Next week is Philip K Dick 's 80th's birthday. For nearly a decade or so, when it hasn't been snowing, I've driven up to Fort Morgan, Colorado, where PKD is buried to wish him a happy birthday, leave some flowers and have a little chat about writing, failure, and the meaning of it all. Unlike the characters in PKD's Ubik Phil has never quite held up his end of the conversation. I won't be there next week because I'm 10,000 miles away in Australia but if you're in the neighborhood of Denver, Boulder or Ft Morgan you could drop into the Ft Morgan Municipal Cemetery next to I-76 and say hi from me. It won't be maudlin: I guarantee you there will be people there from Japan, France, Germany, Mexico etc as well as a few Americans.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Philip K Dick and Me
Next week is Philip K Dick 's 80th's birthday. For nearly a decade or so, when it hasn't been snowing, I've driven up to Fort Morgan, Colorado, where PKD is buried to wish him a happy birthday, leave some flowers and have a little chat about writing, failure, and the meaning of it all. Unlike the characters in PKD's Ubik Phil has never quite held up his end of the conversation. I won't be there next week because I'm 10,000 miles away in Australia but if you're in the neighborhood of Denver, Boulder or Ft Morgan you could drop into the Ft Morgan Municipal Cemetery next to I-76 and say hi from me. It won't be maudlin: I guarantee you there will be people there from Japan, France, Germany, Mexico etc as well as a few Americans.
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55 comments:
My only PKD experience to date has been the movie A Scanner Darkly. Great show, though. Really enjoyed the bit about the bike's missing gears. Did that come straight from the book? Anyone?
gb
My only PKD experience to date has been the movie A Scanner Darkly.
Sacrilege!
The books man,read the books.
Did that come straight from the book? Anyone?
There's a bit with a bike missing gears in the book.Having not seen the movie I don't know if the adaptation is entirely faithful.
I read quite a lot of PKD at one point in my life, which seems a little odd in retrospect, as I wouldn't call myself a big Sci-Fi reader, which is not maybe quite the right term for his work, but is how it mostly gets categorized. I actually don't know how I came across him, and wish I did, because it was undoubtedly originally a referral.
I didn't work my way through all his books, and I certainly haven't worked out any overriding idea about his work, particularly the later stuff. But I've always liked reading him, even the crazier ideas. And he does seem to keep coming back and revisiting me, as per here. We read him in a book group a couple of years ago, which was not the standard fare, so I expect he sort of forced his way in.
I haven't read A Scanner Darkly either, but I did enjoy the movie. HIs work tends to make good movies, but they aren't the books.
I don't know, Adrian, I think Philip may be holding up his end of the conversation and you just haven't been attuned to knowing it. If you've been talking about writing, failing and the meaning of it all, I'm quite sure that he's at least been sympathetic.
Ger
Yeah thats in the book. If you're only going to read one, make it Man in the High Castle. A Scanner Darkly and Flow My Tears are my favourite from the seventies. And dont get me started on the sixites. Admitedly theres a lot of crap in there too Galactic Pot Healer for example, but when I get back from Java, Ill compile a list.
Seanag
He did say "I'd rather be a living dog than a dead science fiction writer." So maybe dead really means dead even for PKD.
Seanag
If you didnt get to the seventies ones they're all pretty good.
Marco
The film isnt bad at all. In fact its pretty good and faithful to the material.
I cant post a new post here for some reason but I can comments so here goes:
So this is the scene. I'm in an internet cafe in a town in central Java. Its about a 100 degrees in here, ninety relative humidity and everyone is smoking the local fags (which aint bad). Its lashing outside and they're playing shaggy's Boombastic. I've got a bottle of beer and yes one of those smokes and if you cant guess already I'm having the time of me life.
Today I went here. Very impressive.
Thanks for the comments guys.
A...
The Borobudur temples looks fantastic, Adrian. Don't think I've ever seen anything like that.
Yeah Mike and its rainy season so theres no one here...My little bro and myself had B to ourselves. But really its been great so far. Cheap empty hotels, deserted temples, easy public transport. And if you're from the British Isles you certainly dont mind a touch of rain.
I wish that I could go to Ft. Morgan, but I'm snowed in and dead broke.
The bicycle scene in the movie is pretty faithful to the book, although it was a ten-speed, which was the top of the line in the 70s. However, the filmmakers didn't seem to get the point of the scene, which was that the brain damage caused by drugs made the people unable to understand the concept.
The drug made people lose empathy, so they viewed other people in terms of how much money or how many drugs they could get out of them.
~~ Tessa Dick
~~~
Marco - Have you read any of Ian McDonald's science fiction? Guy's a genius. And Northern Irish.
Adrian - Colour me jealous. Sounds like heaven to me right about now.
Mrs Dick - Thanks very much for taking the time. Good to know.
gb
I just got a v-word pregnant with discomfiting overtones: hevel
If you don't recognize it, check with your wide. The clues is: Ecclesiastes.
Mm, nice, being all alone amid empty temples and a solitary Internet connection.
My experience with PKD consists of the movie Blade Runner and of the novel on which it was based: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, whose title made a bigger impression on me that the book did.
I don't often see this listed among Philip K. Dick's best works, so maybe I'm not alone.
===================
Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Er, your wife, not your wide.
V-word: phinsity
I think most of the ones I read probably were from the seventies. Man in the High Castle, Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said, Clans of the Alphane Moon and yes, The Galactic Pothealer are the ones I can bring up with my own memory rather than using Google. But I did also read The Transmigration of Timothy Archer a bit after my binge reading, and and I think it was Valis that I read most recently with my book group.
I was going to suggest that all those dogs that seem to find you so amusing might actually be reincarnations or at least emissaries of the master, but I think a visit from his last wife and widow kind of tends to trump that.
Sounds like you're having a great time. Good thing you're used to rain.
Tessa
Its an honor to have you come by on the blog and I really appreciate you leaving a comment. I'm in Java at the moment otherwise I'd be more fullsome.
I imagine that you dont get out to Fort Morgan that often and I wonder if there was any debate at all about not burying Phil there, but rather in LA instead? I understand that burying him next to Charlotte was his father's wish, but was it also Phil's?
Anyway thanks for stopping by.
Adrian...
Ger
I know his name-expecially his latest novels,River of Gods and Brazyl,have been hugely successful-but I haven't read him.
but when I get back from Java, Ill compile a list
pre-emptive strike:
Eye in the Sky
Time Out of Joint
The Man in the High Castle
Martian Time-Slip
Dr. Bloodmoney, or How We Got Along After the Bomb
The Simulacra
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Ubik
A Maze of Death
Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said
A Scanner Darkly
Valis
thanx fur the warm welcome
Actually, I never have been to Ft. Morgan. I sometimes plan the trip, but something always sidetracks my plans.
Phil knew that he would be buried with his sister Jane in Ft. Morgan. There is something poetic in that reunion.
Phil's daughter Laura knew nothing about the family plot there, so she aked Phil's father for a contribution to buy a plot in the Bay area, eithr Oakland or Marin County. Then Edgar told Laura about the family plot.
~~~
Marco
Great list. Think I'd add Divine Invasion and Clans of the A Moon.
Flow My Tears might be my favourite.
Tessa
Its our pleasure.
Ft. Morgan is a little hard to get to especially in the winter. I think the grave is quite nice just the names Phil and Jane Charlotte and a little cat sculpture in the headstone. And it can be a scene. Its not quite Jim Morrison but it can have a motley crew.
A...
Peter
Do Androids dream is excellent. Really good paranoid nightmare scene in the middle and much deeper and more philosophical than the film.
Seanag
How did you like VALIS. I enjoyed it but the the religion is too much for some people.
Oh man I better go. Plane to catch.
I considered including Divine Invasion,but I liked it a bit less than Valis.
How did you like VALIS. I enjoyed it but the the religion is too much for some people.
They are stuck in the Black Iron Prison and they don't know it.
We are the less deceived.
Oh man I better go. Plane to catch.
Already coming back?
Marco/Ade - That's the good list, then? I'll take note.
Yeah, I've read River of Gods and Brasyl and I think they both deserve the kudos. But in a CSNI capacity I'd also highly recommend one of the earlier ones -- Sacrifice of Fools is a brilliant Northern Irish science fiction novel with some serious hat tips to the crime fiction genre.
gb
Marco
Nope not yet if I can help it. Still another day or two of jaunting around.
Cool to hear from Tessa Dick eh?
Ger
If you're gonna read 1, like I say Man in the High Castle. He wrote it using the I Ching as a guide. In fact in Exegesis he claims that the I Ching wrote the book because it wanted to reveal the real world to him and us. I love that stuff. And its a great book. Best Colorado "road book" since Kerouac's OTR
Hey let me ask you something guys is the big grey book cover thing sticking outside of the title box at the top of the page?
I'm looking at this page here in Java and it looks like shit, because the grey image of DIWMB is outside the box. I worked so damn hard to get it inside the box but if the only place that works is my home computer forget it, I'll just go with a normal title page cos that looks rubbish.
Cool to hear from Tessa Dick eh?
Aye,it was.
Gerard-I could have added one or two but these are my favorites from the various decades of his production.
Generally people suggest to start with Man in the High Castle or Ubik.
Is is the big grey book cover thing sticking outside of the title box at the top of the page?
'fraid so.
My v-word is exesso.Other v-words of note I've had recently looking at comments here and there but were sadly left unused:
scacco (chess piece)
deficien
shaolin
Ade - It's slightly outside the box in my Firefox browser (not so much as to be annoying) but on IE7 it's perfectly placed.
Ade and Marco - I Ching? And me with a slightly Taoist streak. Man in the High Castle it is, then. Brilliant idea.
Cheers
gb
"Hey let me ask you something guys is the big grey book cover thing sticking outside of the title box at the top of the page?"
I thought "thinking outside the box" was supposed to be good. No, wait. That's "pushing the envelope."
As Gerard "Best of All Possible Worlds" Brennan suggests, everything is perfectly placed in a Microsoft world. The box looks fine here, too.
V-word: coustros, a felicitous portmanteau of Castros and couscous.
==============
Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Now I see it well-centered also.
Don't know if before it was a hallucination or a case of persistence of vision from my old browser.
my v-word is a grammatical subcomandante: a subcomma
Peter, Marco, Ger
If you new how many man hours I spent cutting that image and pasting it in the box and then cutting it again and again so that it would fit exactly you might know the pain I'm in right now cutting the bastard.
Ah, shoot. I already miss the background to the title. I wonder if there is something on the blogger forums here at Blogspot where one of the geeky experts could tell you how to (easily) make it frame right for all browsers. It always framed well for mine unless I had shrunk the screen, in which case it would shoot out the side.
I think it was super cool that Tessa Dick stopped by. It was somehow perfect. Hope she checks in again.
I loved all that I Ching stuff in Man in the High Castle. But then, I'd probably just learned about the I Ching back then too. I really like the idea of the I Ching writing the novel through PKD. This is reminding me of some other literary venture, but I don't know what just now.
I liked Valis, but wasn't as taken with it as some of the earlier stuff. I think I was a little surprised it seemed so autobiographical. However, he is always, always interesting to read whether you get into the novel as novel so much or not.
And Marco's right. We now know that we are in the Black Iron Prison--not to be confused with the Norn Iron Prison--but sometimes I forget. I mean like mostly always.
v word=efeorman. Which is Greek to me, but has awesome possibilities.
If you new how many man hours I spent cutting that image and pasting it in the box and then cutting it again and again so that it would fit exactly you might know the pain I'm in right now cutting the bastard.
The verificator says waste and it's damn right.Personally I preferred it before than now with the white space.I'd say to put it back,but I wouldnt want to cause you further agony.
Ade - Isn't there a stretch to fit option or something? It can skew some images but maybe it'd help in this case since it's practically the perfect size now.
gb
I'll be glad to stop by once in a while, as time permits. It's nice to be welcomed here.
Phil believed that we are still in the Roman Empire, the Nazi Reich and a few other types of the one archetypal Empire, the eternal form of Empire, as Plato would say.
I think he was right. Just look at the news! And history, too, such as Project Paperclip.
~~ Tessa
~~~
Tessa
It does seem like the iron prison at times. But maybe next year it will start to lift.
I was pleased with what Linklater did on Scanner. I remember reading a few years ago that PKD said you were his "coauthor" on that book. Did the film-makers ask for your input?
(BTW Ger etc. Tessa is an accomplished novelist in her own write and was writing and publishing well before she met PKD.)
Tessa I forgot to mention that I read Bad Moon Rising and really enjoyed it. I believe its your book, though written under a pseudonym or maiden name?
Thanks for mentioning that Tessa is an author in her own right, Adrian. I'll check out Bad Moon Rising.
I do love PKD's whole idea of the Roman Empire never having actually gone away, as much as we might like to think so. Not so clear what his thoughts would be on what our response to this as a current situation should be, though.
I'll be glad to stop by once in a while, as time permits.
It would be nice.
I always liked the way in which PKD borrowed and reinvented religious materials in order to enrich his continuing investigations on the nature of reality.
Ubik and The Black Iron Prison,to name but two,are wonderful open metaphors.
I'm much more negative than Adrian about the Black Iron Prison -I think of it in terms of emerging,systemic power structures.
I don't think that the theologian Walter Wink read PKD,but his reflection on the emergence of domination structures and systems of oppression- as well as the interpretation of early christianity as nonviolent resistance against the Roman Empire- has many similarities with Dick's vision.
(I'm not religious-I came to Wink through a very off-the-centre-to the left catholic priest I know -but his work is very interesting.Neal Stephenson called it an epidemiology of power disorders).
Seanag
I enjoyed it.
Marco
I took The Road with me on my iPod as an audiobook. I'm a Cormac McCarthy completist and this is the last one for me but let me tell you it was tough going. I'll say this for our hellish current dimension, at least it's better than the world that's going to come after the comet hits. C McC is pretty damn convincing about the horrors ahead.
Seanag
One confession though. I didnt actually buy Tessa's book. I borrowed it from a friend and mailed it back, depriving Tessa of royalties of course. Still at least I didnt get it as a PDF and print it out which some unscrupulous devils do.
Marco, since I assume that you find the odd occasion to read in your native Italian too, I must admit that you boggle my mind a bit.
I actually like reading theology as well at times, as a different way of thinking about things, though I don't know Walter Wink.
Adrian, I have a confession to make too, then. My copy of DIWMB is used, except that I seem to have lost it, so had to resort to the library. So you aren't making any royalties off my reading it either. Your karma has apparently been paid off.
So does The Road refer back at all to On the Road? You know Cormac has read it.
Thanks for not getting in a big argument with me about OTR, by the way. My book group has already done that.
I can see that I should really read Ubik.
v word=eplogr, which means one of us must write the epilogue to something, I don't know what.
wow, you guys have been busy while I took off to shovel snow!
yes, I wrote Bad Moon Rising under my maiden name -- but that's a juvenile novel
-- haw anybody read my SF novel -- Origins, Part One: Thor's Hammer (available on Amazon) ???
~~ Tessa
~~~
PS:
if amazon tells you that Origins is no longer available, you are looking at the first edition, which is no longer available, but the SECOND edition is available
and for the wallet challenged, you can download some of my books at Book Habit dot com for something like $3 each
please feel free to share my books with others -- I'm not getting rich, anyway
~~~
Tessa
"please feel free to share my books with others -- I'm not getting rich, anyway"
Yeah I read on your blog that the trust is trying to block your PKD's Owl which seems pretty spurious to me. I wonder if its more to do with the Giamatti movie rather than any real attempt to say that you're infringing on intellectual property.
On your list of PKD inspired fiction you forgot or perhaps weren't aware of "Bad Monkeys" an imagined life of Jane Charlotte Dick. Here's a link to the NYT review.
There have very very very many rip offs as well of course as you yourself point out.
I'm a Cormac McCarthy completist and this is the last one for me but let me tell you it was tough going.
Really? After reading Meridiano di Sangue (Blood Meridian) I've put CmC in the "easy,feelgood" section of my library ;)
Marco, since I assume that you find the odd occasion to read in your native Italian too
I did read Wink in my native Italian.And many novels I mention I did read in translation, expecially when I was younger.
I don't think I read as many books as I used to,and I'm sure Peter Rozovsky more than doubles my quota,but obviously I still read a lot in Italian,including books in translation (if it is easily available and the text doesn't lose too much).
And while in English or German I mainly read fiction,in Italian I read a lot of political/historical/sociological nonfiction,and Wink falls in this category.
So you aren't making any royalties off my reading it either.
This reminds me that I've decided to put my order of DY on hold-I may do it directly from Serpents Tail,and ordered Hidden River instead.
Should arrive in a few days,but I dont think I'll collect it until late January.
Re:royalties -I buy a lot of used books.I would probably only feel guilt in cases in which both a) I like the author and b) I know s/he is not very commercially successful are true.
Btw Adrian,I've seen you've sent around copies of Fifty Grand,and you're probably planning a competition for the blog.
How about sending me one? That way,when I start contacting the publishers,I could mention the new book also (which hopefully will be a great success) and maybe offer a double translation.
Consider also that,since professional times for translations are 2-3 months maximum,if I get the job I'll probably have to finish the translation of DIWMB not long after the US publication of 50G.
Of course this is a desperate ploy to get my copy in advance,but I think it's also a reasonable strategy.50G could probably be scouted and translated independently,but in this way,if someone shows interest,s/he could buy both at the same time and eventually publish also DIWMB.On the other hand DIWMB alone is a book from 2003,and publishers tend to look only for novelties.And I'm sure 50G will be much easier to translate-no Irish expressions, for one.
Marco
Its a fair point. I'm going to get a big box in January (hopefully). I only got an envelope with a couple of books inside so far. Since you asked I'll send you a copy and yeah I'll probably give away half a dozen on the blog.
Fair enough?
A...
Very good.Should I write my address down here or it's better to leave you my e-mail?
marco
very few people are reading way down here so either should be fine.
Well,I'll give you both then
marcolin(at)lillinet.org
Marco Giubbani
Via Nazionale 149
54011 Aulla (MS)
Italy
No, Marco, when you are citing an English speaking writer that I haven't even heard of, it doesn't matter what language you read him in--my mind is still boggled. If you could see a list of the Italian writers I have read in English--and I tend to really like Italian novelists--you would see that my assessment is just.
I guess you guys forgot about me and what sort of nefarious purposes I might put Marco's address to...
Still, while we're on the subject of Fifty Grand, I do have a thought. It may be premature, in fact it is, but while Peter and others have been very careful not to give anything away from their early reads, it does seem like at some point, you might want to have some sort of very clearly stated spoiler thread, where people can discuss it without restraint, and, okay, generate buzz and all that. It could be a link like the STW one. Maybe it should be on the Holt site--I don't know. You could do a post with a non-spoilerish description, and then open comments to free discussion with a warning. I think a lot of people would be thrilled to hear the author's thoughts after they read it, and, if they turned out to be a little too thrilled and time-consuming, you could always delete the link, at least if it was on your own site.
Just a thought.
Hmm, a spoiler thread. A cool idea.
Even though blogs are outmoded, they can still be seats (better I should say "loci" if I want to generate high-level buzz) of innovation.
==============
Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Seanag
Thanks for the idea. I'll pretty much do anything at this stage. After watching DIWMB die, a book I'd worked on for two years and lived for five I dont want that to happen again 50G which is personal to me on a different level, but still a big part of my life.
Peter
Loci. Loving it.
A..
Yeah, I think the difference is that there is a little buzz generated already, and although it may be small, some of it's in noteworthy places. I don't know if it's enough to bust it out or not. It's a hard market right now. But you do have to know that you have some very astute readers in your camp. If it's really all about publicity and marketing and luck, well, you takes your chances. But I think you've captured the attention of at least a few of the people you need to attract to your work, so I guess I'd advise not put all your bets on this one pony. It may happen this time or it may happen the next. But it's really not the point to give in to cynicism about the whole thing,whatever happens.
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