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S - Science Fiction
F - Fantasy
H - Horror
Complete Listing
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Adams, Douglas (S)
Asher, Neal (S)
Aylett, Steve (S)
Banks, Iain M (S)
Barclay, James (F)
Barker, Clive (H)
Baxter, Stephen (S)
Brin, David (S)
Bury, Stephen (S)
Card, Orson Scott (S)
Cherryh, CJ (S/F)
Clute, John (S)
Cockayne, Steve (F)
Cook, Glen (F)
Danielewski, Mark (H)
Dick, Philip K (S)
Egan, Greg (S)
Feist, Raymond (F)
Gaiman, Neil (F)
Gibson, William (S)
Goodkind, Terry (F)
Grimwood, Jon C (S)
Hamilton, Peter (S)
Jeter, K.W. (S)
Jordan, Robert (F)
Lethem, Jonathan (S)
McAuley, Paul (S)
MacLeod, Ken (S)
Martin, George RR (F)
McMullen, Sean (S)
Miéville, China (S)
Moran, Daniel K (S)
Morgan, Richard K (S)
Nagata, Linda (S)
Niven, Larry (S)
Noon, Jeff (S)
Robinson, Kim S. (S)
Rucker, Rudy (S)
Simmons, Dan (S)
Smith, Michael Marshall (S)
Stephenson, Neal (S)
Sterling, Bruce (S)
Vinge, Vernor (S)
Westerfeld, Scott (S)
Williams, Sean (S)
Williams, Tad (S/F)
Collections (S/F)
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| The Classics |
Bradbury, Ray (S/H)
Burgess, Anthony (S)
Tolkien, JRR (F) |
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| Phillip K Dick |
| Author Information |
Reviewed Books |
Other Books |
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Scanner
Darkly(B)
Divine Invasion
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? |
The World Jones Made
The Man in the High Caste
The Game-Players of Titan
Martian Time Slip
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
Now Wait for Last Year
Ubik
Galactic Pot Healer
We can Build You
Flow my Tears the Policeman Said
Valis
The Transmigration of Timothy Archer |
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 Our
Ranking A Scanner Darkly is I think the fifth
Philip K. Dick book I've read. I probably made the mistake of having Divine
Invasion as my first one of his, but I thought I was just starting to sort
of get comfortable reading his stuff. This one is a turn from what I considered
his norm. True to his usual form, if there was one word to describe this book
and its characters it would be paranoia. The book is simply chock full of it in
the true Phillip K Dick form that you'd expect. Where this book begins to differ
is with the level of paranoia and just how it is written. The level of is actually
heightened quite a bit here and along with that, mix in a probably the darkest
plot of his I've read and you wind up with a fairly grim, creepy tale. The premise
is that the main character Fred is a narc that is under cover trying to bust a
bunch of users of Substance D. This drug has a bad habit of destroying one's mind,
pretty much blowing it in two, and Fred needs to take it as part of his cover.
Little does Fred realize that he is actually narcing himself. Plotwise, the story
is very solid but what really steals the book is the description of Fred's slow
descent into a world of deep suspicions and paranoia as he is trying to keep his
job as an officer, remaining deep under cover, as the drug dealer he doesn't even
realize he is. The characters are surprisingly intimate throughout the story,
and while reading it I had the feeling that Dick based most of them on people
he knew. (which you later find out is true while reading the epilogue, which I
have to admit left me shaking in its simplicity and, well unknown accuracy of
things to come). Only Dick can portray this level of confusion in such a heart
felt a simple manner. It hits you even harder when you realize that Dick actually
lived like this. It's unbelievable to imagine trying to cope with such anxiety
that he must have (he was a firm believer that the Communists and the Catholic
Church had united to destroy him). Also, the level of drug use in the book and
just the simple descriptions of how it affects the characters and those around
them could only be told by someone using them just as heavily. This is probably
the closest thing to an autobiography that Dick wrote and is certainly worth the
read. If you're in the mood to read something truly different and are prepared
to enter bizarre territory this is the book for you. |
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 Our
RankingNot knowing any better at the time, I
picked this up as my the first Dick book to read. I beg you, if you are new to
Dick, don't make the same mistake I did. Dick is complicated enough to read to
begin with, with his unique (but incredible) style and just the fact that each
book is like an emotional roller coaster as you are dropped in the world of mistrust
and paranoia that Dick creates. Along with that, Divine Invasion is an extremely
complicated book within its own rights. Dick uses an incredible range of religious
knowledge and lore to write this tale, and it is so embeded into the story that
it makes it tough. Don't get me wrong though, this is certainly worth the read,
just read a few of his others first to get a true feel of him. This is the perfect
book to curl up with for New Years, especially if you have some doubts about the
world still being around after January 1. The premise is fairly simple. In the
beginning God created Earth. God sent down Jesus, mankind killed Jesus and God
became fairly upset about his son being killed. As punishment God foretold the
second coming and went on to ignore Earth and let it wallow in its own troubles.
Well now it is time for the second coming. Unbeknownst to God, Earth has advanced
quite a bit technologically and have actually managed to fight off Jesus' return.
This is where the book gets interesting. Basically the book is about Earth's attempt
to fight off the second coming, and God's attempt to pass judgment on mankind
and wipe it out. The book is chock full of extremely religious references twisted
by Dick's warped paranoid mind. All religions and beliefs from Catholicism to
Muslim to even the ancient Greek religions are not only referenced and quoted
here, but some of the Gods actually play roles in the struggle. Throughout all
of the macro level second coming struggle, Dick delves into the topic of salvation,
the human spirit and basically the meaning of existence. Is life meaningless?
Does mankind even deserve some kind of salvation? All of these are actually answered
by some very pitiful, hopeless and shallow characters. In typical Dick fashion,
his characters are spineless, suspicious and beyond hope, but the future of mankind
has been based on the value of these people. Even the reader finds themselves
at a loss to come up with a good reason to save these people from the second coming.
This is the most complicated Dick book I've read out of about 10 or 12. At points
I was pretty lost trying to understand what was happening. It is certainly a tough
read, and if you don't have the background in religion that Dick obviously does,
it is even harder. I still found it worth fighting through though, just for the
sake of seeing where Dick would take this and for the fact that it is so imaginative
and controversial from the religious sense. |
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 Our
Ranking Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep is
the Dick novel that Blade Runner, was based upon. The movie actually focused on
one portion (a large portion) of the book and ran with it. Readers should be warned
that this won't be the solid action adventure that Blade Runner is. Instead, you
will find an extremely well thought out desperate, paranoid character who just
happens to be in the line of replicant hunting. The book is very focused, as most
Dick books are, on the paranoia of Decker. The book is chock full of mind games
and twists that the movie decided to ignore, and I think the movie is the lesser
for it. The motivations of Decker is so much more clearer and desperate in the
book. The entire drive, and hence the title for the book, is that Decker is saving
money to buy an electric sheep for his front lawn. Since it is nearly impossible
to find live animals any more, electric animals are a status symbol and the better
they are constructed, the more realistic they look, the better. In fact the entire
society tries to go on as if the animals are actually real, denying the dark,
barren time they all live in. Decker is saving his ransom money from the replicant
hunts to try and save up for a top of the line sheep. Buried throughout the plot
line is also a very deep religious theme that the movie completely ignored. This
line is actually very bizarre, especially how it ties into the ending, but it
sort of adds to the uniqueness and paranoia of the book. All in all, this is without
a doubt more of a thinker book than the action movie. The movie vaguely hints
at some of Dick's themes, such as the possibility of Decker being a replicant
himself, but for the most part steers clear of Dick's deep driven paranoia. Anyone
that is interested in the philosophical angle of science fiction needs to read
this one. It is in my mind one of the cornerstone novels of one of the top modern
science fiction writers out there. |
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