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"Get out the sogum," Sebastian said. "It's sogum time."   

FIRST EDITIONS

Berkley, pb, X1372, Feb 1967, 160pp, $0.60 (Hoot)

Sphere, pb, 2956-4, Jun 1968, 160pp, 5/- (David Davies)

HISTORY

    Information on the genesis of COUNTER-CLOCK WORLD is sketchy. The novel is based on PKD’s short story "Your Appointment Will Be Yesterday". Originally the novel manuscript was titled THE DEAD GROW YOUNG and/or THE DEAD ARE YOUNG. Lawrence Sutin says that the novel was written in 1965. But he is the only source for this that I can find.

    The novel was first published by Berkley Books as a paperback original in Feb 1967. A UK edition from Sphere Books followed in 1968. It has seen many editions both in the English language and in other languages. Perhaps the most valuable edition for collectors is not the paperback from Berkley but the first hardback from White Lion Press in England which came out in 1977.

    Philip Dick in a 1967 letter comments on the Berkley edition:

    Meanwhile, my writing career creaks on. My Berkley book, COUNTERCLOCK WORLD, just came out, with a very nice cover -- which shows a girl who looks exactly like Nancy. What is more, the girl in the story, Lotta, is based on Nancy. I keep wondering if by any chance Terry and/or Carol Carr gave Damon Knight (the editor at Berkley Books) a picture of Nancy (they have several which I sent them). Otherwise it must be chalked up to psi, I suppose.

    Sutin notes that other characters in the novel are also based on real people: Anne McGuire on PKD’s third wife Anne, and the Anarch Peak on Bishop James A. Pike who would also figure in PKD’s last novel THE TRANSMIGRATION OF TIMOTHY ARCHER.

    Unfortunately Dick had little occasion to comment on this novel. He mentions it while discussing foreign editions of his books:

    It wasn't until 1964, when Editions Opta of Paris approached me with the extraordinary proposition that they would publish every novel that I had written. They have a fancy bookclub edition that they put out, and for this they got a picture of me for the back cover, and an article about me by John Brunner. They sent me a copy of the first book -- THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE and COUNTERCLOCK WORLD -- and they had a complete bibliography of my stuff. They had everything and it was beautiful. In comparison to, like ACE books...

    And, as might be expected, COUNTER-CLOCK WORLD with its backwards time or retrograde time figures minimally in PKD’s EXEGESIS:

    Time is about to end (lineal time) as a factor of life; it won't reverse, as in COUNTERCLOCK WORLD, but our present will dissolve as all the accretions of the last 3500 years will vanish, as if dreamlike. They never took place...

    That is all we can find comments-wise by Dick himself. The novel has been reviewed and commented upon by many others (mostly negatively) and is not highly rated by fans and critics.

    We will now take a quick look at the plot.

    As in "Your Appointment Will Be Yesterday" time is flowing backwards due to the Hobart Phase. The protagonist, Sebastian Hermes is the proprietor of The Flask of Hermes Vitarium, which helps the newly risen dead get back on their feet again as they progress towards their youth and eventual oblivion in their mother’s wombs. Sebastian knows the location of the grave of the Anarch Peak, a famous black religious leader who is about to be reborn. The Anarch Peak is a controversial figure and many people wish to see him dead for good. Peak is eventually captured and after machinations and murders he contacts Sebastian telepathically and declares himself the Redeemer.

    A nice try at handling a difficult plot, COUNTER-CLOCK WORLD rates ó ó ó .

OTHER ENGLISH EDITIONS:             For Cover Pix Click Here:

• Berkley Medallion, pb, 02568, May 1974, 160pp, $0.95 (?) 425-02568-095. SBN: 425-02568-3
• White Lion, hb, 199-9, 1977, 169pp, L3.25 (?) {Toadbelly: Bound in sort of maroon-coloured cloth with gold lettering down the spine. The binding is of the string type rather than glued.}
• Coronet, pb, 21830-4, Jul 1977, 158pp 70p (?)
• Gregg Press, hb, 2485-8, Apr 1979, 160pp, $11.95 (?) [+K187] {Levack: Introduction by David G. Hartwell. Frontispiece by Hannah Shapero. Bound in dark green cloth with gold lettering on the spine. Title and author's name are on bright red background on the spine. Author's signature stamped in gold on front cover. 'First printing, April 1979' on the copyright page. Issued without dustjacket. Text is photo reproduced from the 1967 Berkley edition.}
• Severn House, hb, ?, 1989, 188pp, L10.95 (Martin Buchan) 0-7278-1781-7
• Grafton, pb, 20970-0, Oct 1990, 236pp, L3.50 (Chris Moore) 0-586-20970-0
• Vintage, tp, ?, 2003,?, ? (?)

FOREIGN EDITIONS:

• 		Club de Livre d'Anticipation, pb, 15, 1968, ?, 31 ff, (?) {tr. into French by Michel Deutsch as A REBROUSSE-TEMPS} // EN ATTENDANT L'ANNEE DERNIERE. Levack: Bound in green cloth with gold lettering on the spine. Large logo stamped in gold on the front cover. Dick's copy has no dustjacket.} See: NOW WAIT FOR LAST YEAR. Illustrated.
  		Dall'Oglio, hb, Andromeda 4, 1972, 219pp, Lit 2000 (Aldo Bressanutti) {tr. into Italian by Maria Silva as REDIVIVI S.P.A.} Levack: "Pictorial cover... Issued without dustjacket."
  				THREE FROM J'AI LU Editions in 1968, 1975, 1992
  		Goldmann, pb, 0248, 1977, ?, ? (?) {tr. into German as DIE ZEIT LAUFT ZURUCK}
  		Edaf, ?, CF 25, 1980, ?, ? (?) {tr. into Spanish as EL MUNDO CONTRA RELOJ}
  		?, pb, sg526, 1983, ?, ? (?) {tr. into Japanese}
  		Fanucci, pb, 27, 1989, 220pp, Lit 20000 (Michele Marsan) {tr. into Italian by Matteo Puggioni as RITTORNO DALL' ALDILA} ISBN: 88-347-0104-6. "Il Libro d'oro della fantascienza"
  		Presses de la Cite, pb, ?, 1993, ?, ? (?) {tr. into French as A REBROUSSE TEMPS in omnibus DEDALES SANS FINS} ISBN: 2-258-03697-6
  		Ullstein, pb, ?, 1995c, ?, ? (?) {tr. into German as DIE ZEIT AUF GEGENKURS}
  		Like, ?, 458-1, 1997, ?, ? (Kari Puikkonen) {tr. into Finnish as HAUDASTA KOHTUUN}

This part of his job he liked least. The cries of the dead; he hated that sound, and he had heard them, the cries, so much, and so many times. Men and women, mostly old but some not so old, sometimes children. And it always took the digging crew so long to get there.

NOTES

PKDS-2 10:

Publication date: Feb 7, 1967.

DI 305. Also, Andrew Butler has the novel written in ‘late 1965’(see PEPKD 51)

IPOV 216:

Time is about to end (lineal time) as a factor of life; it won't reverse, as in COUNTERCLOCK WORLD, but our present will dissolve as all the accretions of the last 3500 years will vanish, as if dreamlike. They never took place... {PKD c.1974-75}

TDC ?

It wasn't until 1964, when Editions Opta of Paris approached me with the extraordinary proposition that they would publish every novel that I had written. They have a fancy bookclub edition that they put out, and for this they got a picture of me for the back cover, and an article about me by John Brunner. They sent me a copy of the first book -- THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE and COUNTERCLOCK WORLD -- and they had a complete bibliography of my stuff. They had everything and it was beautiful. In comparison to, like ACE books... {PKD 1977} {note:   COUNTERCLOCK WORLD wasn't published in English until the Berkley paperback of Feb 1967, so in 1964 no foreign edition of this novel could have existed. PKD is probably talking about the Club de Livre d’Anticipation hardback edition of COUNTER-CLOCK WORLD backed with NOW WAIT FOR LAST YEAR (1968) - Lord RC}

SL-38 201:

Meanwhile, my writing career creaks on. My Berkley book, COUNTERCLOCK WORLD, just came out, with a very nice cover -- which shows a girl who looks exactly like Nancy. What is more, the girl in the story, Lotta, is based on Nancy. I keep wondering if by any chance Terry and/or Carol Carr gave Damon Knight (the editor at Berkley Books) a picture of Nancy (they have several which I sent them). Otherwise it must be chalked up to psi, I suppose.
{PKD > Cynthia, Feb 27, 1967}

Toadbelly’s Books: COUNTER-CLOCK WORLD, White Lion, hb 199-9, 1977 (1^st hb). On Ebay: (11-17-01). 1 bid $49.95

Phildickian: COUNTER-CLOCK WORLD, Berkeley, pb, X1372, 1967 (1st). VG+. Clean unread copy with light rubbing. $40

Powells: COUNTER-CLOCK WORLD, Berkley, pb, X1372, 1967. G+. quarter sized indentation to front cover, light reading creases to covers, light rubbing to extremities. $17.95

Phildickian: COUNTER-CLOCK WORLD, Coronet, pb, 830-4, 1977. VG+. A tight very good copy with light reading stress and a hint of toning to the pages which is common. $50

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