I remember liking Lies, inc., but don't really remember anything about it
― silverfish, Tuesday, 15 May 2012 14:07 (1 year ago) Permalink
from the wiki:
Circumstances had forced Rachmael to abandon his original plans and to journey to Newcolonizedland via energy transfer instead. Sinister modifications to the "Telpor" technology apparently cause its victims to experience a variety of so-called "paraworlds" which are thought to actually exist, somehow, as viable alternate realities. Participants are fearful that consensus or agreement amongst themselves as to the paraworlds' descriptions could somehow cause one or the other paraworld to manifest itself ever more aggressively until eventually displacing the current reality-paradigm altogether. And Rachmael's own paraworld experience is said to be the worst one of all.
seems straightforward enough
― silverfish, Tuesday, 15 May 2012 14:09 (1 year ago) Permalink
anyone know why 'Crack in Space' has been renamed 'Cantata-140'?
― pat rice memorial barbecue (Ward Fowler), Tuesday, 15 May 2012 14:19 (1 year ago) Permalink
Has anyone seen the Bill Pullman/Traci Lords pseudo-biopic from a few years back?
― Choad of Choad Hall (kingfish), Tuesday, 15 May 2012 14:21 (1 year ago) Permalink
where's the thread on Lies, Inc/Unteleported Man? I did not understand that book. Not even a little. As in: I don't really get the basic outline of the plot, past the first ~ 100 pages.
I think even he regretted expanding the novella into a novel by having the main character undergo a really dull acid trip for about 50 pages.
Dunno, can't imagine the title change saves it from being one of his worst books. I saw a compendium of this, Vulcan's Hammer, Dr Futurity and The Man Who Japed, i.e. all his least readable novels in one handy volume! I'd hate to think anyone picked it up wanting to check him out, it would put anyone off for life.
― A++++++ would deal with again (Matt #2), Tuesday, 15 May 2012 17:31 (1 year ago) Permalink
I can't remember a single thing about Lies Inc. tbh his worst novels - Ganymede Takeover, Crack in Space, Lies Inc, Our Friends from Frolix 8, etc. - all kinda blur together
― Roger Barfing (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 15 May 2012 17:35 (1 year ago) Permalink
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Wednesday, 16 May 2012 00:01 (1 year ago) Permalink
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Thursday, 17 May 2012 00:01 (1 year ago) Permalink
that's a convincing margin.
― EZ Snappin, Thursday, 17 May 2012 00:06 (1 year ago) Permalink
I like this Ubik website : http://www.nineroses.com/pkd/ubikword.html
― A++++++ would deal with again (Matt #2), Thursday, 17 May 2012 00:08 (1 year ago) Permalink
i want to know who constituted the 'flow, my tears' bloc
― thomp, Thursday, 17 May 2012 00:37 (1 year ago) Permalink
Thought about Scanner but I'm the one who voted for Time Out of Joint
― Shakes-a-maxion (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 17 May 2012 01:13 (1 year ago) Permalink
didn't catch this in time to vote but i'd have voted for scanner
― the late great, Thursday, 17 May 2012 01:56 (1 year ago) Permalink
I actually forgot to vote.
― Fig On A Plate Cart (Alex in SF), Thursday, 17 May 2012 02:48 (1 year ago) Permalink
So did I.
― I must be old, I recognise nobody in ITV2 idents (aldo), Thursday, 17 May 2012 08:36 (1 year ago) Permalink
yeah, me too. The Divine Invasion should have 1 vote.
― silverfish, Thursday, 17 May 2012 14:24 (1 year ago) Permalink
According to ILX the best PKD are the ones I never got around to. Boldly taking the remedy by starting Ubik this morning (shitty PDF downloaded off the internet). Scanner after that.
― Hierophantiasis (Jon Lewis), Monday, 21 May 2012 16:13 (1 year ago) Permalink
about to finish re-reading Counter Clock-World - an odd one, almost reads like a bitter self-parody
― Roger Barfing (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 21 May 2012 16:19 (1 year ago) Permalink
Every PKD thread should have a link to this, imho.
― StanM, Monday, 21 May 2012 16:30 (1 year ago) Permalink
Would have voted for Flow My Tears, and would recommend the Simularca.
― jel --, Monday, 21 May 2012 19:29 (1 year ago) Permalink
lol, was just thinking on my way back home from work about voting -- flow my tears, like jel (hi there jel!)
― xyzzzz__, Monday, 21 May 2012 20:03 (1 year ago) Permalink
Yeah one of the big things I've got from this thread is that Flow My Tears is essential
― Mark Ruffalo! is gonna tell us! about empathy! (loves laboured breathing), Monday, 21 May 2012 20:58 (1 year ago) Permalink
I haven't read it in a long time but it struck me as little more than an extended Twilight Zone episode tbh
― Roger Barfing (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 21 May 2012 21:10 (1 year ago) Permalink
oh man, extended Twilight Zone episode! *pumped*
― Mad God 40/40 (Z S), Monday, 21 May 2012 21:33 (1 year ago) Permalink
Plus I'll have the first song off the first Gary Numan album going through my head the whole time I read it.
― Hierophantiasis (Jon Lewis), Monday, 21 May 2012 21:35 (1 year ago) Permalink
it's not bad I just don't find it particularly noteworthy
― Roger Barfing (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 21 May 2012 21:36 (1 year ago) Permalink
It's getting more love here than "precursor to Sandra Bullock internet pizza movie" would suggest
― Mark Ruffalo! is gonna tell us! about empathy! (loves laboured breathing), Monday, 21 May 2012 23:11 (1 year ago) Permalink
i've only read a handful of these but flow my tears was actually my least favorite of them. i'll have to try it again at some point maybe since it seems like i missed something if everyone else loves it
― ciderpress, Tuesday, 22 May 2012 13:14 (1 year ago) Permalink
Three Stigmata was my pick, but I almost voted for Martian Time Slip, and I'm surprised it didn't place higher.
― remy bean, Tuesday, 22 May 2012 13:17 (1 year ago) Permalink
ruminations on the exegesis:
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/20/philip-k-dick-sci-fi-philosopher-part-1/
― the fey monster (ledge), Tuesday, 22 May 2012 14:23 (1 year ago) Permalink
The unfinished mountain of paper, assembled posthumously into some 91 folders, was called “Exegesis.” The fragments were assembled by Dick’s friend Paul Williams and then sat in his garage in Glen Ellen, Calif., for the next several years. A beautifully edited selection of these texts, with a golden fish on the cover, was finally published at the end of 2011, weighing in at a mighty 950 pages. But this is still just a fraction of the whole.Dick writes, “My exegesis, then, is an attempt to understand my own understanding.” The book is the most extraordinary and extended act of self-interpretation, a seemingly endless thinking on the event of 2-3-74 that always seems to begin anew. 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. At times, as in the epigraph above, Dick falls into melancholic dejection and despair. But at other moments, like some latter day Simon Magus, he is possessed of a manic swelling-up of the ego to unify with the divine: “I was in the mind of God.”
Dick writes, “My exegesis, then, is an attempt to understand my own understanding.” The book is the most extraordinary and extended act of self-interpretation, a seemingly endless thinking on the event of 2-3-74 that always seems to begin anew. 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. At times, as in the epigraph above, Dick falls into melancholic dejection and despair. But at other moments, like some latter day Simon Magus, he is possessed of a manic swelling-up of the ego to unify with the divine: “I was in the mind of God.”
i meant to ask - has anyone read this? it's referenced throughout VALIS, and i'm assuming it's mentioned in some of his other later work?
― Mad God 40/40 (Z S), Tuesday, 22 May 2012 17:10 (1 year ago) Permalink
I haven't read it but an edited version was published recently. Dunno how much religious rambling I can take. The Exegesis isn't explicitly mentioned in other works but it does inform the other two books in the Valis trilogy.
― Roger Barfing (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 22 May 2012 17:20 (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