Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams

by Philip K. Dick

Overview

The stories that inspired the original dramatic series.
 
Though perhaps most famous as a novelist, Philip K. Dick wrote more than one hundred short stories over the course of his career, each as mind-bending and genre-defining as his longer works. Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams collects ten of the best. In “Autofac,” Dick shows us one of the earliest examples (and warnings) in science fiction of self-replicating machines. “Exhibit Piece” and “The Commuter” feature Dick exploring one of his favorite themes: the shifting nature of reality and whether it is even possible to perceive the world as it truly exists. And “The Hanging Stranger” provides a thrilling, dark political allegory as relevant today as it was when Dick wrote it at the height of the Cold War.

Strange, funny, and powerful, the stories in this collection highlight a master at work, encapsulating his boundless imagination and deep understanding of the human condition.

 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781328995063
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	11/14/2017
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	637,922
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 7.80(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Over a writing career that spanned three decades, PHILIP K. DICK (1928–1982) published 36 science fiction novels and 121 short stories in which he explored the essence of what makes man human and the dangers of centralized power. Toward the end of his life, his work turned to deeply personal, metaphysical questions concerning the nature of God. Eleven novels and short stories have been adapted to film, notably Blade Runner (based on Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?), Total Recall, Minority Report, and A Scanner Darkly, as well as television's The Man in the High Castle. The recipient of critical acclaim and numerous awards throughout his career, including the Hugo and John W. Campbell awards, Dick was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2005, and between 2007 and 2009, the Library of America published a selection of his novels in three volumes. His work has been translated into more than twenty-five languages.

Table of Contents

Exhibit Piece Ronald D. Moore 1

The Commuter Jack Thorne 21

The Impossible Planet David Farr 39

The Hanging Stanger Dee Rees 53

Sales Pitch Toni Grisoni 74

The Father-Thing Michael Dinner 96

The Hood Maker Matthew Graham 114

Foster, You're Dead Kalen Egan Travis Sentell 135

Human Is Jessica Mecklenburg 163

Autofac Travis Beacham 181

Editorial Reviews

Philip K. Dick remains one of the most influential science fiction writers of all time. This audio collection of the 10 short stories that inspired the 2017 Amazon television series “Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams” shows him at his succinct, thoughtful, and inventive best. The narrating crew—Tanya Eby, Luke Daniels, Peter Berkrot, Jeff Cummings, Patrick Lawlor—appropriately provides the tone and intonation of the early Cold War era while reading such gems as “The Commuter,” “Human Is,” and “Foster, You’re Dead.” With “Twilight Zone” detachment and intensity, Dick explores the question of what it will mean to be human in a world of consumerism, impending nuclear disaster, and not-so-subservient robots. These stories are like a time capsule and yet sound timeless at the same time. B.P. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

OCTOBER 2018 - AudioFile