Category: Fiction

Updated and Expanded Bibliography

Posted on by Michael Fisher

A new expanded bibliography of the works of Philip K. Dick plus related titles is available at PKD and Me: A personal journey into the works of Philip K. Dick.

When someone discovers the work of Philip K. Dick and becomes fascinated by it, there is a phenomenon in which they must read all of his work as fast as possible. Sometimes the plots and incidents blur together into one mega-novel. And there are a lot of novels.

At PKD and Me, view resources such as publication dates, covers and links to more information for an even deeper dive into the works.

An electronic only version is available at Homeopape.

Future improvements are the ability to create an account, review titles and mark which titles have been read.

Philip K. Dick’s Birthday (And A Present For You!)

Posted on by Michael Fisher

Homeopape.com and .net stores are now open. Purchase digital (i.e. not analog) versions of the works of Philip K. Dick or other works related to Philip K. Dick’s life and his writing. For reading, watching or listening on the go with your portable homeopape device.

 

In a corner of the large room a chime sounded and a tinkling mechanical voice called, “I’m your free homeopape machine, a service supplied exclusively by all the fine Rootes hotels throughout Earth and the colonies. Simply dial the classification of news that you wish, and in a matter of seconds I’ll speedily provide you with a fresh, up-to-the-minute homeopape tailored to your individual requirements; and, let me repeat, at no cost to you!” — From Ubik, by Philip K. Dick

New Audiobooks Page And A Contest To Win A Free Audiobook

Posted on by Michael Fisher

In celebration of the new Audiobooks page just posted, one of the narrators has partnered with this site to sponsor a contest. The new page is located in the Works In Print menu or can be found here: /works-in-print/audiobooks/.

Ray Greenley (web site, Facebook, Twitter, SoundCloud) narrated “The Unreconstructed M and Other Stories.” I listened to this audiobook and I think it’s really well done. Ray Greenley’s voice is a pleasure to listen to. With some audiobooks I’ve listened to, I have difficulty becoming immersed in the story because the narrator’s voice or rhythm or style of reading aloud, but with Ray’s narration I didn’t have that problem.

From the Amazon description of this audiobook:

What if…a machine could murder one person while implicating another for the crime? An alien being looked like livestock but spoke like a philosopher? Earth was ruined by war, and Mars was humanity’s only hope? Robots were created to wage an unending war on the ravaged surface of Earth while man hid underground? Peeking into the future showed a worse result with each look?

In The Unreconstructed M and Other Stories by master of science fiction Philip K. Dick, reality is as thin as imagination. Trust in your senses, your experience, and your expectations if you must. But be warned. What you do not know can leave you – and your world – forever changed!

“The Unreconstructed M” (1957), “Beyond Lies the Wub” (1952), “Strange Eden” (1954), “Survey Team” (1954), “The Defenders” (1953), “Beyond the Door” (1954), “Shell Game” (1954), “Piper in the Woods” (1953), “Meddler” (1954), “Of Withered Apples” (1954), “Progeny” (1954), “Upon the Dull Earth” (1954), “Human Is” (1955).

You can hear a preview of the audiobook at Audible, SoundCloud, or Amazon.

Now for the contest:

First and second place are each awarded with a copy of The Unreconstructed M and Other Stories, sold and delivered by Audible, an Amazon company

The challenge:

Readers will leave a comment with what would be their ultimate choice for a book to be read and the person who would read it. The best and/or most creative answer and the runner-up would receive the two promotional copies. Please leave your email address in the comment so we can contact you if you are a winner. You have until August 29. 2016 to enter.

For example, my choice would either be Benedict Cumberbatch reading The Hobbit (His voicing of Smaug in the movie was amazing! It was like the sound of Smaug’s voice that I’ve imagined since I first read the book.) or Martin Shaw reading Geek Love or Stranger in a Strange Land.

[Updated] Typos Found (And Fixed) In “Untitled 1978 (Very) Short Story by Philip K. Dick”

Posted on by Michael Fisher

Another kind reader pointed out to me that there were more typos in this page on this web site “Untitled 1978 (Very) Short Story by Philip K. Dick”. Here are the updates made to the story:

In the fourth paragraph of the article: “…the girl who, when she finally showed up, mearly laughed at me.” It should read merely and not mearly.

Also, in the fourth paragraph of the article: “I may may have been a success as a writer” The extra may needed to be removed.

In the fifth paragraph of the article: “Haraln continued, unabashed” It should read Harlan and not Haraln.

All the typos is in a Red font for emphasis.

I compared the version on this web site to the one printed in The Search for Philip K. Dick by Anne Dick to check for more errors.

The rest of typos in the version on the web site have been corrected. Now you can enjoy this story as Philip K. Dick intended (as the marketing people would say) [This time for real!]. I would like to thank both the reader who pointed out the further typo to me and the reader who pointed out that the story is also printed in Anne Dick’s The Search for Philip K. Dick and reprinted in PKD Otaku #10.

Typos Found (And Fixed) In “Untitled 1978 (Very) Short Story by Philip K. Dick”

Posted on by Michael Fisher

A kind reader working on a translation alerted me to a confusing word in the page on this web site “Untitled 1978 (Very) Short Story by Philip K. Dick” in the fourth paragraph of the article: “Living alone year after year in a rented room, apying off the I.R.S. and my endless child support, waiting vainly for the right girl, the girl who, when she finally showed up, mearly laughed at me.” The typo is in a Red font for emphasis.

By looking at the context, I wasn’t able to decipher what the word should be. I searched the older versions of this page in both the copy of the entire site that was passed to me, and in the Wayback Machine (as I prefer to call it) or Internet Archive. The typo seems to have existed since the content was first added to the site. So I contacted Patrick Clark, who had originally provided the story, and he was kind enough to go back and check the original.

He found that yes that was a typo; it should read paying and not apying. And while checking on this, he found another typo in the first sentence of the story: “In the back of the bus an old wino in tattered clothing sat hunched over, holding a wine bottle of ill-concealed in a brown paper bag.” Again, the typo is in a Red font for emphasis. The of needed to be removed.

I have fixed both typos in the version on the web site. Now you can enjoy this story as Philip K. Dick intended (as the marketing people would say). I would like to thank both the reader who pointed out the first typo to me and to Patrick Clark for helping me get to the bottom of these textual mistakes.

Public Domain Philip K. Dick Stories

Posted on by Michael Fisher

I sense something brewing with the issue of incorrectly managed copyright renewals and Public Domain Philip K. Dick stories. We have already seen the news about the producers refusing to finish paying for the rights to Adjustment Team and there are eleven stories that have been put into Project Gutenberg that I have archived on this site also. These facts appear to be generally known.

At SFFaudio.com there have been two articles that makes me believe first that they are researching the topic and second that there are many other short stories that are now in the Public Domain that few people realize. Their article Commentary: Philip K. Dick’s PUBLIC DOMAIN short stories, novelettes and novellas is the most stunning for me. The article details the status of each story and I count twenty-six in the Public Domain with seven more likely.

These are the stories in the Public Domain:

  1. Beyond Lies The Wub
  2. The Gun
  3. The Skull
  4. The Defenders
  5. Mr. Spaceship
  6. Piper In The Woods
  7. Second Variety
  8. The Eyes Have It
  9. The Hanging Stranger
  10. Tony And The Beetles
  11. Beyond The Door
  12. The Crystal Crypt
  13. The Golden Man
  14. Prominent Author
  15. Small Town
  16. The Turning Wheel
  17. Breakfast At Twilight
  18. Exhibit Piece
  19. Shell Game
  20. Adjustment Team
  21. Meddler
  22. The Last of the Masters (aka Protection Agency)
  23. Progeny
  24. Upon The Dull Earth
  25. Foster, You’re Dead
  26. Human Is
 These are the stories likely in the Public Domain:

  1. Roog
  2. James P. Crow
  3. Survey Team
  4. Time Pawn
  5. The Chromium Fence
  6. A Surface Raid
  7. Vulcan’s Hammer

Another article,Copyfraud by the Philip K. Dick estate for Philip K. Dick stories published in 1954 and 1955, color codes a copyright form and most of the stories are listed to be in publications or issues that they do not appear in. The vividness of this image jumps out at the reader.

This is the list of incorrect entries:

  1. Shell Game
  2. James P. Crow
  3. The Golden Man
  4. Small Town
  5. Survey Team
  6. Foster, You’re Dead!
  7. Upon the Dull Earth
  8. The Turning Wheel
  9. Prominent Author
  10. Sales Pitch
  11. Breakfast at Twilight
  12. Of Withered Apples
  13. Jon’s World
  14. The Crawlers
  15. Time Pawn
  16. A World of Talent
  17. Adjustment Team
  18. Souvenir
  19. Progeny
  20. Human Is
  21. Meddler
  22. The Last of the Masters (aka Protection Agency)
  23. Strange Eden
  24. Exhibit Piece
  25. The Father-thing

There is some overlap but I think that the years covered are 1952-1955 and that the research beyond those years hasn’t occurred yet. At the rate this is going there won’t be much that isn’t in the Public Domain. This would be a huge waste of potential revenue that Electric Shepherd Productions will lose if they no longer own the rights to all these stories. And I’m not aware of the legal aspects or issues if any of the films made have recourse to sue for fraud.

New Cover Controversy?

Posted on by Michael Fisher


I’ve seen many social media discussions about the new editions of especially the look and design of the covers.

I think the overall look that Mariner Books is shooting for with these is a literary novel or contemporary fiction. Maybe that’s part of why us science fiction readers (for those of you who identify with that label. I hope I’m not over generalizing here) who are used to garish covers aren’t reacting positively to the generic bland covers that could be on any book.


I like the older covers better because they were more garish, more distinctive and more Science Fiction. The new ones look bland and so similar I think it will be hard to tell one apart from another. And the covers I’ve seen don’t seem to even try to show items, content or concepts from the novel.

What does everyone else think about this issue? Feel free to post a comment and share your thoughts!

A Review Of Sorts Of The Mariner Books PKD Editions

Posted on by Michael Fisher

PKD's The SimulacraWhen I saw the covers for the new Mariner Books set of Philip K Dick editions I was slightly offended. How dare anyone consider buying a PKD book without the “classic” vintage covers that I have first editions of all of them and that form the bedrock of my PKD collection consisting of every published piece of PKD writing? Why does someone think that the covers need changed or updated? Why break something that didn’t need fixing? I can see that the covers are more minimalist than the older set but I like the circuitry feel of almost all of them and the bold color selection. Recently I also saw the set of new editions and new covers for Raymond Carver’s fiction and I don’t like the new designs. Something just isn’t right and I can’t put my finger on it.

I can remember waiting Waiting WAITING for the book that I wanted to read to come back into print. Counter Clock World was the one I remember wanting to read the most and it was one of the last ones put back into print. By the time it was published, I had lost my desire to read it immediately and I still haven’t read it yet. Someday, I will. I don’t want to read all of Philip K. Dick’s books because then what new material would I have to look forward to (I’m excluding the Exegesis here.). AS far as I know all of his finished work has been published and that there are no hidden manuscripts that will appear.

I have created a page of Philip K. Dick’s Works In Print that will be a work in progress for the near future due to time constraints.