iy47ab (02/15/83)
Someone was asking what's good by him. I usually read short stories, but after seeing Bladerunner, a triumph for people like me who want REAL science fiction in movies (not just space opera, a la Star Wars), I *had* to read "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?". It was very good, although not his best, but extremely different from the movie; even the theme differed a little! Still, it gives an added dimension to the movie (and vice versa) and is well worth your time.
@RUTGERS.ARPA:jpa144@cit-vax (04/09/85)
From: jpa144@cit-vax (Jens Peter Alfke) Someone in #115 (I'm sorry, but I forget who; I still haven't figured out the UNIX mail command, so I don't have the Digest lying around on my screen) asked about the soon-to-be rerelease of Philip Dick's _In_Milton_Lumky_ _Territory_. Quickly dredging out my copy of _Philip_K._Dick:_In_His_Own_Words (Gregg Rickman; Long Beach CA, Fragments West/the Valentine Press, 1984), a fantastic, indispensable work for anyone `into' Philip Dick : GR: It is my understanding that you quit writing for a year in 1960-1961 out of frustration that your best works weren't being printed -- your mainstream, literary novels, like _Confessions_of_ _a_Crap_Artist_. Did you have other mainstream novels you were trying to sell? PKD: Would you believe 13? Some as long as 600 pages. Slave labor. . . . Most of those were written around the time I started selling, like 1951, '52, '53. Most of them are really fairly early. . . . PKD: _In_Milton_Lumky_Territory_ -- that's about a salesman, by and large a rehash of Arthur Miller's _Death_of_a_Salesman_, which had influenced me enormously ideologically. The whole thing "attention must be paid to this man," that fitted my ideology exactly, that was completely how I felt. There was great dignity in this salesman, there was great dignity in his aging and suffering and death. . . No explicit list of the mainstream novels is given in the book, but I found references to these: Confessions of a Crap Artist [published in 1975] The Man Whose Teeth Were All Exactly Alike [published 1984 by Mark Ziesling] In Milton Lumky Territory [to be published by Dragon Press] Puttering About in a Small Land [published Academy Chicago] Mary and the Giant [unpublished] Gather Yourselves Together [unpublished] The Broken Bubble of Thisbe Holt [unpublished. "It's just a bad book"-PKD] Voices From the Street [unpublished. This is the 600-page one] A Time For George Stavros [unpublished] Nicholas and the Higs [unpublished] I recommend _...In_His_Own_Words very highly to any PKD enthusiast. It contains a short biography, an essay by Rickman which attempts to classify Dick's novels into four periods, and a long series of interviews (often more like conversations) with Dick about his feelings, life, and written work. The publisher is undoubtedly obscure (I picked up the book at a bookstore / comics shop in Long Beach), but you may be able to persuade a bookstore to order it. --Peter Alfke (jpa144@cit-vax)
@RUTGERS.ARPA:Slocum.CSCDA@HI-MULTICS.ARPA (05/08/85)
From: Slocum@HI-MULTICS.ARPA
In reply to: bunny!ehn\@topaz.arpa
Being somewhat of a collector of P.K.Dick myself, I have both the books you
mentioned. I would be willing to sell them if I can find replacements. I'll
start checking the local used bookstores, if you want.
BTW, could you send or post a list of all Philip K. Dick printed matter?
Brett Slocum
(ARPA: Slocum\@HI-MULTICS)
(UUCP: ...ihnp4!umn-cs!hi-csc!slocum)@RUTGERS.ARPA:boyajian%akov68.DEC@decwrl.ARPA (05/11/85)
From: boyajian%akov68.DEC@decwrl.ARPA > From: Slocum@HI-MULTICS.ARPA (Brett Slocum) > In reply to: bunny!ehn\@topaz.arpa > > Being somewhat of a collector of P.K.Dick myself, I have both the books you > mentioned. I would be willing to sell them if I can find replacements. I'll > start checking the local used bookstores, if you want. > > BTW, could you send or post a list of all Philip K. Dick printed matter? Not asking for much, are you? :-) You may want to look for: PKD: A PHILIP K. DICK BIBLIOGRAPHY, compiled by Daniel J H Levack, Underwood/Miller, 1981. It's 156 pages of bibliographic data, including photo reproductions of Dick's books and sf magazines that featured Dick stories on the cover. There are also annotations by Steven Owen Godersky describing the plots. The bibliography covers books, short fiction, unpublished manuscripts, non-fiction, verse, and works about Dick. There are also lists of collaborative works, connecting stories, and a chronologically arranged list of Dick's work. Levack is one of the prime bibliographers in the field, and this is worth getting if you're a hardcore Dick fan. The book is available in both hardcover and softcover. I'm sorry, but I don't have price information on hand. I believe that the softcover is $9.95 softcover and the hardcover is $17.95, but I couldn't swear to it. --- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian, DEC, Maynard, MA) UUCP: {decvax|ihnp4|allegra|ucbvax|...}!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-akov68!boyajian ARPA: boyajian%akov68.DEC@DECWRL.ARPA