From archive (archive) Subject: Philip K. Dick From: CERMNMS@technion.BITNET (Michael Silverstein) Date: 2 May 88 18:56:45 GMT I was going through my PKD collection and was struck by the fact that I did not have a definative list of what he published, and thus I dont know what is missing. Does anyone out there have a list? Here is what I came up with so far: (in no particular order) Confessions of a Crap Artist The Crack in Space The Zap Gun Our Friends from Frolix 8 Dr. Futurity The World Jones Made Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep Martian Time Slip The Man in High Castle The 3 Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch The Unteleported Man (old and new endings) Clans of the Alphane Moon We Can Build You Ubik Vulcan's Hammer Valis Flow my Tears, the Policeman Said The Turning Wheels (stories) Galactic Pot Healer The Penultimate Truth The Man Who Japed The Golden Man Dr. Bloodmoney Eye in the Sky Solar Lottery The Divine Invation Deus Irae A Handful of Darkness The Simulacra World of Chance The Variable Man (stories) Counter-Clock World Now Wait for Last Year The Game Players of Titan The Transmigration of Timothy Archer Radio Free Ablemuth (sp?) A Scanner Darkly ---------------------------------------------------- Not in my collection or escaped through friends: Mary and the Giant (?) book of short stories released recently Kadosh (?) I would appreciate any information about the PKD books that I've missed. I suspect at least one of the above (World of Chance) is a different title for a book already listed. Thanks a bunch, mike Acknowledge-To: From archive (archive) Subject: Re: Philip K. Dick bibliography From: lary@ssdevo.DEC.COM Date: 4 May 88 17:51:00 GMT Pretty complete list! I'm away from my collection right now, but here's some additions/corrections from (fallable) memory: Additional "SF" titles: The Ganymede Takeover (co-authored with Ray Nelson, I think) The Preseving Machine and other stories The Glimmung of Plowman's Planet (illustrated children's book - very recent) Additional "Mainstream" titles: The Man Whose Teeth Were All Exactly Alike In Milton Lumky Territory Puttering About in a Small Place A Time for George Stavros (may not be published yet - coming, tho) Other stuff: Lies, Inc is a slightly modified version of The Unteleported Man Solar Lottery and World of Chance are two titles for the same book I think the spelling is Radio Free Albemuth I think the "recent book of short stories" is something like "The Collected Short Stories of Philip K. Dick", a five-volume set. I never heard of Kadosh - I'd be interested to know if it exists... There is also a little mini-publishing industry springing up in books ABOUT Philip K. Dick, including at least one bibliography with pictures of jacket/magazine covers and everything, whose name I've forgotten. There is also a Philip K. Dick Society that publishes a newsletter giving all kinds of useful information about yet-to-be-published works and other goodies. Don't have the address with me, tho - send me mail if you need it. Richie From archive (archive) Subject: List of PKD books From: fth6j@uvacs.CS.VIRGINIA.EDU (Frank T. Hollander) Organization: U.Va. CS dept. Charlottesville, VA Date: 17 May 88 22:05:32 GMT Here follows a list of of Philip K. Dick's novels, in the order they were written, based on Paul Williams' research in ONLY APPARENTLY REAL. I agree that this is a good book to read if you're interested in PKD. Also, a new critical book is available from G.K. Hall Publishers for $19.95. It's by one author, and has write-ups on all of the books. It's no big deal for the fanatic, and a little bit advanced for the novice, but would be a great source book for someone who has read a handful of Dick books over the years without getting too involved. This book has the advantage, like the Williams book, of still being available. The best critical book is Kim Stanley Robinson's THE NOVELS OF PHILIP K. DICK, but good luck finding a copy. THE COLLECTED STORIES is still available from Underwood/Miller for $125. Off of the top of my head, the complete list of other collections is Handful of Darkness (early British), The Variable Man (early Ace - I believe that The Turning Machine is this book retitled), The Preserving Machine, The Book of Philip K. Dick, The Best of Philip K. Dick, The Golden Man, Mechanical Oddities..., and I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon. None of these are that easy to find, except for the last one, which should still be available. I've got plenty of PKD information, if anyone cares. 1. VOICES FROM THE STREET (unpublished) 2. THE COSMIC PUPPETS (1957) 3. GATHER YOUSELVES TOGETHER (unpublished) 4. SOLAR LOTTERY (1955) 5. THE WORLD JONES MADE (1956) 6. EYE IN THE SKY (1957) 7. MARY AND THE GIANT (1987) 8. THE MAN WHO JAPED (1956) 9. THE BROKEN BUBBLE (1988) 10. PUTTERING ABOUT IN A SMALL LAND (1985) 11. TIME OUT OF JOINT (1959) 12. IN MILTON LUMKY TERRITORY (1985) 13. DR. FUTURITY (1960) 14. CONFESSIONS OF A CRAP ARTIST (1975) 15. VULCAN'S HAMMER (1960) 16. THE MAN WHOSE TEETH WERE ALL EXACTLY ALIKE (1984) 17. HUMPTY DUMPTY IN OAKLAND (1986) 18. THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE (1962) 19. WE CAN BUILD YOU (1972) 20. MARTIAN TIME-SLIP (1964) 21. DR. BLOODMONEY, OR HOW WE GOT ALONG AFTER THE BOMB (1965) 22. THE GAME-PLAYERS OF TITAN (1963) 23. THE SIMULACRA (1964) 24. NOW WAIT FOR LAST YEAR (1966) 25. CLANS OF THE ALPHANE MOON (1964) 26. THE CRACK IN SPACE (1966) 27. THE THREE STIGMATA OF PALMER ELDRITCH (1965) 28. THE ZAP GUN (1967) 29. THE PENULTIMATE TRUTH (1964) 30. THE UNTELEPORTED MAN (1966, rev. 1983) 31. COUNTER-CLOCK WORLD (1967) 32. THE GANYMEDE TAKEOVER (with Ray Nelson, 1967) 33. DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP? (1968) 34. THE GLIMMUNG OF PLOWMAN'S PLANET (1988) 35. UBIK (1969) 36. GALACTIC POT-HEALER (1969) 37. A MAZE OF DEATH (1970) 38. OUR FRIENDS FROM FROLIX 8 (1970) 39. FLOW MY TEARS, THE POLICEMAN SAID (1974) 40. A SCANNER DARKLY (1977) 41. UBIK: THE SCREENPLAY (1985) 42. DEUS IRAE (with Roger Zelazny, 1976) 43. RADIO FREE ALBEMUTH (1985) 44. VALIS (1981) 45. THE DIVINE INVASION (1981) 46. THE TRANSMIGRATION OF TIMOTHY ARCHER (1982) Frank Hollander Internet, CSNET: fth6j@uvacs.cs.virginia.edu *** BITNET: fth6j@virginia UUCP: mcnc!virginia!uvacs!fth6j *or* uunet!virginia!uvacs!fth6j From archive (archive) Subject: Philip K. Dick's Main Theme (Reality versus Illusion) From: Levent AKIN Date: 23 Nov 88 07:56:20 GMT Article : Philip K. Dick's "Reality versus Illusion" theme Philip K. Dick is one of the most intellectual writers of modern SF. Until his death in 1982, he has consistently produced many works which are, in reality, milestones in his effort to reflect an idea, which he closely follows. Dick follows the Hegellian way of thought, so he believes that the world as we see it is a distorted illusion or image of the real world. (This he admits in "Explorations of the Marvellous" ed. by Peter Nicholls). He is especially interested in the reality behind the veil ( *Maya* or *dokos* as he and major Greek philosophers called it) which can somehow become apparent. The appearance of reality usually comes from the usage of drugs (which Dick has used a great deal of and emphasizes in works such as _The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch_ and _A Scanner Darkly_. He believes that he has witnessed portions of reality while he was high on drugs. This theme keeps occurring in almost all of his works, mixing with some of his very interesting religious ideas in his later works (as if he has felt the coming of his death). (By the way, I do not know whether Dick is Jewish or not, but his works contain many elements from Jewish and Early Christian religion /legend).I will try to categorize all of his works which fall into the Reality vs. Illusion (RVI heretofore) category. The lit includes most of the books I`ve read. There are a few others I've not been able to read yet (It is very hard to find Dick in Turkish bookstores. There's harsh competition for any Dick title, believe me) I will not follow the order of publication dates, since my order of reading gives me a more firm background to start from. _Ubik_ The book that introduced Dick to me in 1977. (I was 16 then) It is also one of the main reasons I've been bewitched (no pun attempted) by SF. The whole plot is reality vs. illusion, since the half-lifers live in an illusory world, which is the only reality for them. _The Simulacra_ One of my favorites, but I think it's been neglected. The RVI theme is found in Kongrosian's breakdown and the image of an ever-young Nicole Thibodeaux ruling in White House year after year. _The Counter-Clock World_ Not exactly a RVI book but the flow of time has been reversed. _Eye In The Sky_ The ultimate RVI book. Everything occurs in one of the characters' imaginary world. Dick is no Marxist. Matter arises from thought. _A Maze Of Death_ Another typical RVI novel in which men in suspended animation live imaginary lives given to them by the computer.Quite allegorical. _The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch_ merges two popular themes of Dick - RVI and the usage of drugs. _The Game-Players of Titan_ RVI emerges at the last pages, where the Terrans see themselves as they really are. _Flow My Tears The Policeman Said_ Really nice book. No wonder why it received the Campbell award. Jason Taverner finds that he does not exist. _The Man In The High Castle_ Reality is reversed. Nazi Germany and Inperial Japan have won the war. Bits of reality seep through the work of a writer, Abendsen. Very nice book, but it must be read *very* carefully, as most of Dick's other works. _The Penultimate Truth_ A subtle RVI theme, in which robots on the surface of Earth pretend to be in a war, whereas there is no war going on. _Now Wait For Last Year_ in which a time-travel drug causes confusion in reality. _A Scanner Darkly_ in which drugs are the main theme. Drugs are associated with experiences of reality in Dick's works. _Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep_ The main theme is "What makes people real?" It's a side-theme of RVI, I think. _The World Jones Made_ I didn't read it, but I've read the excerpts somewhere and got the idea that this was a RVI book. I want to group _The Divine Invasion_, _Valis_, _The Transmigration Of Timothy Archer_ and _Deus Irae_ in which RVI mixes with a religious theme that really gives me the creeps. I start to suspect that *he really saw the fabric of reality in his last days* Anyway, since I'm an atheist, I don't follow this line of thought very often. It's very exciting nevertheless. Especially the description of the creator as Emmanuel, the pagan god Yahweh and Emmanuel`s path to discovering what he really is once more proved -to me- that Dick is one of the most imaginitive, most educated and literary authors of SF.I would like to get comments or approvals/disapprovals from users on the Net about those & other RVI books. Of course, discussion on any Dick book is welcome. One last word for those who are not familiar with Dick's works : Read them if you want serious, complex, literary reading. Future articles will try to focus on other aspects of Dick's writing and some of his books. I'm also planning to launch articles on LeGuin, Ellison, *blah* Asimov and possibly Ballard. Levent Mollamustafaoglu Caferaga Mah. Huseyin Bey Sok. Kismet Apt. 12/1 Moda ISTANBUL TURKEY E-MAIL : c/o Levent AKIN : From archive (archive) Subject: Author Lists: Philip K. Dick (corrected) From: JWenn.ESAE@XEROX.COM Date: 19 Jan 89 15:36:19 GMT Thanks to Jeff Deifik for adding the two Glimmung novels and the two unpublished novels (which I'll take on faith). Also added is the mixed collection "The Dark-Haired Girl" (both fiction and non-fiction [primarily letters]) which was just published. ------------------------------------------------------------------ There are some authors that I just *KNOW* someone is going to ask about. Philip K. Dick heads the list. And for good reason. Philip K. Dick is a great author (who admitedly has written some mediocre books). He largely dealt with the questions of reality: subjective, religious, quasi, psychotic & drug induced. One should never be too sure what is "really" happening in a Dick novel. Good books for the beginning Dick reader are The Man in the High Castle, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (made into the movie "Bladerunner"), and Eye in the Sky. And incidently, I have no more pending requests for lists. So unless I get requests for more authors, you'll have to be content with the 27 authors I've done already. [C] == Short Story Collection. [J] == The book is for juveniles (however you define them) [NSF] == Not SF [O] == Omnibus. Includes other books. aka == Also known by this other title. /John JWenn.ESAE@Xerox.com ------------------------------------------------------------------ Dick, Philip K[endred] [U.S.A., 12/16/1928-03/02/1982] A Philip K. Dick Omnibus [1970] [O] Dr. Futurity [1960] The Unteleported Man [1966] The Crack in Space [1966] The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick Beyond Lies the Wub [1987] [C] Second Variety [1987] [C] The Father Thing [1987] [C] The Days of Perky Pat [1987] [C] The Little Black Box [1987] [C] Solar Lottery [1955] [aka "World of Chance"] A Handful of Darkness [1955] [C] The Man Who Japed [1956] The World Jones Made [1956] Eye in the Sky [1957] The Variable Man [1957] [C] The Cosmic Puppets [1957] Time Out of Joint [1959] Vulcan's Hammer [1960] The Man in the High Castle [1962] The Game Players of Titan [1963] Martian Time-Slip [1964] The Penultimate Truth [1964] The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch [1964] The Simulacra [1964] Clans of the Alphane Moon [1964] The Zap Gun [1965] Dr. Bloodmoney, or How We Got Along After the Bomb [1965] Now Wait for Last Year [1966] Counter Clock World [1967] Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? [1968] [aka "Bladerunner"] The Preserving Machine [1969] [C] Ubik [1969] Galactic Pot-Healer [1969] A Maze of Death [1970] Our Friends from Frolix 8 [1970] We Can Build You [1972] The Book of Philip K. Dick [1973] [C] Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said [1974] A Scanner Darkly [1977] The Best of Philip K. Dick [1977] [C] The Golden Man [1980] [C] The Divine Invasion [1981] VALIS [1981] The Transmigration of Timothy Archer [1982] Lies, Inc. [1982] [revision of "The Unteleported Man"] Radio Free Albemuth [1985] Robots, Androids and Mechanical Oddities [1985] [C] I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon [1985] [C] Ubik: The Screenplay [1985] Confessions of a Crap Artist [1975] [NSF] The Man Whose Teeth Were All Exactly Alike [1984] [NSF] In Milton Lumky Territory [1985] [NSF] Puttering About in a Small Land [1985] [NSF] Humpty Dumpty in Oakland[1986] [NSF] Mary and the Giant [1987] [NSF] The Broken Bubble [1988] [NSF] Nick and The Glimmung [1988] [J] The Glimmung of Plowman's Planet [1988] [J] The Dark-Haired Girl [1988] [C] [fiction & non-fiction] Voices from the Street [unpublished] Gather Yourself Together [unpublished] Dick, Philip K[endred] & Nelson, R[ay] [/Radell] F[araday] The Ganymede Takeover [1967] Dick, Philip K[endred] & Zelazny, Roger [Joseph] Deus Irae [1976] From archive (archive) Subject: Re: PKD and the events of 1974/1975 From: ELE@PSUVM.BITNET (Jeremy Crampton) Organization: Penn State University - Center for Academic Computing Date: 23 Feb 89 14:36:35 GMT In article , jac@paul.rutgers.edu (J. A. Chandross) says: > >In a wonderful piece of prose, maddoxt@novavax.UUCP (Thomas Maddox) writes: >> let me give you the following remarks >> on the difference between "android" and "human," written as the opening of >> an address Philip Dick intended to give at a conference in England in >> March, 1975. He was ill and could not attend; his text was published in >> the collection, _Science Fiction at Large_, which also includes Thomas >> Disch's brilliant and infamous "The Embarrassments of Science Fiction." >> (Edited by Peter Nicholls, the collection was published by Harper and >> Row in the United States in 1976; so far as I know, it is out of print.) > > >PKD was not ill in the usual sense; he was very badly frightened. In 1974 >PKD's house was broken into by a para-military group. During this robbery his >fire-proof safe was blown with mil-grade plastique and the contents, including >several stories, were stolen. So was his stereo and, oddly enough, all of his >cancelled checks for the past ten years. The police had been warned by PKD [stuff deleted] >would be killed. PKD backed out at the last minute, but did send off the Human >vs Android address to be published in the proceedings. I believe that this is >the convention that Maddox is referring to. > >Jonathan A. Chandross You seem to be confusing two different events and time periods here. The "ill- ness" Thomas Maddox refers to occurred in 1975 (if memory serves, it was something to do with his heart, according to Peter Nicholls editorial comments; he later died of a stroke of course) and prevented him from flying over to England where Nicholls was presenting a series of sf lectures including the Disch essay (btw, reread that last night- it's as relevant today as it was then), Le Guin, Garner, Harrison etc at the Institute for Contemporary Arts in London. The talks were published as _Explorations_of_the_Marvellous_ in the UK and _Science_Fiction_at_Large_ in the US. As for the "para-military" group and the story you recount that follows this statement, well. You offer this with all the seeming certainty of fact, which is precisely what we don't have here. We have multiple perspectives. Read the introduction to _The_Dark_Haired_Girl_ where Paul Williams writes of the problems of "the unreliable narrator" that PKD certainly was (there's even a warning on the copyright page about this). For instance, it is not generally acknowledged that PKD lived in an area where drug dealers hung out. It's my opinion that when his house was broken into in the early 70s (around the time of Vancouver) it was actually the police conducting a raid (he also noticed people watching him before this I believe). This would account for the "mil-grade plastique" as you put it, as they looked through his safe, and, of course, why they took his cancelled checks (to see what other dealers he may have been in contact with if he *was* a dealer himself--he wasn't of course, thus the cover-up later by presumably highly embarrassed police). Paranoia is "infectious," he probably had it accentuated by the nearby dealers. Perhaps the person who recently posted, who described herself as one of PKD's dark-haired girls can tell us if she knows anything more about this? These are just my opinions you understand and they're probably as invalid as the next guy's, but I think it's better not to just uncritically accept everything PKD said (he changed his mind so often anyway, as was ably shown in Patricia Warrick's excellent _Mind_in_Motion_). That statement applies to the March 1974 events as well. But you're certainly right to recommend _The_Dark_Haired_Girl_; a real insightful book. And anyway, let's not lose sight of what's really important: his brilliant fiction. Comments? ------- From archive (archive) Subject: Re: PKD and the events of 1974/1975 From: jac@paul.rutgers.edu (J. A. Chandross) Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J. Date: 24 Feb 89 02:39:55 GMT ELE@PSUVM.BITNET (Jeremy Crampton) writes: > As for the "para-military" group and the story you recount that follows this > statement, well. You offer this with all the seeming certainty of fact, > which is precisely what we don't have here. We have multiple perspectives. > Read the introduction to _The_Dark_Haired_Girl_ where Paul Williams writes > of the problems of "the unreliable narrator" that PKD certainly was (there's > even a warning on the copyright page about this). I have read the introduction. PKD's description of the events of the 1970's were consistent with the narration in _Only Apparently Real_. I don't think a paranoid schizophrenic or even a very good (and very sane) liar could fabricate such a reasonable sequence of events and keep the delivery so consistent. Liars get caught up by little things since the universes they present are not self-consistent. As far as diminished mental capacity goes, check out a neuropsychology book if you want to look at the reasoning processes and capacity of a schizophrenic. Not what you'd call impressive. PKD's description of the breaking fits the facts much too well to be an outright fabrication. And a little poetic license could not have distorted reality enough to fit the facts. Your joe average thief does not blow a fire-proof safe. PKD came home and found asbestos all over the place. Furthermore, he found wet towels which were used to muffle the fire burst (although PKD did not find this the meaning of the towels for several years.) This is the work of a demolitions expert. Finally, there were footprints in the asbestos of military boots, clearly identified as such by their last. It is very easy to find plastique nowadays (thanks to the Soviets), but it was not quite so easy in the early 70's. You had to have some serious connections. > It's my opinion that when his house was broken into > in the early 70s (around the time of Vancouver) it was actually the police > conducting a raid (he also noticed people watching him before this I believe). > This would account for the "mil-grade plastique" as you put it, as they looked > through his safe, and, of course, why they took his cancelled checks (to see > what other dealers he may have been in contact with if he *was* a dealer This is not very likely. What dealer writes a check? And what supplier *takes* a check. While PKD had turned his house into a haven for drug users (who also dealt), he was not a dealer or user himself. It makes a lot more sense that certain government groups were not amused by the Aramchek references and might have decided to do a little checking up on him. Nixon had such operations initiated throughout his presidency. Remember the plumbers? They did the jobs that the CIA and FBI *refused* to have anything to do with. PKD personally believed that it was either a neo-Nazi or Panther group (heavy emphasis on the Panthers). I doubt that we will ever know for sure, but I am inclined to believe his account, Williams testimony to the contrary. The man may have written fiction, but I know enough of how organizations like the CIA work to believe him on this one. Jonathan A. Chandross Internet: jac@paul.rutgers.edu Uucp: rutgers!jac@paul.rutgers.edu From archive (archive) Subject: Re: Philip K. Dick Query Keywords: Drugs From: neighorn@qiclab.UUCP (Steven C. Neighorn) Organization: Qic Laboratories, Portland, Oregon. Date: 17 Sep 89 22:14:26 GMT In article <5600@decvax.dec.com> mitch@wasted.ZK3.DEC.COM (Mitch McConnell UEG) writes: >Was he a user? Am I misreading or misinterpreting his work? PKD is a complex person, and though it takes a great deal of reading to get there, you can find out a considerable amount about his personality because he really spills his guts in his stories. Read his books in the order they were written, and ride along through his remarkable life - pre-drugs, drugs, post-drugs, and everything else. _The Golden Man_ is a collection of stories by PKD. My paperback copy is from Methuen, and is copyright in Great Britain in 1981. An excerpt from _TGM_ written by PKD goes a little ways into explaining some of his traits: (reprinted without permission) "For instance, I've known Harlan Ellison since 1954. Harlan hates my guts. When we were at the Metz Second Annual SF Festival last year, in France, see, Harlan tore into me; we were in the bar at the hotel, and all kinds of people, mostly French, were standing around. Harlan shredded me. It was fine; I loved it. It was sort of like a bad acid trip; you just have to kick back and enjoy; there is no alternative." PKD have several central themes, and while his writing can certainly be enjoyed and experienced in it's own right, it is also quite an experience to delve deeper into his works and find the emerging patterns. He writes a great deal about survival. You'll find a single character struggling against a crazed and whacked out system. You'll find orientation themes - antique collectors (stamps, knick-knacks, fakes) versus characters who make different choices about what they own and what they want to own and be surrounded by (things in the present). He writes a lot about androids and their relationship (lack of) with humans. He writes of elitism and greed, the wrath of bad characters fighting caring good characters. You see lots of police (seldom portrayed sympathetically) as part of a larger domineering mechanism. Reoccurring objects such as I-Ching, Tijuana, the advertising complex, drugs, games (like pinball), con-men and confidence tricks, and so on are found through-out his short stories and novels. Again, if you are really interested, I highly recommend you read his stories "in order." Near the end of his life, his style underwent some big changes, but they are rather dramatic if you skip from an early book to a later one. Also a fair warning - While some people feel his body of work is one of the greatest science fiction collections of the last 35 years, others absolutely hate him. Some people "get" him and some don't. There doesn't seem to be a pattern either! :-) You might have a hard time finding people to talk to about the books, unlike talking about Heinlein or a Zelazny. Good luck with your Philip K. Dick reading... -- Steven C. Neighorn !tektronix!{psueea,nosun,ogccse}!qiclab!neighorn Sun Microsystems, Inc. "Where we DESIGN the Star Fighters that defend the 9900 SW Greenburg Road #240 frontier against Xur and the Ko-dan Armada" Portland, Oregon 97223 work: (503) 684-9001 / home: (503) 641-3469 From archive (archive) Subject: Biography of Philip K. Dick From: a710@mindlink.UUCP (Crawford Kilian) Organization: MIND LINK! - British Columbia, Canada Date: 10 Feb 90 17:46:17 GMT PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A MAD SAINT by Crawford Kilian DIVINE INVASIONS: A LIFE OF PHILIP K. DICK, by Lawrence Sutin. Harmony Books, $33.95 He was a speed freak. He believed divine knowledge came to him in pink rays. In his many wives and lovers, he looked for his twin sister who had died in infancy. His sanity was often in doubt, especially during a brief sojourn in Vancouver. He died of a stroke in 1982, aged 53. Yet Philip K. Dick could consider himself a fortunate man. He was finally making money as a writer, up to $90,000 a year thanks to movie sales (Blade Runner was based on one of his novels). And he believed he had experienced direct contact with God. Phil Dick was a bright, ailing boy. He suffered from vertigo and a host of other illnesses, but did well in school. Apart from a few years as a sales clerk in a record shop, his only job was as a full-time science-fiction writer. He hoped for more. Dick wanted to be a "mainstream" author, but only his s-f sold. Yet his work wasn't all potboilers. He kept attacking a fundamental question--what is real? In "The Man in the High Castle,S published in 1962, he shows us a parallel world in which the Nazis and Japanese rule America. Some of Dick's characters learn that their Nazi world is an illusion. But the "real" world isn't quite our world either. So maybe we too live in an illusion. "The Man in the High Castle" introduced thousands of readers to the I Ching, a Chinese method of fortune-telling which soon became popular in the 1960s counterculture. Dick's view of drugs as doorways to new realities was also in tune with the times. (He was wired for years on everything but heroin.) A religious experience in 1974 deeply influenced Dick's later work. In trying to make sense of that and later experiences, he produced an 8,000-page journal. Sutin has read it and gained useful insights into such later novels as "Valis" and "The Divine Invasion." Years after his death, many of Dick's rejected mainstream novels are now in print. His critical stature remains high, and a new generation of readers has found him a powerful teacher. Lawrence Sutin's biography of Dick has its problems, notably an awkward style and sloppy proofreading, but it does throw light on an "underground" science-fiction writer whose work strongly influenced American pop culture. Crawford Kilian is a Vancouver Province columnist and author of nine science-fiction novels.