“The Man in the High Castle”
Sometimes noted as Dick’s greatest work, this novel is a “what if” story, taking place after World War II where the Japanese control the West coast of the U.S. and the Germans control the east coast and Europe. American citizens are treated as second-class citizens, and Hitler’s “Ultimate Plan” is still in motion and has extended beyond the annihilation of the Jews. While all of this is happening, society’s actions are being observed by the man in the high castle in the Rocky Mountains.
“The Crack in Space”
Taken from www.PhilipKDick.com
“A repairman discovers that a hole in a faulty Jifi-scuttler leads to a parallel world. Jim Briskin, campaigning to be the first black president of the United States, thinks alter-Earth is the solution to the chronic overpopulation that has seventy million people cryogenically frozen. Tito Cravelli, a shadowy private detective, wants to know why Dr Lurton Sands is hiding his mistress on the planet. Billionaire mutant George Walt wants to make the empty world all his own. But when the other earth turns out to be inhabited, everything changes.”
“Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said”
Taken from www.PhilipKDick.com
“On Oct. 11, the television star Jason Taverner is so famous that 30 million viewers eagerly watch his prime-time show. On Oct. 12 Jason Taverner is not a has-been but a never-was – a man who has lost not only his audience but all proof of his existence. And in the claustrophobic betrayal state of ‘Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said,’ loss of proof is synonymous with loss of life. His bleakly beautiful novel bores into the deepest bedrock self and plants a stick of dynamite at its center.”
“VALIS”
Taken from www.PhilipKDick.com
“A coterie of religious seekers forms to explore the revelatory visions of a man named Horselover Fat; a semi-autobiographical dialogue of Dick. The group’s hermeneutical research leads to a rock musician’s estate where they confront the Messiah: a two-year old named Sophia. She confirms their suspicions that an ancient, mechanical intelligence orbiting the earth has been guiding their discoveries. This novel is the first book of a trilogy.”
“UBIK”
Taken from www.PhilipKDick.com
“Glen Runciter is dead. Or, is everybody else? Someone died in an explosion orchestrated by Runciter’s business competitors. And, indeed, it’s the kingly Runciter whose funeral is scheduled in Des Moines, Iowa. But in the meantime, his mourning employees are receiving bewildering – and sometimes scatological – messages from their boss. And the world around them is warping in ways that suggest that their own time is running out. Or already has.”
All descriptions except for “The Man in the High Castle” taken from www.PhilipKDick.com
