Philip K. Dick fans...help!

[Laura Stamps]

I write urban fantasy novels, and it is my favorite genre to read. However, my husband likes to read SF as well as fantasy and mysteries. I always buy him books for our anniversary, his birthday, Yule, etc., which he much appreciates, and I try to find series or authors that he might enjoy but has never read before.

We have watched several movies that have been made from Philip K. Dick's books, and enjoyed them, so I thought it would be fun to try one of those novels. I was shocked when I went to the bookstore today, and there were many more novels and short story collections by Dick than I had thought. I ended up buying Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said, because the blurb on the back looked good.

Here's my question. If he likes Dick's writing I will buy him more. What are some of your favorite titles by Dick and why? Thanks! I have never read SF before, so I am totally lost in this genre. I really appreciate your help with this!

 

[Tillane]

Hi Laura,

Well, I'd always recommend Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep - very different to the Blade Runner film, but no less fascinating. I'd also suggest The Man In The High Castle, an excellent alternate history novel; plus The Three Stigmata Of Palmer Eldritch and A Scanner Darkly, two of Dick's best forays into drug culture, paranoia and their effects on both individuals and society as a whole.

Hope that helps!

Tillane

 

[Laura Stamps]

Thanks! Very helpful.

When I was there I also jotted down the titles of two others that had good blurbs...Valis and The Simulacra.

Have you read those as well?

 

[Connavar]

I have read Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep ?

Its great, one of my fav SF stories.

Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said i have read a little of so far and its interesting.

 

[Tillane]

I read Valis a while back, but wasn't too impressed by it to be honest. To a large degree, the novel is about Dick coming to terms with his own uncertainty about God (that's how I read it, anyway); it's also the first part of an unfinished trilogy (with The Divine Invasion and The Owl In Daylight); not one I'd recommend to someone new to Dick's writing (that's just my opinion, of course). Haven't read The Simulacra, though I have been told that it's good.

 

[HardScienceFan]

The Simulacra is great,IMO
2nd Man/High C. ,
Man who japed,anyone???
Mind yoU, I am biased coz of the great Emsh cover

 

[Dave]

I'd always recommend The Man in the High Castle. It is worthy of it's status.

I've also read The Simulacra = okay, a recurring theme with PKD along with alternate universes, transcendental experiences and A bomb shelters.

I've also read Valis, The Three Stigmata Of Palmer Eldritch, Ubik and many others I've now forgotten. However, mainly I've read hundreds of short stories by him collected in anthologies that I found in my local library. I suggest his best work is in those (most of the Hollywood films come from those short stories.) That is where I first read The Days of Perky Pat and We Can Remember It for You Wholesale.

 

[J-Sun]

There are several threads around which should help, such as the novels thread.

I pretty much agree with Tillane, though I haven't read A Scanner Darkly and would add Ubik and Martian Time-slip.

I also agree with Dave insofar as I'd recommend the Collected Stories (which can be had in five volumes) or at least some representative collection.

-- Oh yeah - and there are the Library of America omnibus editions, where the first one agrees with Tillane and me, too :

Four Novels of the 1960s
The Man in the High Castle
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Ubik

Five Novels of the 1960s and 70s
Martian Time Slip
Dr. Bloodmoney
Now Wait for Last Year
Flow My Tears the Policeman Said
A Scanner Darkly

VALIS and Later Novels
A Maze of Death
VALIS
The Divine Invasion
The Transmigration of Timothy Archer

 

[Fried Egg]

My favourite PKD novel so far was "A Scanner Darkly", perhaps because it had a perfect balance of humour, story and profoundity.

"Ubik" is also a great book that again demonstrates a good balance of the above and is also quite mind bending.

I've read the "Simulacra" and I wouldn't recommend that as a starting place for his work. It was good not far from his best.

 

[reiver33]

I'd go with 'A Scanner Darkly', and I enjoyed 'Flow My Tears...'. I've just finished 'Simulacra' again and started 'Dr Bloodmoney', having got a taste for him again.

 

[AE35Unit]

Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said i have read a little of so far and its interesting.

I'm halfway thru that one Con and its really good! This year has been a good year for me book reading wise! Flow my Tears is the first PKD book that i've really enjoyed!

 

[gully_foyle]

All of the above, but I would second Ubik. I really enjoyed that one.

 

[sielah]

I personally think 'A Scanner Darkly' is a frickin' masterpiece - one of the best sci-fi novels I've ever read.

I also loved 'Ubik', 'Martian Time Slip', 'Now Wait For Last Year' and 'The Game Players of Titan'. I didn't enjoy 'The Man In The High Castle' that much - it just didn't develop the way I expected it to.

'Valis' is a strange one. There isn't really a proper novel in it. I'd leave it until you've read everything else on the list

 

[Diggler]

"Eye in the Sky" (great mixture of SF, alternate timelines and horror), "The World Jones Made", "Solar Lottery", "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" and "Game Players of Titan".

I agree with others on ones like "VALIS" and "The Man In The High Castle". They are great books, but can be extremely confusing. VALIS was an exercise on utter confusion for me.

I also highly recommend his short story collections. There is some real gold to be had with them.

 

[ElectricOwl]

"Eye in the Sky" (great mixture of SF, alternate timelines and horror), "The World Jones Made", "Solar Lottery", "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" and "Game Players of Titan".

I agree with others on ones like "VALIS" and "The Man In The High Castle". They are great books, but can be extremely confusing. VALIS was an exercise on utter confusion for me.

I also highly recommend his short story collections. There is some real gold to be had with them.

I always considered Eye in the Sky to be one of the lesser PKDs. Certainly not something I would recommend as a first read. It's a good read, but really basic, linear, and unlike any other Dick novel I can think of.

I do agree that the short stories can be amazing. I probably read through the short story collection more than I do my favorite books.

 

[Diggler]

I always considered Eye in the Sky to be one of the lesser PKDs. Certainly not something I would recommend as a first read. It's a good read, but really basic, linear, and unlike any other Dick novel I can think of.

I do agree that the short stories can be amazing. I probably read through the short story collection more than I do my favorite books.

It definitely is quite linear (Eye In The Sky). Most of the characters also came across as quite stereotypical as well. I just enjoyed the different scenario's within the story and felt the horror aspects to be genuinely scary.

I have noticed one thing with Dick, his leading males tend to be brooding manly, even mildly misogynistic. I've found that most of his earlier books that I have read seem to have the same type of male in the lead. Maybe it was just a part of the era that he was writing in?