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Authors > Philip K. Dick

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message 201: by David (new)

David Merrill | 66 comments Micah wrote: "Susan wrote: "Vulcan’s Hammer made me question whether I want to continue reading chronologically."

How were you marking chronological order? By year of composition or year of publication?

Vulcan..."


I'm not sure why you would want to skip his non-SF works. They are at least as good as his mid-range Science Fiction and some are better than that. Every single one is better than Dr. Futurity. They have a lot of the elements of his SF too. Definitely worth reading.


message 202: by Susan (new)

Susan Budd (susanbudd) | 12 comments Hi David. I might read it someday, but for now, I prefer the novels with theological and philosophical themes.


message 203: by Micah (new)

Micah Sisk (micahrsisk) | 265 comments Susan wrote: "Hi David. I might read it someday, but for now, I prefer the novels with theological and philosophical themes."

And to be honest, they're very different types of works. I can see why one would appeal more than another.

PKD had several writing styles, some books kind of blurring the lines between them:

Fairly straight up SF like Solar Lottery, and Maze of Death, and even Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.

He also had his "mainstream" works that focused mostly on relationships, nerosis and social dysfunction.

And then there are those works heavily into theology and philosophy (specifically ontology). I'd include Martian Time Slip in these.


message 204: by Susan (new)

Susan Budd (susanbudd) | 12 comments Micah wrote: "...And then there are those works heavily into theology and philosophy (specifically ontology)..."

One of the similarities in all the stories I like is that they question the nature of reality, like Ubik and the short story, “The Electric Ant.” I also thought the short story “Faith of Our Fathers” was amazing.


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