Philip K Dick discussion

I have only read about 10 or so of his novels but the one I think was fantastic and stands out from all the others was The Man in the High Castle.

I wasn't so impressed with Martian Time-Slip, but I did like The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch.

I have A Scanner Darkly on my shelf and I enjoyed the film (probably some controversy there I think) but what do the rest of you think?

Too many to choose from! I like all of the above, plus Flow My Tears the Policeman Said, DADoES, obviously... Hmmm, picking a single favourite will take more thought!

James wrote: "I have only read about 10 or so of his novels but the one I think was fantastic and stands out from all the others was The Man in the High Castle.

I wasn't so impressed with [book..."

I agree with you on The Man in the High Castle. Thats my fave PKD. A Scanner Darkly and VALIS follow. I have read about 13 of his books and plan to read more.

Martian Time-Slip and Dr. Bloodmoney are least faves of mine.

For The Man in the High Castle, I loved the story within a story (within our own story??). I loved the whole "what is real and what is not real vibe" of the book. I loved what we found out at the end at the book (I think it is a GREAT ending).

Now Wait for Last Year is my fav so just ahead of Flow My Tears,the Policeman Said.

Now Wait had really strong characters,strong story,a very nice take on time travel.

Dr Bloodmoney,The Three Stigmata of Dr Palmer Eldritch had very intersting stories,setting but character wise they were weaker than other PKD i have read.

my favourite PKD novel changes as the decades pass.

:)

Clans of the Alphane Moon.

I work in Mental Health. It resonates.

It alternates between Palmer Eldritch and Valis.

Last month I would have told you Ubik. I just re-read it and wasn't impressed quite a much but still loved it. That book is such a mindfuck when reading it the first time, but since there were no surprises coming this time it didn't have quite the effect. I'm going to have to go with Flow My Tears the Policeman Said... that book is always on my mind since I read it.

I've read 8 Dick novels and 2 short story collections. I'm hoping to add at least 5 more novels in 2011.

good luck Giggsy!

:)

I agree with you about Flow My Tears and I'm still aching to re-read "Our Friends from Frolix 8".

On a side note (no, I'm not going to start a Cordwainer Smith group, or maybe I should) I recently re-read Cordwainer Smith's NORSTRILLIA and would HIGHLY RECOMMEND it to any member of this crazy group - it's scale and scope are proper breathtaking.

:)

1) A Maze of Death
2) VALIS
3) The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
4) A Scanner Darkly
5) Eye in the Sky

My top five:

The Man in the High Castle
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
Ubik
A Scanner Darkly

Not sure which PKD novel to read next. I fancy Martian Time-Slip or Flow My Tears.

Try Flow My Tears then since we are discussing it in another thread

My favourite PKD novel, far and away better than anything else I have read by him, is "A Scanner Darkly".

What have you read Simon ? Just to compare Seeing GR updates it seem like you read many of the smaller,early ones.

I dont think any of his best ones so far for me is by far better than the other.

Androids is middle level,so Dr Bloodmoney,Maze is bottom level. The rest is top level,great level.

I've read (with rating and in order of preference):


"A Scanner Darkly" *****
"UBIK" *****
"The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch" ****
"Time Out of Joint" ****
"Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" ****
"The Penultimate Truth" ****
"Dr. Futurity" ****
"We Can Build You" ***
"The Simulacra" ***
"VALIS" ***
"Dr. Bloodmoney" **

Although I rated "UBIK" fives stars as well, it was a low five stars. "A Scanner Darkly" I regard as one of my top three all time favourite SF novels.

You rate Androids more higher than me thats interesting since it was my first PKD.

You havent read Flow My Tears, Now Wait for Last Year who are my top two. I havent read Darkly Scanner yet either.

"Do Androids..." was my first PKD novel too.

"Flow My Tears...", "Now Wait for Last Year" or "Martian Time Slip" are one of the novels I want to go for next.

Simon wrote: ""Do Androids..." was my first PKD novel too.

"Flow My Tears...", "Now Wait for Last Year" or "Martian Time Slip" are one of the novels I want to go for next."

While i think its time for "The Man in the High Castle,"Martian Time Slip","Dr. Futurity"

Im going by decades 60s and 70s and then back to 50s.

You are lucky guys. Now Wait for Last Year is very suspenseful with lots of action and twists. The Man in the High Castle and Flow my Tears are classics. Dr. Futurity is good too.

I have only Deus Irae and The Ganymede Take-Over to read of PKD's sf novels. I look forward to some of the non-sf though. So far I've read Mary and the Giant, The Broken Bubble and Confessions of a Crap Artist and thankfully they all have the typical PKD feeling, the uncertainity about what is real and not. Anyone want to recommend me some of the non-sci-fi novels?

Palmer wrote: "You are lucky guys. Now Wait for Last Year is very suspenseful with lots of action and twists. The Man in the High Castle and Flow my Tears are classics. Dr. Futurity is good too.

I have only D... Anyone want to recommend me some of the non-sci-fi novels? "

Of the non-SF novels, I really enjoyed The Man Whose Teeth Were All Exactly Alike

Palmer wrote: "You are lucky guys. Now Wait for Last Year is very suspenseful with lots of action and twists. The Man in the High Castle and Flow my Tears are classics. Dr. Futurity is good too.

I have only D..."

You are the lucky one having read so much of his :)

Im hoping to get there and thankfully he was so prolific in his short 54 years :)

1.
2.

Out of the few I have read i marked these both as 5/5, fantastic.

Flow My Tears, the policeman said is a fine exempel.

Valis was one of the most interesting books I have ever read. How Dick came up with his ideas is beyond me. I am reading -Jon Dies at the End-. If you are a fan of Valis and P.K. Dick, check it out!

Jon Dies is at End by who ?

Valis i must read soon, many PKD fans rate so highly.

John Dies at the End
by David Wong
Will be a horror film as well.

"Valis" is like Marmite, you either love it or hate it.

Latter for me.

:)

I love Marmite :-D What? That wasn't the question?

You hate Valis ? Is it possible to hate a PKD novel is what im thinking. I dislike one of his but i cant imagine hating even his worst novel.

You can't just 'dislike' something as pink-laser-crazy as Marmite.

:)

I disliked VALIS as well. But I loved Radio Free Albemuth. VALIS didn't read like a novel to me, but was also too far from non-fiction for me to put on the different thinking cap that requires. I'm expecting Dick's upcoming Exegesis to be better. Exegesis will truly put us inside Dick's head. Radio Free gave us great insight into Dick's 'pink beam' experience, but it still read like great fiction. VALIS just seemed like a mess to me at times.

Guys,
and girls,
this isn't about whether "Valis is Marmite", or not - it's about YOUR FAVOURITE PKD novel.

Sorry for the (unintentional) distraction. Back on topic, please.

Ive just finished Ubik and it was fantastic, a great book and one id highly recommend to someone who hasnt read any PKD.

I thought Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said was a very easy read, good story, etc but Ubik was a lot better with a fantastic ending.

If it is going to be a movie then either Richard Linklater who i thought done a magnificent job of A Scanner Darkly or David Lynch would be my choice.

I will put Ubik along with VALIS as my current favourite PKD's that ive read.

Martian Time-Slip for me. I don't know how he pulled off that novel. Playing with time in such an effective way is amongst the most difficult stunts for any novel to achieve.

On a note of self-promotion, I think any PKD fan would love a 9/11 narrated by the South Tower, and that would be Airplane Novel: http://amzn.com/1935738143

"The Man in the High Castle" and "Martian Time-Slip".

Did anyone read Radio Free Albemuth? It was pretty hilarious.

my 'real' favourite novel is probably COSMIC PUPPETS, one of Dick's most horrific books by far

here's my review of it on Zone SF:

http://www.zone-sf.com/wordworks/cosp...

Horrific book and PKD in the same sentence makes Cosmic Puppets sound so much better in my eyes ;)

The title makes it sound like an early pulpy PKD short story.

I just finished The Man in the High Castle and it doesnt make Palmer, Now Wait For Last Year less fantastic but it stands out as my fav and the best written PKD book so far for me. I have read just over 10 books so i many other good ones left to read.

Have you guys/gals seen this list?


http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/10...


It's pretty acurate as far as I'm concerned.

Sérgio wrote: "Have you guys/gals seen this list?


http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/10...


It's pretty acurate as far as I'm concerned."

Ubik and The High Man in the Castle has gotten most mentioned as the best PKD book i know among fans. You agree about Androids being better ?

Its just more popular film than the other books. Both the book and the film is vastly overrated imho.

I read Androids the first time when I was 12 years old, so I have fondness for it.

The last time I read it was like 5 years ago. It's hard to compare books when there's a span of years between your readings of them.

But yeah, I think it's a very good book, I always liked the characters in it. When you get to that period of his career most of his books are very good.

The movie is a visual masterpiece imho.

Sérgio wrote: "I read Androids the first time when I was 12 years old, so I have fondness for it.

The last time I read it was like 5 years ago. It's hard to compare books when there's a span of years between you..."

I dont like to talk about the movie to compare becuase its a very different. It is visually great i agree.

You read the book as 12 years old thats what i mean, it seems many people reads that book first of all their PKD books. It was my first PKD and it is good but its minor,mid level compared the top,best books of him. I enjoy it but his writing,ideas is better in other books.

I just dont like how PKD newbies overrate it because its their fav film too....

Well, as I said, I read it again a few years ago and still liked it very much.

It's true that Androids is very popular because of the movie but I don't think it's overrated.

Some scenes were great like when Deckard finds the frog, the Mercer machine (very interesting idea), also characters like Isidore or the android that wants to buy an art book (?) despite knowing it will be dead in a few minutes.

I think it's hard to say that a book or another is the best when he created so much great books (like Androids, High Castle, Palmer Eldrich, Valis, Ubik and others).

Sérgio wrote: "Well, as I said, I read it again a few years ago and still liked it very much.

It's true that Androids is a very popular because of the movie but I don't think it's overrated.

Some scenes were gr..."

I didnt mean you re-read because i can respect other PKD fans liking some books better than others. As you say he wrote many quality books. I meant people who only read few PKD and think Androids is the best ever PKD, it rankes nr.1 in every list not made by PKD fans.

My top 3 so far is High Castle,Now Wait for Last Year, Palmer Eldritch. Havent read Valis,Ubiik,Scanner Darkly,Martian Time-Slip that fellow fans rank very high.

From what I've read, I'm still at:

(1) Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said
(2) Ubik
(3) Radio Free Albemuth
(4) Scanner Darkly

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is potentially number 5 though, with Bladerunner of TV often, I catch parts of it, and it always leads to me thinking about the parts of the book that were left out of the movie. I plan to read soon the recent graphic novel version of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? 1 which does contain the FULL ORIGINAL PKD text... so I'm curious to see how this moves up or down in my list as I read a graphic version that is still like reading the novel.

Thus far, I've read the following eight: Do Androids Dream, Bloodmoney, Flow My Tears, Penultimate, Simulacra, Eldritch, High Castle, Scanner. And I have in my shelf, ready to read, Ubik and Time Slip.

I'm a bit miffed that only one other poster (Simon) has named my own favourite, The Penultimate Truth. The first five I listed are my preferred novels, and the only one I didn't like was A Scanner Darkly. Regarding The Man in the High Castle, I think it's a bit overrated, because the story just sort of plodded along.

I think "A Scanner Darkly" is his best novel, but it's kind of atypical for PKD even though it has some of his trademarks as a writer. Out of his more overtly science-fictional books I think my favourites are "Flow My Tears" and "Ubik".

SCANNER

The Man in the High Castle is the most finished. A Scanner Darkly stands out more and more. And Valis is, well, a new sort of book, perhaps the type that Dick was meant to write.