/lit/ - Literature

>>23256204
Valis, Divine Invasion, and Transmigration of Timothy Archer are loosely considered a trilogy since they are all semi autobiographical and Dick was in the same headspace when writing them. Maze of Death is okay it's not his best story about subjective reality but it's a good introduction to his style and mentality.

Dick thread. Post Dick. Discuss Dick. Talk about your favorite Dick novels and favorite Dick short stories. Some of favorite short stories are The Commuter, It's Her World, and Progeny.

>>23134920
PKD by a country mile. Better entertainment. Least amount of preaching. Most interesting insights.

Dick thread. Post Dick. Discuss Dick. Love Dick.

Pretty much any of PKD's later novels or short stories are good for a mindjob.

Why does all the best science fiction have an element of mysticism or even religion to it?

>>22929811
Any Philip K Dick novel. I recommend A Scanner Darkly.

>>22912331
>do they mean anything?
It means that mind and matter are connected in ways besides causality. If you bump into a cute girl at the store by chance and sparks fly you don't start questioning the meaning of a relationship with her. A date with a cute girl in this way means more than reaching for the same can of beets, yet that's the causal reality of it, but being reductive like that is obviously silly. If you treat the world as more than just material causality, you'll get much more from the world as a whole.

>>22763036
Dick has also said he always grappled with where the line between paranoia and valid fears starts, and reality begins. Can any of us? Isn't that what his stories are all about? Fort Mede is real. CIA and ECHELON did some fucked shit. Seems perfectly reasonable to me if you don't want your paranoia to be real now, or later, with new advents in science technology and psychology.

Hell even microwave weapons and ELF weapons might be real.

>>22748486
Not science fiction. PKD just uses scifi as a vehicle for his ideas which are usually exploring what constitutes reality, identity, authenticity or other nebulous and spiritual concepts. His books after becoming a street freak and having religious revelations are his best.

>>22748394
A Scanner Darkly.

Obvious PKD's most personal work after Valis. Not as mind bending as his other stories, which I'm missing as I read this. But I like the interjected rants about how the CIA is evil and psyche studies.

>>22669990
dick is a modern prophet

I'm about 75% done with writing my first book. How shit do you think it is? I've been writing it for 4 weeks not so much because I want to sell it, but because if I don't express my feelings somewhere in fictional format, I'll go mad.
No, I won't post it here because I don't want to get made fun of.

Once I finish it, what would be the best way of reaching people? I found an obscure publishing company online and thinking of sending them an email. Then I'll probably publish it on Amazon, but I know nobody will want to read it.
Should I use a pseudonym?
Honestly writing is the only thing I can do artistically but I do think I'm bad at it. But I still feel the need to do it. I wanted to get into acting too but that never worked out. I'm kind of a bum to be honest.

>be PKD
>write psychedelic surreal fiction
>people call you a scifi author
huh?

Some of my favorite reads are usually about people writing out their passions or desperate to share their experiences. PKD's Valis trilogy, anything about the Mississippi from Mark Twain, or Jung talking about the unconscious all come to mind. More books like that?

I started with the VALIS trilogy and was totally enthralled. I've been working backwards from his schizo drug era and liking all of it. Would I enjoy his earlier pre-streetfreak stuff?