I've started a thread like this before concerning the horror content of Philip K Dick's books. Now, I realise there's a splicing of the genres
when sci-fi has horror elements (or vice versa) so let's not go there, let's not discuss the use of genre (other than to put books on the right shelf).
Let's instead discuss RADIO FREE ALBEMUTH. But, Michael, you may reproach me like a parent, Radio Free Albemuth is about as sci-fi (i.e. as far away from
horror) as Dick can get. It has a man communing with beings from a parallel world. It's classic Dick territory.
But I had the same feeling of HORROR with this as I had with THE COSMIC PUPPETS in that Dick has signature moments of horror, the rats and the nature beast
that Princess Mononoke borrowed.
Radio Free Albemuth is set in a world where other PKD novels have been set - a world of Americand domination of its people, American repression of its ideals,
an American that is no longer part of the Constitution, a horror America. Not necessarily Communist but certainly threatening to one's civil liberties,
threatening to one's belief systems and chosen life style. What does Alex Jones call it, "Land of the slave, home of the coward."
Radio Free Albemuth echoes the threat of corporate surveillance and mind control in books like FLOW MY TEARS THE POLICEMAN SAID. Wait a minute, there was also
the False War novel THE PENULTIMATE TRUTH. Was DIck more a political activist than a sci-fi/horror writer?
the horror of Dick
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 Mike Philbin |
the horror of Dick |
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Posts: 2296 (08/24/08 23:00:01) Shocklineraholic |
July 15 2008, Silverthought Press publish Bukkakeworld and Planet
of the Owls in trade paperback.
Last Edited By: Mike Philbin 08/25/08 23:32:55.
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Mike Philbin |
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Posts: 2297 (08/25/08 23:29:43) Shocklineraholic |
I will add that this HORROR BOOK sprouts from the same material as 1984 and Brave New World in that it paints the world as we normal folk don't tend to see
it, the CORPORATE UNDERWORLD. Yeah, I've just finished it. Still shouting into the wind.
July 15 2008, Silverthought Press publish Bukkakeworld and Planet
of the Owls in trade paperback.
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sean |
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Posts: 298 (08/26/08 02:33:38) Shockliner |
'Radio Free Albemuth' (only published after his death) was also Dick's first attempt at novelising his experiences, breakdown or epiphany or
whatever, of 1974. Many of the themes were reworked in the superb 'VALIS' - a book I would rate as one of the saddest, most wonderful books of any
genre.
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Mike Philbin |
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Posts: 2298 (08/26/08 04:49:37) Shocklineraholic |
Sean,
I think Radio Free Albemuth has a later copyright date than the VALIS books. But my main point here is that while Dick's linear interpolation of technology in his books is often a little hit-and-miss, he may have (by melodramatising the paranoia of the 70's in those above horror books) actualy hit upon the real threat of the all-pervasive/repressive surveillanace society - yes, we are suffering from this in UK, too.
July 15 2008, Silverthought Press publish Bukkakeworld and Planet
of the Owls in trade paperback.
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Shanari |
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Posts: 11 (08/26/08 07:53:43) |
To get nominated for such sci-fi awards, Hugo, Nebula, Dick, you need to be published by a recognized publishing house.
It's exceptionally rare that an indie or small publisher is allowed to have its authors nominated. The requirements are unnecessarily strict. Horror is a different kettle of fish. Those in the indie horror field are allowed nominations for Stokers and so forth. So if you've written a sci-fi novel and its indie published, you can kiss a Hugo goodbye. |
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BileDragon |
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Posts: 7486 (08/26/08 08:29:14) Top-Tier Shockliner Demon |
Shanari wrote:That sucks, because some of my favorites will never be picked up by a major publisher. D.F. Lewis would be an excellent nomination for a Hugo, for example. Some writers are great, but don't write for a mass audience. If Kafka or Borges were Americans writing for today's horror scene, I wonder if anyone would even notice. |
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cussedness |
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Posts: 224 (08/26/08 13:07:33) Veteran Shockliner |
All you need to be allowed to recommend books for a hugo award is to attend a worldcon. Not hard to do at all. Just need to have a presence visible enough to
be noticed by the fans. It is a fan voted award. Several small press and medium press books have been nominated for the Philip K. Dick award. Quality and
not necessarily point of origin count most.
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Horror Geek |
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Posts: 579 (08/26/08 13:16:51) Veteran Shockliner |
I thought this was gonna be about Dick Cheney
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Lawrence Dagstine |
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Posts: 1034 (08/26/08 20:54:43) Veteran Shockliner |
cussedness wrote: This would be correct. I was recommended for the HUGO last year by Sam's Dot Publishing, along with Ken Goldman and a couple of other writers for the FAN WRITER category. No matter what award it is, practically anybody can get 'recommended'... In the end, it all comes down to the nomination. The nomination -- and, hopefully, the win -- is where it counts.
Lawrence Dagstine Homepage: www.lawrencedagstine.com
Lawrence Dagstine MySpace: www.myspace.com/lawrencedagstine 
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dogpoet |
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Posts: 3680 (08/26/08 23:02:49) Top-Tier Shockliner Demon |
Good as Radio Free Albemuth is, there's a lot of Dick's other novels and short stories that are pretty chilling as well. There's a sort of playful
sadism to a lot of he '60s short stories that puts me in mind of Roald Dahl.
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Mike Philbin |
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Posts: 2300 (08/26/08 23:30:22) Shocklineraholic |
"I thought this was gonna be about Dick Cheney "
a correct answer. 
July 15 2008, Silverthought Press publish Bukkakeworld and Planet
of the Owls in trade paperback.
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sean |
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Posts: 301 (08/27/08 01:30:33) Shockliner |
dogpoet wrote:I think some of Dick's creepiest writing is the repeated scene from differing viewpoints that occurs in 'Martian Time-Slip'. And the dissolution of some of the characters in 'Ubik'. And the liftfull of people bearing 'The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldrich'. And the pieces of paper, each with a single word written on them, which replace the article named in 'Time out of Joint'. And... And... PKD was, to my mind, a fucking genius. |
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gfaherty |
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Posts: 3687 (08/27/08 06:18:28) Top-Tier Shockliner Demon |
[a world of Americand domination of its people, American repression of its ideals, an American that is no longer part of the Constitution, a horror America.
Not necessarily Communist but certainly threatening to one's civil liberties, threatening to one's belief systems and chosen life style. ]
How is this an alternate world?
JG Faherty
www.jgfaherty.com 'Everyone has a monster inside.' "Bones," in Cemetery Dance #58 (available now) "The Toll" and "Hybrids" in Wrong World, www.wrongworld.com (available now) "Experimental Subject," in Bits of the Dead "Family First," in Dark Territories |
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Mike Philbin |
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Posts: 2304 (08/27/08 07:36:34) Shocklineraholic |
"How is this an alternate world?"
a correct answer.
July 15 2008, Silverthought Press publish Bukkakeworld and Planet
of the Owls in trade paperback.
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Shanari |
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Posts: 12 (08/27/08 09:59:22) |
Hugo nominations are easy to get.
Making it to the final ballot is not. The reason is a confusion of terms. Initial nominations are equivalent to recommendations. You still need to get enough rec/noms to get to the final ballot and nomination is not official unless you make it to that final ballot. And of course, the multitudes will ever make it to the final. Too many people involved. It's easier to get a stoker award. |
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dogpoet |
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Posts: 3682 (08/27/08 11:35:09) Top-Tier Shockliner Demon |
Dead right, Sean. I still think that final chapter of A Scanner Darkly (Arctor being reduced to slave labour farming the stuff that's destroyed his mind)
is one of the most frightening scenes I've seen anywhere in fiction. I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon is pretty alarming as well.
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sean |
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Posts: 302 (08/27/08 22:50:55) Shockliner |
Yeah, the end of 'Scanner' is terribly cruel. Very funny book in places though (which was the great thing about PKD - the way he laced even the most
hideous situations with off-kilter humour). There's a recording of Dick reading the accidental hallucinogenics OD section to a few friends and the whole
bunch are (rightly) pissing themselves laughing.
Have you read any of his mainstream fiction, Dogpoet? I've only read 'Confessions of a Crap Artist', and whilst it doesn't quite have the sparkle of his sf, its still worth a look. Theres a great scene where a character reaches the end of his tether and goes round shooting a bunch of animals etc. Very bleak. |
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dogpoet |
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Posts: 3690 (08/27/08 22:53:21) Top-Tier Shockliner Demon |
I haven't read the mainstream fiction, I'm afraid. I have a copy of that one somewhere, but haven't got around to it yet.
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