'Slowly going mad in Santa Ana, California'

The Orange County Register ^ | January 4, 2002 | Stephen Lynch

[EveningStar]

Twenty years after his death, Philip K. Dick's paranoid visions are more popular than ever.

After four wives, two suicide attempts, an addiction to amphetamines and a burglary committed either by drug addicts or the CIA, Orange County seemed the perfect place for Philip K. Dick to start over.

[bribriagain]

bump

[LarryLied]

Dick's humor was the best and is rarely mentioned. Doesn't translate to film either.

[Dialup Llama]

>Sought solace in everything from religious symbols to dark-haired girls.

Here's my vote for women with raven black hair.

[sonserae]

Bump..
Genius always seems to come out of the disturbed.
Life would be uninteresting without the sick and twisted
I suppose.

[I_Love_My_Husband]

Interesting. I tried to read some of his books, and was unsuccessful. Mainly because I started feeling really paranoid while reading them!

[FormerLib]

Thanks for reminding me why I love FreeRepublic!

[Doctor Stochastic]

I've only kept my SciFi collections of two authors, PK Dick, and PJ Farmer.

I rather liked "Solar Lottery" and it's relevance to the idea of National ID cards. "A Maze of Death" was a bit of a downer. "Through a Scanner Darkly" does seem to parody the War On Drugs.

[Tokhtamish]

And why hasn't anyone ever tried to dramatize the Riverworld series ?

[Cultural Jihad]

Some critics considered him crazy,...

Had he created a political party to rival the Libertarian's high flake factor?

[philman_36]

You really need to seek help for that Libertarian fetish you have.

[Deckard]

Dick noted (in Valis, I believe) that the Christian fish symbol resembles a snippet of DNA turned on its side.

[pabianice]

I wonder how his suddenly rich heirs feel?

[Cultural Jihad]

Dick noted (in Valis, I believe) that the Christian fish symbol resembles a snippet of DNA turned on its side.

Wow! The guy was brilliant! I would have assumed the perspective of the DNA snippet being turned on its side depended on which way the fish was swimming, upstream, downstream, or side-to-side from one bank to the other. Sheesh.

[boris]

Dick was a genius--no doubt. But I still rank him a shade below the true greats. His output was uneven, some classics and some duds. Heinlein never had a dud. I recommend:

Robert Heinlein
Jack Vance
Isaac Asimov
Cordwainer Smith
David Gerrold
Robert Silverberg
Lord Dunsany (Fantasy)
H.P. Lovecraft (Horror/Fantasy)
A. E. Van Vogt
Tanith Lee (the only decent female fantasy writer, IMHO)
Murray Leinster
Harry Harrison
James Blish
Keith Laumer
Jack Williamson

In particular, every single word ever written by Dunsany glows and glitters; reading his work reminds me of listening to Bach or seeing light through stained-glass windows.

Lovecraft could chill you to the bone without splashing blood and guts all over the landscape.

Jack Vance can evoke alien-ness. His characters are droll and mordant, just the way I likem.

--Boris

[boris]

Almost forgot: ROGER ZELAZNY.

[monkey]

After four wives, two suicide attempts

Sounds more like four suicide attemps.

[backhoe]

Thanks for posting this- I used to wait, anticipating each new story from PKD, and undergoing trials of my own, I completely missed his death. My shock at seeing "the late author, Phillip K. Dick" in the paper was profound- like the bad joke goes, I hadn't even known he was sick...

You revived a lot of poignant memories.

[Cicero]

A terrific writer. I think I've read all his novels, including the California ones, and I managed to get my hands on the five-volume collection of his short stories at a good price, too. "Valis" is one of my least favorites--I think he slipped over the edge with that one. The earlier stories are less about his own insanity than the absurdity and alienation of those who are stuck in the modern world with no idea how to get out of it. The last really good ones IMHO were "Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said," and "Ubik." When I taught an SF course some years ago, I usually did "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?"

[balrog666]

And why hasn't anyone ever tried to dramatize the Riverworld series ?

Last I heard, it was coming to a TV screen soon. Reportedly it's already being made in New Zealand.