The Cosmic Puppets

PKD wrote very little pure fantasy, but when he did, he tapped into something raw & primal. (See his short story "Upon the Dull Earth" for an especially powerful example.) This early work is considered lesser PKD, a first & tentative exploration of themes he would develop more fully in subsequent novels. Previous reviewers rightly compare it to the Twilight Zone in its basic plot. But it has a genuinely eerie tone & intensity to it, as if the contents of his troubled & brilliant psyche are unmediated by the more rational structure of science-fiction. The imagery verges on the Bosch-like in places, and the reader can feel the overwhelming power of the unconscious ready to erupt in full force at any moment. PKD's fascination with Jung is clear to see in these pages. No wonder he stepped back a bit & took a more controlled approach to such material in his prolific science-fiction work! Yes -- it's short, its basic themes are more roughly hewn than in his later novels, and there's a definite sense of a writer still not entirely sure of himself. But there's also a glimpse of something so powerful that it almost blinds the conscious, logical eye, leaving an afterimage that lingers for a long while. Most of his work provides much food for thought; this slim work goes directly to the core of the Collective Unconscious. Most highly recommended!

The Cosmic Puppets is a very interesting Philip K. Dick (most are), in some ways because it doesn't feel quite like most of his other work. This one felt more like an episode of The Twilight Zone than the heady science fiction he is known for. Children with strange powers, things not being as they seem (a frequent Dick theme), and a strange mystery that unfolds into something large beyond scope (again, a frequent theme), as god clashes against god. The story opens with the main character, Ted Barton, visiting the town he grew up in. Only now ... it's different. Something is wrong. He finds that he NEVER EXISTED in this town's history. Things only get stranger from there. The Cosmic Puppets leaves you with as many questions as it does answers, but was a very satisfying read. The situation Dick creates is engrossing and fascinating, and the pacing is lightning quick. Probably among the most accessible PKDick books I've read to date, perfect for a casual fan or someone new to this man's startling body of work, The Cosmic Puppets comes highly recommended.

THE COSMIC PUPPETS originally appeared as half of an Ace Double Novel -- those 35¢ paperbacks that contained two complete stories back-to-back. The publisher considered it mere pulp. But it continued the ironic comment-on-the-genre style that Dick was developing in his early work and that reached maturity by 1962 in what was up to that time Dick's favorite book (he told me so himself in a letter in 1966), THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE. Dick's work has to be taken as a whole. Irony is the theme. If you're looking for witless kicks, avoid Dick and bore yourself with those god-awful space operas that presume to pass for serious sci-fi these days. Dick is a genius with a highly original voice, one whose evolution can be traced back to Hammett, Hemingway, and Chandler, up through Van Vogt and Heinlein. THE COSMIC PUPPETS, while admittedly not his most fulfilling work, contains many of those fascinating elements that make up his unique signature. Frankly, I found it hard to put down.

This is the only full-lenth fantasy that Dick wrote; the rest are either science fiction or mainstream. But this present-day small-town setting in which magic works has much in common with his many future worlds in which the magic is supplied by altered states of consciousness, time paradoxes, and alien gods. Here a man named Ted Barton returns to his hometown of Millgate, Virginia, for the first time since he was a child, and finds that the streets, landmarks, stores, and people are all different. Although all small American towns are interchangeable to some extent, this goes too far, particularly when he finds an old newspaper record of his death at age nine. Somehow Barton has entered an alternate universe, one in which he is no longer supposed to exist. He becomes obsessed with the need to verify his own existence, and soon discovers himself in the middle of a sort of Armageddon, where the cosmic forces of darkness and light are fighting it out. This is an early Dick novel that prefigures many of the themes of his later fiction, and is consistently entertaining.

The Cosmic Puppets can't really be classed as science fiction, it would be more supernatural/fantasy. The story wouldn't look out of place in a Stephen King short story collection. I think it's slightly unfair to charge full price for a half-length novel, I'd recommend borrowing it from a library if it's available. The Cosmic Puppets is more a 'disposable' novel but if you're a PKD fan I'd recommend reading it.