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Strange Eden
Two space travelers on a mapping mission land their ship on a small planet which when explored is found to be paradise. One falls in love with the land and the "most beautiful woman in the universe." Transformed in many ways by her beauty, he finds, as much as he wants to , he'll never leave Eden.
11 pages, Unknown Binding
First published December 1, 1954
About the author
Philip K. Dick
1,934 books23k followersPhilip 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 wor
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 wor
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
July 11, 2019
First published in Imagination (Dec. 1954), “Strange Eden" tells of rocket ship carrying a planet survey team of two, and what happens when it lands on an undiscovered planet. When crew member Brett leaves the captain back at the ship and begins to explore the area, he finds a cat the size of a rhino, an extraordinarily beautiful woman, and . . . well, I’ll leave the rest for the reader to explore for himself.
I’ll say this much . . . it reminded me a little of Odysseus and Circe, and a little of “La Belle Dame Sans Merci” too.
Its a bit too conventional for a first-class Dick story, but the final image still haunts my memory.
November 21, 2018
Crazy Cat Lady
It’s Greek mythology that seems to have inspired PKD’s short story Strange Eden from 1954, and one may even say that since the writing of the ending is quite obviously on the wall from a certain moment in the story, the whole tale is, in comparison with Dick’s usual standards, something of a mild let-down.
Two Terran explorers, Captain Johnson, a slightly pusillanimous man, and his first officer Brent, a ruthless adventurer (in many ways), land on an unknown planet, and on finding it quite an untouched paradise, Brent decides to have a look around and find out what the planet has to offer. Thinking that he has struck on one of the last uninhabited planets that actually offer living conditions similar to Terra, Brent soon indulges in castles in the air as to how he might exploit his find, e.g. by dividing and selling the land, turning it into a resort for holiday-makers and hunters and so on, when, to his dismay, he comes upon a house – proof that the planet has already been claimed by other intelligent life forms.
In the first part of the story, Dick makes clear the destructive effect Terran civilization all too often has on its surroundings. Not only does the author allow us to participate in Brent’s plans of turning the apparent paradise into a source of money by exploiting its beauty and resources, but he has Captain Johnson say,
All these sentiments merely move Brent to a grunt of indifference, and to later voicing his resolution to go hunting in order to make some meat or to enjoy “’a little sport.’” All he finds, however, is several specimens of unusually large cats, whose powerful muscles and sharp teeth impress Brent but who otherwise do not seem to take particular notice of the invading hunter.
Arriving at the mysterious house, Brent meets its proprietor, a young girl who seems to know everything about him and who tells him that she is a member of a highly-developed race who have watched Terrans for thousands of years, have even done things – like introducing the marvellous game of chess – for humans and have been regarded by Terrans as gods or saints in the earlier history of human development. In this context, Dick rehashes the old theory that sees the origins of religion in the visits of Earth by extra-terrestrials who impressed humans with both their elaborate civilization and high technology, and even though the girl – in fact, she is thousands of years old, the scientists of her race having found means of stopping physical decay and thwarting death – behaves in some ways like an Olympian goddess, the theory as such appears in a new light because of the context Dick presents it in: Just consider that those creatures had been able to visit Earth and other planets so many centuries ago and that despite their technological superiority they never had the idea of claiming Earth for themselves, of conquering it and enslaving its puny inhabitants. And then look at Terran civilization, whose representatives – Brent and his ilk – are constantly on the look-out for profit and who turn everything they touch into bargaining chips. Unlike with Terrans, the girls’ civilization is an example of a culture where technological and scientific progress are on a par with, and not miles ahead, of moral and philosophical development.
At least, that is what one should think but as I said, the girl does behave with the cunning and the sense of mischievousness typical of Grecian gods, and in fact the name of Circe will pop up in the reader’s mind before long. Surprisingly, however, it is not swine that this Circe turns her companions into but large felines, the implication being clear: Brent has shown himself a ruthless, greedy and lecherous predator from the very first moment we met him. On the other hand, considering the swath of destruction (and, often, litter) people like him leave in their wake, it would also have been justified for Circe to have followed a more traditional policy.
Since the story as such did not truly surprise me and since I am not overly partial to the aliens-as-gods-motif, I was not too impressed with this particular short story although it makes you reflect on the question how members of a civilization in which ethical progress has kept pace with technological advance would behave on setting foot to a new world.
It’s Greek mythology that seems to have inspired PKD’s short story Strange Eden from 1954, and one may even say that since the writing of the ending is quite obviously on the wall from a certain moment in the story, the whole tale is, in comparison with Dick’s usual standards, something of a mild let-down.
Two Terran explorers, Captain Johnson, a slightly pusillanimous man, and his first officer Brent, a ruthless adventurer (in many ways), land on an unknown planet, and on finding it quite an untouched paradise, Brent decides to have a look around and find out what the planet has to offer. Thinking that he has struck on one of the last uninhabited planets that actually offer living conditions similar to Terra, Brent soon indulges in castles in the air as to how he might exploit his find, e.g. by dividing and selling the land, turning it into a resort for holiday-makers and hunters and so on, when, to his dismay, he comes upon a house – proof that the planet has already been claimed by other intelligent life forms.
In the first part of the story, Dick makes clear the destructive effect Terran civilization all too often has on its surroundings. Not only does the author allow us to participate in Brent’s plans of turning the apparent paradise into a source of money by exploiting its beauty and resources, but he has Captain Johnson say,
”’If this place were closer to Terra there’d be empty beer cans and plastic plates strewn around. The trees would be gone. There’d be old jet motors in the water. The beaches would stink to high heaven. Terran Development would have a couple of million little plastic houses set up everywhere.’”
All these sentiments merely move Brent to a grunt of indifference, and to later voicing his resolution to go hunting in order to make some meat or to enjoy “’a little sport.’” All he finds, however, is several specimens of unusually large cats, whose powerful muscles and sharp teeth impress Brent but who otherwise do not seem to take particular notice of the invading hunter.
Arriving at the mysterious house, Brent meets its proprietor, a young girl who seems to know everything about him and who tells him that she is a member of a highly-developed race who have watched Terrans for thousands of years, have even done things – like introducing the marvellous game of chess – for humans and have been regarded by Terrans as gods or saints in the earlier history of human development. In this context, Dick rehashes the old theory that sees the origins of religion in the visits of Earth by extra-terrestrials who impressed humans with both their elaborate civilization and high technology, and even though the girl – in fact, she is thousands of years old, the scientists of her race having found means of stopping physical decay and thwarting death – behaves in some ways like an Olympian goddess, the theory as such appears in a new light because of the context Dick presents it in: Just consider that those creatures had been able to visit Earth and other planets so many centuries ago and that despite their technological superiority they never had the idea of claiming Earth for themselves, of conquering it and enslaving its puny inhabitants. And then look at Terran civilization, whose representatives – Brent and his ilk – are constantly on the look-out for profit and who turn everything they touch into bargaining chips. Unlike with Terrans, the girls’ civilization is an example of a culture where technological and scientific progress are on a par with, and not miles ahead, of moral and philosophical development.
At least, that is what one should think but as I said, the girl does behave with the cunning and the sense of mischievousness typical of Grecian gods, and in fact the name of Circe will pop up in the reader’s mind before long. Surprisingly, however, it is not swine that this Circe turns her companions into but large felines, the implication being clear: Brent has shown himself a ruthless, greedy and lecherous predator from the very first moment we met him. On the other hand, considering the swath of destruction (and, often, litter) people like him leave in their wake, it would also have been justified for Circe to have followed a more traditional policy.
Since the story as such did not truly surprise me and since I am not overly partial to the aliens-as-gods-motif, I was not too impressed with this particular short story although it makes you reflect on the question how members of a civilization in which ethical progress has kept pace with technological advance would behave on setting foot to a new world.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 26, 2017
Un cuento de ciencia ficción bastante raro, que al principio se me hizo algo denso. Bastante realista en cuanto a la actitud de los humanos ante un nuevo descubrimiento, Brent seguro representa muy bien al típico humano.
El final es lo que más me ha gustado, y como no se iban a enojar con ella, si aclarara un poco mejor en las "consecuencias" quizás se lo hubieran pensado dos veces
Al ser una historia corta, si les gusta la ciencia ficción no duden en darle una oportunidad. La clasificación fue de 3 estrellas y medias pero ya sabemos que goodreads no deja poner el medio.
El final es lo que más me ha gustado, y como no se iban a enojar con ella, si aclarara un poco mejor en las "consecuencias" quizás se lo hubieran pensado dos veces
Al ser una historia corta, si les gusta la ciencia ficción no duden en darle una oportunidad. La clasificación fue de 3 estrellas y medias pero ya sabemos que goodreads no deja poner el medio.
April 25, 2018
PKD is on his A-game. Biblical allusions a-plenty, in the same vein as "The Island of Doctor Moreau."
April 19, 2020
Something that would explain a lot. How the strangeness becomes just right.
April 28, 2024
good. has some tacky elements that will make some people clutch their pearls, no doubt. i probably should have but did not see that ending coming.
May 12, 2026
Scifi, short story by a master,well done!!
November 26, 2018
Interesting but I would have appreciated it better if PKD had written our evolution into a parabolic arc.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews