Philip K Dick discussion

Anyone know what sci-fi books PKD read or recommended?

Thanks

I don't know for sure what science fiction books Philip K. Dick read, but he was good friends with Tim Powers and K.W. Jeter, so it's a fair bet that he read some of their stuff.

He wrote Deus Irae with Roger Zelazny, so he probably read some of his stuff, too.

Good question. I'd like to more about his influences too. Here is some of what I know:

I believe Powers and Jeter are more proteges of Dick than influences. Jeter's first novel is from 1975 and Powers' first is from 1976. They are both the basis for the Kevin and David characters in VALIS, and Jeter went on to write 3 Blade Runner sequels.

I'm itching to read Zelazny and I understand Zelazny's SF is similar to Dick.

I picked up a copy of Today We Choose Faces/Bridge of Ashes and hope to read it this year. Both books deal with a telepath as the main character, and we all know how common telepaths were in Dick's books. Today We Choose Faces is dedicated to: "Philip K. Dick, electric shephard" - which I thought was pretty cool. And our trusted moderator Mohammed is a big Zelazny fan, so I'll pester him until he replies here.

I also understand as peers in the new age era of sci-fi that PKD and Ursula K Leguin both influenced each other, and strangely, went to the same high school together without knowing each other. See this page:

What Philip K. Dick learned about women from Ursula K. Le Guin

I agree Powers and Jeter were protégés, but that would lead me to think that Dick read their work, and probably recommended them, too.

I know that PKD was quite good friends with Robert A. Heinlein who helped him out financially and championed his work. Although PKD certainly didn't share his political and social views.

Also, I just found this interview with PKD in which he discusses his literary influences. Here is an extract:

LUPOFF: Can you name a few examples that influenced you?

DICK: I liked the short stories of James T. Farrell very much. They had a tremendous influence on me in the short story form. Then in the novel form, the French realists like Flaubert and Stendhal and Balzac and Proust. And then the Russians: Turgenev and Dostoyevsky and some of the playwrights, like Chekhov, for example. I was very influenced by the French realist writers.

LUPOFF: So you’re not one of these science fiction writers who grew up reading “Doc” Smith and…

DICK: I did that too, but the culture in Berkeley, the milieu in Berkeley at that time – in the late Forties – required that you have a fairly good grounding in the classics. If you hadn’t read something like Tom Jones or Ulysses you were just dead, as far as being a guest anywhere. I mean, I had read lots of science fiction, but the pressure of the milieu was overwhelming.

You have to bear in mind that at that time science fiction was so looked down upon that it would have been tantamount to suicide to, in a group of people, come forward and say “Boy did I read a marvelous story recently,” and they say, “Well, what was it?” And you say, “It was ‘The Weapon Shops of Isher’ by A.E. Van Vogt.” They would have just pelted you with grapefruits and coffee grounds from the garbage. (laughter) If they could have deciphered who you meant, anyway. They didn’t even know the name.

There wasn’t anybody who read both. You could either be in with the group of freaks who read Heinlein and Van Vogt and nothing else, or you could be in with the people who read Dos Passos and Melville and Proust. But you could never get the two together.

I chose the company of those who were reading the great literature because I liked them better as people. The early fans were just, you know, trolls and wackos. I mean, being stuck with them would be like something from the first part of Dante’s Commedia – up to your ass in shit. They really were terribly ignorant and weird people, so I just secretly read science fiction.

Michael wrote: "I don't know for sure what science fiction books Philip K. Dick read, but he was good friends with Tim Powers and K.W. Jeter, so it's a fair bet that he..."

im currently reading which comes with a little blurb on the front cover from PKD. Ive read and which were both very good and i have to read.

I will definitely look out for AE Vogts book.

thanks

PKD must have read Zelazny also because Zelazny was one of the most acclaimed authors of the 60s-70s in SF and his SF is pretty weird,social SF the ones i have read at-least. I sometimes thought his SF was PKD like but with better prose style and less workman like prose.

One of the notes in "The Exegesis" said that he read and was influenced by "The Morning of the Magicians" (1963) by Louis Pauwels and Jacques Bergier.

At the very least he read a review by Stanislas Lem that said that all American science fiction writers were charlatans except for Philip K. Dick. PKD put a lot of store in this, corresponded with Lem and mentions what Lem meant about him multiple times in the first half of "The Exegesis"

FYI. My wife has hidden my copy of "The Exegesis" because I am not making progress on a correspondence course that I am taking on French. I may be out of pocket for a while. But I will be back as soon as I can. I don't know if that means just get another lesson turned in or if it means I need to finish the course. Either way is alright with me. Bless her heart.

Phillip wrote: "At the very least he read a review by Stanislas Lem that said that all American science fiction writers were charlatans except for Philip K. Dick. PKD put a lot of store in this, corresponded with..."

I've been recently reading about that because it seems an interesting story.

Aparently the article that Lem wrote criticising SF authors and praising PKD lead to this controversy:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanis%C...

The article is called " Philip K. Dick: A Visionary Among the Charlatans", pretty self-explanatory.

Here's the link to the article if you want to take a look.


The weirdest thing was PKD response to this. He wrote a letter to the FBI accusing Lem of being "probably a [communist] composite committee rather than an individual" determined to "gain monopoly positions of power from which they can control opinion through criticism and pedagogic essays is a threat to our whole field of science fiction and its free exchange of views and ideas".

He then says "Lem’s creative abilities now appear to have been overrated and Lem’s crude, insulting and downright ignorant attacks on American science fiction and American science fiction writers went too far too fast and alienated everyone but the Party faithful (I am one of those highly alienated)."

This is so weird that I only can think it is some sort of joke. At least I like to think that way :)

I mean, PKD could be extremely paranoid but I'd guess he would be as paranoid about the FBI than about a weird communist scheme.

Here's a link I found with the letter.

Also, I've read The Man with a Thousand Names because I heard PKD praising Van Vogt.

Can't say I was happy with the experience. :(

Sérgio wrote: "Also, I've read The Man with a Thousand Names because I heard PKD praising Van Vogt.

Can't say I was happy with the experience. :("

I'm not familiar with that. What was wrong with the experience?

It has been a long time since I've read any Van Vogt... in fact, I was an adolescent last time I tried. Still, I really enjoyed "The War Against the Rull" back in the day. Today it would probably read as dated, but full of interesting ideas (some of which are now common, but were wildly innovative at the time).

Phillip wrote: "Sérgio wrote: "Also, I've read The Man with a Thousand Names because I heard PKD praising Van Vogt.

Can't say I was happy with the experience. :("

I'm not familiar with that. Wha..."

@ Phillip: It was extremely misogynistic even for an old school sci-fi writer - I remember at least four rape scenes. Even the ending was misogynistic. (view spoiler)[It consisted of our "hero" (an unbelievable douchebag and creep actually) getting to have sex with as much beautiful girls has he wanted. (hide spoiler)]

There were plenty of cool weird ideas though(body shifting between distant planets going on all the time) but the writing wasn't good.

To be fair I also read a short story of his called Resurrection that was pretty good, all the weird ideas but in a more straightforward and effective story.

Sérgio wrote: "@ Phillip: It was extremely misogynistic even for an old school sci-fi writer - I remember at least four rape scenes. Even the ending was misogynistic. [spoilers removed]

There were plenty of cool..."

Actually, thanks for the warning. I can't enjoy a story with rape or brutality in it. I might be able to recognize why they are in a book and if the book has merit to recognize that, but I can't remember it as pleasurable.

Now that is a book I would like to get my hands on.

I have been trying to decide whether or not to include this because it is not sci. Fi. or fantasy. The notes in either "The Exegesis" or Sutin's biogrophy of Dick say that he wrote "In Milton Lumky Territory" in response to his reading of "Death of a Salesman."

Seriously, I appreciate the warning too. I'd say PKD has his problems writing female characters, but even at its worst his fiction isn't all rapey. That's become the default trauma for too many writers to inflict on female characters, and it's both repulsive and a failure of imagination. Even really talented writers like Alan Moore keep defaulting back to it, which really bothers me.

Phillip wrote: "Sérgio wrote: "@ Phillip: It was extremely misogynistic even for an old school sci-fi writer - I remember at least four rape scenes. Even the ending was misogynistic. [spoilers removed]

There were..."

He was quite fond of Kurt Vonnegut's Player Piano.

David wrote: "He was quite fond of Kurt Vonnegut's Player Piano."

Thanks for the info. I did not know that.

Phillip wrote: "David wrote: "He was quite fond of Kurt Vonnegut's Player Piano."

Thanks for the info. I did not know that."

And Ursula Le Guin's Lathe of Heaven. He praised that highly in one of his essays.

Well, that's the most obvious interpretation and it makes perfect sense.

But I like not being sure wether he went crazy, it was an hoax (mixing his fiction with his real life purposefully), it was all true or maybe even a mix of all of the above. It makes books like Valis more enjoyable to me.

I like to imagine his life as ambiguous as his writing.

The best explorations of Dick's 'breakdown', that I've read, at least, are in Anthony Peake's 'The Daemon' and Colin Wilson's 'Encyclopaedia of the Unexplained'. Also, if you're feeling very outlandish, I'd recommend Terrence McKenna's 'The Archaic Revival'.

Believing, as I do, that 'enlightened states' can be achieved, I guess I am slightly biased. So take head with my recommendations!

Sérgio wrote: "Phillip wrote: "At the very least he read a review by Stanislas Lem that said that all American science fiction writers were charlatans except for Philip K. Dick. PKD put a lot of store in this, c..."

Thank you, for the links. I have wanted to see these but have not made the effort to find them yet.

David wrote: "The best explorations of Dick's 'breakdown', that I've read, at least, are in Anthony Peake's 'The Daemon' and Colin Wilson's 'Encyclopaedia of the Unexplained'. Also, if you're feeling very outlan..."

David:

Thank you, for the recommendations. I am interested in looking at any possible explanation of 2-3-74.

I tend to believe that people do occasionally run across striking anomalous experiences. I think there would be something wrong if such experiences did not happen (it is less believable to say that all we have is our ordinary surface existence that will always add up to a rational understanding.)

In fact, reading "The Exegesis" causes me to wonder if this is the sort of experience that the Old Testament prophets had. Did they experience 'something' that they didn't understand and then fixated on it for years without ever concluding that they understood their experiences. Someone had to write down their insights and then the writings were gathered and edited and become the prophecies that have become canonized into mainstream religion.

Phillip wrote: "Sérgio wrote: "Phillip wrote: "At the very least he read a review by Stanislas Lem that said that all American science fiction writers were charlatans except for Philip K. Dick. PKD put a lot of s..."

You're welcome.

Actually it wasn't that Lem article that got some writers pissed off but another one. But you get an idea of his opinions from this one.

Hey there again.

In this interview , after an hour, he drops plenty of names of writers that he likes or dislikes.

Likes:

Tom Disch
Barry Malzberg
Phillip Jose Farmer
Norman Spinrad
Katherine Kurtz (fantasy)

Dislikes:

Robert Silverberg
Harlan Ellison
Ursula K. Le Guin (From this interview he seems like he really didn't like her stuff despite what you guys said above.)

He also said he simply adored a satire of his writing by John Sladek called Solar Shoe-Salesman. I wouldn't mind reading that. :)

He also disses Lord of the Rings, Star Trek and he praises 1984.

I've been very eager to read some Farmer and Disch. I've got a few paperbacks on my shelf now, and having read the back covers of their books I had pegged them as potential peers to PKD.

Le Guin... I don't remember the details, but early on he praised her but later on he had some negative comments.

I'm kind of curious about Philip José Farmer but I'm not very much into series and he's basically known for his Riverworld series.

Does To Your Scattered Bodies Go reads well as a one shot book? You know, does it feel like a "complete" experience? Maybe I'll try that if that's the case...

Besides, he's the guy responsible for getting Stanislaw Lem expelled from the SFWA so I don't sympathize very much with him. But that doesn't mean I can't enjoy some of his books.

Bearing in mind that I read TYSBG in 1979, my memory is a bit fuzzy, but I think it's very much part of a series. I really enjoyed it, but was disappointed by getting to the fourth book, which at the time was supposed to be the finale, to find that I still had little clue as to the ultimate secrets of the Riverworld. Farmer later wrote a fifth book, but from the reviews of that which I've read, I don't think he clears things up completely.

Of course, that might have been his artistic intention, so it depends on what you like out of a novel.

Michael wrote: "Bearing in mind that I read TYSBG in 1979, my memory is a bit fuzzy, but I think it's very much part of a series. I really enjoyed it, but was disappointed by getting to the fourth book, which at t..."

I don't mind if the book doesn't explain everything, (most of the time the explanation is a lot less interesting than the mystery), but if this first book just feels like the first chapter of a larger story I'm not interested.

I can't really remember now if there was a self-contained ending or not. I know that I read the second book immediately after, so make of that what you will! Maybe somebody who actually knows what they're talking about will help you :-)

OK, thanks for the help anyway Michael. :)

David wrote: "The best explorations of Dick's 'breakdown', that I've read, at least, are in Anthony Peake's 'The Daemon' and Colin Wilson's 'Encyclopaedia of the Unexplained'. Also, if you're feeling very outlan..."

I'll have to check these out. I didn't know they had anything on PKD in them.

My personal opinion about 2-3-74 from reading interviews with him, biographies, reading all of his novels, etc is that PKD had a real experience on 2-3-74 of some kind, but he was unstable to begin with. He'd been on amphetamines for many years and I'm sure he'd tried other drugs. I forget if he ever admitted to taking LSD, but I think he always denied it. It wouldn't surprise me much either way. I think he got into real trouble when he tried to figure out exactly what he'd seen, which is why we have the Exegesis. He was definitely obsessive in the extreme. He couldn't just chalk it up to a really cool experience he had one day. He had to know what it was.

David wrote: "I forget if he ever admitted to taking LSD, but I think he always denied it. "

Hey there David.

I listened recently to an interview where he says he only took LSD two times. He didn't take anymore mainly because one of the times he took it he had a really bad trip that freaked him out.

Blimey, it must have been a bad trip if it freaked PKD out! His imagination was freaky enough without drugs!

Well, read it for yourself. Here are some quotes taken from the Total Dick-Head blog:

"My first LSD experience, by the way, confirmed my vision of Palmer Eldritch; I found myself in the hell-world, and it took almost two thousand (subjective) years for me to crawl up out of it."

"Fortunately I was able to utter the right words, "Libera me, Domine," and hence got through it. I also saw Christ rise to heaven from the cross, and that was very interesting too (the cross took the form of a crossbow, with Christ as the arrow; the crossbow launched him at tremendous velocity - it happened very fast, once he had been placed in position)."


"Nelson recalled that during his trip [on LSD] Phil was sweating, feeling isolated, reliving the life of a Roman gladiator, speaking in Latin and experiencing a spear thrust through his body."


What a fun ride, huh? :P

Just say "No"!!

Michael wrote: "Just say "No"!!"

lol :)

I'm sorry if I've become an overbearing presence in this topic but I think I have another one.

In this interview PKD says that his personal view of the world is very similar to the one of Robert Anton Wilson. I think the feeling was mutual.

Wilson's a very interesting thinker from what I know and he wrote some sci-fi books, so maybe PKD enjoyed those...

Sérgio wrote: "I'm sorry if I've become an overbearing presence in this topic but I think I have another one.


No worries, keep it coming. Remember, regardless of sexual preference, everyone here loves Dick!

Byron 'Giggsy' wrote: "No worries, keep it coming. Remember, regardless of sexual preference, everyone here loves Dick! "

lol

That's right, we're all Dick-heads here.

Sérgio wrote: "I'm sorry if I've become an overbearing presence in this topic but I think I have another one.

In this interview PKD says that his personal view of the world is very similar to the one of Robert A..."

I am a big fan of both PKD and Robert Anton Wilson. There is a quote from Dick on the back of my copy of Wilson's 'Masks of the Illuminati'. The quote is as follows:

"I was astonished and delighted...Wilson managed to reverse every mental polarity in me, as if I had been pulled through infinity."

For anyone interested in PKD's Pink Beam experiences, I recommend reading Wilson's 'Cosmic Trigger'. He had a similar experience, at one stage believing he was receiving contact from the star Sirius.

Paul wrote: "For anyone interested in PKD's Pink Beam experiences..."

I've always fantasized about having a psychedelic/experimental band (perhaps like what The Flaming Lips have become) and name the band The Pink Beam of Truth, and have some sort of pink laser beam (but not one that would burn our eyes out) aimed at each band member's head while they play.

So basically VALIS would be playing, and the humans would just be it's drones handling the instruments.

Sérgio wrote: "I'm sorry if I've become an overbearing presence in this topic but I think I have another one.

In this interview PKD says that his personal view of the world is very similar to the one of Robert A..."

Hehe i have been enjoying your posts while learning new things about PKD which is win win to me.

Welcome to group and keep the fun posts coming :)

Mohammed wrote: "Hehe i have been enjoying your posts while learning new things about PKD which is win win to me.

Welcome to group and keep the fun posts coming :) "

Thanks :)

There's a couple interviews out there where he states AE Van Vogt was a favorite, and a huge influence.

Doesn't surprise me as I find they have a very similar style of prose/writing.

I was just reading posts that said PKD liked Ursula LeGuin and another that said he didn't which some found confusing. It's important to remember PKD could be extremely volatile. He respected LeGuin's work and corresponded with her for quite a while, but later had a falling out with her, as he did with many people. So, depending on where people were on his Sh*t list, he might sing their praises one day and trash them the next.

I think it was PKD who read a lot of Theodore Sturgeon stories and dissected some to learn to write his own. Sturgeon has always been known as a short story master.

The World of Null-A by Van Vogt.

Player Piano by Vonnegut.

In the Exegesis, PKD mentions Cordwainer Smith - which got me reading his collected short stories. I'd highly recommend them. Everything is set in one future - it's quite remarkable.

I know he was a fan of Lathe of Heaven, but that's it. He said he didn't get her work, i assume this was before he read Lathe.