Yanik’s Reviews > The Philip K. Dick Reader > Status Update
Yanik
is on page 95 of 432
Still not entirely sure what this is about. A grimdark post-apo?
Two extremes and no nuance?
Apparently Dick actually identified as a "religious anarchist", I get the hyper-capitalist, soulless, profit over humanity government antagonist.
But the ravaged, dead world could hardly have been his idea of utopia?
Also, gehe, vaporizing high energy small arms..but still bayonets.
— Aug 31, 2025 10:43AM
Two extremes and no nuance?
Apparently Dick actually identified as a "religious anarchist", I get the hyper-capitalist, soulless, profit over humanity government antagonist.
But the ravaged, dead world could hardly have been his idea of utopia?
Also, gehe, vaporizing high energy small arms..but still bayonets.
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Yanik’s Previous Updates
Yanik
is on page 135 of 432
Tony and the Beetles is a quick, dark story about humanity's eternal strife and conquest. The need to take, expand, exploit through violence.
There might be nods to the American Civil War in there too.
And it's all wrapped in a young boy's hopeful day of laying with his friends and dreaming of larger things.
Quite a gut punch.
— Sep 24, 2025 11:08AM
There might be nods to the American Civil War in there too.
And it's all wrapped in a young boy's hopeful day of laying with his friends and dreaming of larger things.
Quite a gut punch.
Yanik
is on page 123 of 432
Strange Eden is a short little story that does everything it can to make you hate the blustering, impulsive, rapist POV character and humanity as a whole. Quite cathartic ending.
— Sep 03, 2025 11:18AM
Yanik
is on page 111 of 432
The Father-Thing was great. Some Edgar-Suit vibes.
I can see a lot of things that these stories influenced. Cyberpunk(of course), Man in Black, Fallout.
— Sep 02, 2025 11:07AM
I can see a lot of things that these stories influenced. Cyberpunk(of course), Man in Black, Fallout.
Yanik
is on page 101 of 432
Yeah, very interesting but flawed little story.
As much as I despise our late stage capitalism, this was a naïve and rose-glassed take.
— Aug 31, 2025 11:07AM
As much as I despise our late stage capitalism, this was a naïve and rose-glassed take.
Yanik
is on page 86 of 432
The Last of the Masters is really good so far, both incredible worldbuilding and storytelling in a short time.
The idea of humanity being reduced to a listless species fully reliant on AI to do planning and governmental work is sobering. I don't really see the species reverting to a natural state of perceived anarchy. The league is probably just another form government.
— Aug 29, 2025 11:16AM
The idea of humanity being reduced to a listless species fully reliant on AI to do planning and governmental work is sobering. I don't really see the species reverting to a natural state of perceived anarchy. The league is probably just another form government.
Yanik
is on page 75 of 432
These short stories have been great, but The Turning Wheel was on another level.
A post nuclear apocalypse setting where Scientology has become the reigning religion, society is highly segregated and stratified with Asians at the top and Caucasions at the lowest end.
This is a 1954 story, only a few years after Hubbart published his Dianetics.
— Aug 26, 2025 10:28PM
A post nuclear apocalypse setting where Scientology has become the reigning religion, society is highly segregated and stratified with Asians at the top and Caucasions at the lowest end.
This is a 1954 story, only a few years after Hubbart published his Dianetics.
Yanik
is on page 57 of 432
The Golden Man: Eerie and very well constructed, longer than the other stories so far but making fantastic use of its volume.
The heteronormative major plot point is eh, but it's a 1953 story so no expectations there and otherwise quite forward thinking.
— Aug 26, 2025 12:17AM
The heteronormative major plot point is eh, but it's a 1953 story so no expectations there and otherwise quite forward thinking.
Yanik
is on page 27 of 432
Fair Game: Fun little frantic story with a surpicing, darkly humorous last sentence twist.
The Hanged Man: Claustrophobic, nerve wrecking, horrible. In a way like Fair Game, but far more grim and dystopic, as is Dick's specialty.
— Aug 23, 2025 11:30AM
The Hanged Man: Claustrophobic, nerve wrecking, horrible. In a way like Fair Game, but far more grim and dystopic, as is Dick's specialty.
