Status Updates From The Philip K. Dick Reader

Shell game was fun, in a dark psychological horror kind of way.
Upon the Dull Earth was on another level. Fantastic prose, great characterization for its tiny cast and huge, terrifying implications with its biblical horror fantasy plot.

Oh wow, there has been a lot of hyper-capitalist dystopia and a decent amount of android/robot exploration, but it hasn't come together like this before.
Sales Pitch was an actual 1954 Cyberpunk short story. Yes, it has the gender norms, mid-century trappings and vocabulary of the time, but man is it cyberpunk in everything else, from the visuals and themes to the dark depressive storytelling.

Serve the Master- Post AI/Robot was Apocalypse humanity living in underground shelters/vaults. Very brutal Fallout-esque world.
Exhibit Piece- Escapism from a future dystopia via portal fantasy. Again, Fallouty vibes with the mid-century modern Cold War setting.
The Crawlers- One of the closest to horror so far. Main theme being humanities destructive drive for knowledge and power without heed for the consequences.

Have been hyper-focused on Star Wars for a bit. The Living Force's humorous tone isn't wat I want today so this is a nice side-read to pick back up again.

I finished this collection of short stories this past weekend. As a sci-fi fan, I was amazed at how Philip K. Dick came up with so many concepts that resonate today. The stories run on the dystopian side of the spectrum and life ending via the Hydrogen bomb was the most common method, which tracks, due to the era he wrote in.

All in all, an enjoyable collection that I would recommend to any sci-fi fan.