I love Philip K. Dick

Ken

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... read a short story of his years back. Was about a robot locked in a room. Scientists were trying out experiments, I believe. At the end the robot escapes. Good read. Anybody know the title? Would like to reread it.
 
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juniper

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So, is this still the "Scanner Darkly" bookclub thread? Are we starting the discussion?
 

Diana Hignutt

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So, is this still the "Scanner Darkly" bookclub thread? Are we starting the discussion?

It is. We can. I'm not quite finished...but starting is fine w/ me. However, today is gonna be rather busy here for me at work (not so minor a crisis), I'll do my best, but probably won't be ready until Monday...
 

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Philip K.Dick is also one of my favourite SF writers. 'A Scanner Darkly' is perhaps his darkest and emotive work, although the SF element is minimal.

I haven't read all of his novels, I've read about a dozen, but 'Martian Time-Slip' and 'The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch' are my personal favourites, I just like the sinister elements and wild plot turns of these two books in particular.
 

Diana Hignutt

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Ok, I think I am going to start a new, separate thread for the A Scanner Darkly book discussion, so as to avoid confusion. It will appear on Monday...
 

HarryHoskins

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Ok, I think I am going to start a new, separate thread for the A Scanner Darkly book discussion, so as to avoid confusion. It will appear on Monday...

Good stuff, I just re-read the book so as to be more useful -- it twisted my melon so I'll be glad to chat it out. Am considering re-watching the film, but I'm not sure a noggin such as mine could take that amount of Dick-Fuck in such a short period of time.

A linky in this thread to the new one would be lovely -- you know, so those as brain fried as me can find the New Path easily. :)
 

K-Fred

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Philip K. Dick

I've been reading a lot of Philip K. Dick this year. I'd never seen the movie Blade Runner, but I'd read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? in high school, and I wanted to read it again before I allowed myself to view the movie, so I did. Another book of his I've read this year was Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said, and some of that was just haunting. I love the way he pulls the reader into a reality that he then causes them to question. Right now I'm reading Martian Time-Slip, which is a novel he wrote years before the two aforementioned ones. It's from earlier in his career, and it shows because it's more flawed in spots, but so far it's looking like it's going to be my favorite read of them all. It's flawed but the story is one that really draws me in. I've been known to question my own sanity and his descriptions of what mental illness is like for the sufferers is really, really interesting to me.

Several movies have been inspired by Philip K. Dick stories and he's definitely had a huge impact on the SFF genre as a whole. I never thought I'd be much for Sci-Fi but I just love this man's writing. His plain narrative style is surprisingly effective and I just enjoy every aspect of his writing. In the posthumously added preface to the version of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? I read, he was called a "writer's writer", mainly because he glosses gracefully over concepts in mere paragraphs what another writer might base an entire story off of. I wholeheartedly agree with this statement and I'll add that although his earlier works are more flawed, a writer definitely has a lot to learn in being able to critically point out the works' flaws while still enjoying the stories because they're great. He is posthumously considered not only a novelist but also a philosopher. It's eerily unsurprising to me that he died poor. He was nominated for Hugo Awards, but he never made much money.

Any PKD fans out there?

Also, I totally have a goal in life to finish his bibliography of 44 novels and 100+ short stories before I die.

EDIT: now that this is in the right place... someone discuss his stuff with me!!~!
 
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Have just finished reading Man In The High Castle. Loved how he subtly showed the influences of the occupiers propaganda on the American characters, as well as an 'alternate' reality which was as different to ours as the first.
 
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kevinwaynewilliams

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Many of PKD's less famous novels are underappreciated. The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch should be high on your priority list, as should Ubik and Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said. I've always considered Man in the High Castle to be one of his worst novels, despite its relatively high popularity. On the other hand, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? would be on my list of the top ten novels of all time.
 

blacbird

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Many of PKD's less famous novels are underappreciated. The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch should be high on your priority list, as should Ubik and Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said. I've always considered Man in the High Castle to be one of his worst novels, despite its relatively high popularity. On the other hand, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? would be on my list of the top ten novels of all time.

I'm a big fan of PKD, and like you, I don't regard High Castle as one of his high points. That so many others do mystifies me.

Dick also wrote ten or so non-SF novels, only one of which (Confessions of a Crap Artist) was published during his lifetime. Most of the rest have seen publication in small presses posthumously, although I've read that one manuscript appears to have been lost. But a couple of these are pretty good, notably The Man Whose Teeth Were All Exactly Alike.

caw
 

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Finished Martian Time-Slip last week, reading The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch at present. Loved DOADOES? and loved Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said even more. I read his short story "The Days of Perky Pat" before I started Stigmata because it's the short story that became the novel. The novel seems like a real mind-bender so far.
 
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Rags99

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Philip K. Dick is one of the reasons I discovered reading. I had very little interest in reading at all until I came across one of his short stories.

"Second Variety" I read in university and it stuck with me. They made a movie based on the book called "screamers", it was ok. The story is quick and easy to read, but packs a punch.
 

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Just finished Time Out Of Joint. It was great, but I think my favourite is Flow my tears.
 

DarthLolita

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I've had a collection of his works for a few years now but only just started reading through them. I wasn't too taken with The Man in the High Castle, but I am absolutely loving Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and Ubik. I'm kind of kicking myself for not giving him a chance earlier on--it's just so good.