Author: Michael Fisher

INTERVIEW: John Alan Simon, director “Radio Free Albemuth”

Posted on by Michael Fisher

From blogtalkradio:

Phillip K. Dick fans will love hearing about how director John Alan Simon transformed PKD’s vision into his movie by the same name as his novel. Alanis Morisette even stars! Find out more about this visionary director and what he has in store for the future. Learn more about this project at http://independentstreak.ning.com/profiles/blogs/sci-fi-spotlight-radio-free-albemuth.


Listen to internet radio with indiestreak on Blog Talk Radio



If the blogtalkradio.com player doesn’t work, you can go to http://www.blogtalkradio.com/indiestreak/2012/02/12/interview-john-alan-simon-director-radio-free-albemuth to hear the interview.

VALBS Is Here!

Posted on by Michael Fisher

For those of you not familiar with VALBS (Vast Active Living Bibliographic System), the site is a bibliography of Secondary Texts on Philip K. Dick. It contains references to essays, books, interviews, dissertations and even fanzines about PKD. For scholars, students and others researching Philip K. Dick, this is an invaluable resource to identify sources, perform research or even have your own PKD related work listed. David Gill at totaldickhead interviewed Umberto Rossi in 2009 if you are interested in a much more information about VALBS.

Just over a month ago Umberto Rossi, the current curator (as I like to think of him) of VALBS, approached me to see if he could move the site over to philipdick.com to provide a permanent location for the site because he was having hosting issues. The files provided were converted into the pages of the site and combed over to fix any errors found in the conversion. And there were many! Finally we are at the point where we are confident that most of the issues with the conversion have been fixed and have made the site live as the new permanent home for VALBS. There will be a transition period in which both locations will be available but I hope that it will be short and most of the traffic will come to this site and not the older version.

As the first page of the VALBS site states:

This is an interactive bibliography. Corrections and additions are welcome. If you wish to inform us about anything you have published concerning the works of Philip K. Dick, please send a message to teacher[at]fastwebnet[dot]it

So if you see an issue feel free to email and it will be corrected. The link to the VALBS is in the More Philip K. Dick Resources box at the top right of the page.

I’m very happy and proud to bring this resource to philipdick.com!

New Contest Rules: Win An Exegesis :: BookPulse iPad Application

Posted on by Michael Fisher

Exegesis :: BookPulseAnnouncing new contest rules for the contest in which the winner will receive a coupon code for a free Exegesis :: BookPulse for their iPad. For more information about the application see this post, visit the Facebook site, or the iTunes Store Preview.

To enter submit a comment on this post that has the name of the Philip K. Dick character you feel most associated with, most describes you or that attracts you the most, etc.. Include the reason why in the comment. The deadline for entry is next Sunday, February 12th. The best, most interesting and my favorite will be determined to be the winner. Please email philipkdickfans[at]gmail[dot]com if you have any questions or clarifications.

Lord Running Clams’s PKDweb Lives (Again)!

Posted on by Michael Fisher

PKDweb 2003I have been waiting to get my hands on the newer version of Dave Hyde’s PKDweb site for a little while now before I put up a version of that site within a site essentially (or his own site if he wanted it that way). The version that was on the on philipdick.com was from 1999 which I never realized until Dave himself told me. And then he said he had a revision from 2003 that was updated. I pestered him for it and patiently waited and worked out a way for Dave to send it to me. I had the site in my hands just over a week ago and I have been using that time to upload test and make some fixes to it. As a proof of concept I put the old one up on the site first and configured the site to host this type of site within a site. Then I archived the old 1999 one here: http://1999pkdweb.philipdick.com and put the new code in place on the server the other night at /pkdweb/

Immediately, I realized that we had an issue that Dave developed the site on a PC which is case insensitive and the site is going to live on a case sensitive server. Several of the site links were broken that I fixed and let Dave look at it before going live. Obviously, he gave is okay! So the site is live with some deployment issues. I will be working to fix what I know about in the week or so ahead but if you see a broken link or any other issues, feel free to report it to philipkdickfans[at]gmail[dot]com

PKDweb 1999Another thing that I recently noticed is that there are many links to Dave’s pages on Wikipedia.org in the Philip K. Dick Bibliography area. I think that says much about Dave’s work on this content. When I asked him about it, he claimed that he didn’t know about it… A project I put on my list is to increase the number of links to philipdick.com and Dave’s content from Wikipedia.org to help interested fans find the site and to help the site’s rankings in search engines. And fix any broken links to his content with the new site change.

I really appreciate all that Dave contributes to the community and I’m very impressed with this site he did by himself without knowing html. Maybe in a few years, we can squeeze a 2010 version out of Dave!?!?

Review: Next (2007)

Posted on by Michael Fisher

In the comments section, please add your your review, your criticism or a link to as post when you have much more to write than would fit in a comment.

 

I just watched Next and while it wasn’t one of my favorite films or a film of outstanding value over time; it was a typical Hollywood Thriller action picture with all the typical elements of the chased, the chaser, the love interest and another chaser who is much more ruthless than the first. It held my attention and I liked the movie but this one will be forgotten about in a way that Blade Runner will not be. It doesn’t stand out in direction or story in any way. It was as Hollywood bland as Paycheck at taking a Philip K. Dick idea and then throwing all the action tropes onto it to make a movie. Other than a few exceptions the movies adapted from Philip K. Dick stories weren’t crafted to retain his vision in the original work or his overall vision from entire library of writings.

Next isn’t a bad movie in of itself but as a Philip K. Dick movie I think I was not very enjoyable. I believe for a Philip K. Dick to be successful especially in the long run, the movie needs to respect Dick’s point of view and treat the film as if that point of view was being communicated to the audience, as if Philip K. Dick wrote and directed it himself.

Other Reviews

Amazon.com Reviews

Review: The Gospel of Philip K. Dick (2001)

Posted on by Michael Fisher

In the comments section, please add your your review, your criticism or a link to as post when you have much more to write than would fit in a comment.

 

I recently rewatched The Gospel of Philip K. Dick after first seeing it about ten years ago and honestly it was a little worse than I remembered. The animation went on and was more difficult to watch than I remembered and when the animated Philip K. Dick spoke, it was really uncomfortable to watch. I’m not sure why because I usually don’t have that reaction to animated content. The credits at the beginning and the animated typed pages that gave written information instead of narration both seemed like padding to the film to meet some specific number of minutes. The lack of a narrator may have been a cost issue or thinking the animated PKD could compensate may have thought to have been a excellent idea but it wasn’t. Those parts plodded along.

What I liked was seeing the interview sections which were fascinated and the film was broken up into a number of topic areas related to the gospel of Dick, like the visions and the Xerox missive but there were only a few viewpoints given in each section with the interviews for extremely complicated topics. I think an entire movie could be made exploring the 1971 break-in or pink beam visions and related events. What could have been an interesting view that many fans may not have the resources to see is the visit to the collection at Fullerton but the detail there goes overboard including a librarian running through the process to view the collection pieces. Overall I was disappointed in this documentary and hoped for more content and less filler.

Other Reviews

Amazon.com Reviews

Contest: Win An Exegesis :: BookPulse iPad Application

Posted on by Michael Fisher

Exegesis :: BookPulseAnnouncing a contest on this site in which the winner will receive a coupon code for a free Exegesis :: BookPulse for their iPad. For more information about the application see this post, visit the Facebook site, or the iTunes Store Preview.

To enter you need to write a 500-1000 word blog post about anything related to the Exegesis. I will be the final determination if it’s relevant so if you’re not sure email me at philipkdickfans[at]gmail[dot]com. The blog post is due by the end of January and can be emailed to philipkdickfans[at]gmail[dot]com with the Subject of “Free Exegesis BookPulse Entry”. Please include your name and preferred email address so the winner can be notified. The best, most interesting and well written entry will be determined to be the winner. The winner should expect that the entry will be posted to the philipdick.com as a guest blog post. Please email if you have any questions or clarifications.

New Issue of PKD Otaku

Posted on by Michael Fisher

PKD Otaku Issue 23A new issue of PKD Otaku has been published on this site, /, which is to be the new home for the online fan created journal. Issue 23 has a new look and articles about the newly published Exegesis of Philip K. Dick. You can view it here: PKD Otaku Issue 23 or view past issues. Issue 23 also has a page of Additional Links for more exploration.

Please be patient after clicking on the link for this issue. The file is large and requires more time to download. An alternative would be to save the file to your computer and read the issue from there.

Philip K Dick Timeline pdf

Posted on by Michael Fisher

Philip-K-Dick-TimelineI found this Philip K Dick Timeline and I had to post it here also. The timeline was created by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and posted here to scribed.com. You can view it larger here: Philip K Dick Timeline (Original link: http://www.scribd.com/doc/66406787/Philip-K-Dick-Timeline)

Put on your reading glasses because it seems a little hard to read unless you blow it up to 150-200%, but this is a great way to represent the data.

Update For iPad Users: Exegesis :: BookPulse

Posted on by Michael Fisher

Exegesis :: BookPulseI noticed on another blog that there is a lite version of the Exegesis :: BookPulse application that only includes the first few chapters of the Exegesis but appears to have all the other features. It is free and seems to me to be a good way to test the application out before you buy the full version. (Unfortunately, I don’t happen to own an iPad…)

The lite version is here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-exegesis-philip-k.-dick/id492161170.

Review: Remembering Firebright By Tessa Dick (2009)

Posted on by Michael Fisher

In the comments section, please add your your review, your criticism or a link to as post when you have much more to write than would fit in a comment.

 

It must be hard to write a memoir. I’ve never written one myself and what writing I’ve done has all been fiction. I repeatedly noticed that Ms. Dick would start down a narrative/memory path and then get far ahead of where she intends and then backtracks. This structure didn’t bother me because I have some familiarity with the events but someone who doesn’t might find it hard to follow.

In fiction you trust the reader to remember the details of the narrative later. It appears that Ms. Dick doesn’t trust the reader to recall and there are repetitions of events and explanations in this structure which leads to an absolutely clear discussion that can repeat itself. The memoir felt somewhat like you were having a conversation with Ms. Dick which suits the material that she covered in the book.

One of my favorite parts is the discussion of the infamous abscessed tooth/fish
necklace/pink beam experience at the beginning of Chapter Four which slightly changes the events as I knew them but they still retain the essence. That event has always fascinated me and to read a slightly different version makes me wonder what exactly happened. For example, Ms. Dick writes that the necklace didn’t cause the anamnesis but a piece of pink glass in their window with the sun shining through and the events remembered weren’t the events of Roman times but events that happened in Vancouver that I’d never read about.

The memoir has a structure more like put together a puzzle or creating a painting than a linear narrative and I think it suits the events that happened. Ms. Dick would describe an event fully chronologically even if it overlapped another event so that the reader has a better understanding of what happened and what she has put together in hindsight.

The book has parts which wander off the topic like the discussion of the movies made from Dick’s works but the discussion of the adaptation of A Scanner Darkly is fascinating because Ms. Dick helped work on the novel with him. Philip K. Dick would explain to her his intentions with that novel and all the novels after it so that she has an excellent understanding of Philip K. Dick’s purpose in writing the books.

I highly recommend this book if you are interested in this period in Philip K. Dick’s life. The memoir provides a second viewpoint on events that Philip K. Dick wrote about, a viewpoint of someone who was there to witness the events.

Other Reviews

Amazon.com Reviews

Help Philip K. Dick’s Fifth Wife, Tessa Dick

Posted on by Michael Fisher

Tessa Dick Plea For HelpThere is an youtube video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvF2XMD7fks) circulating the fan base in which Tessa Dick, Philip K. Dick’s Fifth Wife, pleads for financial help because she is struggling much more than many of us are. She is disabled and waiting on the paperwork to be processed which takes some time.

If you would like to make a donation to her, send it to her by Paypal to tuffy777@gmail.com or snail mail:

Tessa Dick
PO Box 1942
Crestline, CA 92325-1942


But if you would rather not donate directly, I would strongly encourage you to purchase one of her books. I don’t believe that one biography, one viewpoint can describe someone’s life. With the recent publication of the Exegesis of Philip K. Dick, one excellent choice is Remembering Firebright because she was present when he was experiencing and writing about the events in the Exegesis. I am reading it right now and the second viewpoint on events that I have become familiar with from Philip K. Dick’s telling is fascinating. Without the other viewpoints, we risk falling into solipsism like Dick was fond of writing and considering.

You can purchase her books at Tessa’s Amazon Author Page. A review of Remembering Firebright will be posted on soon.

For iPad Users: Exegesis :: BookPulse

Posted on by Michael Fisher

Exegesis :: BookPulseHoughton Mifflin Harcourt recently released their iPad application for The Exegesis called ExegesisBookpulse in the iTunes store. There is also a Facebook page for the appplication called Exegesis :: BookPulse. The application allows you to share annotations, interact with other readers, connect with Facebook and share your reading experience. It is available on the iPad and will soon be available on the iPhone, iPod Touch, and Android.

New Site Addition: The PKDicktionary!

Posted on by Michael Fisher

Over the years that I have been exploring the Internet, I have several archives of topics that I’m interested in and obviously Philip K. Dick is one of them. I have been looking at my archive and pulling things out of it that weren’t on the original site. One of these items is the PKDictionary which has a long history that I will splice together here from the files that I’ve gathered, some even today. And instead of depending on the viral spread of this file across the Internet, I’m going to store all versions I found here. In my research I discovered many, many dead links like to the originators long dead page or geocities.

I have collected three different versions of the file and a .pdf of the file. Lots of more current references point to http://downlode.org/Etext/pkdicktionary.html which appears to be the most recent and the version that I will create ours from.

I have placed our version here:
/pkdicktionary/

Here is the history of this document which is also on the page with the PKDicktionary:

 

About this file

I am not the author of this file. That person was Simon Hickinbotham, who originally maintained it at his homepage at the University of York. Since it is no longer extant except for a few bootleg copies floating about on the Web, it’s clear that he no longer has the time to maintain it. So, in his stead, I have given it a new home and cleaned it up a bit. I am slowly going through it to add proper inter-item hyperlinking for each reference, and cleaning up a few typos, so if this note is still here, I haven’t finished yet. Feel free to email me any comments you may have.

And now, over to Simon:

This is a glossary of terms used by Philip K Dick (hereafter referred to as PKD). The description of each term is based on my (or someone else’s) best guess at the meaning, with opinions, criticisms, bad jokes etc. Hopefully this approach will keep the thing interesting, instead of it being just a dry, dusty description of words that PKD used. It could be argued that some of the words here are not exclusive to PKD, but I’ve included them because I think he put a spin on the usual meaning. What I’m trying to achieve is an overview of the ideas that Dick grappled with – all of them, even the silly/trivial ones – via the terms that he used to label them.

To save my blunt and bloody fingers, I’ve found it necessary to provide a reference section so I don’t keep having to type out the full title of a PKD work. References to works where a term is used are represented by a code: A number refers to the year the work was first published, followed by a sensible four-letter reduction of the title of the work. I’m trying to give brief descriptions of each story I refer to – but sometimes I ramble on a bit!

The Big Birthday Sale: Philip K. Dick eBook Sale

Posted on by Michael Fisher

I was recently contacted by the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt to pass on this sale and other special offers in the to come. This offer ends soon so if you would like the eBook editions act fast. I should be notified earlier in the future.

 

Starting Monday (December 19th) for a limited time, all new eBook editions of PKD novels from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt are only $3.99.

Available at all major retailers, including Amazon.com, Apple iBookstore, Barnesandnoble.com, Google eBookstore, and more.

Titles on sale include:

The Divine Invasion (9780547601199)
Lies, Inc. (9780547601212)
Now Wait for Last Year (9780547601298)
A Scanner Darkly (9780547601311)
The Simulacra (9780547601304)
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch (9780547601328)
The Transmigration of Timothy Archer (9780547601335)
VALIS (9780547601342)

All titles are $3.99 from 12/19/2011-1/2/2011
For more information visit http://hmhtrade.com/pkdick/