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FIRST PUBLICATION

•     Imagination, Jul 1953 (ill. by W.E.Terry)

HISTORY:

  Originally titled "Burglar," the ms for "The Cosmic Poachers" reached the SMLA on Oct 22, 1952, a day after that for "Jon’s World." Other than its first appearance in Imagination in July of 1953 and in Roger Elwood’s ALIEN WORLDS in 1964, the story can only be found in the second volume of THE COLLECTED STORIES OF PKD (1987). Little comment has been made about it other than the brief comment by the sub-agent at the SMLA who said of "Burglar": ‘Huh, ho hum.’

    "The Cosmic Poachers" is almost as bad a title for this story as "Burglar." Neither seems to really apply. Perhaps a better one would be "The Cosmic Poached Eggs"… It’s a kind of trick story where Dick shows his ability to keep the reader wondering until he’s ready to reveal the trick at the end. If the reader would pause for a moment while reading this and similar tales he’d realize what was going on. But then, it’s the writer’s job to keep you reading and PKD was very good at it. Like "Beyond Lies The Wub" and "Meddler", "The Cosmic Poachers" can be construed as a backwards-sort of alien invasion tale.

    "The Cosmic Poachers" rates ô ô ô

Other magazine and Anthology Appearances.    More Cover Pix here:

TTHC 263: Dick's sub-agents at Scott Meredith felt free to comment on Dick's work as they received it. Some of the stories are rated: "G" for "Good," "G plus" for better. Sometimes there are just comments, as for instance "Huh, ho hum" for "Burglar" {...}

Ken Lopez: "The Cosmic Poachers" in Imagination, July 1953 (1^st). VG. Signed by the author. $150

Rudy’s Books: "The Cosmic Poachers" in Imagination, July 1953 (1^st). VG+. $10

Rudy’s Books: "The Cosmic Poachers" in Imagination, July 1953 (1^st). VG. $7.50

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