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N | S | Writing Date |
Pub. Date |
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Notes |
| 154 | 43 | <Nov 1967 to Feb 1968 | June 1988 | UBIK | GALACTIC POT-HEALER |
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Uk Gollancz, hb, 04307-5, Jun 1988, 141pp, L7.95 (Paul Demeyer) ISBN: 0-575-04307-5 | |
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Piper, pb, 31474-2, Jul 1990, 141pp, L2.50 (Demeyer) 0-330-31474-2 |
The manuscript for THE GLIMMUNG OF PLOWMAN’S PLANET reached the SMLA on Dec 7, 1966 – the same day as the ms for UBIK. The story was not sold until 1987 (after numerous rejections) and was first published by Gollancz in the UK in 1988 as NICK AND THE GLIMMUNG. There has never been an American edition. Paul Williams says of the manuscript:
The original ms of GLIMMUNG is 96 pages, about a third of the length of Dick's regular novels. It was rejected by 15 publishers in 1967-68. The Agency then put it aside as a manuscript "awaiting new markets" (...) In late '67 or early '68 Dick wrote an adult sf novel called GALACTIC POT-HEALER, in which the Glimmung of Plowman's Planet is a major character. No part of the story or text of GALACTIC POT-HEALER is taken from the earlier book, however.
PKD himself refers to the story only once in an undated letter to Tony Boucher; probably written in Dec 1966:
I hope you're feeling better. I just sold another book to Doubleday & I'm feeling very good. And I sent off my first children's novel, with many high hopes. {...}
May the Blessings of Christmas be with you through all the New Year.
As for the rest of its publishing history, The Philip K. Dick Society Newsletter relates the tale starting in 1987:
Victor Gollancz, Ltd. of London has announced plans to publish Philip K. Dick's novel THE GLIMMUNG OF PLOWMAN'S PLANET perhaps as soon as Summer 1988. It will be issued as a children's book; Paul Demeyer has been commissioned to illustrate the novel, which will then be retitled, NICK AND THE GLIMMUNG.
NICK AND THE GLIMMUNG will be the last of PKD's science fiction novels to be published…
And a few months later in 1988:
NICK AND THE GLIMMUNG, Philip K. Dick's first last best and only children's sf novel, has been published in the UK by Victor Gollancz Ltd. for L7.95. A charming tale written in the late 60s, it includes a great many elements recapitulating the whole canvas of Dickian sf constructs, including wubs, werjes, klakes, printers, trobes, nunks, father-things and a number of other items familiar from the settings of GALACTIC POT-HEALER and A MAZE OF DEATH. The story stands well on its own, though, and has the trans-generational appeal of a Heinlein juvenile (but without the libertarian proselytizing). More than many other Dick novels, this one seems intentionally funny, a tone which is echoed in Paul Demeyer's excellent cartoon-style illustrations. The main character is Nick Graham, a small boy who's family emigrates off-planet in order to allow him to keep his pet cat, Horace, who otherwise would be confiscated (pets are illegal on Earth because they consume food needed by the ever-growing population of humans). Their adventures upon arriving are classic PKD investigations into the nature of reality and fate, the qualities of humanity versus simulacra, and the necessity for doing the right thing even when it requires personal; risk. A fun book, nicely packaged, this is another delightful posthumous surprise for Philip K. Dick readers everywhere -- and their kids, as well!
And in 1989:
Incidentally, I believe the (rather large) first printing of NICK AND THE GLIMMUNG is almost exhausted, so if you don't have a copy I'd grab one quick. Apparently it did well in the children's book market in England, which is good news indeed. Still no glimmering of an American publisher for the book.
NICK AND THE GLIMMUNG has never been published in the United States. But in 1990 Piper publishers in the UK issued a paperback edition.
The story is, as Andy Watson expresses in his capsule review above, a charming and sometimes funny story about a boy and his cat forced to leave earth and take up life on Plowman’s Planet where strange and wonderful aliens help and hinder the family as they find, lose and regain a book belonging to the Glimmung. In the end Horace the cat chooses his right master over a Nick-thing. The story borrows several lifeforms from Dick’s earlier short stories: wubs, printers and father-things, for example. Meant for children but eminently readable by adults, NICK AND THE GLIMMUNG gets
FOREIGN EDITIONS
 |
Folio Junior, ?, 573, 1989, ?, ? (Paul Demeyer) {tr. into French by Mona De Practonel as NICK ET LE GLIMMUNG} ISBN: 2-07-033573-9 | |
 |
?, pb, ?, 1991, ?, ? (?) {tr. into Japanese} | |
| Mondadori, ?, 41, 1994, 80pp ill., Lit 11000 (?) {tr. into Italian by Ilva Tron as NICK E IL GLIMMUNG} ISBN: 88-04-38583-9. "Junior 10" | ||
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?, pb, ?, 2000, ?, DM 78 (Lillian Mousli) {tr. into German as NICK UND DER GLIMMUNG} ISBN: 3-924959-54-4 |
Victor Gollancz, Ltd. of London has announced plans to publish Philip K. Dick's novel THE GLIMMUG OF PLOWMAN'S PLANET perhaps as soon as Summer 1988. It will be issued s a children's book; Paul Demayer has been commissioned to illusrate the novel, which will then be retitled, NICK AND THE GLIMMUNG.
NICK AND THE GLIMMUNG will be the last of PKD's science fiction novels to be published, as far as I know. It was written as a children's book in 1966 (the ms was received by SMLA the same day they received the ms of UBIK, Dec 7, 1966). Phil apparantly wrote GLIMMUNG during his wife Nancy's pregnancy with Isolde. He was of course already a father (Laura Dick was then 6 years old, and during the years 1959 to 1964 Phil had also been a father to Laura's three older sisters, Hatte, Tandy, and Jayne, Anne Dick's children by her previous marriage).
The original ms of GLIMMUNG is 96 pages, about a third of the length of Dick's regular novels. It was rejected by 15 publishers in 1967-68. The Agency then put it aside as a manuscript "awaiting new markets" (...) In late '67 or early '68 Dick wrote an adult sf novel called GALACTIC POT HEALER, in which the Glimmung of Plowman's Planet is a major character. No part of the story or text of GALACTIC POT HEALER is taken from the earlier book, however. {Paul Williams}
NICK AND THE GLIMMUNG, Philip K. Dick's first last best and only children's sf novel, has been published in the UK by Victor Gollancz Ltd. for L7.95. A charming tale written in the late 60s, it includes a great many elements recapitulating the whole canvas of Dickian sf constructs, including wubs, werjes, klakes, printers, trobes, nunks, father-things and a number of other items familiar from the settings of GALCTIC POT HEALER and A MAZE OF DEATH. The story stands well on its own, though, and has the trans-generational appeal of a Heinlein juvenile (but without the libertarian proselytizing). More than many other Dick novels, this one sems intentionally funny, a tone which is echoed in Paul Demayer's excellent cartoon-style illustrations. The main character is Nick Graham, a small boy who's family emigrates off-planet in order to allow him to keep his pet cat, Horace, who otherwise would be confiscated (pets are illegal on Earth because they consume food needed by the ever-growing population of humans). Their adventures upon arriving are classic PKD investigations into the nature of reality and fate, the qualities of humanity versus simulacra, and the necessity for doing the right thing even when it requires personal; risk. A fun book, nicely packaged, this is another delightful posthumous surprise for Philip K. Dick readers everywhere -- and their kids, as well! (Capsule review by Andy Watson)
See PKDS-22/23 12
SL-38 199: {PKD to A. Boucher, undated, circa Christmas 1966.} {If the dating of this letter is correct then UBIK must’ve sold to Doubleday shortly after its reception at the SMLA on Dec 7, 1966. I cannot confirm this though -- Lord RC}Collector's Notes
Phildickian: NICK AND THE GLIMMUNG, Gollancz, hb, 1988. VF/VF $40
Ebay Auction: NICK AND THE GLIMMUNG, Piper, pb, 1990. 2 bids $11.00 2000
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