Credits Navigation philipdick.com Novels Short Stories References
FIRST PUBLICATION
Cosmos #4, Jul 1954 HISTORY:
The curious short story "Of Withered Apples" now comes along. Perhaps it doesn’t belong in second place in the chronology of PKD's shprt stories but Kleo, Phil’s wife in 1950, recalls reading some of his stories after they were married:
"Philip was writing wonderful little fantasy stories…" tales of "sad little people," two of which were eventually published, "Of Withered Apples" and "Friday Morning" ("Roog").
On the strength of Kleo’s memory I have placed "Of Withered Apples" here in the chronology and dated it to circa 1950. Kleo married Phil on Jun 14 1950. Obviously, PKD either never sent the story to a publisher or it was rejected if he did because he brushed up the manuscript and sent it of to the Scott Meredith Literary Agency (SMLA) in Jan 1953. It was published eventually in Cosmos #4 in July 1954, it’s only appearance until THE COLLECTED STORIES in 1987.
The story itself is fantasy. A girl is summoned to a distant field by an old and near-dead apple tree. She eats a dried up apple and then dies. But, later, from her grave an apple tree grows, bearing fruit a bit too early.
"Of Withered Apples" rates ô ô
Other Magazine and Anthology appearances
| 1987 | THE COLLECTED STORIES OF PHILIP K. DICK | ||
NOTES:
TTHC 253
A discussion biographer Rickman had with PKD’s second wife, Kleo, implies that "Of Withered Apples" was one of the earliest stories PKD wrote, perhaps even before they were married in 1950:
"I’m unaware of how he got into writing," she says. When they were first going together he didn’t show her his work. "I didn’t know he was interested." After they were married she found that "Philip was writing wonderful little fantasy stories for which there was no market." She remembers these early works as comprising twelve or fifteen tales of "sad little people," two of which were eventually published, "Of Withered Apples" and "Friday Morning" ("Roog").
Collector’s Notes
Credits Navigation philipdick.com Novels Short Stories References