Nominate your favorite Philip K. Dick novel

[GoodGame]

Nominate your favorite Philip K. Dick novel



I nominate "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?"



WHO WAS Philip K. Dick, you ask? http://www.philipkdick.com/
Also:

Philip Kindred Dick (December 16, 1928 – March 2, 1982) was an American novelist, short story writer and essayist whose published work is almost entirely in the science fiction genre. Dick explored sociological, political and metaphysical themes in novels dominated by monopolistic corporations, authoritarian governments and altered states. In his later works Dick's thematic focus strongly reflected his personal interest in metaphysics and theology. He often drew upon his own life experiences in addressing the nature of drug abuse, paranoia and schizophrenia, and transcendental experiences in novels such as A Scanner Darkly and VALIS.[7]

The novel The Man in the High Castle bridged the genres of alternate history and science fiction, earning Dick a Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1963.[8] Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said, a novel about a celebrity who awakens in a parallel universe where he is unknown, won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best novel in 1975.[9] "I want to write about people I love, and put them into a fictional world spun out of my own mind, not the world we actually have, because the world we actually have does not meet my standards", Dick wrote of these stories. "In my writing I even question the universe; I wonder out loud if it is real, and I wonder out loud if all of us are real."[10] Dick referred to himself as a "fictionalizing philosopher."

In addition to 44 published novels,[11] Dick wrote approximately 121 short stories, most of which appeared in science fiction magazines during his lifetime.[12] Although Dick spent most of his career as a writer in near-poverty,[13] nine of his stories have been adapted into popular films since his death, including Blade Runner, Total Recall, A Scanner Darkly, and Minority Report. In 2005, Time magazine named Ubik one of the one hundred greatest English-language novels published since 1923.[14] In 2007, Dick became the first science fiction writer to be included in The Library of America series.[15][16][17][18]

Bibliography: http://www.philipkdick.com/works_novels.html

EDIT: UPDATED

 

[Kyriakos]

I was checking this thread, for books of interest, but i didnt reply since i have read none of his work.

Perhaps you can change the OP slightly, to allow for more general discussion? Then it might get more replies

 

[Azale]

The Man in the High Castle is my personal favorite. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep was great, Flow My Tears the Policeman Said is solid...and I still havn't decided if VALIS is a good book or not.

 

[rhawn]

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep was much better than Blade Runner, and I really like Blade Runner. VALIS, The Divine Invasion, The Transmigration of Timothy Archer, and Radio Free Albemuth aren't quite fiction, as PKD wasn't quite sane when he wrote them. VALIS was the best of that "4 part Trilogy", I particularly like the part when the main character experiences gnosis when he discovers who Horselover Fat is.

I typically recommend The Man in the High Castle to people who haven't read PKD before because it follows a traditional alt-history structure and doesn't leave as many question asked as many of his other novels. Dr. Bloodmoney and The Clans of the Alphane Moon are also good one to begin with because of the non-ambiguous endings. My favorite though? It's gotta be Ubik. I also like the Three Stigamata of Palmer Eldrich. The end of that is the closest I can describe coming off an acid trip.

 

[DKatana10]

The Man in the High Castle wins by far, though I enjoy many other works by Phil Dick.

Very character driven book is High Castle, though the plot does kick in to compliment after some time. I've bought maybe 7 or 8 copies of this book; I find it the perfect introduction to PKD and to science fiction as a whole.

It obeys that law of showbusinesss...leave people wanting more. You want to know more about the alternate past to this reality, but PKD wisely just feeds tid-bits rather than get caught up in the things that led up to the alternate 1962.

 

[Heretic_Cata]

lol Dick

Anyway i was unimpressed by Man in the High Castle, the whole nazis wining the war background was very intresting, but other than that it was not. Most of the time i was reading i was like "OMG say more of what happened in the war & after i don't care about who your friggin characters are screwing".

 

[Gigaz]

I haven't read much of him but I like Martian Time-Slip very much.

 

[Traitorfish]

Anyway i was unimpressed by Man in the High Castle, the whole nazis wining the war background was very intresting, but other than that it was not. Most of the time i was reading i was like "OMG say more of what happened in the war & after i don't care about who your friggin characters are screwing".

Eh, there's other works that deal with that. Dick uses the setting as a back-drop to the story, rather than the driving force behind it.

 

[Fanatic Noob]

Ubik is good. I also like The Minority Report.

 

[Earthling]

Would have to go with Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep

 

[Gnawbone Jack]

A real toss-up, but I'll go with "Time Out of Joint" over "Ubik" or "Flow My Tears..." Reading it today, 52 years later is a real eye-opener.

 

[GoodGame]

Just to bump the thread. Added a link to the OP for people with no prior experience with PKD.

I'll also nominate "The Solar Lottery" as my runner-up favorite PKD novel.

 

[Fanatic Noob]

I should read Blade Runner and Total Recall, as I liked movies. Strange that I not saw Minority Report movie, but read the story. Was fun.

Edit: I wonder why they not did movie based on Ubik. It is perfect material for a movie.

 

[GoodGame]

I should read Blade Runner and Total Recall, as I liked movies. Strange that I not saw Minority Report movie, but read the story. Was fun.

Edit: I wonder why they not did movie based on Ubik. It is perfect material for a movie.

Blade Runner was "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sleep?"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_Androids_Dream_of_Electric_Sheep?

Total Recall was "We Can Remember it For You Wholesale". Though I don't think the movie was strongly based off of Dick's writing (though the movie was basically a paper-thin plot action movie, so it'd be hard not to make it from anything). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Can_Remember_It_for_You_Wholesale

From what I read (which doesn't seem to jibe exactly with the wikipedia) was Blade Runner was basically written by Dick into a screenplay, but the director decided that Dick's screenplay wasn't good enough, which irritated Dick greatly.

And Minority Report: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Minority_Report


Ubik might happen: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubik#Attempts_to_produce_an_Ubik_film

Tommy Pallotta, who produced the film adaptation of Dick's A Scanner Darkly, said in a July 2006 interview that he "still [has] the option for Ubik and will be looking to make a live action feature from it."[7] Dick's daughter, Isa Dick Hackett, said the film adaptation of Ubik is in advanced negotiation.[8] In May 2008, the film was optioned by Celluloid Dreams. It will be produced by Hengameh Panahi of Celluloid Dreams and Isa Dick Hackett, of Electric Shepherd Productions. It was slated to go into production in early 2009.[9]

http://www.scifimoviepage.com/upcoming/previews/ubik.html Though it doesn't have an IMDb page and 2010 is now long gone.

 

[Atticus]

I guess it would be VALIS, as I don't remember the names of the couple others I've read (They do not include The Man in High Castle or the Android-thing).

I'd like to read some more Dick novels, but although they are decently good, the beginning of them has always been somewhat unpleasant. It takes longer than usual to get an idea of what they are about, which I don't appreciate much.

I like the balance of wackyness and reason in his novels.

 

[Terrapin]

Martian Time Slip.

I also recommend reading some of his short stories. His first ever published story, for instance, is called "Roog." It is about a dog barking at the garbage men told from the dog's point of view. "The Guardians" is another good one.

 

[illram]

I can't remember what novels I have read of his, but I nominate his short stories, in the aggregate.

 

[Zelig]

Another nod to The Man in the High Castle... however it was his first work I read, and significantly before the others; I feel like I should re-read it at some point to better place it in context of his other work.

 

[Ozbenno]

A Scanner Darkly. Dark and completely messed up portrayal of someone going mad. I loved it.

 

[Leifmk]

I'm going to have to go with the aggregated short stories, as well. Idea-per-page count is way higher, and those were some ideas.

Although I am also very fond of A Scanner Darkly.