Selected Stories of Philip K. Dick

I thought the stories were pretty dated and did not hold up well today. After seeing the Minority Report and Total Recall, these two stories were a bit of a dissapointment. Other authors, such as Asimov, Norton and Heinlein wrote stories that have held up much better over the years. I would not recommend Dick's stories.

SELECTED STORIES OF PHILIP K DICK represents an overview of Dick's output over his lifetime; as such, there is a progression of sorts to these stories - he got better as he went along. The earlier stories conform to the sci-fi yarns that used to dominate the field - a quick set-up with a 'gotcha' type ending, but the further one goes in the collection, the more the themes that Dick became celebrated for - isolation, alienation, lonliness and paranoia, as well as an overwhelming mistrust of authority - develop and expand. This is the root of Dick's appeal to me, rather than his technical skill as a writer, which, frankly, I feel was his weakest link. In this case, that's really here nor there - as I say, it was his themes which draw me in, as well as, I suspect, it does for most of his fans.

Many of these stories were familiar to me, and I enjoyed reading them again as a way of recapturing a bit of the wonderment I experienced when first discovering them. Unfortunately, as the book is designed as a retrospective rather than a 'best-of', there are some stories missing that I would have liked to have seen again, and some questionable inclusions. This may not hamper one's enjoyment of the collection, but I did find that I appreciated the stories at the end of the book far more than those at the beginning.

I'm not sure this is the collection I would recommend to someone new to Horselover Fat, though I'm not familiar enough with the other story collections to know which WOULD be the one to recommend. There are four paperback volumes consisting of his collected output, though any one of those is likely to have its ups and downs as well. No matter, I suppose. Any collection of Dick's will satisfy some and not others. If I were really pressed, I would probably point the neophyte toward his classic novels. The Philip K. Dick Collection has an excellent selection, any title included there is worthwhile and representative of his themes and ideas.

Excellent collection of some of PKD's best short stories. Minority Report, Paycheck, Imposter, Adjustment Team and We Can Remember It For You Wholesale (Total Recall) were turned into movies. The Selected Stories of Philip K. Dick is raw and real just how PKD might like it. It shares many short stories with the Philip K. Dick Reader (completely different book published 5 years earlier) except it adds Imposter and Adjustment Team while omitting The Golden Man (Next). So I suggest buying either this book (Selected Stories) or the Philip K. Dick reader (but not both). You get PKD's earliest short story, Beyond Lies the Wub, and his second to last published story in his lifetime, I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon. In between are some of his finest works. If you own this book you have 6 out of 12 of PKD's stories that have film versions (Total Recall was made twice).

The 21 short stories included:

1. Beyond Lies the Wub (1952)
2. Roog (1953)
3. Paycheck (1953)
4. Second Variety (1953)
5. Imposter (1953)
6. The King of the Elves
7. Adjustment Team
8. Foster, You're Dead
9. Upon the Dull Earth
10. Autofac (1955)
11. The Minority Report
12. The Days of Perky Pat
13. Precious Artifact
14. A Game of Unchance
15. We Can Remember It For You Wholesale (1966)
16. Faith of Our Fathers
17. The Electric Ant
18. A Little Something For Us Tempunauts (1974)
19. The Exit Door Leads In (1979)
20. Rautavaara's Case (1980)
21. I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon (1980)

Considering PKD's movie adaptations, I consider Blade Runner, Minority Report and Total Recall to be the best. Paycheck, Impostor, Screamers, Adjustment Bureau and A Scanner Darkly aren't bad either.

Buy this book. It is the best PKD short story collection available. This volume has managed to retain its value quite well. The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick Volumes I-IV are also recommended (especially Volume III with The Golden Man).

I'd had only a glimmer of an idea of what the works of Philip K. Dick were about, that that glimmer was pretty much solely based on the films that had been inspired by his works.

Because of that, I don't know if I'd say I was very pleasantly surprised or somewhat dismayed to read this collection. "Very pleasantly surprised" to discover how excellent the source material really was, or "somewhat dismayed" to come to the realization of how poorly most of the films based on some of these stories did of conveying the original ideas.

In any event, with the exception of all but possibly the first few stories in the collection this was a great read. Some of the tech that is implied seems a bit dated now (in that it was written in the 60's and all), but overall the ideas and unease that the characters espouse more than makes up for the tech blips.

I've been recommended to read 'VALIS' as it is "Dick at his trippiest" and have put that in my queue along with more of his short stories.

Oh, one last thing - the story I was most curious to read ("Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" which was the inspiration for 'Blade Runner') isn't a story at all but a full length novel; chalk that one up to ignorance.

This is an incredible collection from one of the most widely recognized and revered voices in SF history. PKD is a writer whose vision and stories have been regurgitated onto the silver screen in films like TOTAL RECALL ("We Can Remember it for You Wholesale), THE MINORITY REPORT and IMPOSTER most recently. The basis for those films are in this book and offer much more than the filmed versions, to say the least.
While the three stories above are strong on their own terms, others in this collection offer more evidence of Dick's greatness and vision of a world where no one can be trusted, especially yourself. On display are stories that range from Fantasy - KING OF THE ELVES, wherein a man takes in a travelling band of elves, Gothic Horror UPON THE DULL EARTH - in which a witch and her husband attempt to cross the boundaries of life and death. The down side of time travel in A LITTLE SOMETHING FOR US TEMPUNAUTS and peek behind the curtain of reality in FAITH OF OUR FATHERS. In RAUTAVAARA'S CASE, the basic tenets of Catholocism are tested and turned on a screw to the most ardent of believers. In some way all of the stories in the selection turn something on its rear, turn the world a few degrees on its axis and offer a glimpse at what could be. PKD shows us those things which we would rather not consider as the truth of a reality.
There are 21 superb stories in this collection, each throwing a monkey-wrench into the perceptions of self, the world around you and the relationship between the two.

These stories are fantastic. They are presented in chronological order, which is perfect for two reasons. First, the "easiest" ones to read are first; these are the ones that are the most straightforward 50s- and 60s-era sf tales. The later stories are more challenging, and more rewarding. Second, the reader is able to follow the author's descent into madness.

Nearly all of the stories are great. Among my favorites: Second Variety, Autofac, The Exit Door Leads In, and Rautavaara's Case. Faith of Our Fathers is one of the most terrifying things I've ever read, and I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon is one of the most heartbreaking things I've ever read.

The short stories of Philip Dick perhaps do not reach the levels that the best of his novels do. However they are just as inventive, just as challenging, just as stimulating. For those readers who claim his characterisation is poor, and his descriptions are insufficiently well formed I suggest you let your own mind fill in the details - it is not necessary to have every detail spelled out by the author. In fact, I find it a far graver insult to go the other way and describe, describe, describe - as Henry James sometimes does.

As an example of writing that approaches genius there is a description of the aftermath of a nuclear explosion - 'The World Jones Made'? - in which he doesn't say of the character who climbs out of the basement that has protected him 'he could hear in the far distance a car horn blaring continuously in the uncanny stillness'. What he does say is that everything is quiet and suddenly a car horn sounds (there are other living people?), far in the distance (are they reachable?), continuously (and we see in our mind someone slumped dead over the steering wheel). Of course the bracketed comments are mine - but what a journey we are so quickly taken on - hope, doubt, despair. All without the author 'explaining' anything. Compare that to the bland alternative description and you can see that this man is using writing in a very evocative way.

When you sit down with these stories, please forget the movies - even the good ones - let your mind go on its own adventure!

This collection of PKD's work is a great introduction into the vast depth with which PDK writes. Each story is told within 20 pages and gives great character, plot and emotional development that each story takes you down a different perspective. I found myself throughout the collection saying there was nothing new he could write about, yet each story brought forward a sci-fi concept that I had not thought of.
I do question one of the lead-in stories "Roog" which is short and at times pretty pointless. If you are new to sci-fi, a story such as that, could lead you to stop reading further, as "Beyond lies the Wub" is not one of the best stories in this collection as well. After you make it beyond these two, the stories, plot twists and characters are more refined and much more enjoyable.
Paycheck was my favorite in this collection, and has me anxious to see the movie, even though John Woo will twist this masterpiece around. Interesting note, four of the stories inspired films, Second Variety - "Screamers"; Paycheck - "Paycheck"; We can remember it for you wholesale - "Total Recall"; and The Minority Report - "Minority Report"

Philip K. Dick has become the most filmed author in science fiction. That's a mixed blessing. The films made from his novels vary from flawed but great ("Blade Runner", "Minority Report") to fun dreck that wastes the potential of the story ("Paycheck"). First time fans will discover some great, unusual stories with a unique wit, touch of irony and fierce intelligence that rivals the late Kurt Vonnegut (a fellow traveler with his use of disjointed narratives and the use of irony in science fiction).

As with a couple of other reviewers here, I'd suggest skipping "Roog". Many of the stories included here were later made into films but skip those first. Go for the gothic science fiction story "Upon the Dull Earth" a gem that even I hadn't seen and I've been a fan of Dick's since 1969. Then dig into some of his less familiar but no less trippy (and powerful) stories such as "I Hope I Will Arrive Soon" and "The Days of Perky Pat".

This is a very good collection for first time readers of Dick and, quite honestly, despite his talent he was churning out stories at a furious pace to make ends meet so not all of his novels and short stories are great but those that are continue to be outstanding. Dick was a novelist and writer first and foremost. The fact that he was consigned to the literary ghetto of "science fiction" is a shame because it suggested that he was writing just pulp fiction that others wouldn't appreciate. That's just not the case. At his best he could be dazzling, at his worst he could be merely entertaining but always interesting.

We get the following stories classic stories: "The Days of Perky Pat", "Autofac", "Upon the Dull Earth", "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale", "The Electric Ant", "A Little Something for Us Tempunauts", "The Exit Door Leads In", "I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon""The Minority Report", "Second Variety" (adapted into the film "Screamers"), "Imposter" (adapted into the film of the same name)and "Precious Artifact". The other stories in the collection vary from quite good to OK ("Roog" an early story that hints at his possibilities as a writer).

I'd suggest the following novels as well--Ubik, The Transmigration of Timothy Archer (a non-sf novel), Confessions of a Crap Artist (another non-sf novel), Flow My Tears the Policeman Said, A Scanner Darkly, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldrich and The Unteleported Man as a good place to start with Dick outside of his short stories. This is a solid collection of classic Dick stories with just a few duds. 3 1/2 stars.

Austin, here are the stories in this book:
1. Beyond Lies the Wub
2. Roog
3. Paycheck
4. Second Variety
5. Imposter
6. The King of the Elves
7. Adjustment Team
8. Foster, You're Dead
9. Upon the Dull Earth
10. Autofac
11. The Minority Report
12. The Days of Perky Pat
13. Precious Artifact
14. A Game of Unchance
15. We Can Remember It For You Wholesale
16. Faith of Our Fathers
17. The Electric Ant
18. A Little Something For Us Tempunauts
19. The Exit Door Leads In
20. Rautavaara's Case
21. I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon
A great collection.

I become to read the book without to realise the great satisfaction of discovering that original movies' plots like Minority Report, Total Recall (short story "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale") and The Adjustment Bureau were in the book. It brings me the feeling about how brilliant Philip K Dick is for SciFi genre.

It is possible to find some stories about other genres like the fantastic terror's tale named Upon the Dull Earth. Other fantasy stories like The Days of Perky Pat and The King of the Elves bored me. From this could to conclude that SciFi is main Dick's speciality.

You will expend time to book reading because it is very extensive. But by this same way you can have the feelling that it is a good investment.

Overall, a very strong and representative collection of PKD's short stories. These shorts in this binding include a lot of old favorites that are arranged chronologically so we can watch PKD's obsessions and themes emerge and unfold and develop. It also allows us to see where he managed to frustrate himself along the way as well. Anyone reading this would do well to read the PKD bio by Emmanuel Carrere, "I Am Alive And You Are Dead"; it's interesting to line up the parallels in PKD's life with his recurring tropes and stylistic choices.

If you've enjoyed any sci-fi movies of the last thirty years, do yourself a favor and pick up this book. Phillip K Dick's stories have been the basis for so many classic films, he should have his own Criterion Collection. Granted, some of the adaptations have been lacking as well, but that's no fault of the source material. If you enjoy stories that make you think, dystopian futures, robots, suspense, unreliable narrators, and never being quite sure where the story is going to take you, then pick up this, or any other of Dick's books/collections.

This is a great book with which to get familiarized with Philip K. Dick. Many may know of one of his stories - Total Recall. The original story is better than the movie in that there are unexpected twists. All of the stories in this book have surprising and unexpected endings. They all get you think. I can't recommend this highly enough.

I had never heard of Philip.K.Dick before, im one of the millions who had only seen movies based on his work.

In short, the author writes very interesting stories that are refreshing from the sterotypical scfi-fi trash of aliens & Star Wars-inspired clone stories. It spins me out thinking this stuff was written 30-40 years ago & makes me think sci-fi writers these days have lost their creativity.

Some are thought-provoking, others ironic tales about petty human grievance's, some about paranoia & others involve a strong flavour of the old Cold War fear of the formidable & largely unknown enemy.

It was a pretty good find for me, Dick's style is refreshing as i said earlier & i'll definatly be reading more of his work.

Of the collections of PDK short stories I've read, this is the best. The stories are dynamic and varied. This collection is an excellent way to get to know Phillip K. Dick. Anyone looking for a PKD collection, this is the one to buy, or check out from the library, or buy for your library.

Great stories by a famous master of sci-fi. My favorite is "The Days of Perky Pat." Though the story was written long before the era of gaming consoles, MMOGs, and mobile devices, its satire is more on target now than ever.

I've always loved science fiction but the idea that somehow Dicks was a 'great writer' rubbed me wrong. Perhaps because I myself am a writer and have an advanced degree in English [re: forced to read a plethora of excellent writing] I've always read with a [overly] critical eye. Dicks stikes me as a very lazy writer who, in his desire to get out his ideas, skips development or careful construction and just rushes to the dénouement, loose ends be damned. But.. I love the ideas! Like Twilight Zone instant good stuff. I don't deny it, I'm esentially lazy also! Still, for truly great Sci-Fi read, say, Gene Wolfes' The Fifth Head of Cerberus or Lem's Solaris..if your a lazy reader don't bother. The guy who claims King or what's-his-face as great, well, that says it all!

On many levels PKD is a terrible writer. But as an ideas man, few of us could do better than his distopian every-man glimpses into the future. This collection of short stories illustrates his weaknesses as well as his strengths. Some of these tales are familiar to Science Fiction Movie fans: Dick's short story version of Paycheck is notoriously hollow and undramatic. I long ago learned to avoid the ramblings of the editors of such compilations, but having peeked at the preface was not surprised to find it to be the kind of breathless and unrepentantly obsequious fawnings you'd expect from anyone who refuses to write the words "Science Fiction" and instead tosses the "SF" moniker around as often as possible in order to sound avant-garde.

The short is: You've gotta read the short stories in order to really understand Philip K. Dick... and this is as good a survey as any.

In many ways Dick is a poor writer. His ability to create images by discriptive language and his ability to create interesting and believable charcteres are adequate at best (and there are those who think that this faint praise is vast exaggeration). At his best, however, Dick approaches genius as he contrives plots that beautifully illuminate a philosophical idea that he is exploring. Thus he explores the distinction between perception and reality in We Can Remember It For You Wholesale and asks what it is to be human in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Such gems are the exception, however, not the rule.
Still, many of these stories leave one dissatisfied. Far from timeless, they arise out of the beatnik fifties for the most part and beatnik philosophy permeates these stories. Several repeated themes or attributes ring hollow in the world of today. For example, smoking tobacco is nearly universal in Dick's future but has been condemned to obscurity and shame today. Similarly, many stories are set in the aftermath of a nuclear showdown between the US and the USSR. Another frequent theme is precognition and one wonders if Dick did not see himself in that light. If so, he misjudged both himself and us. He was not as foresightful as he thought he was and we are better than he thought we were.
It should be mentioned that Hollywood has not been kind to Dick. The directors of such movies as Total Recall (based upon We Can Remember It For You Wholesale) have taken an idea from a beautiful little story, added explosions and bikini babes, and created a blockbuster that bears only the slightest resemblance to its inspiration. It is perhaps fitting that Hollywood should so mangle these stories since a common theme of many is the creation of an illusion that supercedes the reality.
All in all, and given that Dick is surely one of the best science fiction writers of the last century, Dick serves to illustrate that science fiction has yet to find a truly great author. Science fiction needs an author who can do for science fiction what Stephen King and Dean Koontz have done for the horror novel; to elevate it above its niche. Dick was a good idea man. Too bad he wasn't a better writer.

Let me start by debunking three of the critical myths about Philip K. Dick: 1) He is in no way shape nor form as great a writer as Franz Kafka. 2) Like most sci fi writers his stories are long on machinations (albeit often clever) and very short on characterization, and especially realistic dialogue. 3) He is in no sense of the word a surrealist. Unlike Kafka PKD could never get inside a character. In a sense his characters are all philosophical zombies in a medium whose essence is designed to show the exact opposite of that. Kafka could, for every man is K or Josef K., while PKD's characters are merely everymen. This is not semantics, but archetype vs. stereotype and classicism vs. genericism. As for surrealism? Given the `hardness' of PKD's sci fi tales the term simply doesn't apply, for we are always in a crystal cut universe, and not one of the gooey DNA from which surrealism is cut.

I feel this is a necessary start to this piece because the buildup to my reading PKD's Selected Stories was brutal. My exposure to him before reading this book was limited to the three sci fi films made from stories of his- 1982's Blade Runner, by Ridley Scott (based upon Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?), 1990's Total Recall, by Paul Verhoeven (based upon We Can Remember It For You Wholesale), and 2002's Minority Report, by Steven Spielberg (based upon The Minority Report). None were great films, although all had good premises, and Total Recall was actually a fun flick, yet to read the critics one would think PKD was a genius, rather than a solid sci fi writer whose ideas outstripped his prose ability.

I defy PKD fans to find any great dialogue in this book, or any great characterizations, or any great descriptions. Now, most sci fi suffers from the inability to package a true human story with a great idea- a fact PKD acknowledged in a book culled out of his `philosophical writings'. I parenthesize that phrase merely because, although I am no fan of the apothegm or starchy tome model of most philosophical treatises, to reasonably call PKD's ideas `philosophy' is to conflate insanity with genius, which has all too often been done. Interestingly, although PKD could scope out such a basic lack in the genre he was incapable of injecting the same into his own tales. Yet, there were writers in that genre who could develop human characters- Robert Heinlein's Stranger In A Strange Land, and those who could bind a taut narrative together with memorable descriptions and turns of phrase- A.E. Van Vogt. While PKD acknowledged both as masters he seems to have had some personal conflicts with Heinlein for his opinion on his work wavers in writings through the decades....Has there ever been an original sci fi tale that dealt with the idea of a divine being? If so, a hack piece like Rautavaara's Case, where God is an alien construct, is not it. Yet, despite a more metaphysical `growth arc' to his writing, the standard PKD plot is this: Average Joe finds out average life is not so average, if even real. Sinister forces are behind the irreality. Then comes epiphany, and either immolation, resign, or irrelevance. That's it, in a nutshell. And, sorry, there needs to be a greater view of life than that to sustain greatness as a thinker. And while the variations on this basic scheme can change, and lead to philosophic pauses, it's still a formula, however cleverly mutated from tale to tale. Furthermore, all his tales, no matter how distended by length, all seem to rise or fall on the punch the end provides. Don't get me wrong. All tales should end well, but much of PDK's work could do without the girthy middles, since all they do is generally set you up for the end. Cut the fat and the whack PKD wants to give you would sting more.

That said, is an author whose main purpose is to whack you anything near a great artist? Not in my book, which is why the adapted films are all better than their sources. Perhaps had PKD not needed to write and write to pay bills, and been allowed the freedom to think out the stories' ramifications more, they would have truly been what his acolytes claim. Instead, he is not a Franz Kafka, who did precisely that, but a Josef K., turned to inside out explicate his state. Spare me the innards, and pass the wub!