Paycheck and Other Classic Stories by Philip K. Dick: And Other Classic Stories

The Short Happy Life of the Brown Oxford collects some of Dick's earliest writing, including much of his output from 1952-1955. Even writers who don't appreciate his prose style would have to admire his fecundity: some of these stories were written within days of each other, yet each has something unique about it. Fans of Dick will see early brushstrokes that were later transformed into masterpieces. There are a few post-apocalyptic stories here; this is a genre that Dick would revisit throughout the 1950s, as mounting hysteria, foreign and domestic, seemed to make war inevitable. There are also scheming insects (and even a murderous bath towel), vengeful teddy bears, sentient shoes, and world-weary computers. One of Dick's best qualities is that he can make the reader feel empathy for just about anyone-a dog barking for what seems to his owners like no reason, a teary-eyed Martian swine, or a hyper-evolved hamster. So reading this collection might, for some, be a bit of a workout. Unlike a novel, where the reader sees through the eyes of one or maybe two characters for 200+ pages, here you're walking in someone-or something-else's shoes every few pages. At times, it's almost intoxicating. On to the stories: I'll just mention a few of my favorites, though they've all got positive qualities. Stability, which is the first story Dick wrote, would be of interest just because of its priority, but it's worth a read strictly on its own merits. Dick creates a world where innovation is frozen, a la Rand's Anthem, inviting the reader to root for a young man with an invention. But, there is a very unexpected twist... Roog, the first story Dick saw published, is a dog's eye view of the world that deserves a second read after reading Dick's note on the story in the appendix. Beyond Lies the Wub is an incredible piece of short fiction that really makes you think. I read the story three times, and each time took something different away. Not to give anything away, but you'll definitely think twice before you eat your next steak. The Infinites is a story that everyone who hated the infamous Star Trek: Voyager episode "Threshold" should read. Not to give anything away, but "Threshold" is one of several Trek stories based upon the erroneous idea that evolution is a teleological process, with an endpoint already mapped out in our genes. Here, Dick takes this idea, turns it on its head, and does something with it. Variable Man combines a few Dickian favorites: omniscient computers, a constant war terror, and a wily, inarticulate everyman protagonist. Some elements of the plot are visible miles off, but the ending isn't. Paycheck is a longish story with a typical Dickian hero and several elements that would later make it into We Can Remember It For You Wholesale, which was in turn the basis for Paul Verhoeven's excellent Total Recall. I think that it deserves a movie treatment of its own. Colony takes paranoia to an absurdly high level. As Dick says in his n

The name Philip K Dick emerges quite frequently in any debate over the identity of the world's greatest science fiction author. Consider, then, the claim that Dick short stories are actually a more impressive achievement than his novels. Excessive, you say? I think it's true. Dick's one hundred-odd stories contain at least one mention of most of the ideas that shaped modern imaginative fiction. As such, the five-volume collection of his stories, of which "Beyond Lies the Wub" is the first volume, must be centerpiece of any serious scifi collection. Dick's prose is never lavish, but always plain and workable. In a sense this merely disarms us, as we don't expect such wondrous invention from apparently normal writing. Aside from that limitation, however, these stories range over everything imaginable: from fantastic to prosaic, from the present time to far future settings, and from horror to tragedy to light-hearted wry humor. Two of the best comedy stories in this volume feature Dr. Labyrinth, a kooky inventor who sees problems and solutions quite differently from the rest of the human race. In "The Preservation Machine", he invents a method for converting musical works to animals, so as the great classical masterpieces can have better odds of survival in a Darwinian world. In "The Short Happy Life of the Brown Oxford", he discovers that inanimate objects will come to life if they are sufficiently irritated. "The Preservation Machine" ends with the discovery that the struggles of a dog-eat-dog world have transformed the works of Bach and Schubert into hideous bits of cacophany, a prime example of how even Dick's humorous tales are not without their bite. On the horror end we have "Colony" and "Meddler". In "Colony", a exploration team on a new planet finds that murderous blobs of protoplasm are capable of imitating any inanimate object. As Dick himself says is the end notes: "The Ultimate in paranoia is not believing that everyone is out to get you, but rather that everything is out to get you. "Meddler" tells the tale of reckless engineers who build a mirror scoop for observing the future. Regrettably, their own observations guarantee that the future will be a worse place. How can this be? Dick explains the enigma in high style. Among the more solid hard sf stories is "Mr. Spaceship". An elderly professor agrees to have his brain donated to a cause; it will be installed as the command unit for a spaceship, where its intelligence will allow it to navigate alien minefields. However, the titular vessel has plans of its own, and may prove capable of outwitting both the humans and the aliens. It's a fine example of Dick's faith in individual cleverness against the mass stupidity of government, bureaucracy and corporatism. It's hard to pick a best story from such a volume; it's a classic case of 'they're all so good'. Top honors would have to go to "The Little Movement". A bizarre old man sells toy soldiers to unsuspecting chi

There are three consistent aspects to PKD's (Philip Dick's) work that I find compelling: 1. He constantly asks the (most important) question, "What is the nature of reality"? 2. He repeatedly states and offers evidence that the answer to the question "What does it mean to be human?" is the ability to feel empathy. 3. His plots involve such "ordinary" people, and have excellent character development - so you quickly get to understand them. Meanwhile, the story involves some bizarre science fiction device , idea, or condition, that he makes a part of this very normal human's world. You're quickly drawn in by the master. PKD spent a significant amount of time thinking and writing about philosophy. In a way, reading his stories is an entertaining way of doing a survey of his take on the world's philosophical history without having to read (and understand) endless tomes of the great philosophers. You can see how this changes in PKD as you read different books in the Collected Stories series. Philip makes it abundantly clear that he hates much of the stupidity that mankind inflicts on itself. War is a commonly expressed example of this. Of course, with the science fiction plot theme, he can easily spread examples of this through time, through the galaxy, and beyond (even to gods, other sentient races, etc). As is tragically true so often with deep thinkers, Philip's life was far from carefree...As a consequence, and the fact that he's obviously a man bent on searching for TRUTH, his writing often has a dark underlying feeling. Comedy is sprinkled through the stories, but it too has a dark quality. Even the moments of greatest joy provide a somewhat bittersweet feeling, due to the background of the plot worlds. But again - reading PKD is not a dose of happy-pills, it is about TRUTH, whether pretty or not. No matter who you are, these stories will make you think and I suspect learn a thing or two. They cover such a variety of plots that almost everyone is bound to be pleased by some, alarmed or saddened by others, and to feel a surge of empathy for some situations and realize that (bizarre as the situation may be) - this too is human. I think it would be truly impossible for any thinking person to read and reflect on the 118 stories in the 5 volume series and come away completely unchanged. And for the vast majority of us (to borrow a PKD novel title) "Cosmic Puppets" with empathic capabilities, I'm betting the change will be for the better...

This book is a collection of PKD's earliest short stories, one of which had not been previously published. This volume is particularly interesting because the reader can watch PKD develop his storytelling skills over time.Full of the characteristic Dick plot-twists and off-the-wall humor, this volume is immensely enjoyable. My favorites include "King of the Elves," "Expendable," "The Short Happy Life of the Brown Oxford," and "Colony."

Every story in this collection is fascinating. Each one is its own little world. It's easy to see why filmmakers like his stories - his dialogue is believable, and there is always action of some sort. The Variable Man, the longest short story in this collection, is an action-adventure film waiting to happen. The King of the Elves is one of my many favorites.