The Early Work of PKD

One of our frequent contributors, Tom C. Smith, offers this review of The Early Work of Philip K. Dick Volume 1: The Variable Man and Other Stories.

Picking up The Early Work of Philip K. Dick you might mistakenly think that it’s going to be light reading.  After all, it’s just a bunch of short stories, no heavy weight novels.  Hah!  Partially because the reading is easy, no prolonged descriptions, no academic vocabulary.  More likely though, the short story format makes for immediate action and dialog that leads you on.  Until you get to the end of the story and you find yourself re-reading the last several pages, making sure that you ‘get it’.  Take for instance the first story, Beyond Lies the Wub, within two or three pages your curiosity grabs hold.  You think the Wub, a giant pig in appearance, is an amusing creature whose primary interest for a spaceship crew is dinner.  But that’s before the Wub starts talking about Ulysses and his quest to get back home.   How could an alien pig know about Ulysses you ask?

Story number two, The Gun, is also a space tale of a seemingly dead planet that had been the sight of a devastating nuclear war.  A war that had left the planet bereft of life a ‘pitted, fused, slag’ with nothing to say for itself.  Or was that truly the case?  After all, museums are full of culture but with no animated movement. Nasha, Tance and Dorle (typically off beat Philip K names) must make the call on this surprisingly fruitful exploratory trip.    

The 13^th story, The Adjustment Team, is the basis of the recently released movie, The Adjustment Bureau starring Matt Damon & Emily Blunt.  The Adjustment Team is about as paranoid a tale as most writers can approach, but as we all know, Philip K was not ordinary writer.  His books were the first sci-fi books published by the Library of America.  That’s right, entertaining and literary.  In many ways, although there’s no drugs in evidence here, The Adjustment Team is a baby step towards dark internal horror sci-fi such as A Scanner Darkly, Ubik, and The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldrich.   That being said, there is a kernel of romance (Ed & Ruth) in this well-constructed short story.  Although nothing to compare to the Damon and Blunt chemistry that sustains the worthwhile movie.  But then, the twist in the Movie is small potatoes compared to the ending of The Adjustment Team.

Read On!

Tom C Smith

If you enjoy The Early Work of Philip K. Dick then stop by the library to check out some of Dick's other writings:

Confessions of a Crap Artist
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (Reviewed Here)
Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said
The Man in High Castle
The Man Whose Teeth were all Exactly Alike
A Scanner Darkly

And check out some films based on his work:
Minority Report
Paycheck

As always, thanks for reading. Leave your questions and comments below.

-Adam Delaura

Short Stories

Tom’s earlier review of “Wireless” prompted me to think short stories in general. Personally, I find them to be a great way to explore other authors and genres. Here are some of the short story collections I've read recently:

"Metatropolis" edited by John Scalzi

The collectively created urban future of these stories offers a fresh take on what tomorrow’s cities could be. Contributors include: Jay Lake, Tobias S Buckell, Elizabeth Bear, John Scalzi, and Karl Schroeder. If you could read only one of the volumes in this post this is the one.

"Gateways" edited by Elizabeth Anne Hull

 This volume is a tribute SciFi writer Frederik Pohl, winner of the 2010 Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer.  Pohl has won many Nebula and Hugo awards along with the SFWA Grand Master Award.

While Pohl fans and SciFi diehards will enjoy this collection; if you’re a new or an occasional SciFi reader I would recommend starting with one of the other collections in this post.

“The New Space Opera" & “The New Space Opera 2" edited by Gardner Dozios & Jonathan Strahan

Both of these volumes have many contributors and a varying level of quality. Most of the stories in Vol 1 are mediocre at best. A common criticism of this volume is that the writers assume that readers have already read some of their other works.  Diehard SciFi fans will most likely be familiar with the author’s works while newcomers might be left confused. Noteworthy stories include: Verthandi's Ring by Ian McDonald; an interesting depiction of two galactic civilizations engaged in an epic war. Another is Maelstrom by Kage Baker which tells the tale of an amateur theater company on Mars

Volume 2 is by far a better collection of stories.  It also seems to be more accessible to new and occasional SciFi readers. Gems from this volume include Punctuality by Garth Nix which is a short and sweet. John Scalzi’s The Tale of the Wicked is an enjoyable new take on artificial intelligence becoming self-aware.

All of these volumes include something worth reading so come to the library and check them out. 

Want to read something that's not in our catalog? Ask! It's as easy as calling us or dropping by the library.

Questions, comments, and suggestions are encouraged.

-Adam

 

Charles Stross' "Wireless"

With a string of recent Hugo novel nominations:

Saturn's Children (2009)

Halting State (2008)

Glasshouse (2007)  

And, novella wins 2005 for "The Concrete Jungle" and 2010 for "Palimpsest"

British born sci-fi author Charles Stross would seem to be on a roll.  

Therefore, it was with great anticipation that I picked up a copy of

his latest, "Wireless."  Wireless is a collection of short stories, including

two novellas:  Missle Gap and Palimpsest.  In his introduction Stross

says that he prefers short stories because, "I get to play with new ideas

in a way I can't imagine at novel length."    

"Ideas" is the key word here.  Stross does not let us down because

"Wireless" is full of ideas, like: 

What if the Internet didn't develop as a free resource?  ("Unwirer")

Wouldn't the human race be better off if we were part of ensemble intelligences.  ("Missle Gap".)

What if, as a result of global warming, the West Antarctic ice shelf collapsed

plunging the British Isles into a sub-artic deep freeze and the only way

to save England was to make a deal with the Devil?  ("Snowball's Chance")     

My personal favorite of the selection is "Missle Gap."  The way Stross crosses

plot paths back and forth between two sets of humans, and some non-human beings,

kept me entertained from beginning to end.  Enjoy.

FYI>  Not all of the stories in "Wireless" are sci-fi.   For example, "Down on the Farm"

         is a spy story.  But, who cares?  It's entertaining and provides Stross

         with another idea vehicle.

Tom Smith, MLS

Sci Fi Collections and Reference Librarian

New Haven Free Public Library     

Also check out Tom's interpretation of the classic film 'Solaris' 

Comments and feedback are encouraged!!