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In Reply to: RE: 'read the novel....have yet to watch the video... posted by user510 on January 02, 2016 at 12:56:53
delves farther into his brilliantly crazed mind than I've ever been able to attempt.
I've given up numerous times at no more than 50 pages each time.
Your summation of him as an idea man is right on; his books as a whole
can be a let down though often peppered with brilliance. Some of the SF
books were written simply for the meager income they generated.
His circumstances of a chaotic life combined with WAY too many drugs seemed to
unfocus the satisfactory completion of what could have been quite a few truly classic
works, leaving many in disarray. The few that really worked seem to have done so almost
by chance.
His strongest, most consistent works are his short stories.
His posthumous non SF novels are pretty interesting though also lacking
in the magic that makes for a great novel.
Film makers can pick at his great mind for decades and continue
to get some worthy results for us viewers.
"Once this was all Black Plasma and Imagination"-Michael McClure
Follow Ups:
....but having read that book, which I found to be heavy reading filled with his "gnostic" visions. I felt no compelling urge to follow this trend with his further gnostic paranoid rants. And I don't blame anyone who prefers not to venture there. It must have been a time of bleak finances for him. It is also said that he was experiencing some wild hallucinations during this period which were the motivation for the novels written. One wonders if all those drugs hadn't caught up with him. Loss of sanity? Delusions, not hallucinations? LSD? Over the top.....yes. Quite.
It is interesting that after this incredibly introspective/paranoid period, he produced "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep". Conventional in structure and brilliant in its vision.
I enjoyed UBIK quite a lot. Here is another novel with ideas that have influenced other writers and film makers. Ideas about life and death and what lies between and or after.
I may return (or not) to the 'gnostic' books of his some day, but in the mean time I have a lot of catching up to do with other Sci-Fi authors.
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch. Somewhat misleading title. Not religious as the title might imply. And an interesting story set on Mars.
I've also found it interesting to discover how many sci-fi movies are based on something Dick wrote. Second Variety. Imposter. We Can Remember it for you Wholesale. Minority Report. Blade Runner. Paycheck.
A Scanner Darkley. (The movie plays out like a 'stoner story'. I think Dick's book shows more substance that what Hollywood did with it.
An earlier short story I liked; The Variable Man. Nice concept here. Good narrative style. There should be a movie, but isn't.
One posthumous novel I read: Humpty Dumpty in Oakland. General fiction. A well conceived, well narrated novel. Not particularly memorable, but solid.
-Steve
Evidently P.K.Dick's fans are sometimes referred to as "Dickheads".
I'd guess this might take some getting used to for the uninitiated.
-Steve
I adjusted to being a Dickhead decades ago!
"Once this was all Black Plasma and Imagination" -Michael McClure
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