Hi i'm dave and i'm a relative pkd newbie (I've only had a chance to read around half a dozen of his books) I've loved every one i've read but Dr Futurity really stood out for me :)

I'll re-recommend a UK writer Jeff Noon to anyone looking for outlandish surrealism in their sci-fi fiction. Vurt and Pollen and .... gah, it's all good, mostly.

I've been reading sci-fi for a few years now and PKD is my favorite author. I'm starting to read more than ever, so I hope to knock out many more Dick and other classic sci-fi authors over the next few years.

Ubik was the first Dick book I read, and it remains my favorite. I've also read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, World Jones Made, A Scanner Darkly, Radio Free Albemuth, and Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said. Haven't read many short stories yet.

I purchased all 3 Library of America collections of his, which gives me 13 of his most popular novels.. not sure which I'll read next, but I recommend these versions to others, as a way of getting some good novels at a great price.. they are hardcover with thin but quality paper so that the books aren't too thick, and have a built in bookmark. There is now a boxed set of all 3 books: http://www.loa.org/volume.jsp?RequestID=...

Besides Dick, I've read some Arthur C Clarke, William Gibson, and Orson Scott Card and am reading Dune now.

outside of books, I live in Omaha, Nebraska, USA and am a big sports fan, particulaly soccer and car racing.

Feel free to chat with me anytime

Hi, I've only read a few of his books but I'm a big fan. What I like most about his ideas are how well thought out they seem, as if he has really looked into a lot of different possibilities concerning them.
I look forward to learning more about him.

Hey all, I'm Sarah and I've been a PKD fan ever since my brother gave me a copy of The Man in the High Castle during my first year of college. It's still my favourite novel of his but I do think of it as being in a different grouping to much of the rest of his work. Beyond that, of course I love all the typically chosen 'best' novels by PKD but a special place is reserved in my heart for The Penultimate Truth.
His writing style frustrates me sometimes and he has definitely written more than a few stinkers but in general he ticks all my boxes. Big themes are all well and good but if, as often happens in the SF world, they are put together with some two-dimensional characters that I cannot invest in or care about then I can't invest in the theme either. I always care about the characters in PKD's work, as messed up as they often are, and isn't that the most important thing?

Nicole wrote: "Hi, I don't really see myself as a Sci-Fi fan, and that's the great thing about PkD, as far as I'm aware... vidscreens and pre-persons, the I-Ching and Ubik ... one thing changes, one dimension of ..."

Nicole its nice to meet you. It's been a while since I read any Philip K. Dick, but his book: VALIS had a profound impact on me as a writer. As soon as I get a chance I'm going to read another one of his books.

Hi, I don't really see myself as a Sci-Fi fan, and that's the great thing about PkD, as far as I'm aware... vidscreens and pre-persons, the I-Ching and Ubik ... one thing changes, one dimension of reality is stretched and a whole new world which is so astonishingly - almost divinely - similarly, that you can't help but start thinking about your own life.

I really like PkD because of that, his philosophical nature and style of writing.
The biography I Am Alive and You Are Dead The Strange Life and Times of Philip K. Dick by Carrere which I read after reading only a few of PKD's books, really opened his world to me. Since then, I love A Scanner Darkly (and its recent movie).

Great that there is more people on goodreads really enjoying PKD's work :)

Hello, my name is Simon and I am a Dickaholic (oh dear, that sounds wrong)...

My first book was "Do Androids Dream". My most recent is "The Simulacra". My favourite (so far) is "A Scanner Darkly".

Hey everyone, my name is Daniel Clausen. I've only read 3 PKD books: Man in the High Castle, Do Androids Dream, and VALIS. But VALIS was one of my all time favorite books.

Currently, I'm a grad student in International Relations, but my passion is writing. I've written two books, and I'm working on a third at the moment. Occassionaly, I'll write some science fiction, but nothing nearly as good as VALIS. I'm interested in meeting everybody.

Mike wrote: "it's nice to see so many new members to this discussion group, but Philip K Dick has such a loyal following of readers, we should be 269,000 members by now, eager and pro-active to get the best PKD..."

I know many more PKD fans, they are just not members of goodreads groups even though i have them as friends in goodreads and know them in sffchronicles site.

I hope the members who are active can get get book disc going. Im a member of other groups who have less members but who are more active talking about books,everything.

I thought I was joining a discussion group for crazies and free thinkers, I did not realize I was joining a discussion fan club. Oh well, I also did not think at this stage of my life I would be a struggling author. Here’s a free deal to members of the group. I will send a free copy of my book Nissitissit Witch www.rosemarychaulk.com to the first three members of the group who send me their mailing address. The only catch is you have to read the book ASAP and post your comments to the group. I have sold almost 800 books locally in the last year with rave revues.

Rosemary Chaulk rchaulk@charter.net

it's nice to see so many new members to this discussion group, but Philip K Dick has such a loyal following of readers, we should be 269,000 members by now, eager and pro-active to get the best PKD discussions on the web going.

Please consider INVITING all your friendlists to this discussion group so it can finally get the numbers of members it deserves.

I wanna see THOUSANDS more new members by this time in July.

:)

Mike

Dr. Roy C. Dudgeon here, aka Dudgeon, the editor of Satirica: An Anthology of Satirical Speculative Fiction, from Cowboy Logic Press, which Mr. Philbin has a story in.

PKD's works, along with Heinlein, Huxley and Orwell, were the inspiration for that collection I edited, and for much of my own writings. He consistently questioned and satarized our society in the books I have read...

--Doc.

Hey there, I'm sure you can all read my s/n through this post.

I was first turned on to PKD through Blade Runner, but after reading that book, I had a few of my friends start lending and giving me other books to read. I have since led a book discussion on Dr. Bloodmoney and worked hard to get his name out there beyond the books that became movies. What's really interesting is to see which movies actually were decent adaptations and which were clunkers. Sure, nothing can really match with the man's great prose and crazy ideas that are inherent in reading the text, but sometimes they spawn some great imagery also.

Heh welcome guys it will be interesting to see what you will think of PKD books.

Do me a favor and forget about his hollywood movies when you read him.

Cool group! I got interested in Phillip K. Dick because of his craaaazy biography! I haven't read a lot but I think this group will give me the incentive I've been wanting to begin exploring him.

Hi, I haven't read much pkd, and I've joined this group as an incentive to read more. What I have read, I've admired, and I've seen most of the films and so on, but what really triggered my interest is that pkd shared an apartment with the poet Jack Spicer, one of my favourite writers, who talks about poets being receivers rather than creators, and that strikes me as both a shamanic and a sci-fi take on the whole thing, and I wonder how much pkd may have had to do with that. So here I am...

PS: it's great to see this group is finally waking up again after its winter hibernation.

:)

remember, clicking this groups "discussion board" tab will open up the entire forum's backlog of subjects, have fun here.

Time travel eh ? I like his use of the time travel.

Hey all,
My name is Sean, and I'm a longtime PKD fan. Started reading him in highschool after seeing Bladerunner. I won't even guess at how many of his novels I've read or reread over the years. Some favorites are Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Ubik, Scanner Darkly, Transmigration of Timothy Archer. I'm currently reading The Simulacra, which may not be his deepest book, but it is fun. I was surprised by the American Idol style competitions revolving around White House perfomances, and the use of time-travel is very compelling.

Pre Persons is a crackin' read.

Hi jonesy welcome.

I too enjoy his short stories. Second Variety,Minority Report are the favourites so far.

Hello, im francis, people call me jonesy.
Scanner Darkly was the second book i read after i started reading again. and i really loved it, im reading through ubik, but i mostly read PKD short stories.

Ubik wrote: "Man In The High Castle is nothing like Now Wait For LAst Year at all. Its an alternate history novel and a character study of sorts. Its very highly acclaimed, but I couldnt get through it either t..."

I know all about The Man in The High Castle,the alternate history etc I meant i hope its one of his best to me like Now Wait For Last Year.

Like most people who've commented, I first got into PKD when I was a teenager and read him along with boatloads of other SF writers from the 50's-70's. I got back into him when I started reading SF again a few years ago. My favorites are Galactic Pot-Healer, Man in the High Castle, Time Out of Joint, Ubik.

I wonder if SF (and other genre) readers perhaps split between those who just want the equivalent of comfort food and those who want edgier stuff (not necessarily more literary, but definitely more writerly, if that term makes sense).

What makes PKD really striking is he fits into both categories. The PKD we read as teenagers goes into the first category but he doesn't stay there very easily; the PKD we read as adults appeals more to the second group. For me there's just so much more in Dick I can understand and dwell upon at this point in my life than say, Robert Heinlein (who was my alltime favorite writer when I was 14).

Man In The High Castle is nothing like Now Wait For LAst Year at all. Its an alternate history novel and a character study of sorts. Its very highly acclaimed, but I couldnt get through it either time I tried. Since you seem to have taste on par with my own, here are three that I recommend as possible next reads:

Eye in the Sky
Martian Time-Slip
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch

Those are all on par with Now Wait IMO and all in my top 5

So far its the best to me. Unlike his other quality books he hit it right with every element of the book. Great story,world,characters,ideas.

My last PKD i finished a week ago Flow My Tears,the Policeman Said. It had great characters,good story but not the usual strong level ideas,emotion put in the book.

I hope The Man in the High Castle my next book is like Now Wait For Last Year.

Yay, another fan of Now Wait For Last Year! Awesome! Thats my favorite of his

I read PKD for the first time in 2007 with Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep ?. It was interesting and PKD writing style intrigued me. I became a real PKD fan after Now Wait Last Year.

I have come to admire him very much. The way he does characters,themes in stories that arent not much about regular science fiction themes.

I have read many of his short stories too. Its enough to say he has become my top 3 writers overall and my favorite in SF. He is one of few authors i buy every work of thiers. His stories mean alot to me.

Im 26 years old,born in Somalia but had lived in Sweden since 93. I might be young as SF reader and i didnt even read books much even before i started reading genre like SF,fantasy. I have read close to 200 since 2007 which is almost 200 more than i read in the first 24 years of my life.

I think I first read PKD when I was 13 or 14 and miserable at boarding school - about 25 years ago. The book in question was "A Maze of Death" and it blew me away, even though it's probably a pretty minor work. Anyway, I spent the next 5-8 years reading everything I could, and by the time I was 18 VALIS had pretty much turned into a religion for me. As the non-SF stuff was published I went through quite a lot of it too. In recent years I must admit that I've not really gone back to him (apart from reading The Man in the High Castle on a journey from Dover to Cologne), but I feel that he really showed me what books could be, and for that I'll be forever grateful. It's also fun to see how Hollywood just can't leave him alone - like a septic scab. I thought Richard Linklater's film of A Scanner Darkly was pretty cool though...

Sorry, I've been a member for a while, and only now I'm getting around to introducing myself.

When I was growing up, we had a copy of Ubik that floated around the basement floor for a couple of years, I'm not sure why, but it was always there in the same spot and no one bothered to pick it up.

Then we moved halfway across the country, and nobody knows what happened to the book.

I read Ubik (and therefore my first PKD book) when I was a sophomore in highschool, and was immediately hooked.

Granted, I haven't read all of his books, and some I have read have been kind of let-downs from what I consider to be "essential" PKD (basically, any story wherein you lose sight of reality by the end of the book), but I do love reading him so.

My favorites (so far) are Ubik, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.

Things I really really enjoy about PKD (other than the trope of a lost sense of reality) are his dystopic SciFi settings that are both futuristic and terrifyingly "present," the tone of his writing (a Dickian language, much in the same way that Vonnegut has his own specific monotone style), and his wry, absurd philosophy.

Also, A Scanner Darkly so far is the best film adaptation.

Hi everyone,

I'm James and I've been into PKD since '82 when Bladerunner blew my impressionable teenage mind away and I decided to read some of the books by this Philip.K. Dick character who had inspired it. Somehow, despite my first reads being "Eye in The Sky" and "The Cosmic Puppets" I got into him, and by the time I blundered across "Ubik," "Palmer Eldritch," "Scanner Darkly" and "Time Out of Joint" I was well and truly hooked.

I did my Master's dissertation on PKD (well, actually comparing his SF to J.G. Ballard's SF from an Anglo-American comparative point of view) and I wrote an article on him for "The Guardian" many moons ago where I was lucky enough to interview Fay Weldon, Brian Aldiss and Dick's literary agent (whose name escapes me at the moment).

My favourite novel is,like Aldiss, "Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said." It treads territory familiar to anyone who's read "Ubik" but is just a fantastic exploration of love in all its forms.

I don't particularly see him as an SF writer - most of the SF stuff (robots, zap guns etc) were just trappings, and I don't think his style changed overmuch by the time he got to "Valis"; his concerns were the same, he'd just dropped the SF garnish.

My own stories are quite Dickian (although none of the reviewers seem to have noticed this, comparing them to Russel Hoban and Vonnegut (neither of whom I've read, I'm (really!) ashamed to say).

But I still have a few things I need to read - the "mainstream" novels and some of the pulpier late 50s / early 60s hack jobs ("Crack in Space" etc) but I've read all the stories and all the Classics. I probably have a dozen or so novels I have yet to read.

Take care all, and nice to meet you!

Hi, I'm Jordan Krall. I'm an avid reader and also a bizarro author with one book (PIECEMEAL JUNE) out on Eraserhead Press and another coming out this summer (SQUID PULP BLUES).

I love PKD.. I think he was ahead of his time.

My favorites are UBIK, THE THREE STIGMATA OF PALMER ELDRITCH, and EYE IN THE SKY.

Hi, I'm S.T. Gulik. I'm an author with one published novel and another coming soon. I don't remember where I learned about Dick. I read Valis in high school and immediately snatched up everything I could find. It's been a while since I read him though. I've been reading a lot of Bizarro novels lately (Jeremy Shipp, Jordan Krall, Gina Ranelli). Bizarro is kind of the next generation of dark literary weirdness.

Good day, everyone. Nice place you have here. I have decided to call myself palmer_eldritch, to avoid confusion. I also blog about PKD, since a sizeable amount of my brain seems to be taken up with his stuff....

http://fraser.typepad.com/frolix_8/
http://palmereldritch.co.uk

I'm Tom. Back in college, I had this crazy roommate who told me that PKD was responsible for the stories behind more movies than just "Blade Runner." I'd always liked sci-fi in general, but he loaned me A Scanner Darkly when I was 20 and I was hooked. Since then I now have read and own a five-volume collection of short stories, Do Androids Dream ..., Man in the High Castle, Flow My Tears the Policeman Said, and plan to purchase more. Others, like Ubik and Valis, I've read out of the library at college before I graduated.

I'd have to say I'm a bigger fan of his short stories than his novels with some exceptions. On the whole, though, he's definitely one of my favorite writers. I'm on here to infrequently check out what my friends are reading, but even though I'm not around much, feel free to throw a suggestion my way for a good read since I'm always on the lookout for more brain candy.

Hi, I'm Will. I came to PKD through his short stories. I've always been a fan of short form sci-fi/fantasy. I read a lot of Asimov and Borges (both of whom PKD has been compared to), so I figured PKD would be a good choice.

After reading most of his short stories, I was completely hooked and started tackling the novels. Started with VALIS (probably not the best place to start), then read Man in the High Castle (amazing), and Three Stigmata, which is in my top books of any genre. I'm currently reading Androids and loving it.

I have to highly recommend the Library of America edition of the 60's PKD novels (Castle, Stigmata, Androids, Ubik). It's an awesomely compact volume with 4 of PKD's best. I love the paper, typeface, and just everything about how this edition is put together.

I'm Sandi and I have only read about a half dozen of PKD's books. But, I've enjoyed all of them. I first became aware of him when the movie Blade Runner came out. Most of what I knew of his work was from movies. A couple of years ago, a friend lent me "Eye in the Sky" and "The Man in the High Castle." I enjoyed both immensely. For a science fiction reading group, I read "Ubik" and found it really fascinating. I then read a collection of short stories that include "Minority Report" and the stories that inspired "Screamers" and "Total Recall". I love the movies based on PKD stories and I love PKD's stories, but I've come to realize that the movies are never anything like the stories. They're not even close approximations. The movies are always dark. But, no matter what the plot or subject, I find the stories to be light. Dick seems to have had a wacky sense of humor that offsets any darkness in the books.

Hey everyone. Name is Pete, normally I don't join this type of thing but Phil Dick is so awesome I had to read what others are saying about his life and work.

Blade Runner was the jump-off for me. I read "Androids" and really thought that it had a whole other layer that the movie lacked, which made the story more powerful. Since then I've read Scanner, Three Stigamta, High Castle, Ubik, as well as other novels and two collections of his short stories.

I really appreciate Phil Dick's sense of humor and sarcasm, the way he challenges notions of morality and ethics, as well as institutions like religion, government, and corporations. Even with grandiose concepts, his stories delve into the condition of the human spirit, which is why I think its easy to get drawn into his stories.

I also love that he chose sci-fi as his venue and that he was proud of the genre at a time when it was not taken seriously. My favorites of his works are probably Scanner and Radio Free Albemeuth. I'm planning on reading the Valis trilogy next. I've been saving it.

Re: Wh0/What/Why? Hi, I've only read High Castle and Valis, but I'm hooked. Love the slick style and dialogue, and the paranoia!

I am Alive and You are Dead is amazing.

My copy looks like a Post-It factory. I've got them on dozens, upon dozens of pages.

I read the book in one sitting.

RE: "Now it's your turn -> who/what/where/when/why are you?"

Name is Rob -- physical location is in Burlington, VT but you can find me online here and at http://blog.founddrama.net/ -- I work in the tech industry and not-so-secretly aspire-by-night to fashion myself into scifi novelist.

I got into PKD in what feels like a backwards fashion. Neuromancer and Gibson's work led me to BladeRunner which in turn led me to the source. His work is utterly fascinating thematically to me -- very dense.

Recommended reading for all PKDickheads: Emmanuel Carrere's biography I Am Alive And You Are Dead.

Hello all, thanks for the invite.

I've been reading PKD since the mid-80s, after I first saw Blade Runner.

I didn't really get into him at this time, a little too young, but the seeds had been planted.

In the early '90s is when I really started to read and understand Dick's work.

I've read just under 30 of his SF novels, and I plan on reading and writing about all of them.

While his prose is often hit or miss, and he sometimes fails to deliver on his concepts, Dick's best is in a league of its own.

Well, I should say that the league is shared by the best - Dick, Sturgeon (for those of you that haven't yet, read Theodore Sturgeon's More Than Human), Bester and Ballard.

I first encountered PKD in my teens, thanks to an SF obsessed boyfriend. So, I saw a few films and then, having acquired myself an SF obsessed husband (different bloke!) I started reading the books. I love his crazy, unstable realities, but wonder why tire regrooving keeps reappearing as a career option.

Back in the 1960s, the Science Fiction Book Club had a promotional offer for joining. You'd receive a free copy of this two-volume anthology of science fiction stories. I think it cost 10 cents to join at the time, which was quite a bargain. The anthology was a very good one, with stories such as "The Stars My Destination" by Alfred Bester and many other classics.

The anthology included Dick's story, "The Father Thing," which had a big impact on me, with its horror movie creepiness of alien substitution. I next came across Dick's novel, "Clans of the Alphane Moons," later in the 60s, and I enjoyed this one very much, too. I started to seek out more PKD, reading "Three Stigmata...," "Do Androids Dream...," and "Ubik." My friends and I were fascinated by Dick's world, which seemed to capture perfectly the zeitgeist of the 60s and 70s for us.

My name is Kim. I'm an author in the suspense, romance, historical, paranormal genres. I admit I just recently became a SF fan, but more watching than reading at this point. I've been catching up on the Stargate Atlantis shows and really like them. I did love Star Wars and Star Trek as a younger adult and a child. And I've just learned of PKD books. I looked up his website bio, etc. and his books sound interesting. I look forward to reading one. Which book would be a good first book for a new reader of his works? Perhaps his short stories?
www.kimcox.org

Hello, my name's Noah and I'm a big sci-fi fan, but I'm loathe admit that I've never read any Philip K Dick. So, I decided to accept the invite, since I'll now have no choice but to get cracking.

I'm Jim Benson. In high school I read a bunch of PKD and then didn't touch any for about 20 years.

Then one day I was reading a Salon.com article about PKD and it said "Philip K. Dick wrote 37 novels." And I said, "Wow, if I read one a month, it would take me 3 years to read them all.

That sounded like a challenge. So I've been reading (more or less) one a month since then.

There are two types of immersive environments: expansive and compact. Expansive would be like going to another culture. So China or Los Angeles can be expansive environments. These are experiences that place _You_ inside another culture and force _You_ to define yourself in terms of that culture.

A compact environment is like a sensory deprivation tank or several days in bed with someone intense. They are focused, out of body, experiences that force _You_ to abandon your concept of self.

This is what PKD writing is to me. The beauty of a PKD book is inward, it can only be judged based on an understanding of the PKD aesthetic.

Sometimes, you need to read four or five different books for an entire pattern to emerge. Sometimes patterns emerge within the confines of his usually 120 page treatment.

Like Mike, the PKD I read in the past didn't resonate until my 40s. As a teen, they are rides that broaden your horizon. As a 40 year old, they are little capsules of loss and pain that treat the conditions they describe.

I stopped writing reviews of individual PKD books on my blog because they are never stand alone units. But the units they attach to (other books) can sometimes have taken 10 or 20 years of PKD writing to realize themselves.

The themes of The World Jones Made (1956) were not fully realized until books from the 1980s. But The World Jones Made is not an optional read.

As for who what why I am ... um ... apparently I'm here to type a lot.

Howdy all, Spencer here. First was introduced to PKD sometime in high school with Man in the High Castle. Blew me away, and I kept re-reading it until it suddenly dawned on me, genius that I am, that he had written more than one book. Still my fav, but Ubik and A Scanner Darkly rank up there.

My name is Stephen. I have been reading pkd since he was alive. I first read a short story collection where I learned about Perky Pat. Favorites are Ubik, Time slip, Scanner, Eldritch, Tears, and of course Valis. Best unrecognized novel is Puttering about in a Small Land.

Scanner is a great movie also but the animation is difficult for many, also it makes the progression of Arctor difficult to see.