What do you think?
Rate this book
Chains of Air, Web of Aether
The planet on which he was living underwent each day two mornings. First CY30 appeared and then its minor twin put in a feeble appearance, as if God had not been able to make up His mind as to which sun He preferred and had finally settled on both. The domers liked to compare it to sequential settings of an old-fashioned multifilament incandescent bulb. CY30 gave the impression of getting up to about 150 watts and then came little CY30B, which added 50 more watts of light. The aggregate luminae made the methane crystals of the planet's surface sparkle pleasantly, assuming you were indoors.
21 pages, ebook
First published May 1, 1980
About the author
Philip K. Dick
1,934 books23.1k 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
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 28, 2020
The Power of the Weak
Frankly speaking, it took me a while to settle into PKD’s story Chains of Air, Web of Aether, which was published under the title The Man Who Knew to Lose in 1980. A little later, Dick would use this story in his novel The Divine Invasion, which he wrote in the same year. However, since I have stayed clear of the VALIS trilogy so far, I was not exactly looking forward to reading this story.
In a way, although it is set in a science fiction environment, on a far-away planet, which is slowly and laboriously colonialized by Terrans, the plot could also work in a more everyday environment: When Leo McVane hears that his next-dome neighbour, Rybus Rommey, is suffering from multiple sclerosis and going to die soon because she refuses to be relocated to Earth where there would be a higher chance of curing her, he feels morally obliged – okay, his food delivery man tells him he ought to feel morally obliged – to look after her and see how she is doing, whereas in his heart of hearts he would rather be left alone.
Give this point of departure to a run-of-the-mill scriptwriter, and they would most likely turn out some feel-good story which would tell us how both the moribund person and her neighbour who reluctantly starts caring about her learn from each other and start seeing life in a better, more optimistic way. Of course, fifteen minutes before the movie ends, there must be some misunderstanding which will be settled at the eleventh hour. Most of us will have seen such a movie; to read a novel of that ilk might, however, be beyond most people’s patience. PKD treats this story in a different way in that McVane soon feels how this relationship he has entered puts more and more of a strain on him, exhausting his powers and destroying what he cherished. For example, he has always been a fan of a certain singer, but Rybus soon mars his enjoyment of this singer’s art by pointing out how it just is rehashed sentimental kitsch. So much for learning from each other! By and by, it strikes McVane that he has succumbed to the power of the weak, as he puts it, because no matter how much he tries to break out of that relationship, to put a distance between himself and his neighbour, Rybus doesn’t give him a chance, and it is quite interesting to see what strategies she uses – maybe more or less unconsciously. Maybe, Nietzsche would have liked that story because it would have proved his point that this world is run by weaklings who thrive on certain Christian notions of mercy and charity – ideas that Nietzsche despised because he did not understand them at all. This story, with its haunting pessimism, set me thinking how McVane could have rescued the situation for himself as well as for Rybus, because I do not think that a Christian’s lot is to humbly allow other people to walk over his back or to even have a picnic on it and leave their litter behind. After all, it is Love thy neighbour as thyself, this latter qualification being all too often overlooked. Unless I see my own worth as a human being, I cannot treat other people in a truly Christian way; I may give in to them, allow myself to be manipulated by them in a spirit of weakness, of self-loathing or from a minority complex, but that is definitely not Christian charity. One might argue that in the first place, McVane was not that much in accord with himself, which can also be seen from his desire to seclude himself and to live entirely through that singer he adored so much. Had he but truly risen to the challenge of living with his neighbour, who knows but what he might have thrived on his relation with Rybus. But how could he have achieved this?
All things considered, this was not so much an enjoying story to read, but rather more of an interesting story to have read.
Frankly speaking, it took me a while to settle into PKD’s story Chains of Air, Web of Aether, which was published under the title The Man Who Knew to Lose in 1980. A little later, Dick would use this story in his novel The Divine Invasion, which he wrote in the same year. However, since I have stayed clear of the VALIS trilogy so far, I was not exactly looking forward to reading this story.
In a way, although it is set in a science fiction environment, on a far-away planet, which is slowly and laboriously colonialized by Terrans, the plot could also work in a more everyday environment: When Leo McVane hears that his next-dome neighbour, Rybus Rommey, is suffering from multiple sclerosis and going to die soon because she refuses to be relocated to Earth where there would be a higher chance of curing her, he feels morally obliged – okay, his food delivery man tells him he ought to feel morally obliged – to look after her and see how she is doing, whereas in his heart of hearts he would rather be left alone.
Give this point of departure to a run-of-the-mill scriptwriter, and they would most likely turn out some feel-good story which would tell us how both the moribund person and her neighbour who reluctantly starts caring about her learn from each other and start seeing life in a better, more optimistic way. Of course, fifteen minutes before the movie ends, there must be some misunderstanding which will be settled at the eleventh hour. Most of us will have seen such a movie; to read a novel of that ilk might, however, be beyond most people’s patience. PKD treats this story in a different way in that McVane soon feels how this relationship he has entered puts more and more of a strain on him, exhausting his powers and destroying what he cherished. For example, he has always been a fan of a certain singer, but Rybus soon mars his enjoyment of this singer’s art by pointing out how it just is rehashed sentimental kitsch. So much for learning from each other! By and by, it strikes McVane that he has succumbed to the power of the weak, as he puts it, because no matter how much he tries to break out of that relationship, to put a distance between himself and his neighbour, Rybus doesn’t give him a chance, and it is quite interesting to see what strategies she uses – maybe more or less unconsciously. Maybe, Nietzsche would have liked that story because it would have proved his point that this world is run by weaklings who thrive on certain Christian notions of mercy and charity – ideas that Nietzsche despised because he did not understand them at all. This story, with its haunting pessimism, set me thinking how McVane could have rescued the situation for himself as well as for Rybus, because I do not think that a Christian’s lot is to humbly allow other people to walk over his back or to even have a picnic on it and leave their litter behind. After all, it is Love thy neighbour as thyself, this latter qualification being all too often overlooked. Unless I see my own worth as a human being, I cannot treat other people in a truly Christian way; I may give in to them, allow myself to be manipulated by them in a spirit of weakness, of self-loathing or from a minority complex, but that is definitely not Christian charity. One might argue that in the first place, McVane was not that much in accord with himself, which can also be seen from his desire to seclude himself and to live entirely through that singer he adored so much. Had he but truly risen to the challenge of living with his neighbour, who knows but what he might have thrived on his relation with Rybus. But how could he have achieved this?
All things considered, this was not so much an enjoying story to read, but rather more of an interesting story to have read.
December 26, 2018
Soon after completing "The Exit Door Leads In" Dick wrote another short story, "Chains of Air, Web of Aethyr."
With the manuscript title "The Man Who Knew How To Lose" this story reached the SMLA on July 9, 1979, a month after receipt of "The Exit Door Leads In." How it found a home at Stellar #5 as "Chains Of Air, Web Of Aethyr" in 1980 I’m not sure. PKD had established good relations with Judy-Lyn Del Rey, editor at Ballantine, and perhaps the Agency sent it directly to her.
The story was used by PKD as the first part of his novel to follow VALIS. Originally called VALIS REGAINED, this novel was eventually titled THE DIVINE INVASION on publication by Simon & Schuster in 1981.
This story tells of isolated communications technicians living in domes on the planets of far-flung stars. Leo McVane’s job is to transmit weather reports and the music of Linda Fox to other galactic outposts. He likes being alone. But his nearest neighbor , Rybus Rommey, is sick and wasting away in her dome. McVane reluctantly visits her out of a minimum of human compassion and helps her get well. But, once involved with Rybus, McVane is stuck with her -- and her destructive personality.
Linda Fox is based on one of PKD’s favorite singers: Linda Ronstadt. The character of Rybus Rommey, in slightly altered form as Rybus Romney, is reprised by Dick in THE DIVINE INVASION, the novel that he would write in 1980.
With the manuscript title "The Man Who Knew How To Lose" this story reached the SMLA on July 9, 1979, a month after receipt of "The Exit Door Leads In." How it found a home at Stellar #5 as "Chains Of Air, Web Of Aethyr" in 1980 I’m not sure. PKD had established good relations with Judy-Lyn Del Rey, editor at Ballantine, and perhaps the Agency sent it directly to her.
The story was used by PKD as the first part of his novel to follow VALIS. Originally called VALIS REGAINED, this novel was eventually titled THE DIVINE INVASION on publication by Simon & Schuster in 1981.
This story tells of isolated communications technicians living in domes on the planets of far-flung stars. Leo McVane’s job is to transmit weather reports and the music of Linda Fox to other galactic outposts. He likes being alone. But his nearest neighbor , Rybus Rommey, is sick and wasting away in her dome. McVane reluctantly visits her out of a minimum of human compassion and helps her get well. But, once involved with Rybus, McVane is stuck with her -- and her destructive personality.
Linda Fox is based on one of PKD’s favorite singers: Linda Ronstadt. The character of Rybus Rommey, in slightly altered form as Rybus Romney, is reprised by Dick in THE DIVINE INVASION, the novel that he would write in 1980.
February 15, 2020
Mental illness, destructive personality, toxic relationships (?).
Not really sure where it the story goes to. Or maybe that's the point.
Not really sure where it the story goes to. Or maybe that's the point.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews