Review: Great Collection of Philip K Dick Stories!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 25, 2011
I purchased this Kindle edition for 99 cents and was not disappointed. These are great stories, and the Kindle versions are pretty clean of errors. While I did find a few, they did nothing that distracts or take away from the story.If you are not familiar with Philip Kindred Dick, he was one of Science Fictions great American authors. Fourty-four novels, 121 short stories and then there are the movies based on his books. Blade Runner and Total Recall come to mind as the two movies most people will recognize right away. There are ten movies from his works and one more due out in 2012.I looked up the stories from this book to place them within his writing career.Beyond Lies the Wub - 1952Beyond the Door - 1954The Crystal Crypt - 1954The Defenders - 1953The Gun - 1952The Skull - 1952The Eyes Have It - 1953Second Variety - 1953The Variable Man - 1953Mr. Spaceship - 1953Piper in the Woods - 1953As Dick started writing in 1952 for magazines, most of these are from early in his career and are classic 50s Science Fiction short stories.I would like to go into each of the stories, but that would be tragic. To be honest, I feel most of these have the typical "surprise" ending that was so common at that time and anything I write would be spoilers for the stories. But we do find some of the classic scenarios here; space travel, alien encounters, future government plots and the "not everything is as it seems" classic format. Dick weaves stories like tapestries, giving you a scenario and building strong characters that lead you into the story web he creates, trapping you in a totally unexpected ending, or a carefully conceived punch line.We also see why his books became well-loved movies. These ideas, these concepts, which seemed so fresh and original at the time are still original and timely. Dick never bogged down in the technology; rather he concentrated on characters and content. So the stories do not seem "dated" as some older science fiction can be. There is no loss because of outdated technology.My own personal favorites are Beyond Lies the Wub, The Eyes Have It and The Variable Man. But there wasn't a disappointing story in the group.These are ingenious stories that I believe you will find tantalizing and fresh. I highly recommend this collection of early Philip K. Dick stories, and the price is perfect! You just can't go wrong at 99 cents.