High Castle is great, but yeah it feels more conventional than the best stuff from that period.
Dick is remarkable in sci-fi in that despite only writing one masterpiece novel (ASD) he probably wrote more quality novels than anyone. Most of writers of his ilk were concentrating on short stories for magazines (and then expanding the odd novella into a novel). Or they were writing a lot, lot fewer novels (and maybe trying a little harder too when they did haha). Really the only guy who produced as much amazing work in novel length was Silverberg and most of his best work was crammed in an eight year period which precipitated a burn-out. Dick basically was churning out novels for over 20 years (Time Out of Joint to Transmigration) and at least at the beginning of that period he was still producing a fair amount of short story work.
― Fig On A Plate Cart (Alex in SF), Sunday, 13 May 2012 03:43 (1 year ago) Permalink
well he took a lot of speed.
― jesus christ (strongo hulkington's ghost dad), Sunday, 13 May 2012 03:45 (1 year ago) Permalink
A Scanner Darkly? I always have considered it second tier; good, not great, and far from his masterpiece.
― EZ Snappin, Sunday, 13 May 2012 03:47 (1 year ago) Permalink
I'm guessing he wasn't the only one though!
― Fig On A Plate Cart (Alex in SF), Sunday, 13 May 2012 03:47 (1 year ago) Permalink
ASD is completely improved and strengthened by listening to Paul Giamatti's audiobook of it. I remember him doing far more character work by himself than the entire cast of the Linklater flick could.
This is the only bit I could find on YT, to which somebody added Dean Martin to:
or this scrap:
http://audioboo.fm/boos/447466-a-scanner-darkly-read-by-paul-giamatti
― Choad of Choad Hall (kingfish), Sunday, 13 May 2012 04:04 (1 year ago) Permalink
Also, whoever redesigned the covers for all those PKD trades that came out in the mid-90s needs to have their hands broken and never been allowed near a copy of Photoshop again.
― Choad of Choad Hall (kingfish), Sunday, 13 May 2012 04:05 (1 year ago) Permalink
xxp No way. I mean first of all the premise of the book (an undercover narc who ends up narcing on himself) is completely great. Features something like a dozen amazing alternately hilarious, head-shaking and sadly probably all too true conversations between the roommates. Probably his tightest plotting (not saying much admittedly) and some of his most consistent writing. And it's personal in a way that his other books aren't while not descending into total self-indulgence. And finally it has what is one of the most memorable endings of maybe any book I've read (sci-fi or not). And then just in case you weren't snuffling enough already, he caps it off with a note that is some of his best writing and which brings to mind way too many friends whose lives were similarly damaged.
― Fig On A Plate Cart (Alex in SF), Sunday, 13 May 2012 04:10 (1 year ago) Permalink
. But I'm really hoping that people can hype up some of these other 40-odd novels that are probably actually really awesome.
― Mad God 40/40 (Z S), Sunday, 13 May 2012 02:45 (1 hour ago)
I've read most of these and the ones that really stick with me are:
The SimulacraClans Of The Alphane MoonWe Can Build YouFlow My TearsA Scanner DarklyRadio Free Albemuth
I really love his deeply paranoid mid-60's classic sci-fi stuff (the first three I listed).
― sleeve, Sunday, 13 May 2012 04:12 (1 year ago) Permalink
My enjoyment of Alphane Moon greatly increased when I realized exactly how all the Clans were organized.
― Choad of Choad Hall (kingfish), Sunday, 13 May 2012 04:16 (1 year ago) Permalink
Time Out of Joint I remember really well for some reason. Maybe because they ripped off the premise for the Truman Show. Either way it's great. World Jones Made not so much. Maze of Death and Solar Lottery both have the same sort of premise IIRC, but jesus it's been forever. I remember really liking the latter and not being so sold on the former although if I recall from the POX thread MOD had a few defenders. The only one of the non-sci-fi books I really like is the "Pike" bio, The Transmigration of Timothy Archer, which is even better if you read the history of how it came about.
― Fig On A Plate Cart (Alex in SF), Sunday, 13 May 2012 04:21 (1 year ago) Permalink
My version of Clans comes with a great Malzberg essay. I'm going to re-read it now!
― Fig On A Plate Cart (Alex in SF), Sunday, 13 May 2012 04:22 (1 year ago) Permalink
you mean these covers? i think they're great!
― fit and working again, Sunday, 13 May 2012 04:37 (1 year ago) Permalink
Clans of The Alphane Moon is great!I like all the ones I've read to varying degrees--I haven't read anything I've hated. Particularly, The Cosmic Puppets (this is kind of a goofy book but it hooked me HARD when i read it and i finished in an afternoon; di suggest you do the same) and A Scanner Darkly, Time Out of Joint and Radio Free Albemouth. Valis is great and I should re-read it.
― one dis leads to another (ian), Sunday, 13 May 2012 05:28 (1 year ago) Permalink
i think the 90s pkd covers are great and much better than these--http://www.amazon.com/The-Man-High-Castle-ebook/dp/B005MZN2B2/ref=sr_1_24?ie=UTF8&qid=1336886962&sr=8-24
― one dis leads to another (ian), Sunday, 13 May 2012 05:29 (1 year ago) Permalink
Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said, 1974
Probably the first one I'll pull out when I get on with a few PKD re-reads this summmer
― xyzzzz__, Sunday, 13 May 2012 08:13 (1 year ago) Permalink
Don't know about finest, but its his fastest novel.
― xyzzzz__, Sunday, 13 May 2012 08:14 (1 year ago) Permalink
Don't feel qualified to vote in this since I've only read High Castle, Game Players, Scanner, & Androids. Castle & Scanner are both fantastic though, love the ending of Castle when the floor drops out from under the characters. Yeah I seriously need to catch up here. Ubik is on my shelves but chances of reading it in the next three days are slim.
― Touché Gödel (ledge), Sunday, 13 May 2012 08:30 (1 year ago) Permalink
Scanner is my favourite, for much the same reasons as Alex in SF offers, but Three Stigmata runs it pretty close, the most terrifying of all his books (despite the sci-fi trappings, Dick often strikes me as being more as a horror novelist, albeit one w/ a good sense of humour or, at least, an appreciation for human and cosmic absurdities.)
So many great short stories too, esp 'Faith of our Fathers' and 'Electric Ant'
― pat rice memorial barbecue (Ward Fowler), Sunday, 13 May 2012 09:36 (1 year ago) Permalink
Also Roog (ignore the title on that page, it is called Roog), one of his first and an amazing take on getting into the head of another creature.
― Touché Gödel (ledge), Sunday, 13 May 2012 09:44 (1 year ago) Permalink
I think it's either We Can Build You or Flow My Tears, although I have a bizarre love for Now Wait For Last Year (which normally goes unregarded).
― I must be old, I recognise nobody in ITV2 idents (aldo), Sunday, 13 May 2012 10:35 (1 year ago) Permalink
i have the same mid-90s edition of Ubik that was posted above, but i really like the cover for the 2011 edition of VALIS, put out by Mariner:
reminds me a bit of some of Carlos Cruz-Diez's stuff:
― Mad God 40/40 (Z S), Sunday, 13 May 2012 14:31 (1 year ago) Permalink
90s PKD covers have crossed the hump into the "so bad its good" category a la "UNDER CONSTRUCTION" gifs from geocities websites in 1995
― dayo, Sunday, 13 May 2012 14:32 (1 year ago) Permalink
― I must be old, I recognise nobody in ITV2 idents (aldo), Sunday, 13 May 2012 10:35 (5 hours ago)
oh yeah I forgot to list that one, it is excellent and iirc from that same 64-66 period that I mentioned above.
― sleeve, Sunday, 13 May 2012 16:04 (1 year ago) Permalink
Really good :1958 Time Out of Joint 1959 1961 The Man in the High Castle 1962 1962 Martian Time-Slip 1964 1963 Dr. Bloodmoney, or How We Got Along After the Bomb 1965 1964 The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch 1965 1966 Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? 1968 1966 Ubik 1969 1973 A Scanner Darkly 1977 1978 VALIS 1981 1980 The Divine Invasion 1981
Good :1953 The Cosmic Puppets 1957 1955 Eye in the Sky 1957 1962 We Can Build You 1972 1963 The Game-Players of Titan 1963 1963 The Simulacra 1964 1963 Now Wait for Last Year 1966 1964 Clans of the Alphane Moon 1964 1964 The Penultimate Truth 1964 1965 Counter-Clock World 1967 1968 Galactic Pot-Healer 1969 1968 A Maze of Death 1970 1969 Our Friends from Frolix 8 1970 1970 Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said 1974 1981 The Transmigration of Timothy Archer 1982
Pretty good :1954 Solar Lottery 1955 1954 Mary and the Giant 1987 1954 The World Jones Made 1956 1956 The Broken Bubble 1988 1957 Puttering About in a Small Land 1985 1958 In Milton Lumky Territory 1985 1959 Confessions of a Crap Artist 1975 1960 The Man Whose Teeth Were All Exactly Alike 1984 1960 Humpty Dumpty in Oakland 1986 1964 The Zap Gun 1967 1964 The Unteleported Man 1966 as Lies, Inc. (1984) 1965 The Ganymede Takeover 1967 with Ray Nelson
Actually not very good :1953 Vulcan's Hammer 1960 1953 Dr. Futurity 1960 1955 The Man Who Japed 1956 1963 The Crack in Space 1966
Really don’t remember, should re-read :1964 Deus Irae 1976 with Roger Zelazny 1976 Radio Free Albemuth 1985
Haven’t read, apparently not great though :1950 Gather Yourselves Together 1994 1952 Voices from the Street 2007
― A++++++ would deal with again (Matt #2), Sunday, 13 May 2012 16:17 (1 year ago) Permalink
Ubik, just over Man in the High Castle. I've only really read a few, the only one I didn't care for was A Scanner Darkly.
― Duane Barry, Sunday, 13 May 2012 16:36 (1 year ago) Permalink
I am halfway through VALIS and I'm not getting it. The narrator seems just as insane as the Fat persona. Being familiar with a wide variety of religious topics does not make the logic less mad.
― the acquisition and practice of music is unfavourable to the health of (abanana), Sunday, 13 May 2012 16:38 (1 year ago) Permalink
Seems like youre getting it to me!
― Mad God 40/40 (Z S), Sunday, 13 May 2012 16:52 (1 year ago) Permalink
"Roog" might be my favorite thing he ever wrote. I tend to like PKD as a short story writer more than as a novelist actually...
― cinco de extra mayo (loves laboured breathing), Sunday, 13 May 2012 20:49 (1 year ago) Permalink
Galactic Pot Healer, Clans of the Alphane Moon and Transmigration of Timothy Archer will need more votes.
OTOH it's hard to fuck with Three Stigmata/Flow My Tears/High Castle. Should be a ballot-style poll!
― etc, Monday, 14 May 2012 08:52 (1 year ago) Permalink
Three Stigmata/Flow My Tears/High Castle are great, but I find everything else by PKD uneven or insane (in a sad way). voting Flow My Tears.
― (REAL NAME) (m coleman), Monday, 14 May 2012 09:19 (1 year ago) Permalink
voted VALIS over Transmigration; the latter is super moving, a god-shaped hole, a keen understanding of loss & longing for redemption in the face of doubt
but VALIS is so batshit exciting; I just want it all to be real
― Euler, Monday, 14 May 2012 13:29 (1 year ago) Permalink
read Galactic Pot Healer on my honeymoon btw, that book defines "lol drugs" to me though; still would vote it over High Castle which was the only one of his books (& I've read just about all of them) that I disliked, mostly because of the ending.
― Euler, Monday, 14 May 2012 13:31 (1 year ago) Permalink
He never could end a book well, could he?
― A++++++ would deal with again (Matt #2), Monday, 14 May 2012 13:32 (1 year ago) Permalink
I think the ending of Timothy Archer is pretty good; well, at least it works for the subject's open-endedness
― Euler, Monday, 14 May 2012 13:34 (1 year ago) Permalink
I need to read High Castle again; it was my first PKD and was exactly not what I was expecting--having heard it was the original alternate-history novel--but in retrospect I have a lot of respect for the Zen vibe, the meta fascinations, the use of I Ching as not only a plot device but also as a plotting agent...I remember reading that PKD wanted the book to be similar in tone to a lot of post-Hiroshima Japanese novels.
Anyways, I voted VALIS for reasons listed above (well-written, batshit exciting) though, Z S you might want to give The Penultimate Truth which struck me as being more coherent than the typical 60s paranoia speed-rush PKD novel...
― cinco de extra mayo (loves laboured breathing), Monday, 14 May 2012 13:44 (1 year ago) Permalink
He never could end a book well, could he? --A++++++ would deal with again (Matt #2)
Uh again Scanner?
― Fig On A Plate Cart (Alex in SF), Monday, 14 May 2012 14:03 (1 year ago) Permalink
OK, Scanner, Timothy Archer, Valis all have good endings. Ubik, Time Out Of Joint and most of the others, not so good. Although I don't read the guy for concise plotting, deep characterisation or flowing prose so none of it is really a problem.
― A++++++ would deal with again (Matt #2), Monday, 14 May 2012 14:11 (1 year ago) Permalink
What's wrong with the High Castle ending?
― Touché Gödel (ledge), Monday, 14 May 2012 14:13 (1 year ago) Permalink
Actually one of my bugbears is the seemingly consesus agreement in the non-genre press that he was a "terrible" writer, I guess because he's the SF writer literary types end up reading. Next to Asimov or whoever his prose looks like fucking Tolstoy.
― A++++++ would deal with again (Matt #2), Monday, 14 May 2012 14:14 (1 year ago) Permalink
High Castle ending just seems like a bit of a damp squib, like he couldn't think of how to end it properly. Ubik is the same.
i love the ending of ubik, totally shifts the reality gears once again, but yeah, nothing matches the ending of scanner for sheer heartbreaking sadness and terror
― pat rice memorial barbecue (Ward Fowler), Monday, 14 May 2012 14:16 (1 year ago) Permalink
I love the HC ending, it's like "and it was all a dream!" except it's the characters in the dream, not the dreamer, who have the realisation.
― Touché Gödel (ledge), Monday, 14 May 2012 14:17 (1 year ago) Permalink
xpostif anything, it's the opening chapter of ubik that's a bit clunky - lots of fairly raw exposition + comedy germanic names oh-oh
― pat rice memorial barbecue (Ward Fowler), Monday, 14 May 2012 14:17 (1 year ago) Permalink
I'm gonna vote for The Divine Invasion, I'm not sure it's his best, but there is some absolutely amazing stuff in that book, and I feel like it should get at least one vote.
― silverfish, Monday, 14 May 2012 14:45 (1 year ago) Permalink
The Divine Invasion also has a nice twist on the "it's all a dream" thing, i.e. thinking you're in a dream when you really aren't (maybe)
― silverfish, Monday, 14 May 2012 14:48 (1 year ago) Permalink
anyway, looking at the poll options, I can't believe I've read all but three of these
― silverfish, Monday, 14 May 2012 14:55 (1 year ago) Permalink
matt, your list and mine are nearly the same w/ the exception of bloodmoney
― remy bean, Monday, 14 May 2012 14:57 (1 year ago) Permalink
i can't remember which of these i've read and which i haven't anymore! must revisit.
― rayuela, Monday, 14 May 2012 15:46 (1 year ago) Permalink
idly re-reading Now Wait For Last Year over the last few days. it's kinda clunky and gross and the concept of time flowing backwards doesn't really make any sense but it is still oddly compelling. the black power stuff is something I don't think he ever really dug into elsewhere.
― Roger Barfing (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 14 May 2012 17:13 (1 year ago) Permalink
surprised at lack of support for Dr. Bloodmoney - I think that was one of his first novels where he really nailed the multiple-narrator thing. the half-absorbed telepathic twin is really the core of the book's appeal to me.
― Roger Barfing (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 14 May 2012 17:14 (1 year ago) Permalink
yeah, i doubt that it would be much fun to slog through all 950 pages of it, but i assume that it would be neat to read it in more of a scattershot manner.
Often dull, repetitive and given to bouts of massive paranoia, “Exegesis” also possesses many passages of genuine brilliance and is marked by an utter and utterly disarming sincerity.
like the bible!
― Mad God 40/40 (Z S), Tuesday, 22 May 2012 17:26 (1 year ago) Permalink
exactly
― Roger Barfing (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 22 May 2012 17:38 (1 year ago) Permalink
Exegesis is under $10 for the Kindle version. Pretty tempting.
― EZ Snappin, Tuesday, 22 May 2012 19:11 (1 year ago) Permalink
I have been tempted to get a Kindle solely for these kinds of situations. It would be nice for William Blake too.
― There are many tribes in the Juggalo nation (Viceroy), Tuesday, 22 May 2012 19:55 (1 year ago) Permalink
I would think the notes and highlighting and bookmarks would be quite helpful for stuff like this.
― EZ Snappin, Tuesday, 22 May 2012 19:56 (1 year ago) Permalink
I would like to read the Exegesis but I am scared it may be a word virus that would make me mentally ill
― I am using your worlds, Tuesday, 22 May 2012 23:58 (1 year ago) Permalink
exegesis next to toilet since december, no complaints.
― one dis leads to another (ian), Wednesday, 23 May 2012 00:00 (1 year ago) Permalink
shoot, mama! how'd i miss this poll. divine invasion all the way for me.
― iglu ferrignu, Wednesday, 23 May 2012 09:04 (1 year ago) Permalink
i surprise myself with how little i want to read the exegesis /:
― thomp, Wednesday, 23 May 2012 09:16 (1 year ago) Permalink
I'm surprised how well that backwards emoticon works!
― thillrer (loves laboured breathing), Wednesday, 23 May 2012 13:56 (1 year ago) Permalink
14 PKD e-books for $2 each, including the Exegesis.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000677541
― obamana (abanana), Sunday, 7 October 2012 13:15 (7 months ago) Permalink
thanks for that. just bought the exegesis
― silverfish, Monday, 8 October 2012 04:31 (7 months ago) Permalink
oh shit
― Fiendish Doctor Wu (kingfish), Monday, 8 October 2012 04:58 (7 months ago) Permalink
yeah, bought the exegesis. I wonder if my kindle can handle it.
― Fiendish Doctor Wu (kingfish), Monday, 8 October 2012 05:02 (7 months ago) Permalink
just finished Flow my Tears last night. whoever said upthread that it was the fastest read was right. but man oh man, does it have a weak ending. i'm not sure if it's thread or another where PKD's ending style is discussed, but Flow my Tears seems to be a prime culprit..
― your holiness, we have an official energy drink (Z S), Monday, 1 April 2013 23:41 (1 month ago) Permalink