| Any Philip K Dick fans here?
Posted: 11/1/2009 2:05:06 PM | | Hi, recently joined and I wondered if there were any Phil fans about, and what you think about the man's work? Ive been into him for nearly 20 years and now have all of his SF works,though there are several of the mainstream novels I have yet to obtain. Id find it impossible to name a favourite. Obviously I love his famous masterworks like Palmer Eldritch,Valis,High Castle etc, but I have a real soft spot for Clans of the Alphane Moon and Now Wait for Last Year. | |
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| Any Philip K Dick fans here?
Posted: 11/1/2009 6:39:15 PM | | I've only read Electric Sheep. Now you've got me curious about the other stuff. Which one would you start with? | |
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| Any Philip K Dick fans here?
Posted: 11/2/2009 12:36:39 AM | I only discovered PKD earlier this year, when i read VALIS. Probably not the best one to start off with, it is litterally the most insane book i have ever read. Have also read
Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Now Wait For Last Year.
It is hard to pick a favourite out of Three Stigmata and Androids, as both are brilliant. Wasnt nearly impressed by Now Wait For Last Year. I loved the movie Scanner Darkly, so will be buying that book online along with some Joe Haldeman and Stephen Baxter, who are good sci fi authors aswell. | |
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| Any Philip K Dick fans here?
Posted: 11/2/2009 4:52:38 AM | | Hi,when Ive wanted too introduce friends to his work, I generally lend them 'Time out of Joint' from 1959, it has his metaphysical streak in full gear,yet is written in a straigtforward style, with 'regular guy' type characters, its easily obtainable too | |
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| Any Philip K Dick fans here?
Posted: 11/2/2009 4:56:49 AM | | I agree, VALIS isnt maybe the best place to start. I know fans who cant get into that book, and I know of people who rate that book very highly and wont read the others. Interesting, isnt it, that a book so autobiographical in c0ntent should be so crazy? Ive never read any Baxter, but Haldeman's 'Forever War' is a very old favourite. Exciting and haunting. | |
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| Any Philip K Dick fans here?
Posted: 11/3/2009 6:17:19 AM | It can't be crazier than Frank Herbert's last novels about the Worm God.
Thanks for the rec, I'll check it out. | |
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| Any Philip K Dick fans here?
Posted: 11/3/2009 7:40:43 AM | I havent read 'Forever War' but heard that is one of the best sf books of all time, which is why i really want to read it. I would definetely reccommend Baxter's Xeelee or Manifold series, if you are interested in more 'hard science' and the philisofical (i know that word is spelt terribly  ) issues of human evolution, the origins of the universe and whether we are alone in the universe, which is in contrast to PKD works which seem to be more about perceptions of reality, drugs and the emotional states of the characters involved.
I will definetely be reading VALIS again in the near future to try and wrap my head around that story more completely. Have you read 'Eye in the Sky'? I havent, but reading the back of it, it seems very similar to VALIS, and what apparently happened to PKD ie A beam of light shot into a mans head giving him knowlege/making him insane etc, except he wrote it in the 50's. Seems kind of spooky, if that similarity is there. | |
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| Any Philip K Dick fans here?
Posted: 11/4/2009 7:46:42 AM | Yes, Forever War is magnificent. I read that when I was about 14 and it showed me what was possible with the genre, meaty issues but wrapped up in a captivating narrative.You're about the tenth person to rec Baxters stuff so I must check him out. Ive never been cofined to either 'hard' SF or 'soft' SF ,I enjoy either, if they're well written, though British sf tends to be soft.
'Eye' is one of number of books carrying on throughout****s career in which a group of characters are trapped in a false reality and have to pool their perceptions to make sense of whats going on. The same theme occurs in Ubik, Maze of Death, and VALIS. Some of**** childhood experieces seemed to point him toward the view that everyday reality is at least partly illusory. You may be aware that VALIS is inspired by a series of visions(or pshychotic hallucinations!)****experienced from 1974 until his death.I think you might enjoy checking out 'Divine Invasions' which is a biog of****by Lawrence Sutin, its a very good read and I promise VALIS will make a lot more sense, though it may frighten you even more! | |
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| Any Philip K Dick fans here?
Posted: 11/7/2009 9:22:58 PM | I still remember that A Scanner Darkly made me cry for days.
PKD is amazing for his ability to start you out with a character you think may just be able to cope with his life, and then twist that character's reality out from under his feet far, far, far beyond what you thought was possible ... | |
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| Any Philip K Dick fans here?
Posted: 11/8/2009 5:10:23 AM | | I've only read Confessions of a Cr ap Artist. It had a nice old time sci-fi feel to it, like early Asimov. | |
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| Any Philip K Dick fans here?
Posted: 11/8/2009 8:21:10 AM | | 'Scanner' is deeply moving, and again very autobiographical. PKD found the writing of it exhausting and harrowing.I think this is a wonderful quality of PKD- his characters are mostly doing an everyday job in the worlds he creates, and he provides lots of small details to make thier lives and the world they in very vivid. Lots of the characters are handy men, and many are tyre re-groovers (as is Isidore in 'Crap Artist'), to me this makes it easier to relate to them, than if they were, say, star-ship captains. He was a very empathic and compassionate man,and he can make us care about the characters as he does, even very flawed and even unpleasant characters. I only read 'Crap Artist' last year and I enjoyed it very much, but I cant really compare it to early Asimov, as I've never read any! One of a number of serious gaps in my SF reading, as I said Im probably more of the soft SF persausion than hard SF. Though Ive never avoided Asimov, its just Ive been so busy with PKD and various other favourites. | |
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| Any Philip K Dick fans here?
Posted: 11/16/2009 1:12:02 AM | thanks for the reccomendation. I will look into it once i have read more of his stuff. Just did some online shopping the other day and bought A Scanner Darkly and Martian Time-Slip as well as Joe Haldeman's Forever War 'triliogy'. Cant wait till they get here  | |
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| Any Philip K Dick fans here?
Posted: 11/16/2009 10:14:06 AM | | I love Philip K.**** He's among my absolute favorite authors. I have a lot of his books, though haven't gotten around to reading all of them. I've so far read: The Man in the High Castle, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Ubik, Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, The Penultimate Truth, and a number of his short stories. I've got six of his other books waiting to be read when I have the time. Science fiction is to me the greatest genre, and he is one of the greatest of its authors. | |
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| Any Philip K Dick fans here?
Posted: 11/25/2009 7:05:59 AM | Here's my PKD required reading list:
A Scanner Darkly
Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said
Ubik
If you want to try to tackle VALIS I recommend reading this Robert Crumb comic first for some background on PKD's big delusion:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/10863883/Robert-Crumb-The-Religious-Experience-of-Philip-K-Dick | |
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| Any Philip K Dick fans here?
Posted: 11/25/2009 9:52:49 AM | | I have to admit, never read any of his books or short stories, but have seen most of his movie adaptations. | |
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