Philip K. Dick

                       By Robbies Dog

The recent release of the Spielberg film 'Minority Report'
featuring Tom Cruise reminded me of the enjoyment these stories
had given me, and I returned with great pleasure to the work of
Philip K. Dick on whose novel the film was based.  Rereading these
stories I can see why they made such an impression on me all those
years ago with their plausible near future developments and ironic
humour.

Writing during the 1960s much of Dick's work was amphetamine
fuelled (it was the 60s, man!) but it seems to have had more of an
effect on the amount of his writing rather than the nature of it.
Typical of much SF of the era, Dick had no great literary style
and often the haste at which he worked can be apparent in his
prodigious output of over forty novels and nearly twice as many
short stories.

Unlike Heinlein or Asimov, Dick received little acclaim in his
lifetime, and indeed was often on the verge of destitution, but
since his death in 1982 several of his stories have been made into
major films.  The most successful of these is probably Ridley
Scott's 'Blade Runner', based on the novel "Do Androids Dream Of
Electric Sheep".  Other notables include; 'We Can Remember It For
You Wholesale' filmed as 'Total Recall' and 'Second Variety'
filmed as 'Screamers'.  'Impostor' is particularly worthy of
mention if only because, given his penchant for titles of such a
media unfriendly nature, the film was actually released under the
same name as the story.

As ever, not everything in a novel transcribes well into a
Hollywood blockbuster and 'Androids', in particular, is a much
more involving story than that portrayed in Ridley Scott's bleak
masterpiece.  In fact, of all the PKD novels I would personally
recommend 'Androids' to anyone, particularly if they have seen the
film as at the very least it will add an extra dimension to the
film characters and setting.

Essentially, unexpected tales in a futuristic setting, the stories
often question the meaning of reality with a characteristic
pessimistic irony. And while a charmingly optimistic view of the
future and the possible hurdles it may hold for mankind are
typical of American SF of the time, Dick's work differs from many
other writers in another crucial way.  Dick placed ordinary people
at the centre of his stories rather than the inventions themselves
and as such was more interested in the effects of scientific
advancement on the individual.  This can be seen in Dick's visions
of the future, which aren't exactly uncanny with their accuracy,
e.g. In 'Wholesale' interplanetary travel and memory implants are
standard procedures, but typewriters are still used extensively.
Ironically the lives of the common man in the future were rarely
as complicated as Dick's own personal life.  Not only was he
married five times, but also the prolonged drug use led to long
term complications.  Toward the end of his life Dick received what
he took to be religious revelations which may have been a side
effect of his drug intake or possibly a symptom of the strokes to
which he eventually succumbed.  Unsurprisingly many of these

elements of his personal life appear in other realities through
his writing

With a name that smacks of 50's pulp fiction and titles that
scream "B - movie!" it's easy to write off an author like Philip
K.  Dick who wanders in and out of fashion, but his work remains
as relevant today as it was when first penned.  As we come ever
closer to Dick's visions of the future we also come closer to
experiencing some of these technological and moral dilemmas for
ourselves.









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