Philip K. Dick - the novels

[D_Davis]

Our Friends From Frolix 8


Our Friends From Frolix 8. Such a strange little title. It reminds me of a Dr. Seuss book, or some Saturday morning kids' cartoon complete with loud and garishly drawn characters.

“LOOK OUT KIDS!!! Woo-hoo-hoo-hooo!!! I'm Froopy, your friend from Frolix 8! Ready to have some fun?”

It's stranger still when thought of in context to the story it titles. The title conjures images of an old-fashioned science fiction story, perhaps one a little light-hearted and playful. It definitely doesn't describe the kind of story old Phil Dick presents here: a fast-paced political thriller.

Yeah that's right, this is, for lack of a better term, a political thriller. Of course it's one filtered through Dick's elaborate and creative imagination, but a rose by any other name...

In typical phildickian fashion, the book is brimming with ideas and fascinating characters.

A partial list:

In the distant future, the Earth's political parties are defined by a set of physical traits, or mutations. There are three major parties (re: classes): the New Men, the Unusuals, and the Old Men/Regulars.

The New Men possesses vastly superior cognitive powers. Their minds are highly evolved and they are capable of incredibly complex thoughts. The New Men are at the top of the political ladder.

The Unusuals possesses telekinetic powers, namely telepathy and precognition. They work in tandem with the New Men and together these highly evolved humans have created a world thick with bureaucracy and political corruption.

The Old Men/Regulars are just that: old-school humans. These poor guys don't have any special powers or abilities and are thus relegated to menial tasks such as tire re-treading, the job of the novel's protagonist, Nick Appleton.

There is also another group, a subversive group known as the Under Men. The Under Men are Old Men revolutionaries hell-bent on overthrowing the corrupt power of the New Men and Unusuals. The Under Men distribute tracts and literature in hopes of spreading the gospel of their number-one super-delegate, Thors Provoni.

Unfortunately, Provoni has been away from the Earth for many years. He left in hopes of discovering something strong enough to combat the New Men and the Unusuals. The Under Men have begun to lose hope in their savior. However, just when the hour is darkest, a message is received from the deep regions of outer space, a message ringing with hope! Thors Provoni is returning, and with him, a friend, a friend from Frolix 8! The audacity of hope!

I love these kinds of stories. I'm not really sure what to call them, but I'm sure they have a name. This is a “count-down story.” Like the films Strange Days, or Southland Tales, or Donny Darko for example. In these stories, we know that a super-cool, uber-event is going to happen at the narrative's climax, and half the fun is anticipating the event's outcome and watching as everything unravels and gets revealed in light of this event.

In Friends, we know that Thors Provoni is returning to the Earth, and we know that he is bringing with him an alien entity capable of destroying the current regime. But how? Why? What do our new friends from Frolix 8 want in return? And what is going to happen when he finally gets here? What will happen to Nick Appleton and his arch enemy, the Unusual Willis Gram? And just who in the hell is that freak Amos Ild, a New Man with a cranium so massive he needs head stilts to keep it from toppling over?

So many questions...

So many fascinating characters...

So many outlandish situations...

And what is most incredible is the way in which Dick keeps everything tied together; he fashions all of these ideas, situations, and characters into a tightly knit, cohesive narrative that moves with a well-paced purpose and rhythm. Dick was a master of the Big Idea, but he was also a master at composing entertaining and thoughtful narratives; he rarely sacrificed one for the other.

Our Friends From Frolix 8 is top tier Dick. The way he examines modern political events through outlandish notions is absurd and poignant, and the trials and tribulations he puts his characters through are timely and thought provoking. This book is especially revealing now, in the midst of this 2008 election season. During these times that try our patience, these times that can make even the most optimistic man a grumbling a cynic, it is good to turn to PKD to see the humor and humanity in these seemingly out-of-our-control situations.

[Connavar]

Originally Posted by D_Davis

Eye in the Sky

I would bet virtual dollars to spacetime donuts that Rudy Rucker is a fan of Philip K. Dick's Eye in the Sky. While Dick's book is not quite as gonzo or packed-to-the-gills with off-the-wall humor as Rucker's fiction, it is, none-the-less, a highly entertaining, action-packed romp through a twisted wonderland of theology, paranoia, and bigotry. What's more, Dick never even attempts to explain the “science” or much of the logic behind any of it. He just lets it rip and packs his pages with one outlandish moment after another.

It all starts at the Belmont Bevatron, a simple Macguffin, a SF device to get the plot rolling. It's some kind of super-particle accelerator, deflector, proton-collider, thingamajig, that malfunctions and sends Jack Hamilton, Marsha, his wife, and a handful of other hapless victims off into a twisting world spiraling out of control. But whose world is it? Just who is in charge of this preposterous place? As the clues begin to reveal themselves, and the walls of unreality phase in an out of existence, the gang finds out that things can quickly go from bad to worse, and they must stay alert if they ever hope to return to the normal world.

Eye in the Sky is clearly an earlier Dick novel; it has more in common with something like The Cosmic Puppets than it does A Scanner Darkly or VALIS. It's what you might call a pot-boiler, probably a story Phil quickly wrote to pay some bills. Dick was known to write a novel in a matter of days, and I wouldn't be surprised to find that this is one of those. However, it's not bad, nor is it lazy. On the contrary, it is actually incredibly entertaining and competently written. It has the markings of a hastily constructed narrative, but one that benefits from this scatter shot, shoot-from-the-hip method.

I've never read a boring Dick book, but I wouldn't call many of his novels action packed; this one is though. It moves along at a breakneck pace. The world the characters find themselves in is actually a series of worlds, increasingly becoming more dangerous and strange. One world is controlled by the power of religion and superstition. In this world, people don't work for a salary, they work for the chance to pray for a certain amount of money, and once prayed for, the money falls from the sky! It's a world of real miracles. In another world the characters find themselves trapped in a demonic house that comes to life and tries to eat them - a literal domestic horror story. And yet another world finds itself victim to the whims of a woman who seems to hate everything, and with each passing thought she wishes all of existence away. Just imagine a world in which the most close minded, bigoted person around could make things vanish.

Eye in the Sky is practically a fantasy, especially when compared to the majority of Dick's fiction. However, it is not completely devoid of subtext or social commentary. As a matter of fact, it is blatantly commentating on the great SF theme of its day: the red scare. In many ways, I am thankful that communism existed as it did during the 1950s and throughout the cold war; the political ideology has given us genrehounds a plethora of great stories. Paranoia was often a driving factor behind Dick's narratives, and here he elevates it to an absurd and fantastic level.

It's always a pleasure to crack open a new Philip K. Dick novel. I really don't know how I am going to feel when there are no more new books of his for me to read - an event that is quickly approaching. There just isn't another SF author - dead, or alive - that offers the same kind of experience, or one that is even remotely close to it. Eye in the Sky is a great read; it's fun, exciting, thrilling, and darkly comic. While it may not be as mature or nuanced as his best work, it is definitely a solid B-level book, and I wholeheartedly recommend it.

Action packed PKD, thats so weird !

Usually his ideas,dialouge,character are what entertain me not his action.


I have to get this just to see how it is.

[Fried Egg]

At Waterstones right now: 3 for 2 on all PKD novels...

[Connavar]

Which waterstones ? I checked the site and see only price check whatever that is and 30 % off on some PKD books.

[Fried Egg]

Erm...I have no idea how widespread it is actually. I just saw it in my local branch (Exeter, Devon) and assumed it would be widespread. They've also got 3 for 2 on Pratchet, Brooks, Feist and Gemmel.

In my store they had all PKD's SF masterworks entries plus a few others in the offer. Mind you, 30% off works out nearly as good value...

[gully_foyle]

It seems that you can pick up any Dick and not go wrong. Fair statement? I've read a few (Do Androids...., We Can Build You, Now, Wait For Last Year, Flow My Tears ...) and have not been disappointed. Maybe I should just pick up every PKD that goes by (alas I could have made a great double entendre). Has anyone ever read a bad one?

[D_Davis]

I've read a couple of bad ones, and a couple that were just kind of meh.


The two I don't like, at all: Maze of Death and The Penultimate Truth

Merely okay: The Simulacra, Solar Lottery, Lies, Inc, and We Can Build You.

The rest have all been various shades of awesome - I've read around 30 of his novels.

[Fried Egg]

What's wrong with the "Penultimate Truth"? I've looked at that one and liked the look of it. I guess I should avoid it then?

[Connavar]

Originally Posted by gully_foyle

It seems that you can pick up any Dick and not go wrong. Fair statement? I've read a few (Do Androids...., We Can Build You, Now, Wait For Last Year, Flow My Tears ...) and have not been disappointed. Maybe I should just pick up every PKD that goes by (alas I could have made a great double entendre). Has anyone ever read a bad one?

What did you think of Now Wait For Last Year ?

My favorit so far. I have read 5 of his.

Only one that was merely decent to be a PKD was a Maze of Death.

The rest have been awesome to me.

[D_Davis]

Originally Posted by Fried Egg

What's wrong with the "Penultimate Truth"? I've looked at that one and liked the look of it. I guess I should avoid it then?

I couldn't even get past the first 75 pages. It totally failed to engage me on any level.

It and Maze of Death are the only two PKD books I've never finished.

[Connavar]

Originally Posted by D_Davis

I couldn't even get past the first 75 pages. It totally failed to engage me on any level.

It and Maze of Death are the only two PKD books I've never finished.

Im thinking about a PKD spree can you give me your opinion on some books of his im interested in reading next . I want good works of him to read next.


After reading Maze of Death as my last PKD months ago, i want something better instead of randomly getting some of his work. Since you have 30 of his books you would know whats high level,mid level (which is more than good enough for me when PKD) and low level PKD book.


The Man Who Japed
The Crack in Space
A Scanner Darkly



The first two books early PKD sounded very interesting if fantastiction had the right synopsis. Which isnt given since Clans of the Alphane Moon had the synopsis of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep ?

Fooled me for a second that there was another android and Dekker story

[HardScienceFan]

The Penultimate Truth i found to be awesome
Just to balance things.
Vintage PKD

[D_Davis]

Here is a top 10, just off the top of my head:

1. The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch - this is my favorite PKD book
2. UBIK
3. A Scanner Darkly
4. Martian Time Slip
5. Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said
6. The Divine Invasion
7. VALIS
8. Galactic Pot Healer
9. Dr. Bloodmoney
10. Time out of Joint

I don't think you can go wrong with any of these, especially the top 5.

[Connavar]

Interesting hehe i do have The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch without having read it yet. Somehow the lame title made me think it was his weaker ones.....


How about the older PKD i posted have you read it, The Man Who Japed ? I wanted to mix an very early PKD novel with his later works like these that i have already decided to get next.

The Man in The High Castle - his interesting alternate history that i have high hopes for nothing sounds cooler in SF than seeing PKD toy with alternate history.

Martian Time Slip - really cause of the time travel angle.

Dr Bloodmoney - Post Apocalyptic PKD !

[D_Davis]

The Man Who Japed is one I haven't read, but my webmate loved it and reviewed it:

http://www.genrebusters.com/print/re...anwhojaped.htm

My favorite of his early work is Time out of Joint.

I may be one of the only Dickheads who isn't in love with The Man in the High Castle. That this was his only Hugo winning novel I find very, very strange, as I wouldn't even rank it in my top 20.