Philip K Dick Month: Ubik

For this month's meeting of the Science Fiction Book Club, namely Philip K Dick month, I have chosen Ubik, because 1) it is a Dick classic and 2) there is no movie of it. In Ubik, telepathy is commonplace and the privacy of the common man is threatened, so there has arisen a breed of men, called inertials, who can cancel the psionic talents of telepaths. The second feature of this future is half-life, a state of preservation in which the deceased (or, rather, the nearly-deceased) slowly fades away. The third thread of this novel is the ubiquitous "Ubik," a product of a thousand uses, which hardly ever seems to be used the same way twice. The plot follows Joe Chip, the ace but broke tester of Runciter's company, which supplies inertials to privacy-seekers, in a Dickian examination of reality, perception, and decay. Dick's telepathic dystopias seem to have less external freakishness than Bester's, and fewer circus geeks, but there is a greater emphasis on alternate realities and pharmaceutical abuse.

Virtual Unrealities

In preparation for Wednesday's book club, I scanned my shelves and discovered that my Bester collection d of two books, The Stars My Destination and The Demolished Man. Even though these are his two most famous science-fiction novels, it seemed remiss of the organizer to have never read any short stories of Bester. So I headed down to Borderlands Bookstore and a bought a copy of Virtual Unrealities. The majority of the stories were written in the early years of Bester's career, but the explosive creativity.

"Disappearing Act" feels almost like a Twilight Zone episode, with a small cast and the true conclusion left to the intelligence of the reader. "Oddy and Id" has loads of Freudian psychology, and is most interesting as a study for The Demolished Man. "Star Light, Star Bright" reads as an episode of the Twilight Zone. "5,271,009" is about choices and maturity, but with the patented Bester craziness. "Fondly Fahrenheit" is a fun story, but the mystery in it is a little thin; more importantly, there are no clues before the big reveal. "Hobson's Choice" is an excellent reflection on the illusion of a better future or past. I do find the meaning of the protagonist's name, Addyer, refreshingly appropriate. "Of Time and Third Avenue" is a pleasant little time story, dedicated, I suspected, to Damon Knight. "Time Is The Traitor" is my favorite story in the collection, although bythis point I am beginning to suspect that Bester has a probability and statistics fetish. The ending is bittersweet, but utterly logical. "The Men Who Murdered Mohammed" did not strike me especially forcefully, but I'm not fond of those sort of endings - I also may have read it before.  I can't say much about "Pi Man," since I lost interest in it almost immediately.  "They Don't Make Life Like They Used To" is a post-apocalyptic tale in which the protagonist has reverted to a childish mentality. I read "The Flowered Thundermug" and enjoyed it, but am at a total loss how to describe it - comparison to Idiocracy plus a crime caper seems inadequate. "Adam and Eve" is another post-apocalyptic travel narrative, whose smoking gun is one I had never considered. I do wonder, though, why iron features so strongly in many early science-fictional devices when its most dramatic reaction is to rust in the presence of oxygen. "3 1/2 To Go" is a fragment, but gives a sense of what other freaks might be in Guy Fourmyles' Four Mile Circus. The following story, "Galatea Galante," covers the circus angle well, and provides an interesting example of synaesthesia in the musical "speech" of the Siren.

The Stars My Destination

The Stars My Destination - formally known as Tiger! Tiger! - an apocalyptic, pyrotechnic proto-cyberpunk novel, explosive in its language. The story of Gully Foyle, a worthless piece of meat in human form who transcends his inutility. A treatise on the potential of the common man.

The Stars My Destination is an enjoyable read. It incorporates many of the motifs of cyberpunk without overwhelming the reader without singularity self-pleasuring. The sociological examination of the fallout from a revolutionary discovery (jaunting) is detailed and well thought out. The inversion of the usual direction of one-way telepathy is ingenious, and the neo-Skoptsy sect sends shivers down the spine. The pace leaves one breathless.

There are, however, certain portions which have not aged well. The preoccupation of science fiction writers in the 1950's and 1960's with clowns and circuses lacks the same resonance in an age when the only well-known circus is pretentious and French-Canadian. Although the theme of corporate clans is remarkably relevant today, the use of actual company names in a work of fiction tarnishes the facade. The social attitudes are remarkably dated for the Western World, but at least Bester provides an in-story explanation.

When a book opens with a poem, it's never an accident, but often a thesis or an indication of the flavor of the narrative. Ignore it at your peril.