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457th out of 2,947 books
—
12,434 voters
Clans of the Alphane Moon
When CIA agent Chuck Rittersdorf and his psychiatrist wife, Mary, file for divorce, they have no idea that in a few weeks they’ll be shooting it out on Alpha III M2, the distant moon ruled by various psychotics liberated from a mental ward. Nor do they suspect that Chuck’s new employer, the famous TV comedian Bunny Hentman, will also be there aiming his own laser gun. How...more
Paperback, 256 pages
Published
May 14th 2002
by Vintage
(first published 1964)
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I guess this is Philip K. Dick trying to be funny, or at least as funny as a story about a suicidal unemployed loner's attempts to murder his ex-wife can be. There are parts when the main character is living in a slum with a telepathic slime mold as a neighbor and a perky girl who can turn time back five minutes as a love interest that seemed like the set up to some gloriously weird sitcom.
I love how Philip Dick's personal life manifest themselves so bizarrely in his trudging-away pulp fiction:...more
I love how Philip Dick's personal life manifest themselves so bizarrely in his trudging-away pulp fiction:...more
What a wonderful universe! Well, really its quite horrific, but anyway...
I've not read that much Dick, but this was an excellent concoction even by his standards. It has all the elements you would expect: totalitarian states, men/women on the run, people with psychological disorders and psi abilities, androids, unnerving aliens with questionable motivations, and hallucinations. The only thing I didn't like was the ending.
The more interesting part of the story takes place on a moon orbiting an al...more
I've not read that much Dick, but this was an excellent concoction even by his standards. It has all the elements you would expect: totalitarian states, men/women on the run, people with psychological disorders and psi abilities, androids, unnerving aliens with questionable motivations, and hallucinations. The only thing I didn't like was the ending.
The more interesting part of the story takes place on a moon orbiting an al...more
1 like · like · see review
Nov 19, 2011
Felix Zilich
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
aliens-among-us
Война между Альфой и Землей несомненно закончилась триумфом последней. В своем победном марше земляне загнали своих врагов на их родную планету и даже конфисковали у хитиновых альфанцев один из их спутников. Повод для этого у победителей был вполне благородный – необходимость срочно организовать лечебницу для земных солдат, сошедших с ума в процессе этой звездной войны. В результате, земляне эту лечебницу, разумеется, построили, оставили в ней своих психов, а после этого торжественно вернулись д...more
"Clans of the Alphane Moon" was one of six books that sci-fi cult author Philip K. Dick saw published in the years 1964 and '65. Released in 1964 as a 40-cent Ace paperback (F-309, for all you collectors out there), it was his 14th sci-fi novel since 1955. This period in the mid-'60s was a time of near hyperactivity for the author. Under the influence of prescription uppers (like one of "Clan"'s central characters, Chuck Rittersdorf, who takes extraterrestrial "thalamic stimulants of the hexo-am...more
I've read so many of Dick's books that I really enjoyed this one since it was so bizarre, even for Dick, and because it was so quintessentially SF, with laser guns, slime glob aliens and interstellar space travel, without losing the familiar phildickian elements.
Dick clearly had problems with the various women he was married to in his personal life and this translates quite clearly into how the various wives of his protagonists are depicted in his books. Mary Rittersdorf is no exception, show...more
Dick clearly had problems with the various women he was married to in his personal life and this translates quite clearly into how the various wives of his protagonists are depicted in his books. Mary Rittersdorf is no exception, show...more
Another good one by Dick (honestly, do I ever say anything different?). The concept behind this novel is intriguing: what would an abandoned colony on a faraway planet be like, if it was inhabited solely by patients from the mental institution? One of the novel's most delicious treats is how Dick slowly reveals the different clans that the patients have divided themselves into, based on their respective illnesses. It was pretty clear to me early on that the Deps were the depressives, for example...more
My Philip K. Dick Project
Entry #30 - Clans of the Alphane Moon (written Dec. 1963-Jan. 1964, published Nov. 1964)
Clans of the Alphane Moon is one strange, wild ride.
Based on (but not expanded from like some of Dick's books) his short story, Shell Game, Clans follows two main story threads. The first follows a sort of milquetoast script writer for CIA androids, and the second follows the titular Clans of the Alphane Moon, and Chuck's estranged wife Mary's attempts to rehabilitate them.
Clans is...more
Entry #30 - Clans of the Alphane Moon (written Dec. 1963-Jan. 1964, published Nov. 1964)
Clans of the Alphane Moon is one strange, wild ride.
Based on (but not expanded from like some of Dick's books) his short story, Shell Game, Clans follows two main story threads. The first follows a sort of milquetoast script writer for CIA androids, and the second follows the titular Clans of the Alphane Moon, and Chuck's estranged wife Mary's attempts to rehabilitate them.
Clans is...more
Cool old Sci-Fi cheese. Why have they not made a movie of this one? They did Blade Runner, Total Recall (We Can Remember It For You Wholesale), Paycheck and others, but this one was jumped over. It's a cool story that is filled with 1960's cheese, ideas of a futire like only Dick can see it and just some of the strangest characters ever (the Slime Mold, Lord Running Clam to be exact). You could never write a book like this and get it published these days, but to read these now is like looking ba...more
There are two parallel storylines in this book and each appeals to me for a different reason. In the first, a mental institution on a planet collapses and the various psychotics form tribal societies that develop along the lines of their particular quirks. Hence there's a society of paranoids, of manic-depressives, of schizophrenics, and so forth. It's whacked out and weirdly logical. The other storyline concerns a man driven by his obsessive hate for his ex-wife, and it culminates in a story of...more
The mentally ill patients from Earth have been sent away to an Alphane Moon to separate them from the sane inhabitants of Earth. Chuck Rittersdorf, the protagonist, is going through a divorce with his wife, Mary, that ends up sending them to Alpha III M2. Mary and Chuck get in the middle of a war between Terra and the Alphanes, Chuck and Terran TV figure, Bunny Hentman, and the politics between the separate clans of the moon. There are Pares - paranoid schizophrenics, Manses - manic depressives,...more
I was interested and intrigued when I picked up this book. Though not expecting much, I was wonderfully surprised. In a rich, full, and detailed world, Dick does an excellent job of keeping his reader thinking through the majesty of conflicting contrasts. The simple discription on the back of the book should sere as a reminder to his readers that the few terse lines could not possibly match the work within. What appears simple soon becomes layered and complex. The ugly becomes beautiful, the ins...more
Perfect, swift and captivating novel! Dick is just great!
The story develops dynamically, it often surprises with its unexpectedness and realism.
The novel describes two societies: first is Earth, it's normal; second came to existence from the psychiatric hospital and consists, of course, from psychotics. But Dick subtly shows that it isn't so obvious, which one is normal and which is insane. What is sanity and what is madness? Quid est veritas? What is treason? The book offers to think about this...more
The story develops dynamically, it often surprises with its unexpectedness and realism.
The novel describes two societies: first is Earth, it's normal; second came to existence from the psychiatric hospital and consists, of course, from psychotics. But Dick subtly shows that it isn't so obvious, which one is normal and which is insane. What is sanity and what is madness? Quid est veritas? What is treason? The book offers to think about this...more
For fifty years the Alphane Moon, the largest mental ward in the universe, has been on its own. Home to 3 variants of schizophrenia (paranoid, hebephrenic, and polygenic) with a few maniacs, depressives, and obsessive compulsives thrown, the Alphane Moon has been governing itself for years and intends to continue to do so. However, both Earth and the Alphane Empire want to reclaim it for themselves, thus involving CIA agent Chuck and his ex-wife in battle scenes that pre-date Brad Pitt’s charged...more
Very interesting insight into how a society of completely mentally insane people would work like, how the tasks would be distributed based on each disorder's own symptomps, from the Heebs (hebephrenia schizos) being in charge of the menial jobs up to the Manses (maniacs) being in charge of defense and the Pares (paranoids) in charge of statemanship. And also, into how the work division and each people's own ambition in our current society relate to these mental illnesses. The fact that he added...more
PKD spent a great deal of time in and out of psychiatrists' offices. He had bouts of agoraphobia from the time he was a teenager and went through several spells of clinical depression. He knew the psychiatric lingo and at times used it as rigorously in his personal relationships as he did in his books.
Alpha III M2 is one of the purest creations of his experiences with mental health professionals. Alpha III M2 is a small moon in the Alpha Centauri system used by Earth as a global mental facility....more
Alpha III M2 is one of the purest creations of his experiences with mental health professionals. Alpha III M2 is a small moon in the Alpha Centauri system used by Earth as a global mental facility....more
Dopo una lunga guerra, la Terra e il pianeta Alfa hanno finalmente raggiunto
un equilibrio. Ultimo retaggio del passato coloniale terrestre è Alfa III L2, luna satellite di Alfa un tempo usata dal governo terrestre come ricovero per malati di mente.
Una volta venuto meno il controllo della madrepatria, la luna si è trasformata in una sorta di stato indipendente tanto dalla Terra che da Alfa. I suoi abitanti, umani a differenza degli alfani che sono creature insettoidi, portano traccia del motivo c...more
un equilibrio. Ultimo retaggio del passato coloniale terrestre è Alfa III L2, luna satellite di Alfa un tempo usata dal governo terrestre come ricovero per malati di mente.
Una volta venuto meno il controllo della madrepatria, la luna si è trasformata in una sorta di stato indipendente tanto dalla Terra che da Alfa. I suoi abitanti, umani a differenza degli alfani che sono creature insettoidi, portano traccia del motivo c...more
Second book of Philip K. Dick i read, being the first Ubik, and im finding i love this guy. He is just CRAZY. The ideas are very original, but it isnt just the idea... it's the history that surrounds it; i really hook to you.
I also noticing his books are very hard to describe without spoiler... so, i will just talk about how much i enjoyed.
I think, the best think about this one, are the characters, they are just to weird, i dont think there is one who i'll qualify as "normal". And this is amazin...more
I also noticing his books are very hard to describe without spoiler... so, i will just talk about how much i enjoyed.
I think, the best think about this one, are the characters, they are just to weird, i dont think there is one who i'll qualify as "normal". And this is amazin...more
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Philip K Dick is consistently the most brilliant and eccentric author I have ever read. His stories and books are often made into movies, though the movies rarely compare favorably to their origins. The movies "Total Recall," "Minority Report" and "Screamers" were based somewhat loosely on short stories, and "Blade Runner" was based on the novel "Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?" Most recently, "A Scanner Darkly" was produced as a film, and though it did a fair job of keeping close to the bo...more
Meh. If I didn't know this was PK Dick, I'd swear it was a typical TNG/Voyager episode script: mental patients exiled to a planet group themselves into clans according to [the pop-psy caricature of] their disease, and the rest... well by this time the whole thing seemed just way too preposterous to take seriously, so I just laid back and enjoyed the sci-fi adventure bit while it lasted. I'm pretty surprised they haven't turned this into a movie yet as they did with Minority Report and the like.
I've read all the PKD books I can find, and this is my favorite. Dick combines a great SciFi premise (what if a planet were colonized by mental patients?) with relatable characters that struggle with the same things most of us do: Career, ambition, and love. I can't think of a single thing I dislike or would change about this book. I found it engaging from the start and at no point did my interest wane. This isn't the first PKD book most people read, but it might be the best.
***WARNING : SPOILERS***
I really enjoyed this book. As with all Phlip K Dick novels he brings up some really interesting concepts.
I especially enjoyed the idea of a Schizophrenic society. The way that Dick draws parallels between a society of seemingly extreme personalities and the subtle undercurrents of schizophrenic in all of us in normal society was particularly brilliant. The addition of calling the various towns in honour of various famous schizophrenics is also quite brilliant and I lear...more
I really enjoyed this book. As with all Phlip K Dick novels he brings up some really interesting concepts.
I especially enjoyed the idea of a Schizophrenic society. The way that Dick draws parallels between a society of seemingly extreme personalities and the subtle undercurrents of schizophrenic in all of us in normal society was particularly brilliant. The addition of calling the various towns in honour of various famous schizophrenics is also quite brilliant and I lear...more
Feb 22, 2009
Kerne Fahey
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
foreign policy wonks, mental health professionals
Recommended to Kerne by:
BLMF bookstore
This was a a surprisingly gripping read from Philip K. Dick; I can't tell whether I was more absorbed with PKD's hapless everyman protagonist (brilliantly executed here) or the parables about US foreign policy and the inherent relativism of mental health care. The ganymedean busybody was perhaps a bit much of a deus ex machina on legs. Still and all, one of his best that I've read, and despite my record on this site I've read a lot of PKD.
A nutty psychological science fiction action book by PKD, about a moon peopled by ex-mental patients in their diagnosis-specific clans, and the humans and Alphanes doing battle to take possession of it. Although as always with PKD, even in books like this that are heavy on plot, it's really about the central character, and in this case his relationship with his wife. Best part of the book: the brilliant, telepathic Ganymedean slime-mold named Lord Running Clam.
What I love about P.K. Dick's novels is the insanity. And this book has it in heaps. It's an amusing read, but unfortunately very quick (it has a little more than 200 pages). The underlying complexities of the work were enough to make it lengthier, but it's really good as it is. I gave it three stars, although it's more like 3.5. Actually, I'd give it 4 stars if only for the unpretentiousness. And the insanity. Especially for the insanity.
No es lo mejor de K. Dick, pero es sin duda divertido y de rápida lectura. En resumen: la pelea de un matrimonio a punto del divorcio adquirirá ribetes épicos cuando se mezcle con la búsqueda de independencia de una luna de Alfa Centauri habitada por enfermos mentales. Hay guerras extraterrestres, hongos telépatas, esquizofrénicos con poderes psíquicos, androides de la CIA a control remoto e incluso una poción de amor. Simplemente demencial.
In this book, a moon of the planet Alphane has been populated by Terrans with mental disorders. Different cities form, each with a dominate psychological problem, one town is manic and fearless, one is depressed and glum, one is paranoid, etc, yet they all find a way to work together, they all find roles in society... How this differs from Earth is a question for debate. This is a great book, really enjoyed it.
Hyvä idea kuun asuttamista mielisairaista, jotka olivat jakautuneet mielisairauden tyypin mukaan erillisiin kyliin. Alku olikin mielenkiintoinen, mutta sitten tarina muuttui dekkarimaiseksi ja planeetan mielisairaat jäivät taka-alalle. Muitakin olioita oli mukana, kuten liejuhome, joka kommunikoi telepaattisesti ja lisääntyi itiöistä. Arvosana 2½.
As far as I've read so far no one has ever managed to truly make a wonderfully enjoyable science fiction comedy such as "Clans of the Alphane Moon." I bought this book at a pawn shop in San Francisco and read it in 2 days, laughing my arse off the whole time while always in awe of Dick's incredible ability to tie genres and ideas together.
Everyone, from the clans to the Rittersdorfs to Bunny Hentman to the aliens are interesting characters, all driving the story forward with mind bending amounts of intrigue. Philip K. Dick has all the players on the board almost from the start, and you get to watch their dramas unfold, by the end wondering if an interplanetary war will explode based solely on a single shattered marriage. A great book by a great author.
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Philip K. Dick was born in Chicago in 1928 and lived most of his life in California. He briefly attended the University of California, but dropped out before completing any classes. In 1952, he began writing professionally and proceeded to write numerous novels and short-story collections. He won the Hugo Award for the best novel in 1962 for The Man in the High Castle and the John W. Campbell Memo...more
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Feb 03, 2013 08:58pm
Feb 03, 2013 09:13pm