Sci-Fi novels

vimothy

yurp
Valis is the one for me, as far as PKD goes.

On the theory side, I assume you're familiar with CCRU. Is that the kind of thing you're talking about?
 

CHAOTROPIC

on account
yeah i really liked House of Leaves. I tried to read something else by Daniewlski (Revolutions i think) but it didn't make sense.

Agreed. House of Leaves is fantastic, & a real page-turner. Revolutions sits on my booksheft, unread except for a good thumbing when I first got it. I'll get round (ha!) to it sooner or later if I can still that part of me that can't really be arsed.

& Valis is top Dick.
 

jambo

slip inside my schlafsack
Valis is dry imo, it's like he's barely bothered disguising his exegesis material with a novel. Of course I can appreciate it but I think the other two in the 'trilogy' are better books, as are A Maze Of Death and the aforementioned Palmer Eldritch. I love the themes of The Divine Invasion.
 
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droid

Guest
Maze of death is one of the worst books Ive ever slogged through... almost unreadable. The Divine Invasion is great though.

Anyone read 'Confessions of a crap artist'?
 

CHAOTROPIC

on account
Valis is dry imo, it's like he's barely bothered disguising his exegesis material with a novel.

I think that's why I like it. & I think that's what makes it the opposite of 'dry'. It has a feverish quality, & for all its mental-illnessness, it has a weird super-paranoid deja vu-ish ring of truth about it ... feels like someone saying something that really needed to be said. Fuck me if I know what that is though ... I'm sure ten years of caning speed had a lot to do with it. But Dick knew a thing or two.
 
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droid

Guest
Uh-huh - The trilogy in general (and a scanner darkly) are all so good precisely because they are based so closely on Dick's own experiences, and as a result they don't seem as forced and wooden as much of his other works, many of which are marked by his complete inability to create characters that have even a smidgen of reality about them...

Perhaps thats why 'confessions' works when you would expect it not too - because the main character is declared to be essentially autistic/unhinged so the reader doesn't expect to be able to empathise or understand his motivations/rationale. In fact, if you imagine that all of Dick's characters have similar mental problems, his novels start to make a bit more sense (Alternatively, you could just imagine that they are all hurriedly fleshed out short stories with terrible characterisation... ;)).
 

jd_

Well-known member
I don't get this criticism of Dick at all, I read it often but can't relate to it. It's the way he writes about people that drew me to him to begin with, but maybe I'm like the only one that likes this about him? I started with Confessions which isn't science fiction and I got into the genre through reading his other books. Maybe I'm autistic?
 
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droid

Guest
His characters are like cardboard cutouts... the reader is generally given no real insight into their motivations their drives or their feelings other than the most basic descriptive outlines, and what motivation and behaviour is explained seems to be utterly unrealistic. With a few exceptions he seems unable to evoke any sense of empathy for his characters in the reader. I find myself simply not caring what happens to them.

Thats why Id always describe Dick as an ideas man... brilliant ideas, terrible writing - which is why he works best in the short story format.
 

jd_

Well-known member
Yeah I don't know, I've never particularily liked any of his short stories, but I read them randomly and haven't read that many so I probably just haven't read the good ones. I think what's cool about his take on things is that he focuses on the sort of people that would be side characters at best in anything else (look at how JF Sebastian's role changes from the novel to the film for instance).

I love it though, all the calls to the ex wives, the pathetic jobs, Pris in her many incarnations, the visions of future humiliations, aspirations to doomed relationships, I can read that stuff without the mind fuckery and have a good time. Like when, can't think of their names now, but the girl in A Scanner tells the main character she can't love him because he's too ugly, it's so obviously a thing that someone would say that - and someone must have said to Dick or a friend that it kinda cuts through the whole world book. Like you understand her and him so much better instantly - was kinda disappointed they cut that from the movie. That and the racism thats in the book - which is another thing I think he writes well about.
 
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droid

Guest
As I mentioned above - I think the characterisation of his autobiographical stuff (ASD and the Valis trilogy) is streets ahead of his other work.

Oddly enough, all of his short stories were written early in his first marraige when he was writing like a demon to put food on the table, this was followed by years of him suffering from writers block and regurgitating these stories, leading to his breakdown and the spurt of creativity that preceeded his death.
 

Overcast Radio

circa70.org/versiontwo
PKD for sure...just read DADOES, Ubik, Man In the High Castle, ASD, and 3 Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch...Ubik and 3 Stigmata being favorites. Most Vonnegut esp. Sirens Of Titan, Galapagos, and Cat's Cradle. Went thru a bunch of Asimov short stories and I just find him clinical and not much imagery...I just picture two 1950's biochemists sitting in the lab saying stuff....I was recommended Blood Music by Greg Bear and I liked that. Also reading all Erik Von Daniken "Gods" series...not the best guy to put those theories forth maybe but interesting underneath. Just found Make Room Make Room too...oop in the US for a while...both better and worse than Soylent Green imo. I like ACC too...Childhood's End was great.
 
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