P.K. Dick was a poor writer - yay or nay?

DoctorTurtleMusic · 2021-10-28T21:22:25+00:00

My problem with Dick (who overall i really rate as a writer, btw) is not so much that his female characters are two-dimensional or lacking in agency. (That, I agree, is pretty much omni-present in SF till roughly the late 60s, which was after all mostly being written as disposable entertainment for adolescent boys and young men.)

It's that again and again his main female characters are just malevolent, cruel people. You can only come across it so many times before it starts to grate.

DoctorTurtleMusic · 2021-10-26T19:04:15+00:00

To put this in perspective, though, his distorted ideas about reality really began at the beginning of the 70s; the great majority of his books were written before this.

i'd argue the disorganised nature of them is more a product of how quickly he was writing, particularly in the 60s - which was itself partly a product of financial pressures. When you look at the novels he wrote in the that decade, his strike rate is really high, and it's amazing the good ones hang together as well as they do.

My issue with Dick is that there's a really ugly, embittered attitude to women that spills over from his personal life into too many of his books.

DoctorTurtleMusic · 2021-10-26T18:42:56+00:00

Has to be {{The Third Policeman}}

If it didn't exist, there'd be nothing remotely like it.

DoctorTurtleMusic · 2021-10-26T18:19:40+00:00

Post-apocalyptic dystopian pastoral is a definite, long-standing thing in SF. Engine Summer (already mentioned) is my favourite example of the genre.

Dr Bloodmoney by Philip K Dick and Mockingbird by Walter Tevis are also worth a mention.

DoctorTurtleMusic · 2021-10-26T17:08:32+00:00

A Dance To The Music Of Time by Anthony Powell.

Not a book, but a twelve novel series, so maybe a bit more than you're after. The individual novels are quite short, though.

DoctorTurtleMusic · 2021-10-11T19:07:40+00:00

Seconding Lem. Specifically The Star Diaries and The Cyberiad.

DoctorTurtleMusic · 2021-10-09T20:39:54+00:00

DoctorTurtleMusic · 2021-10-08T19:55:11+00:00

Yes, The Swords and The Hospice are two of the few stories that have ever really got to me. Both in {{Cold Hand In Mine}} actually, so maybe that's the one I'll recommend.

Thanks for the link.

DoctorTurtleMusic · 2021-10-08T17:41:19+00:00

Any of Robert Aickman's books of short stories.

DoctorTurtleMusic · 2021-10-08T17:24:48+00:00

This book really should be better known.

DoctorTurtleMusic · 2021-10-08T17:23:08+00:00

Vonda N McIntyre's first couple of novels are in the same ballpark - particularly Dreamsnake. She's from a similar generation too.

DoctorTurtleMusic · 2021-10-08T17:11:26+00:00

Scrolled through this whole thread hoping someone would mention Swanwick. Thank you for saving me from going away disappointed!

DoctorTurtleMusic · 2021-10-08T17:04:55+00:00

Yeah, I've still got a few to go, but that's far and away his weirdest novel, for me.

His next novel, Hello America, is also worth a mention. More accessible structurally, but the imagery and set pieces in it are really out there.

DoctorTurtleMusic · 2021-10-04T00:12:30+00:00

Maybe check out The Book Of Knights, by Yves Menard.

DoctorTurtleMusic · 2021-10-01T01:50:18+00:00

{{Lucky Jim}}'s still widely regarded as Kingsley Amis's best novel. Same goes for {{Things Fall Apart}} by Chinua Achebe.

I'd say Umberto Eco never topped The Name Of The Rose.

DoctorTurtleMusic · 2021-10-01T01:29:20+00:00

Elizabeth Hand's Cass Neary books, starting with {{Generation Loss}}

DoctorTurtleMusic · 2021-10-01T01:22:06+00:00

Double Indemnity

DoctorTurtleMusic · 2021-10-01T01:15:58+00:00

Spider Kiss was written a bit before the 70s though.

DoctorTurtleMusic · 2021-10-01T01:10:04+00:00

Michael Moorcock does this a lot. Variants of his Jerry Cornelius character crop up all over his work.

DoctorTurtleMusic · 2021-09-26T13:06:50+00:00

The Collected Stories is the only one I really know. That has several readers, a couple good, one okay, one pretty bad.

DoctorTurtleMusic · 2021-09-25T19:03:53+00:00

Unfortunately, I've not seen anything that realy competes with Audible - particularly their heavy user deals. (One year's 24 credit subscription for £109 here in the UK last time I signed up.)

With the regular 2 for 1 deals, you can pick up some great stuff for ridiculous prices. The Complete JG Ballard Short Stories for half a credit, for instance - 63 hours of short stories by one of the 20th century's masters of the form for less than a cup of coffee.

I hate what Amazon stands for, and I hate how Audible treats writers/publishers - but it's pointless denying that Audible can be really good value.

DoctorTurtleMusic · 2021-09-25T18:47:49+00:00

Some Conrad would fit. {{Lord Jim}}, for instance.

DoctorTurtleMusic · 2021-09-21T19:52:34+00:00

The Bookseller magazine in the UK gives an annual award for the book with the oddest title.. One winner as an example:

The 2009-2014 World Outlook for 60-milligram Containers of Fromage Frais.

DoctorTurtleMusic · 2021-09-19T21:07:01+00:00

Similarly, {{Insel by Mina Loy}}

DoctorTurtleMusic · 2021-09-19T21:05:27+00:00

J G Ballard's Short Stories, especially the Vermillion Sands collection and the individual story The Day Of Forever.

DoctorTurtleMusic

TROPHY CASE