Here I am -- nearly half a century old, and having watched and loved several films inspired by Philip K. Dick, I finally got around to reading a couple of his stories. I can see why a lot of people like his writing, and I can see why others don't. It took me a while to get over how he seemed to break many rules that get pushed on aspiring writers these days. For example, in both stories I read, PKD did more "telling" than "showing."
But yet, his stories felt organic. He was simply telling a story, he was going to tell it his way, and if people didn't want to listen, he couldn't care less. This taught me a lesson--something I've heard before from Orson Scott Card, but here I say it again in different words. An organic story is much more important than technique. If you spend all the time showing off how well you can follow all the rules and forget to tell a story, you will have succeeded in boring the whole world.
In a way, I appreciated PKD's ability to avoid flowery language and to stay out of the way to let the story be told. As a friend explained to me: PKD gets straight down to business and tries not to waste our time.
Here are the stories.
"Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?" (1968)
Of course, I had to start with the book that launched two of my favorite movies. (That and I chose to go with what the library had available at the time.)
Just like in Blade Runner and its sequel, the short novel stars Rick Deckard, the android bounty hunter, and also the robot Rachel Rosen. He is tasked to track down and retire the last of eight rogue androids after one of them shoots his colleague. Along the way he comes across an interesting cast of characters, many of which are androids that do not know they're not human. Toward the end, Rick even wonders if he, himself, is an android with implanted memories.
Expecting the book to be just like the movie was a mistake. The movie throws out many important aspects of the book, and ends up being a different kind of masterpiece.
Animals play a large role in the book, as most of them had been wiped out by the recent nuclear war. Thus, each living human feels duty-bound to raise and protect their own real animal. However, some like Rick, purchase electric animals to masquerade as real. And wouldn't you know it? Rick has an electric sheep.
The book introduces the idea of a mood organ, in which one can dial up a specific emotion to feel. There is also a strange religion called Mercerism, built on a story of a man who perseveres against all odds, and humans can tap into empathy boxes in order to relive the story over and over again. These two aspects dropped from the movie show that technology had gotten advanced enough to basically program humans, raising the question: what's the difference between humans and androids if we humans can be equally manipulated?
The book also gives Rick a current wife, though they appear to be struggling. At one point near the beginning of the story, during a disagreement, Rick orders his wife to dial her mood organ to an emotion of compliance.
When all is said and done, the book ends without answering most of the questions it raises, all while depressing the heck out of me, just like the movies. I highly recommend giving it a read.
"The Variable Man" (1953)
I include each story's date, so you can understand my next comment. The writing in "The Variable Man" is pretty bad. There is a lot of repetitive dialogue, and all the characters are shallow, but the story was yet captivating. I can understand why the copyright was allowed to lapse on this story (it is available for free via the Gutenburg project).
Terra (Earth) is surrounded by the Ancient Centaurian Empire, based at the closest star of Proxima Centauri. As Terra is unable to reach out and explore the stars, they are planning a war against the Empire. Daily, they run calculations to predict the outcome of such a war, and it constantly show a Terran loss until a secret weapon is developed.
As soon as Reinhart, the head military man, hears the news of a possible Terran victory, he prepares for attack whatever the cost. They must strike before the enemy learns of the weapon and has a chance to compensate.
All goes well until a man from the past, Thomas Cole, is accidentally pulled into their time. His mere existence causes the calculations to fluctuate widely, inspiring Reinhart to order the death of the man.
What happens next is actually a pretty good story. As you can guess, Cole doesn't want to be killed.
In addition to the not-so-good writing, there are some interesting plot holes in the science. For example, FTL plays a large role, but after establishing that Terra can't control FTL, how is it they can receive information faster than the speed of light? And if Terra is surrounded by the Empire, how could Terra even think of getting their warships anywhere near enough to attack, let alone communicate with home base? But whatevs -- fifteen years later, PDK would prove how much his writing had improved.
It was interesting to read this story shortly after having read the entire Three Body Problem trilogy, which has a similar plot.
I also wonder if James Cole of 12 Monkeys fame got his name from this very story.
Despite the semi-bad writing -- what do you have to lose? It's available for free, and it's a quick read. At least the story catches and maintains attention.
I'll come back later to read more of PDK's stories. In the meantime, it's time to try out some other books on my list.
