Philip K. Dick
The discovery of mysterious gateway leads to a new world full of dangerous possibilities in this science fiction tale from an iconic author.
When a repairman accidentally finds a parallel universe, everyone sees it as an opportunity, whether as a way to ease Earth’s overcrowding, set up a personal kingdom, or hide an inconvenient mistress. But when a civilization is found already living there, the people on this side of
...5) The Skull
10) The Defenders
11) The Gun
Philip Dick's post-nuclear-holocaust masterpiece presents a mesmerizing vision of a world transformed, where technology has reverted back to the nineteenth century, animals have developed speech and language, and humans must deal with both physical mutations and the psychological repercussions of the disaster they have caused. The book is filled with a host of Dick's most memorable characters: Hoppy Harrington, a deformed mutant with telekinetic
...In a 1978 interview, Philip K. Dick said 'I've always had this funny feeling about reality. It just seems very feeble to me sometimes. It doesn't seem to have the substantiality that it's suppose to have.' Fortunately for us, Dick translated his feelings about reality into some of the greatest science fiction writing of all time. This collection features five stories from early in his career, when he found his voice as a writer. In 'The Gun,' a
...When an interviewer asked Phillip K. Dick "What is the most important quality for a writer to have?" he replied "A sense of indignation... A writer writes because it's his response to the world. It's a natural process, like respiration... The capacity for indignation is the most important thing for a creative person. Not the aesthetic capacity but the capacity for indignation... And especially indignation at the treatment afforded other people.
...When asked by an interviewer 'Why is there Science Fiction?' Phillip K. Dick responded 'There is SF because the human brain craves sensory and intellectual stimulation before anything else, and the eccentric view provides unlimited stimulation, the eccentric view and the invented world.... The function of SF psychologically is to cut the reader loose from the actual world that he inhabits...' And cut us loose he does. But never disappoints. This
...In a 1977 speech, Phillip K. Dick said "Once in a great while, [a novelist] happens by chance onto a thoroughly stunning idea new to him that he hopes will turn out to be new to everyone else." In this collection of five stories, all first published in the 1950s, Dick explores a number of truly interesting ideas. In "Small Town" a man creates a perfect scale model of his own town, as a means of escaping his unbearable reality. In "Human Is" the
...This superlative collection of futuristic tales explores ground-breaking supernatural themes from the founding heroes of the science-fiction genre. The short story form is perfect for capturing the atmospheric tension of these legendary stories.
This collection includes the following stories:
"The Door in the Wall" by H. G. Wells—A man must choose between the rationality of science and the magic of imagination."All Cats Are Gray"...