OFF: Philip Dick

[Doug Pearson]

On Thu, 30 Jun 2005 05:31:40 -0400, Drill <drill.0010.1011.1100 at GMAIL.COM>
wrote:

>Second Variety- wow. Then I read a "vol. 5 (Eye of the Sibyl?)" short
>story book, then Radio Free Albemuth, and a biography of him, then
>Counterclock world, all in what 3 months. What next? PKD has my vote
>for any pantheon now. Comes up everywhere too, and I am receiving
>signals from the Valis satellite nightly. About that time now actually
>it's 2:30AM in california.

Yeah, I'm a big fan of PKD, and his drug-addled dystopian sci-fi mind-
blowers strike me as something that Hawkwind always should've been
thematically closer to (although they've always been good at channelling
the JG Ballard vibe, especially with Bob up front).

I would consider his *absolutely essential* books to be:
Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
Man In The High Castle
A Scanner Darkly
Ubik
Flow My Tears the Policeman Said

Among his earlier works, Eye In The Sky and Time Out Of Joint are two of
my favorites.  But I've enjoyed everything I've read by him, even though
(technically) he's not a "great writer" (similar to the way that,
technically, only a very few members of Hawkwind have been "great
musicians").

'We Can Remember It For You Wholesale' is the name of the short story
that 'Total Recall' was based on.  I actually haven't read any of his
short stories, but most of the people I know who have recommend his novels
more highly.

I am definitely looking forward to the upcoming 'Scanner Darkly' movie
(which has a great premise: the lead character is an undercover narc who
is assigned to track the drug dealer who is his cover identity, i.e.
himself - drug-induced schizophrenia and other sorts of hilarity ensue),
although I could imagine it being butchered pretty badly.

    -Doug
     jasret at mindspring.com