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Os Clãs da Lua de Alfa

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Qual é o limite entre a sanidade mental e a loucura? Imagine no futuro uma pequena lua, que tendo um dia servido de asilo para loucos, agora é um estado constituído. Com suas leis e problemas. As pessoas se reúnem em clãs - os Psicóticos, os Hebetizados, os Maníacos, os Paranóicos, os Esquizóides, os Depressivos - de acordo com suas doenças mentais. O resultado é uma sociedade surreal e ao mesmo tempo bizarra, arremedo da nossa. A Terra continua existindo, mas, mesmo nesse espaço que conhecemos, estranhas criaturas circulam e interferem nos destinos humanos. Você irá conhecer a "matéria viscosa", estranha forma de vida com exóticos poderes; Coelho Hentman, protagonista de um famoso programa de humor na televisão; Chuck Rittersdorf, nosso anti-herói e é claro... muitos "simulacros", dos quais é melhor não falar por agora.

180 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1964

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About the author

Philip K. Dick

1,987 books22.2k followers
Philip Kindred Dick was a prolific American science fiction author whose work has had a lasting impact on literature, cinema, and popular culture. Known for his imaginative narratives and profound philosophical themes, Dick explored the nature of reality, the boundaries of human identity, and the impact of technology and authoritarianism on society. His stories often blurred the line between the real and the artificial, challenging readers to question their perceptions and beliefs.
Raised in California, Dick began writing professionally in the early 1950s, publishing short stories in various science fiction magazines. He quickly developed a distinctive voice within the genre, marked by a fusion of science fiction concepts with deep existential and psychological inquiry. Over his career, he authored 44 novels and more than 100 short stories, many of which have become classics in the field.
Recurring themes in Dick's work include alternate realities, simulations, corporate and government control, mental illness, and the nature of consciousness. His protagonists are frequently everyday individuals—often paranoid, uncertain, or troubled—caught in surreal and often dangerous circumstances that force them to question their environment and themselves. Works such as Ubik, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, and A Scanner Darkly reflect his fascination with perception and altered states of consciousness, often drawing from his own experiences with mental health struggles and drug use.
One of Dick’s most influential novels is Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, which served as the basis for Ridley Scott’s iconic film Blade Runner. The novel deals with the distinction between humans and artificial beings and asks profound questions about empathy, identity, and what it means to be alive. Other adaptations of his work include Total Recall, Minority Report, A Scanner Darkly, and The Man in the High Castle, each reflecting key elements of his storytelling—uncertain realities, oppressive systems, and the search for truth. These adaptations have introduced his complex ideas to audiences well beyond the traditional readership of science fiction.
In the 1970s, Dick underwent a series of visionary and mystical experiences that had a significant influence on his later writings. He described receiving profound knowledge from an external, possibly divine, source and documented these events extensively in what became known as The Exegesis, a massive and often fragmented journal. These experiences inspired his later novels, most notably the VALIS trilogy, which mixes autobiography, theology, and metaphysics in a narrative that defies conventional structure and genre boundaries.
Throughout his life, Dick faced financial instability, health issues, and periods of personal turmoil, yet he remained a dedicated and relentless writer. Despite limited commercial success during his lifetime, his reputation grew steadily, and he came to be regarded as one of the most original voices in speculative fiction. His work has been celebrated for its ability to fuse philosophical depth with gripping storytelling and has influenced not only science fiction writers but also philosophers, filmmakers, and futurists.
Dick’s legacy continues to thrive in both literary and cinematic spheres. The themes he explored remain urgently relevant in the modern world, particularly as technology increasingly intersects with human identity and governance. The Philip K. Dick Award, named in his honor, is presented annually to distinguished works of science fiction published in paperback original form in the United States. His writings have also inspired television series, academic studies, and countless homages across media.
Through his vivid imagination and unflinching inquiry into the nature of existence, Philip K. Dick redefined what science fiction could achieve. His work continues to challenge and inspire, offering timeless insights into the human condition a

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Profile Image for Lyn.
1,998 reviews17.5k followers
February 7, 2023
At a large corner table in a bar in San Francisco in 1962, Philip K. Dick, Poul Anderson, Robert A. Heinlein, Theodore Sturgeon and Kurt Vonnegut sit having lunch and discussing novels.

Phil: Guys, listen to this, I have an idea for a story. In the near future, a planet is populated from groups of mental health patients. Each category of mental health will have its own area and settlement, each representing a different “clan”. There will be a clan of schizophrenics, a clan of manics, a clan of depressions, patients, etc.

Bob: What is it with you and mental illness?

Phil: We are all mentally unstable; it is only a matter of degree, tangent paths along our own journey towards the Godhead. Also, the concept of mental instability, or a distinction with the “norm” tracks with an idea about a difference with the normal state of perception, opening the consciousness to psychic abilities and maybe even telekinesis and / or pre-cognition.

Theodore: I like it, but also, you simply MUST have a telepathic slime mold.

Phil: A telepathic slime mold, sounds fun, but why?

Theodore: belch! Why not?!

Kurt: Ted, what is that plastic ooze on your legs?

Theodore: Last night while I was walking to the science fiction convention, I thought I could take a short cut across a creak and so I did, and while padding across the stream, this pearl colored gel affixed to my legs, it kind of burns.

Kurt: Hmmm, gives me an idea.

Bob: Where’s that good-looking waitress?

Poul: Sounds good, but I think I like your fantasy more than your science fiction?

Phil: When do I ever write fantasy, except for a very non-profitable venture into mainstream, I stick with science fiction? You’re the one who forays into fantasy.

Poul: Forays?? Some of my best work is in fantasy.

Theodore: Yeah, I liked that one where the elf lord has sex with the captive troll and gives birth to the changeling, but wait, wasn’t that Tolkien?

Poul: NO! Damn it, it is NOT Tolkien, that was my 1954 novel The Broken Sword, so it’s not a Christian allegory, so what?

Kurt: Who said anything about a Christian allegory? What about that one Arthur C. Clarke did about the aliens who tried to invade medieval Europe and then the old knights turned the tide on them? That’s kind of a cool mix of sci-fi and fantasy.

Poul: That’s mine again, The High Crusade, published in 1960, waitress, can I get my check?

Bob: Oh, Poul, don’t be so defensive, we all know you are a great talent (finishing his last oyster) Now where is that delightful little serving wench?

Phil: So, Bob, what do you think about my idea?

Bob: Sounds good, I like it, you just need to spice things up a bit. Take that attractive young woman in the next aisle (Good afternoon, fraulein! purr!) What she needs are bigger breasts, you could incorporate into your sci-fi mental health colony a segment about fake breasts.

Kurt: What is it with you and breasts?

Phil: Fake breasts? Like robot breasts? I don’t understand.

Bob: Excuse me, you nubile little minx, can I get some more oysters, or do I need to come back to the kitchen and spank you?

Kurt: Again with the spanking, Heinlein, what is going on with you? And that was your third plate of oysters; I think you’re scaring our waitress.

Bob: I’m just saying, in the future, technology should be able to … shall we say, augment a young woman’s gifts from nature?

Phil: I see, so she could take some drugs and gain larger, more robust breasts?

Theodore: What is it with you and drugs?

Bob: Not necessarily drugs, Phil, maybe an implant, surgical, that could make a woman’s mammary glands more firm and youthful. Also, I think it would be a great idea to put in a scene with a dangerously strong aphrodisiac where a woman goes wild and damn near kills a man during sex.

Pause, all stare at him

Poul: I don’t think Boy’s Life will pick that up, Bob, and I’m starting to worry about you.

Phil: He scared my cat last time he came over to my apartment, and the birds stopped singing.

Kurt: Poul, you have put together some damn fine time travel stories, maybe Phil could come up with a time travel twist, instead of just straight future science.

Phil: I actually do have an idea like that! An alternate history, like in the war, what if the Nazi’s had won, and the Japanese, what would America look like?

Poul: I explored that concept in Three Hearts and Three Lions, does anyone read my work?

Kurt: We all do, Poul, you have great peer recognition, no doubt. I like that idea too, Phil, what kind of changes would take place in an America where the Axis had won? I mean, that opens up all kinds of imaginative concepts, how would we dress, what kind of books would we read, or NOT read? What kind of cars would we drive?

Bob: Great point, Kurt, by the way, what the hell kind of car is that anyway? The one you drove here in today? Some kind of Nazi buggy?

Kurt: It’s a Saab, its Swedish; it is NOT a Nazi buggy! You stay pretty straight with science fiction, Bob.

Bob: Oh, I’m straight! (leering)

Kurt: (taking a drag on his cigarette) Oh for God’s sake, Bob, does Virginia let you out of the house? What do you think about Phil doing a time travel book?

Poul: I have written a number of time travel books.

Bob: I like it! He could write a sexy, racy story about sexual freedom, even from the restraints of time and morals. Hell, Phil could even write a story where the protagonist goes back in time and has sex with his mother, like there is something wrong with that.

Table stares at him

Bob: I’m just saying, if you wrote a time travel novel, that could be a situation that could be explored.

Silence.

Phil: Anyway. I’m writing my next story about clans of mentally ill people who colonize an alien moon, I’m thinking of calling it Clans of the Alphane Moon.

Theodore: Would you have androids, or simulacrum in this novel?

Phil: Yes, but … I don’t understand … why would I write a story without an android?

*** 2023 reread -

Clans of the Alphane Moon was written during Phil’s frenetic, amphetamine fueled early sixties when he was banging out novels in months not years. I imagine all night frenzied typing away at roughly edited first drafts that made their way directly to the publisher. And if that’s true then what we have here is an authentic stream of consciousness Philip K. Dick Rorschach / Pollock blotter art.

I think it’s upside down.

Anyway.

This is of course Phil’s wonderfully imaginative and fantastic world comprised of clans of mental patients who have taken over the asylum / moon and have been living for generations in relative peace and prosperity.

This time around I again enjoyed the planet with all the clans of mental patients, but I paid more attention to the ongoing divorce between the two central characters and I wondered how much of this romantic drama was inspired by Dick’s own troubles with relationships.

If this were adapted for film I’d like to see it animated in the style of Futurama.

As fun as this is, I join with many critics of this book that Phil could have developed this more. It is rife with crudely allegorical and socio-economic commentary from the fast typing maniac up at 3 am. But what if he could have spent some more time with this superbly metaphorical absurdist comedy and made it better?

We’ll never know but this is one of his most entertaining and the flaws - and there are many - do not at all discount how good this is to read, and reread.

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Profile Image for Glenn Russell.
1,500 reviews13.2k followers
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April 17, 2024



Zounds, Dickheads! Clans of the Alphane Moon is a Dick doozy, one of the funniest, most bizarre novels you'll ever read.

Oh, yes, in 1964, with the help of Speed, Phil sat at his typewriter in California and pumped out, burned out, blazed out, slammed out six classic SF novels - Martian Time-Slip, The Penultimate Truth, The Simulacra, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, The Unteleported Man - and the mindblower under review.

In the opening chapter, we witness a meeting of the representatives of the seven clans on Alpha III M2, a moon within the Alpha Centauri solar system. Danger is at hand. Although the clans have been living independently and peacefully for these past twenty-five years, Earth (Terra) will be sending a team of psychiatrists for medical reasons, so called, but everyone can see through the pretense and knows Earth wants to reclaim control and put them all back in mental institutions. By the way, the seven clans are those suffering from, respectively, paranoia, mania, obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression and three different types of schizophrenia.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, Chuck Rittersdorf, the novel's main character, a guy who makes his living programing simulacra for the CIA, is experiencing problems of his own – his wife Mary is filing for separation and needs Chuck to get a better paying job so he can send her more money.

All of the above is the barest of a barebones outline. Since there's so much vintage PKD craziness squeezed into each and every chapter, I'll make an immediate segue to a batch of highlights/themes:

Am I Sane? – Sticking with the novel's language, we have all varieties of nut cases up on Alpha III M2, but, down here on Terra, Chuck Rittersdorf must deal with his low self-esteem and his (gulp) suicide attempts. And there's his wife, Mary, a psychiatrist, whose occupation is marriage counseling. The question of what constitutes sanity and acceptable behavior for individuals in modern society was an ongoing issue for the author and an abiding theme throughout Clans.

Privacy – Chuck working for the CIA doesn't prevent his boss and CIA head honcho from walking into his apartment uninvited when he's not there. Invasion of privacy, violations of privacy, a lack of respect for privacy, anyone? PKD had a special sensitivity for an individual's right of privacy, not to be spied on or subjected to propaganda. Somewhat ironically, Phil has Chuck, in Mary's words, “working for the CIA, programming propaganda simulacra who gabbed a message for uneducated Africans and Latin Americans and Asians”. And, of course, Chuck must deal with his living space being bugged.

Alien Ally – Would you believe Chuck's guide, a font of wisdom, isn't a human but a six foot Ganymedean slime mold sporting the name Lord Running Clam? The giant slime mold speaks like a professor (the most articulate, well-educated presence in the novel!) and possesses one keen advantage: the gift of telepathy. Too bad we humans lack such an ability to read other people's thoughts. Likewise, the power to know the future like a Precog. PKD was painfully aware of the limitations of our human, all too human condition and frequently gives characters in his novels (both human and non-human) extraordinary abilities – as in someone else in Clans: attractive young Joan Trieste is a Psi having the power to change a person's past.



Super-duper Speed - Clans features a unique drug illegal on Terra, a thalamic stimulant of the hexo-amphetamine class, a drug eliminating the need for sleep, thus enabling Chuck to work sixteen hours a day. Chuck is given such a drug by none other than Lord Running Clam. Do you hear echoes of PKD's own experience writing on Speed?

The Noxious Power of the Boobtube – Phil was aware of the mind-numbing influence of American TV. Clans also features Bunny Hentman, a stand-up comic who now has his very own TV show. Bunny (a takeoff of Henny Youngman?) plays an instrumental part in the war up on Alpha III M2 between Terra, the clans and the outer space Alphanes. But, wait, perhaps Bunny allying himself with the Alphanes against the power-hungry Terrans isn't such a bad thing, if nothing else, the clans will be freed up from being put back in hospitals due to their insanity – after all, as PKD well knew, the thin line between sanity and insanity can be arbitrary, a product, in part, of a society's exerting power to maintain its own status quo.

Alphane Moon Mayhem – Up on Alpha III M2, pinned down by deadly lasers, Chuck tries to sort out who is his friend and who is his enemy. The clans? Those from Terra? The Alphanes? His attempts at logic quickly become scrambled. “The old adage, derived from the meditations of the sophisticated warrior-kings of ancient India, that “my enemy's enemy is my friend” had just not worked out in this situation. And that was that.” Poor confused Chuck – do you really want your CIA simulacrum Dan Mageboom to kill Mary as a way to end your problems? It might be time to seek council from the Ganymedean slime mold.

The Old Typewriter – We're in the distant future, years away from 1964 but Phil still has Chuck pound out his scripts on a standard typewriter and create stack of papers. Wow! With all the stunning technological advances, one thing PKD didn't anticipate: writing on a computer. For me and many others, such an oversight adds an undeniable charm to his work. And as Sandra Newman observed when writing about those SF novels finding their way to dimestore racks in bygone years: “A crafted work of literature is a beautiful thing; a genius's unedited ravings, however, is a thing both beautiful and rare.”


Philip K Dick, 1928-1982
Profile Image for Manny.
Author 46 books16k followers
April 28, 2014
The doorbell buzzed. Manny opened to find a breast-heavy young woman in a Venusian sludge-silk blouse. She had something in her hand. Without waiting for an invitation, she entered the dingy conapt and looked around her.

"Otis said to bring this," she said, holding out the package. "He thought it could be useful. If you're still unable to find an idea for the Dick review." Manny groaned inwardly: as usual, the powerful GodReads combine were making sure they stayed ahead. Having seized control of the Solar System's theological literature market in the takeover of 2013, they were in no hurry to relinquish their newfound power. But at least they had been kind enough to use an attractive courier. He opened the package, which turned out to contain a holovid cartridge.

"Thank you," he mumbled. The girl smiled at him brightly. "I'm Cara," she said. "Maybe I should stay around while you play it? I have some Psi powers, they might help. Augmentation of reality, revelation of symbolic structure, that kind of thing."

"Sure," said Manny absently, as he inserted the cartridge into his worn player. The machine gave a couple of angry, rasping clicks, but after a few moments began to power up. The holofield washed outwards, first engulfing Manny and Cara, then spreading to cover the rest of the room. Manny glanced around, surprised: he had been expecting a new scene to have been projected, but nothing seemed to have changed. He cleared his throat, intending to say something sarcastic, then paused.

All the details of the room were leaking away: every time he tried to focus on a specific item, it evaded his gaze. Chairs and tables relaxed into generic furniture, then into anonymous objects. The Callistan table-lamp, one of the few personal items he had managed to retain after his divorce, became an undifferentiated patch of light. He turned to look at Cara, who was fading, Cheshire Cat like. Soon only her breasts were left, then they disappeared as well. The rest of the room had gone too. All that was left was an absolute darkness. As Manny's eyes adapted, he saw that a ghostly shape was emerging from the black. It resolved into a bearded male face that seemed oddly familiar.

"Who are you?" asked Manny, more intrigued than frightened; evidently, Cara's Psi powers were somehow modulating the holovid transmission. "Are you God? Or me?" He couldn't shake off the feeling than the face was very well known to him, and that any moment he would recognize it.

The face smiled. Manny felt words forming in his mind, a disembodied voice. "I made this world," it agreed.

"Is there anything else you want to say?" asked Manny.

"Try not to kill the people you love," said the voice. "Money matters more than you think. You believe the Paraclete has left you, but it remains."

"The Paraclete?" said Manny, puzzled.

"The Holy Spirit," replied the voice. Then, with a rush, light came back, and Manny saw the familiar lines of the conapt reemerge. A cloud of acrid smoke billowed from the holovid player. Cara stood adjusting her blouse, which had somehow become disarrayed.

"I hope I have been of assistance," she said in a formal manner. Before Manny could reply, she was gone.

Manny stared dejectedly at the closed door. The memory of the transcendent vision he had received was already indistinct; something about a parakeet? And his review still needed to be written.
Profile Image for Brett C.
934 reviews225 followers
May 2, 2021
I thought this was OK. From the get-go I was intrigued by the back story of patients from a mental facility evolving into a dysfunctioning society. But then the underlying plot of CIA agent Chuck Rittersdorf and his wife took away from the potential of the mental patients. The plot was highly imaginative and original but was slow and boring at times. The concept of the simulacra (androids with extremely accurate human mimicry) was fun.

This is not my favorite PKD and I thought 'The Man in the High Castle' and 'Ubik' were more enjoyable. I would recommend these as starters for those new to PKD. Thanks!
Profile Image for Bradley.
Author 9 books4,832 followers
March 3, 2018
I started this book knowing nothing only to realize I had just fallen into the deep end of nutsville.

Literally. The inhabitants of Alphane Moon are full of crazies. Certified mental hospital escapees. Of course, that hasn't stopped them from building a skewy-functional society over 20 years full of overreactions but relatively peaceful cooperation among all the bickering.

Move on to a few "normal" Earthlings, a bitter struggle between an idiot CIA man, his idiot psychologist wife, and an idiot popular comic and we get paranoid intrigue, suicidal depression, telepathic slime molds, buxom women, and an interplanetary war.

I kept suspecting that this whole novel was a fever dream of a man in a psychotic break, but no, no cheap tricks here. :) It's a bona fide SF full of aliens and a message that no one is normal. :)

In other words, it's PKD to the core. Most of PKD's old standard questions are externalized in this early novel, but they're all clearly the same questions he revolves around later in his more intellectual and introspective later novels. Insanity is a big one, of course, but drug use, the nature of creativity and the holy spirit and the fluidity of human nature and perception is all bigger than life. :)

This is darkly funny and NUTS. If I had to compare it to anything, I'd rank it along the same line as the original Total Recall with Arnie. Full of cool crap, snappy dialogue, wild situations, and totally dysfunctional families.

:)

It's a fun roll. :)
Profile Image for Mike.
360 reviews233 followers
April 22, 2020

Clans of the Alphane Moon is one of the eleven science-fiction novels that Phil wrote from 1963-64, with the help of amphetamines. The plot is nearly impossible to recap, but let's just say that it follows typically downtrodden Dick protagonist Chuck Rittersdorf, whose job in 21st-century Marin County, California is to program and write anti-commie propaganda for CIA simulacrums (the simulacrums are then sent out into the non-capitalist world, presumably to beer halls and universities and park benches, to agitate). In the midst of an acrimonious divorce, and having just moved into a run-down apartment- excuse me, a conapt- Chuck contemplates murdering his wife, now his ex-wife rather, or maybe committing suicide instead; luckily for him, however, his new neighbor happens to be a telepathic Ganymedean slime mould called Lord Running Clam (Lord of what, exactly, was never clear to me, but you have to admit it's an impressive title), who becomes aware of Chuck's distressed thoughts from across the hallway. Presumably it would be like if you or I heard someone muttering to themselves. Soon enough, Lord Running Clam is picking up the tab at the local pub; arranging for attractive young women to appear at Chuck's door; encouraging Chuck to murder his wife with a simulacrum (the perfect crime, naturally); blackmailing- um, encouraging- Chuck to take a job with a TV comedian named Bunny Hentman who might have connections with the CIA but who might also have shadowy ties with high-ranking Alphane military types; and in an echo of Phil's own approach to writing at the time, supplying Chuck with enough amphetamines to ensure that he never has to worry about that pesky, inconvenient human need for sleep. Yes, Chuck's problems are solved...or so it seems, for about half-a-page.

Clans, by the way, is probably one of Phil's funniest novels. It's hard to overstate how awkward things can get, for example, when you have a telepathic, somewhat tactless, Ganymedean slime mould hanging around:

Picking up his thoughts, the slime mould cautioned. "Remember, Mr. Rittersdorf, Miss Trieste is a member of the Ross Police Department."
Joan Trieste said, "so I am." She had obtained the slime mould's thoughts but not Chuck's. "Why did you think that to Mr. Rittresdorf?"
"I felt", the slime mould said, "that because of that fact you would not countenance amorous activity on his part."
The explanation seemed to satisfy her. "I think", she said to the slime mould, "that you ought to mind your own business more. Being telepaths has made you Ganymedeans terrible busybodies." She sounded cross.
"I am sorry", the slime mould said, "if I misjudged your desires, Miss Trieste; forgive me." To Chuck it thought, "Apparently Miss Trieste will entertain amorous activity on your part toward her."
"Chrissake", Joan Trieste complained. "Mind your own business, please!"
"It is difficult", the slime mould thought morosely, to no one in particular, "to please Terran girls." For the rest of the trip to the bar it carefully did not think anything at all.

You may have noticed that I haven't even mentioned yet the eponymous clans of the Alphane moon; descendants of Terran settlers who had trouble adapting to life in the faraway Alphane system, they're now divided by their respective mental illnesses- there are the Manses, for example, the Pares, the Ob-Coms, the Deps, and a few others. The clans take a backseat to Chuck, Lord Running Clam and Bunny Hentman for a good part of the novel, the threads only beginning to converge when Chuck's ex-wife Mary, a psychologist, arrives on the Alphane moon with a Terran expeditionary force whose purpose is to convince the clans to submit to medical treatment, and a return to Terran rule. The distinction, however, between the nominally healthy society of Terra and the nominally unhealthy society of the Alphane moon turns out to be not that clear. As a truly vertiginous plot unfolds, Phil not only provokes questions about mental health and illness, but explores the mentalities of colonizers and colonized, as well as the position of a small nation-state (or fledgling tribal moon-based society, rather) caught between two large empires.

The plot eventually stops twisting, turning, jackknifing, careening, unfolding and folding back in on itself long enough to arrive at a relatively subdued ending that feels like a bit of an oasis after all the machinations and counter-machinations. Every so often in Phil's writing, as in the last pages here, I catch a glimpse of a young adult of the space age, still a kid in some ways, hopeful and fascinated by the possibilities of space travel, awed at the idea of starting life over on some new planet...or extrasolar moon, as the case may be.
Profile Image for Luís.
2,346 reviews1,302 followers
June 12, 2024
This book is a simple but excellent SF novel. It is well-paced, gripping, easy to read, and offers pleasant relaxation.
You can also see a critique of society and a dark future vision—a book where P K Dick put a lot of his neuroses.
In short, a great book with authentic pieces of Dick in it!
Profile Image for David.
744 reviews161 followers
January 7, 2024
My 9th PKD novel. ~ and this is pretty much a flat-out comedy! WOO-HOO! It's always welcome when Dick interjects humor into one of his books; a number of them have a somewhat-generous sprinkling. But 'Clans...' is special in that regard. He must have found himself in a particularly buoyant mood.

Odd... for a story about a marriage teetering on divorce. When we meet CIA agent Chuck Rittersdorf and his psychiatrist wife Mary, they are right on the precipice. One small fingertip-tap will push them over the edge.

But, before we meet those two, we meet The Council on the Alpha III M2 moon, about to convene for a decision that requires solidarity. They're a motley cross-section of mental states; they're vulnerable; they must act fast. But what connection will they have with Chuck and Mary?

~ because, in a way, the battered couple shouldn't be in a sci-fi story. Dick's focus on divorce is a serious one. However, Dick is a sci-fi writer, so into the galaxy they go! And it all becomes fitting after all. As people, Chuck and Mary are essentially 'on different worlds' anyway. The struggle turns metaphorical:
"What a foul-up. You and your domestic life; it's wrecking the plans of two inter-system empires, Terra's and Alpha's--did you ever think of it that way?"
Without the sci-fi element, we'd be left with just a domestic drama, perhaps one as depressingly detailed as 'Kramer vs. Kramer'. But, because equal time must be given to a space battle, we're only given the hardest punches--the salient facts of the Chuck-and-Mary dispute.

That's where the added fun enters. Fleshing out the novel's set-up, PKD doesn't skimp on premise details or comic potential. He surrounds the couple with supplementary characters that increase the wackiness, including a famous TV comedian, a gelatinous entity indispensable as a next-door neighbor, and a surprisingly droll simulacrum (one of two, actually):
"I also heard the slime mold declare," Mary said, "that you're not a person but a simulacrum."
"Person, shmerson," Mageboom said. "Does it matter?"
Dick makes a point of referencing a running motif throughout his work:
"... *There is no protection.* Being alive means being exposed; it's the nature of life to be hazardous--it's the stuff of living."
He also seems to offer up a window into his soul:
"Suppose the tests show no drift, no neurosis, no latent psychosis, no character deformation, no psychopathic tendencies, in other words nothing? What do I do then?" Without unduly complimenting himself--at this point he was well beyond that--he had an inkling that was precisely what the tests would show. He did not belong in any of the settlements here on Alpha III M2; here he was a loner, an outcast, accompanied by no one even remotely resembling him.
In passing, PKD offhandedly mentions one of my favorite film comedies--'Kind Hearts and Coronets'--a timeless classic which employs the kind of irreverent tone that 'Clans...' seems to embrace.

All told, this is a vibrant departure for PKD; deftly kinetic, endlessly inventive, even--ultimately--rather moving.
Profile Image for Claudia.
1,013 reviews759 followers
February 17, 2019
My second try of PKD’s works and now I’m sure his novels are not for me, although I liked the worldbuilding idea of this one.

Alpha III M2 is a satellite inhabited by the former residents of the once Earth owned psychiatric institution: Skitz(ofrenics), Mans(maniacs), Heeb (hebephrenics), Pare (paranoiacs), Poly (bipolars?) and Dep(ressives). Each of these clans lives in a different city, but now, being threatened by Earth which tries to gain its satellite back, form a coalition to defend their home.

On the other hand, Chuck Rittersdorf is separated by his wife, who is a psychiatrist on the way to Alpha III M2. He sees this as an opportunity to kill her through a simulacrum which accompanies her there.

But things are not quite that easy: CIA, a comedian who is not who appears to be and a Ganymedean slime mold get all involved in this story.

The plot is childish, to say the list. I do, however, see the satire of the mentally ill colony related to our society, which, I admit, I have appreciated. The cities’ names: Adolfville, Gandhitown, Da Vinci Heights, Cotton Mather Estates are witty chosen too to match their inhabitants’ traits. But it was not enough to appeal to me. The only character I liked was Lord Running Clam, the telepath slime mold and that because it was funny without being ridiculous.

Although I love a good satire in a dystopian world, in this case I didn’t. I do acknowledge that PKD has his own original and bizarre niche in SF genre, but I’m not in that target.
Profile Image for Karl.
3,258 reviews369 followers
July 24, 2019
New introduction by Robert Silverberg, frontispiece by Hannah Shapero.

"Clans of the Alphane Moon" is based on his 1954 short story "Shell Game", first published in Galaxy Science Fiction magazine.

This small habitable moon is an insane asylum. Its patients, abandoned long ago by planetary superpowers, have formed clans based on their respective psychoses. Till now, it's been an unstable yet viable society of psychopaths. But when Mary Rittersdorf, an over-zealous social worker, attempts to rehospitalize these troubled people, all hell breaks loose. Now the moon's vital resources are up for grabs and CIA agents, protected by their robots set about thwarting Mary's good intentions, triggering a deadly conflict with the Alphane Empire.
Profile Image for Apatt.
507 reviews924 followers
December 25, 2015
Read in November, 2015 but the review was accidentally deleted due to bone headedness. Thank you Cachedview.com for helping me rescue this review from the fifth dimension. Goodbye 24 Likes and nice comments and observations from my GR friends.

60s PKDs are some of the most weirdly funny sci-fi ever, not that Dick really ever set out to write comical sci-fi, but his inventiveness and odd sense of humour is always something to look forward to in these early books.

Clans of the Alphane Moon is about a human colony on a moon called Alpha III M2 in the Alpha Centauri star system. This is not any old human colony, it is a colony entirely made up of mental patients. The colonists have organized themselves into clans based on their different psychoses. For examples “The Pares” are people suffering from paranoia, “The Polys” suffer from polymorphic schizophrenia, “The Manses” are suffering from mania, and “The Deps” are suffering from clinical depression and quite a few more. The main storyline concerns the Alpha III M2 colonists’ resistance to Earth* who is taking back control of this moon from the colonists/inmates. For their own good of course:

“He wondered if they’d go so far as to H-bomb the Manses’ settlement—in the name of psychotherapy.”

This book is a little like Heinlein’s classic The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, though “little” is the operative word. In Heinlein’s book the moon colonists call themselves “loonies” though they are all sane, in Clans of the Alphane Moon the colonists really are loonies but never use the term.

As usual Dick populates his book with oddball characters. Chuck Rittersdorf is the main hapless protagonist who just separated from his psychiatrist wife Mary, and would very much like to murder her in retaliation for her cruel treatment of him. One day he is assigned to by his boss at the CIA is to spy on his wife through the use of a simulacrum (a sort of remote-controlled android) while she is doing a research on the Alpha III M2 colony. He perceives this as an ideal opportunity to put an end to Mary and get away with it scot-free. Things, of course, don’t go according to plan. Chuck’s best friend is an alien slime mold “Lord Running Clam” who – in spite of being slimy – is actually a pretty great guy (with a great name). He is full of sage advice** and possesses some very unusual abilities.

The other main characters are equally odd though that is not too surprising considering their psychoses. Gabriel Baines from the Pare clan deserves a mention though. One of the leaders of the resistance his attempt to seduce Mrs. Mary Rittersdorf the psychiatrist with the aid of an aphrodisiac meets with hilarious consequences.

As usual I find Dick’s dialogue a little stilted, and, as usual, I don’t mind at all because I feel it is part of Dick’s charms and makes his book a little more surreal.

I don’t consider Clans of the Alphane Moon to be one of Dick’s finest books but it is a fast read, imaginative and a lot of fun. You may even learn something about psychiatry from it***.
_________________________

* Referred to as Terra in this book for some reason, and seems to be just the US government.

** Lord Running Clam’s relationship advice:
“Don’t kill yourself because you’ve left her,” Joan said. “In a few months or even weeks you’ll feel whole again. Now you feel like one half of an organism that’s split apart. Binary fission always hurts; I know because of a protoplasm that used to live here… it suffered every time it split, but it had to split, it had to grow.”

*** “If there’s one thing that contemporary psychiatry has shown, it’s that. Merely knowing that you are mentally sick won’t make you well, any more than knowing you have a heart condition provides a suddenly sound heart”
Profile Image for Denis.
Author 1 book34 followers
May 21, 2016
Of all The PKD novels I've read so far, this is one of the most fun. Is it a masterpiece like High Castle? It would be difficult to argue, but it is an original and intelligent tale written during his most prolific period ('63 to '66). It is PKD primarily addressing mental illness (a subject he, no doubt has a unique perspective on) in the SF genre. Think "One Flew Over a Cookoo's Nest" done by Dick: Humour and utter weirdness. It has some of the best and most interesting characters of any of his previous and later novels: Lord Running Clam: a telepathic slime-mold from Ganymede is just one example.

And there is a strange true-love story in there as well.

A truly unforgettable read.

Note: By the way, I always read the excellent Goodread's reviewer "Sandy" after I read any novel by PKD.
Profile Image for Maria Dobos.
108 reviews46 followers
February 16, 2017
Cred că asta a fost cea mai "normală" carte de Philip K. Dick pe care am citit-o... Mă rog, în măsura în care Philip K. Dick și normalitatea încap în aceeași realitate.

Terorizat în permanență de către Mary, soția sa, Chuck Rittersdorf, un programator de simulacre al CIA, hotărăște să divorțeze. Eliberată de responsabilitățile căsătoriei, Mary decide să accepte postul de consilier psiholog în cadrul expediției terrane ce va vizita Alpha III M2, un satelit colonizat în trecut de către Pământ și obiect de dispută dintre acesta și Imperiul Alphan.

Ieșiți de ceva vreme de sub tutela Pământului, coloniștii inițiali ai satelitului și-au instituit un sistem social bazat pe tulburările psihice ale cetățenilor săi - man(iaci), paran(oici), dep(resivi), skiz(ofrenici), heb(efrenici), obcom(obsesivi compulsivi) și polylor (schizofrenicii polimorfi).

Avem așadar o societate instabilă și condusă de paranoici, un conflict interplanetar, ceva telepatie și capacitatea de a manipula timpul, intrigi politice, spionaj, plus ura viscerală dintre cele două personaje principale... Ce ar putea sa meargă prost? ;))

Mi s-a părut extrem de interesantă și originală ideea unei structuri sociale axate pe dereglările mentale ale fiecărui locuitor, mi-a plăcut ritmul alert al acțiunii și umorul unor situații. Pe de altă parte, m-ar fi încântat mai multe detalii despre Imperiul Alpha și locuitorii săi; nu prea m-am putut apropia de Chuck sau Mary; personajul meu preferat din toată povestea asta a fost plasmodiul telepat (mi-a adus aminte de greierașul-conștiință care tot țopăia pe umărul lui Pinocchio).
Profile Image for César Bustíos.
319 reviews112 followers
December 18, 2019
"Qué lío. Usted y su vida doméstica; está arruinando los planes de dos imperios enteros interestelares, el de Terra y el de Alfa…"

De hecho, un 3.5. No me atrevo a redondearla a 4 porque estaría afirmando que me gustó tanto como ¿Sueñan los androides con ovejas eléctricas?, lo cual está lejos de ser cierto. El problema, creo yo, es que al empezar con Ubik puse la valla muy en alto. En realidad, me encanta Dick (eso no debe sonar bien en inglés), creo que no podría pasarla mal con nada que haya escrito.

Los terranos intentan recuperar, luego de un cuarto de siglo, una colonia en el sistema Alfano que había sido usada inicialmente como centro psiquiátrico para los enfermos mentales. Pero durante aquellos años los habitantes de la luna Alfa III M2 han formado diferentes clanes que corresponden a una patología y que representan un rol en su sociedad. Por supuesto, harán todo lo posible para impedir el contacto nuevamente. En fin, cosas que solo se le pueden ocurrir a Dick. Tal vez haya algo de cierto en lo que dice, puede que todos estemos un poco inestables mentalmente y que solo es una cuestión de gravedad. ¿Quién dicta la norma sobre lo que es normal o no?

Profile Image for David Agranoff.
Author 31 books205 followers
September 13, 2019
I loved so much about this one, but it had a major flaw in the structure. Too much of the story focused on the wrong character in my opinion. I love the concept even if it is a bit outdated way to look at mental illness. This should make a fun episode of the Dickheads podcast.

Welcome to the Alphane Moon, a disputed territory currently held by the human race. A place where an individual can live in relative peace with like-minded individuals. And by 'like-minded' I mean 'share a psychosis.'

The boys disagree on a lot of parts of PKD's 14th published novel of divorce and mental illness costarring a psychic blob, a Hollywood showman/intergalactic spy, and a sadsack divorcee who writes propaganda speeches for the C.I.A. Plus: The intergalactic pitfalls of confusing Gannymedians and Alphanes. Everything is worse with Rob Schneider in it. And imagining J.G. Ballard's version of the novel.

https://soundcloud.com/dickheadspodca...
Profile Image for Jamie.
1,418 reviews212 followers
November 6, 2019
Total mishegas. Taking on mental illness, PKD creates a whole world consisting of former mental asylum inmates. This is one of his more outright raucous stories, yet also in a sense one of the more straightforward as it represents a departure from the surreal type fantasies that typify much of his work. The sentient Ganymedean slime mold "Lord Running Clam" steals the show and I think is perhaps one of his more memorable characters.
Profile Image for Printable Tire.
827 reviews130 followers
February 3, 2013
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: here he is no doubt manifesting some insecurities and frustrations about his ex-wife, his attempts to find employment, his fear that he may be mental. The idea of a world populated by different mental illnesses pops into his head (maybe the idea sprung from the idea of using Hebes as shorthand for hebephrenia, maybe some latent precog on the psychology of Richard Nixon), then add in the character of Bunny Hentman from god knows where: a critique on Los Angeles via Steve Allen or Lenny Bruce, who can say.

It's a wonderful, absurd combination of things that maybe only works half the time: the rest its a weird scramble of associations floating around, discarded and forgotten in lieu of more interesting plots and tangents. But it's always entertaining.

Maybe there's only a happy ending because Dick was going through a funk and needed some light at the end of the tunnel. "The paraclete" may have deserted us but there's still some glimmer of hope, even for the zany but functioning wack-jobs of the Alphane Moon, even for the Deps, even for the Hebes.

Maybe, like the protagonist of Clans, we'll find out we were normal all along. And if that's the case, who cares?
58 reviews2 followers
July 2, 2015
As much as I love PKD's writing, I suffered through this one. It has all the deficits I've come to expect:
•Misogyny
•Antiquated psychiatry
•Poorly realized protagonists
•1-dimensional supporting characters
•Stiff, pulpy dialogue
•Poorly paced conclusion
•Loose ends tied up hastily at best

But this one didn't redeem itself with any of the solipsistic puzzles or mind-twisting plot tinkering that makes it all well worth enduring. The plot skeleton held promise, but I couldn't sustain my optimism past halfway through, where many of the best parts were ditched in favor of trivial conventions.

Oh, well. I'll still keep reading his stuff. And at worst, I can always come back to stories like The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, or Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, or Martian Time Slip, or Now Wait for Last Year, or Ubik, or...
Profile Image for Isa González.
Author 14 books169 followers
August 24, 2016
La premisa es original y bien pensada y como casi todos los libros de Dick, la ambientación es maravillosa y llena de ideas sorprendentes. Me ha pasado un poco como En el hombre en el castillo, que vas leyendo intentando entramar la locura, sabiendo que te llevará a buen puerto y sin embargo, y al contrario que pasa con el anterior nombrado, el final te deja más bien frío. Con la sensación de que tendría que ser algo más.
Y además, me ha faltado que explorara más la ambientación de Alfa III M2, porque la idea de los clanes es genial y no está suficientemente explotada para mi gusto.
No es el mejor libro de Dick, pero se lee rápido y tiene unas ideas maravillosas.
Profile Image for Sandy.
571 reviews115 followers
August 18, 2011
"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-amphetamine class" in order to work two jobs), his output during that time was both prodigious and wildly imaginative. "Clans," although it may be accused of being underdeveloped and shows signs of being hastily written, IS nevertheless as fun as can be, and a really wild ride.

In the book, we are introduced to some of the residents of the second moon of Alpha Centauri's third planet: Alpha III M2. A mental hospital had existed there some 25 years before, its residents left to their own devices when Earth abandoned this world back when. Now, in the year 2055 or so, the former inmates have most certainly taken over the asylum, and the moon is ruled by the six titular clans, organized according to their members' various mental imbalances. Thus, there are the Manses (manics), the Pares (paranoiacs), the Heebs (hebephrenics), the Skitzes (schizophrenics), the Ob-Coms (obsessive-compulsives) and the Polys (polymorphous schizophrenics). Some of these residents, mainly the Heebs and Skitzes, have even developed various "psionic" powers, such as the ability to foretell the future via visions and to levitate! To this literally crazy world comes a group of disparate characters, drawn there for various reasons revolving around the Alphans' and Terrans' annexation claims. Mary Rittersdorf is a psychiatrist, there to assess and analyze the population; Chuck, her husband, a CIA (Counter Intelligence Authority) agent, is there to kill his ex-wife, with whom he had recently split; and the famous TV comedian Bunny Hentman is present for political reasons of his own. And then there is Lord Running Clam, easily the most memorable and likable character in this book: a telepathic, self-locomoting, yellow slime mold from Ganymede (!) who befriends Chuck and helps him on his adventure.

As you may have inferred, there is some pretty zany sci-fi plotting involved here, with 36 named characters, and Dick mixes his stew with a good deal of zest and humor. The novel is one of the author's more accessible ones, with none of his trademarked abnegations of reality to blow the reader's mind. Still, not everything is as it seems, double agents abound, human-seeming "simulacra" are ubiquitous ("Person, shmerson," one of them tellingly says at one point) and moral truths are slippery things ("Quid est veritas...what is truth?" one of the Pares asks). And Dick's Earth of the mid-21st century almost seems as whacky as the Alphane moon (and perhaps that is the point). Nipple-dilation and extreme breast-augmentation surgeries for women are common (50-lb. breasts?!?!?!), lawyers use "potent-cameras" to take pictures of people's future deeds, and the CIA uses programmed propaganda robots to spread the good word about the U.S.A.

I must say that as much as I enjoyed "Clans" (and it IS an extremely enjoyable work), I was still left with the feeling that the book could have been so much more. As with some other Dick books that I have recently read, this one cries out to be 100 pages or so longer, or to have a sequel added on to it. Heck, I could've used another novel just featuring Lord Running Clam himself! Still, what the author HAS given us is a significant achievement, and yet another feather in his already crowded cap.
Profile Image for Michael Perkins.
Author 6 books466 followers
June 6, 2020
Rumor has it that after Trump loses this Fall, his followers will be traveling to the Alphane Moon to found their own colony.
Profile Image for Jersy.
1,180 reviews108 followers
June 21, 2022
It's a shame the settlements for the different mental illnesses on the moon aren't the actual focus of the book, but I enjoyed following Chuck, who ist basically a scriptwriter being forced into divorce and a new job, instead, too.

It's really fun to get to know the different weird people and species. The plot lost me a bit towards the ending , but for the majority of the book I was thoroughly entertained. Still, it's not a particularly memorable novel and I think the things that will stick most with me are the weird bits, like the nippel enlargements or the unsatisfying ending. While it's not unimagineable that the same author that wrote Blade Runner wrote this, I felt like it leaned a bit heavier into the pulpy direction of this kind of Science Fiction, with generally similar ideas but an execution that felt of less substance. It's still fun, especially if you are more into CIA plots than I am.
Profile Image for M.liss.
87 reviews3 followers
May 19, 2015
Really inventive plot, totally out there characters, a weird network of partially developed symbolism – the basic elements you’d expect from PKD. It’s a fun read, but it’s not really very good. The plot is ridiculous, of course, but that’s not where I take issue. Instead, my complaint is about the writing: a good deal of the dialogue feels unnatural, and most of the characters are underdeveloped. Also the ideology: there’s some pretty ham-handed racism and sexism going on here. Now, I get that this is pulp – first published in Galaxy Science Fiction magazine, PKD likely wrote this with a paycheck in mind. It’s just not one of his better works. And I blame this on Harper Voyager - but holy hell are there a lot of typos throughout! That said, the Ganymeadean slime mold is excellent – a memorable character who is a lot of fun to visualize, especially in the scenes in the apt on Terra. Bottom line, this one’s for Dickheads and completionists – feel free to skip it.
Profile Image for Effie (she-her).
600 reviews99 followers
March 12, 2018
Πολύ ωραία και πρωτότυπη η ιδέα μιας κοινωνίας ανθρώπων με διαφορετικές ψυχικές ασθένειες και το πως αυτοί μοιράζουν μεταξύ τους τα διάφορα καθήκοντα που είναι απαραίτητα για την επιβίωσή τους. Μας κάνει να σκεφτούμε τον τρόπο που συμπεριφερόμαστε στους ανθρώπους αυτούς, αποκλείοντας τους από την κοινωνία μας, αντί να τους βοηθήσουμε να ενταχθούν.

Σίγουρα λόγω της παλαιότητας του βιβλίου υπάρχουν λανθασμένοι ιατρικοί όροι, μιας και η κατανόηση των ψυχικών ασθενειών έχει αυξηθεί αρκετά στις μέρες μας, παρ' όλα αυτά ο Dick δείχνει μεγαλύτερο σεβασμό και κατανόηση για τις ψυχικές ασθένειες σε αυτό το βιβλίο, από αρκετούς πιο σύγχρονους από αυτόν συγγραφείς που ασχολούνται με τις ψυχικές ασθένειες μόνο και μόνο για να γράψουν για τον επόμενο serial killer. Γιατί ναι, σίγουρα θα ευχαριστηθώ έναν καλογραμμένο serial killer, αλλά το να βλέπουμε άτομα με ψυχικές ασθένειες μόνο σε παρόμοιους ρόλους δημιουργεί μια εντελώς λανθασμένη εικόνα.

Τέλος, λάτρεψα το πόσο ευφάνταστος είναι ο Dick με τις διάφορες εξωγήινες φυλές, και αυτό είναι κάτι που νιώθω ότι λείπει από τη σύγχρονη επιστημονική φαντασία λόγω του ότι οι συγγραφείς επικεντρώνονται στην αληθοφάνεια και στο τεχνολογικό κομμάτι, κι έτσι η φαντασία μένει λίγο πίσω. Δε λέω, ωραίο να ξέρουμε όλες τις πληροφορίες για το πως ένα διαστημόπλοιο κινείται πιο γρήγορα απ' την ταχύτητα του φωτός, αλλά μου λείπουν και οι μικροί πράσινοι Αριανοί. Και οι Μουχλόβαλτοι είναι πλέον μια απ τις πιο αγαπημένες μου εξωγήινες φυλές!
Profile Image for Tim.
490 reviews828 followers
April 17, 2016
This is my first experience with Philip K. Dick novel. I realize that this is not the one many would say to start with, but after reading the plot description, I found myself amused enough to pick it up… and I’m glad that I did.

The novel follows the aftermath of war between Earth and insectoid-dominated Alpha III. We are not shown any of the actual events or battles, but in the aftermath there is a very cold war sort of "peace." The government is paranoid that the people of Alpha III could be trying to undermine earth from the entertainment industry (specifically a popular human comedian) and the protagonist of the novel is Chuck, a CIA agent who programs simulacrum with anti-communist propaganda.

But wait... that's not the plot of the novel, just part of the setting. You see our "hero" is getting a divorce, and his wife (a respected psychiatrist) is going to the Alphane moon of the title, to help Earth secure the colony as it's something of a political middle ground between Earth and Alpha III. Chuck intends to use one of the CIA simulacrum to kill his wife rather than finish up the messy divorce process.

Hold on, we're not done yet! The moon (never refer to it as a planet, or it could prove madness) was originally intended as a global psychiatric institution, so with it being left on its own for so long, the various clans of patients (each named after their mental illness) have taken over and created their own society and political ideals.

Let's see is there more to the plot? Did I forget anything? I did mention the psychic Ganymedean slime mold named Lord Running Clam didn't I? It’s really hard to forget that detail.

As you may have noticed, there's enough ideas in this one to fill out several novels, yet Dick contains all of this in a brief 240 some odd pages. It is like a freeform jazz sci-fi novel, where anything goes. Rules that one usually holds to in a story (such as blatant foreshadowing actually coming about) are disregarded in favor of the lunacy (pun most certainly intended) that Dick seems to be waltzing through. Somehow... it all works.

So, for a first time reader of Philip K. Dick, would I continue? Absolutely. I'm looking forward to checking out his more famous works, as well as more obscure gems such as this. I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to all science fiction readers, but for the select few would say it is something of a wonder.
Profile Image for Janet.
Author 25 books88.9k followers
June 15, 2019
I read a lot of Dick in the 70s, reread several of his books from time to time, but this was a new one. Fairly early ('64) and pretty straightforward in characterization and description, but loved the concept--a moon in the Alpha system (Alpha Centauri?) on which had been a mental hospital, abandoned for 25 years--out of which a society blossomed, in which the Pares (paranoids) become the politicians, the Mans (manics) are the inventors and warriors, active and unpredictable, and so on... each have their own cities, and there's a council meeting where they have to decide what to do when the moon is under attack--the Terrans want to reclaim it after the war with Alpha.

There's a somewhat wacky plot within this cool setup--a man from the CIA charged with operating a simulacrum agent going in to 'take back' the moon is having a terrible divorce from a caricature- harpy wife right out of Thurber, whom he still loves/hates, and has decided to murder using the simulacrum--she is on the mission's psychological team.. Except that he's got a second job screenwriting, and the producers posits/intuits that's what the character in the script is going to do. Or is he getting info from the Alphans?

It's pretty pulpy, not yet in the class of A Scanner Darkly, Man in the High Castle, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, or the Untransported Man, but fun reading. CRINGE WARNING: early sixties coffee-spitting sexual objectification of women.
Profile Image for Bandinnelli Bandinnelli.
Author 10 books69 followers
August 4, 2014
Este libro me ha recordado a un gazpacho.
Me explico: escoges productos vistosos, los preparas con cariño, pero resulta que se te olvida probar el pepino, y éste sale agrio. A veces pasa, y se jode todo el gazpacho.
Con este libro me da esa impresión. Comencé su lectura con ganas, el primer capítulo me cautivó, las historias se desarrollaron con fluidez, unas ideas potentísimas (para mí, que me apasionan este tipo de locuras) se desplegaron... y al final toda la boca me sabía a ceniza, que se suele decir. El final no me ha gustado especialmente, como se puede ver, más que nada por la locura en que se convierte toda la trama, que se enreda y no sabes dónde tienes pies y cabeza.
Y, pese a todo, al contener esas ideas, esos pensamientos tan curiosos, cuando pienso en el libro en conjunto sonrío y pienso que ha merecido la pena.
Profile Image for Jayakrishnan.
543 reviews224 followers
December 18, 2022
I guess PKD did not think much of Gandhi. The Heeb clans territory is called Gandhitown. It is a filthy place and Heebs are not good at anything else except work as lowly laborers for other clans and they also produce saints. Hahaha! It is possible that PKD was shitting on India a little bit.
Profile Image for resonant.interval.
36 reviews1 follower
July 23, 2020
Thought provoking, semi-convoluted twists, linear narrative - ending in an ironic and bittersweet resolution that blurs the lines between mental illness and so-called normality - a top-notch double-agent, cloak-mit-dagger space-adventure/twisted-romance à la PKD!
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