a strong friendship that would last the rest of his life.
Wilson’s quirky, yet unflinchingly honest, memoir reveals a funny, compassionate and generous man. She captures an inside view of one of our literary greats – a brilliant writer who gave the world some of its most revered Science Fiction.
“I found this book engrossing and authentic – a truthful and serious account of the last part of Phil Dick’s life by someone who was a fundamental part of it and who has the skill to write about it. There is evident love and friendship in this book, but also honesty. This was the Phil Dick I knew.” James P. Blaylock, World Fantasy Award-Winning Author
What is the truth behind the legend of Science Fiction great, Philip K. Dick?
In spring, 1972, Phil Dick moved to Fullerton, CA, where he met Theatre student Mary (Maer) Wilson. Amid marriage proposals, marathon talk-fests and a love for music and films, they forged a strong friendship that would last the rest of his life.
Wilson’s quirky, yet unflinchingly honest, memoir reveals a funny, compassionate and generous man. She captures an inside view of one of our literary greats – a brilliant writer who gave the world some of its most revered Science Fiction.
“I found this book engrossing and authentic – a truthful and serious account of the last part of Phil Dick’s life by someone who was a fundamental part of it and who has the skill to write about it. There is evident love and friendship in this book, but also honesty. This was the Phil Dick I knew.” James P. Blaylock, World Fantasy Award-Winning Author
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Published August 9, 2016
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About the author
Maer Wilson
13 books292 followersAfter a successful career being other people, and later teaching others the many tricks of that trade, Maer Wilson has decided to be herself for a while. Turns out she's a writer. She's always loved stories, especially fantasy, mystery and sci fi. Maer was born in the Year of the Dragon and has a dragon-themed room in her home, but sadly no dragons in the back yard. When she's not writing, Maer plays online video games, teaches college and reads. She also co-hosts the literary podcast, “MythBehaving” and writes for two gaming fansites. She lives in the high desert of Southern Nevada with her three dogs, a chihuahua and two poodle. Relics is her first novel and released on May 1, 2013. She has since released Book 2, Portals, four prequel novelettes, and a box set of the novelettes and a new short story in the Modern Magics series. You can visit her website at http://maerwilson.com/.
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July 15, 2016I am the author.
August 8, 2016
A portrayal of a time, a man and a dear friend. I received an ARC copy of the book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
I thought I’d get a couple of things out of the way before I gave my opinion of the book. This is the first book by Maer Wilson that I’ve read. I’m aware she writes fiction but haven’t read any of her novels yet. The second thing is that I’ve read some of Philip K. Dick’s novels, but I’m not a connoisseur of his work and I have but a passing acquaintance with his life. Like a lot of people I’m more familiar with some of the film adaptations of his science-fiction novels than I am with the original books (but I must say one doesn’t forget easily reading one of his books and notwithstanding my undying love for Blade Runner, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is imprinted in my brain).
This book is not a biography of Philip K. Dick, or a memoir of Mary (Maer) Wilson, although it does have elements of both. The author sets up the scene and explains clearly what she intends to do at the opening of the book. This is the story of her friendship with the writer that spanned the last ten years of his life. She does not justify his behaviour, she does not provide a critical analysis of his work, and she does not go on a research digging expedition trying to discover who the true Philip K. Dick was. After many years of reading works about the man she got to know quite closely, and not recognising the versions of her friend those books created, she decided to share the man she knew. She acknowledges that he might have been different when he was younger and that perhaps he presented differently with different people. (In fact she has an interesting theory about the matter that makes perfect sense to me, but although not a true spoiler, I’ll leave you to read it yourselves).
Mary Wilson met Philip K. Dick when she was a young theatre student, and although she goes to great pains to try and remember and record the things as they happened at the time (and as her young-self experienced them), the older (and of course wiser) Maer Wilson can’t help but sometimes despair of her younger counterpart. As all young people, and especially somebody preparing from a young age for an acting career, the young Mary thinks she is immortal and the centre of the universe. She accepts friendships as they come and does not question either motives or reasons. She does not inquire why an older man (when they meet she doesn’t even know he’s a writer) is living with a young student or why he would want to make friends with people who are twenty five years his juniors. The way she writes about the young Mary reminded me of Herman Melville’s Redburn, where the older writer can’t help but reflect on the naïveté and inexperience of his younger self. (Not that she is all that naïve as she acknowledges that the writer had a crush on her and she handled it remarkably well, but she’s neither humble nor always wise).
The author does not aim to discover where Philip K. Dick was coming from or what happened during the periods when they lost contact, for example when he got married and his wife wasn’t keen on his younger friends, or when Mary was living with a boyfriend and so busy with her theatrical performances that she couldn’t always make time for a social life. She does not try to make up for gaps or recreate things that she was not witness too. She does include photographs of events relevant to the narration, drawings, etc., and has obtained some of the correspondence a common friend had kept, but in its majority, the book is made up of anecdotes, conversations and events that the writer remembers in plenty of detail, as would be expected of somebody talking about a close and dear friend. I also got the sense, from the book and the foreword, that Dick had remained a topic of conversation for his group of friends and some of the episodes mentioned have been reminisced upon more than once.
As it has been noted often (and is also mentioned in the foreword of the book), anybody who attempts to tell somebody else’s story, ends up telling his or her own, and the author gives us a wonderful insight into ten years of her life, from her years as a student, performing and putting on plays, to having her own theatre company, and working herself to exhaustion. It is a vivid portrayal of a type of life, a place and a period, that will make readers wish they were there, going to watch A Clockwork Orange with Philip K. Dick, or meeting Ridley Scott to talk about Blade Runner. It isn’t a glamorous story or a celebrity autobiography (thankfully!), and it has ups and downs, moments of enlightenment and regrets, happy moments and doubts and what ifs, but that’s what real life is like. The author writes as if she was telling her memories of Dick to a close friend, or perhaps as if she was retelling herself the episodes she recalls, trying to puzzle together and order her thoughts, to grab hold of her experience and not let go. It is an intimate and reflective style of writing that makes the reader feel close to both actors and events.
I personally enjoyed getting to know both the author of the book and a bit more about Philip K. Dick, the friend of his friends. This is not a book for somebody looking to acquire facts and figures about Dick, or a comprehensive biography, warts and all. It isn’t a book that talks in detail about his writing (although there are references to his comments at the time and the stories he shared), and it isn’t a gossip column trying to settle grudges (and sadly this is not the first non-fiction book I read where the people really close to somebody are pushed aside by the individual’s official family when s/he is no longer able to do anything to prevent it). This book will be of interest to people who want to find a new dimension, a more personal one, to Dick the man rather than the myth. And also to readers who want to experience the era of the 1970s (and early 80s) in California as it would have been for a very talented and artistic group of friends. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall at some of those meetings. That’s not possible but at least I have this book.
I thought I’d get a couple of things out of the way before I gave my opinion of the book. This is the first book by Maer Wilson that I’ve read. I’m aware she writes fiction but haven’t read any of her novels yet. The second thing is that I’ve read some of Philip K. Dick’s novels, but I’m not a connoisseur of his work and I have but a passing acquaintance with his life. Like a lot of people I’m more familiar with some of the film adaptations of his science-fiction novels than I am with the original books (but I must say one doesn’t forget easily reading one of his books and notwithstanding my undying love for Blade Runner, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is imprinted in my brain).
This book is not a biography of Philip K. Dick, or a memoir of Mary (Maer) Wilson, although it does have elements of both. The author sets up the scene and explains clearly what she intends to do at the opening of the book. This is the story of her friendship with the writer that spanned the last ten years of his life. She does not justify his behaviour, she does not provide a critical analysis of his work, and she does not go on a research digging expedition trying to discover who the true Philip K. Dick was. After many years of reading works about the man she got to know quite closely, and not recognising the versions of her friend those books created, she decided to share the man she knew. She acknowledges that he might have been different when he was younger and that perhaps he presented differently with different people. (In fact she has an interesting theory about the matter that makes perfect sense to me, but although not a true spoiler, I’ll leave you to read it yourselves).
Mary Wilson met Philip K. Dick when she was a young theatre student, and although she goes to great pains to try and remember and record the things as they happened at the time (and as her young-self experienced them), the older (and of course wiser) Maer Wilson can’t help but sometimes despair of her younger counterpart. As all young people, and especially somebody preparing from a young age for an acting career, the young Mary thinks she is immortal and the centre of the universe. She accepts friendships as they come and does not question either motives or reasons. She does not inquire why an older man (when they meet she doesn’t even know he’s a writer) is living with a young student or why he would want to make friends with people who are twenty five years his juniors. The way she writes about the young Mary reminded me of Herman Melville’s Redburn, where the older writer can’t help but reflect on the naïveté and inexperience of his younger self. (Not that she is all that naïve as she acknowledges that the writer had a crush on her and she handled it remarkably well, but she’s neither humble nor always wise).
The author does not aim to discover where Philip K. Dick was coming from or what happened during the periods when they lost contact, for example when he got married and his wife wasn’t keen on his younger friends, or when Mary was living with a boyfriend and so busy with her theatrical performances that she couldn’t always make time for a social life. She does not try to make up for gaps or recreate things that she was not witness too. She does include photographs of events relevant to the narration, drawings, etc., and has obtained some of the correspondence a common friend had kept, but in its majority, the book is made up of anecdotes, conversations and events that the writer remembers in plenty of detail, as would be expected of somebody talking about a close and dear friend. I also got the sense, from the book and the foreword, that Dick had remained a topic of conversation for his group of friends and some of the episodes mentioned have been reminisced upon more than once.
As it has been noted often (and is also mentioned in the foreword of the book), anybody who attempts to tell somebody else’s story, ends up telling his or her own, and the author gives us a wonderful insight into ten years of her life, from her years as a student, performing and putting on plays, to having her own theatre company, and working herself to exhaustion. It is a vivid portrayal of a type of life, a place and a period, that will make readers wish they were there, going to watch A Clockwork Orange with Philip K. Dick, or meeting Ridley Scott to talk about Blade Runner. It isn’t a glamorous story or a celebrity autobiography (thankfully!), and it has ups and downs, moments of enlightenment and regrets, happy moments and doubts and what ifs, but that’s what real life is like. The author writes as if she was telling her memories of Dick to a close friend, or perhaps as if she was retelling herself the episodes she recalls, trying to puzzle together and order her thoughts, to grab hold of her experience and not let go. It is an intimate and reflective style of writing that makes the reader feel close to both actors and events.
I personally enjoyed getting to know both the author of the book and a bit more about Philip K. Dick, the friend of his friends. This is not a book for somebody looking to acquire facts and figures about Dick, or a comprehensive biography, warts and all. It isn’t a book that talks in detail about his writing (although there are references to his comments at the time and the stories he shared), and it isn’t a gossip column trying to settle grudges (and sadly this is not the first non-fiction book I read where the people really close to somebody are pushed aside by the individual’s official family when s/he is no longer able to do anything to prevent it). This book will be of interest to people who want to find a new dimension, a more personal one, to Dick the man rather than the myth. And also to readers who want to experience the era of the 1970s (and early 80s) in California as it would have been for a very talented and artistic group of friends. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall at some of those meetings. That’s not possible but at least I have this book.
June 24, 2017
Brief memoir that's really more about Maer Wilson than Philip K. Dick. The writing is good, but I just don't feel I gained a greater or deeper insight into Dick.
September 20, 2016
I just finished reading this book last night. It was my intention to spread my reading over the week, at least. However, I could not put this book down! And I found that, in this story, it was just as fascinating learning about Maer Wilson as it was about PKD. It was a story that, like the main subject, ended too soon. The “Endings” was truly heart-wrenching, overwhelming so. I'm still processing it. And I will probably be reflecting on this for some time. But, it was an awesome read. One that I recommend to every PKD fan. And also quite a treat for Blade Runner fans in particular.
Maer Wilson's friendship with PKD, like this book, was akin to a symphony––Beethoven's symphonies, to be precise. PKD could be moody: gloomy one day, and passionate the next. He was a very compassionate and generous man. And also mischievous. Much like Beethoven's work. The chapters are grouped into modules––symphonies, an intermezzo, and the like. The musical pieces coincide with the mood of each particular module of the book. Combined, they tell the story of two friends. And invites the reader a glimpse into the last ten years of an oft misinterpreted, but very human, Philip K. Dick.
Maer Wilson's friendship with PKD, like this book, was akin to a symphony––Beethoven's symphonies, to be precise. PKD could be moody: gloomy one day, and passionate the next. He was a very compassionate and generous man. And also mischievous. Much like Beethoven's work. The chapters are grouped into modules––symphonies, an intermezzo, and the like. The musical pieces coincide with the mood of each particular module of the book. Combined, they tell the story of two friends. And invites the reader a glimpse into the last ten years of an oft misinterpreted, but very human, Philip K. Dick.
February 22, 2022
Maer Wilson's memoir covers ten years she knew Philip K. Dick, the last decade of his life. Wilson makes it quite clear she was not PKD's girlfriend, but just a close friend. She said the only time she touched PDK was when she held his hand while he was in the ICU before he died.
I wished the book focused more on her times with PKD, but she spends a fair amount on her own life. And that's cool, but I bought the book to learn about PKD. I read this back-to-back with Tessa Dick's memoir that covers the same ten years. She was PKD's fifth and final wife. Tessa's book had way more about PKD, but it wasn't as well written. Tessa's book focused on the crazy PKD, and Wilson focused on the normal PKD. Evidently, he let it all hang out with his wife, and tried to act normal with Wilson.
Reading about PKD is like watching Rashômon. No two stories are alike. Emmanuel Carrère's and Lawrence Sutin's PKD biographies are still the best.
Wilson's book has a forward by Tim Powers and a note by James Blaylock, other friends of PKD during those years, that endorses her take on PKD. She was also friends with Powers and Blaylock. But still, Wilson's account differs from Tessa's account in places. There's not much overlap, but there are in a few details. I don't think Willson and Tessa Dick liked each other.
I wished the book focused more on her times with PKD, but she spends a fair amount on her own life. And that's cool, but I bought the book to learn about PKD. I read this back-to-back with Tessa Dick's memoir that covers the same ten years. She was PKD's fifth and final wife. Tessa's book had way more about PKD, but it wasn't as well written. Tessa's book focused on the crazy PKD, and Wilson focused on the normal PKD. Evidently, he let it all hang out with his wife, and tried to act normal with Wilson.
Reading about PKD is like watching Rashômon. No two stories are alike. Emmanuel Carrère's and Lawrence Sutin's PKD biographies are still the best.
Wilson's book has a forward by Tim Powers and a note by James Blaylock, other friends of PKD during those years, that endorses her take on PKD. She was also friends with Powers and Blaylock. But still, Wilson's account differs from Tessa's account in places. There's not much overlap, but there are in a few details. I don't think Willson and Tessa Dick liked each other.
September 7, 2022
Although I was active in Science Fiction fandom for the last several years of Philip Dick's life I'm not sure I was very aware of his work, and certainly not of his life and the quirky legends that grew up around him at the time. Over the years, you'd have to have been living under a rock not to be aware of the considerable number of outstanding Science Fiction works he was responsible for or the number of times his work has been adapted for film.
What Maer Wilson presents in this work however, is not so much the literary genius as the man - vulnerable, it almost seems insecure, funny, a bit eccentric - loving and loyal to his friends, if not to the women in his life. Knowing what Wilsoon was willing to tell in this book, written nearly 30 years after his death, casts a whole new light on both the man and the work he produced.
This one was definitely worth the read.
What Maer Wilson presents in this work however, is not so much the literary genius as the man - vulnerable, it almost seems insecure, funny, a bit eccentric - loving and loyal to his friends, if not to the women in his life. Knowing what Wilsoon was willing to tell in this book, written nearly 30 years after his death, casts a whole new light on both the man and the work he produced.
This one was definitely worth the read.
March 24, 2017
Maer Wilson was part of Philip K. Dick's social circle for the last 10 years of his life, and recounts her memories of the time. She became a sort of informal "minder" at Hollywood events, and accompanied PKD on his well known visit to the Blade Runner set. There's not a whole lot of deep insight, but it's interesting to see what PKD was like with a "normal" friend who set limits and was not interested in getting dragged down into his drama. It turns out he was a funny, smart, slightly weird guy who was fun to hang out with.
October 9, 2023
An interesting read. I very must enjoyed it.
August 17, 2016
This is the first book I have read by this author and I must say...very well done Maer Wilson.
I have never read a memior quite like this one. As I was reading I felt like I was there living the story out. I rather quite enjoyed it. The friendship of which this book is written about was unique and well portrayed. This book was really intriguing.
I, Amber McCarty (Imaginative Dreams), was given a copy for an honest review.
I have never read a memior quite like this one. As I was reading I felt like I was there living the story out. I rather quite enjoyed it. The friendship of which this book is written about was unique and well portrayed. This book was really intriguing.
I, Amber McCarty (Imaginative Dreams), was given a copy for an honest review.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews