The Philip K. Dick Reader - Softcover

Dick, Philip K.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0806518561 ISBN 13: 9780806518565

Publisher: Citadel, 2001

Synopsis

Includes the stories that inspired the movies Total Recall, Screamers, Minority Report, Paycheck, and Next

“More than anyone else in the field, Mr. Dick really puts you inside people’s minds.” —The Wall Street Journal

The Philip K. Dick Reader

 

Many thousands of readers consider Philip K. Dick the greatest science fiction mind on any planet. Since his untimely death in 1982, interest in Dick’s works has continued to mount, and his reputation has been further enhanced by a growing body of critical attention. The Philip K. Dick Award is now given annually to a distinguished work of science fiction, and the Philip K. Dick Society is devoted to the study and promulgation of his works.

Dick won the prestigious Hugo Award for the best novel of 1963 for The Man in the High Castle. In the last year of his life, the film Blade Runner was made from his novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

This collection includes some of Dick’s earliest short and medium-length fiction, including We Can Remember It for You Wholesale (the story that inspired the motion picture Total Recall), Second Variety (which inspired the motion picture Screamers), Paycheck, The Minority Report, and twenty more.

About this title

Review:

His religions, psychoses, divorces, and drug use aside, Philip K. Dick changed the face of American science fiction with his mind-bending writing. There may be readers who have only heard of him as the mind behind Blade Runner (based on his novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?). But even casual PKD fans should take a look at these 24 short stories, among them, "Second Variety," from which the movie Screamers was made, and "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale," basis of the Schwarzenegger film Total Recall. Other standouts include "The Turning Wheel," "The Last of the Masters," "Tony and the Beetles," and "The Minority Report." Readers will recognize PKD's trademark themes: capitalism and the American dream run amok, a disquieting loss of ability to distinguish friends from enemies, and humans versus machines.

Since Philip K. Dick's heyday, and thanks in large part to his influence, the contemporary science fiction short story has evolved into a form more self-reflective and psychologically complex. This is a wonderful development, to be sure. But don't regard the older stories in this collection as dated. Instead, enjoy the peppery punch: PKD's stories provide plenty of plot twists and surprise endings. --Bonnie Bouman

About the Author:

More than 30 years after his untimely death at age 53, Philip K. Dick (1928 – 1982) remains one of the most celebrated authors of the last century and a looming and illuminating presence in this one. He was the winner of both the prestigious Hugo Award and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, which honor excellence in science fiction. Inducted in 2007 into the Library of America, which publishes a three-volume collection of his novels, Dick has received unprecedented recognition for his contributions to modern literature, specifically in the area of science fiction. His 45 novels and over 210 short stories have been adapted into numerous films, including the blockbusters Minority Report, Total Recall, and Blade Runner, as well as Impostor, Paycheck, Scanner Darkly, Next, and The Adjustment Bureau.

About this edition

• Publisher: Citadel
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0806518561
• ISBN 13: 9780806518565
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 410