caption movement death_date death_place pseudonym birth_place imagesize nationality notableworks birth_date period signature genre image article_title birth_name occupation
philip k. dick postmodernism 2 march 1982 santa ana , california , u.s. richard phillipps jack dowland chicago , illinois , u.s. 200px american '' sheep ? '' '' the man in the high castle ubik '' '' a scanner darkly '' '' flow my tears '' , the policeman said '' '' valis trilogy '' '' '' second variety '' do androids dream of electric 16 december 1928 1952 -- 1982 philip k dick signature.svg science fiction , paranoid fiction , philosophical fiction philipdick.jpg philip k. dick
 philip kindred dick novelist , short story writer , essayist and philosopher
philip k. dick

philip kindred dick -lrb- december 16 , 1928march 2 , 1982 -rrb- was an american novelist , short story writer , essayist and philosopher whose published works mainly belong to the genre of science fiction .
dick explored philosophical , sociological , political and metaphysical themes in novels dominated by monopolistic corporations , authoritarian governments , and altered states of consciousness .
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 , schizophrenia , and transcendental experiences in novels such as `` a scanner darkly '' and `` valis '' .
later in life , he wrote non-fiction on philosophy , theology , the nature of reality and science ; this material was published posthumously as `` the exegesis '' .
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 .
`` 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 .
`` 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 . ''
in addition to 44 published novels , dick wrote approximately 121 short stories , most of which appeared in science fiction magazines during his lifetime .
although dick spent most of his career as a writer in near-poverty , eleven popular films based on his works have been produced , including `` blade runner '' , `` total recall '' , `` a scanner darkly '' , `` minority report '' , `` paycheck '' , `` next '' , `` screamers '' , `` the adjustment bureau '' and `` impostor '' .
in 2005 , `` time '' magazine named `` ubik '' one of the hundred greatest english-language novels published since 1923 .
in 2007 , dick became the first science fiction writer to be included in the library of america series .
