Patty Ess

RADIO FREE ALBEMUTH



.. one of the more curious details of this new production is that President Ferris F. Fremont will be played by Scott Wilson, the haunted astronaut from The Ninth Configuration (somebody uploaded the thing to Youtube in 11 or 12 parts. very phildickian with its gumbo of humor, theological concerns, and out an' out Weirdness).
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    Hochenkeit - "Smokin' the Astronaut"
Patty Ess

Humpty Dumpty (in Oakland)

this is the 7th of PKD "straight" novels i have any familiarity with (we're counting Timothy Archer here, one that usually - on account of chronology - gets umbrellaed differently...). criteria i'm using is ... How did i feel at the end? almost.always a weak PKD novel (Cosmic Puppets, Frolix 8) has *something* going for it 'cause we readers have some interest in the author's Psychology. fine ... and i didn't have for the first hundred pages or so much hope for this one. but in its own way it's as HOPELESS as the horrifying Maze of Death / and much else besides. and as a "topical" "race" novel, this one has far more to offer than either The Crack in Space or Ganymede Takeover). it is - how do the Cosmic Drug Brothers say? - organic.

Al Miller, used car salesman, is one of PKD's most profound, most charply etched Losers ... and that's saying a lot. the Greek wife of the old man who owns - and later sells - his car lot is the voice of the Great Books Series. in the America of that time she is a veritable font of wisdom. the book is straight West Coast Realism and completely fucking insane (inhabits the same dreary, backward falling world of Repo Man). a-and speaking of 80's classics,

Nor was that all. Why had they hired him? Why did they want him? Because he had somce from St. Helena; That was the extent of it. He had nothing else to offer that interested them, no talent or experience; only his rural background.
"Suppose it turns out I lied," he said suddenly. "Suppose I wasn't born in St. Helena; suppose I was actually born in Chicago."
Knight said, "We checked up."'

...recalls Sam Lowry's first day on the job at Information Retrieval. Sam is aghast when the man at the desk ignores his proferred ID when he enters the building, allowing him to pass on through:

"But I could be anybody."
"No you couldn't, sir."

not interested in posting any "spoilers," but as a West Coast novel this one runs like a less smooth, more paranoid Raymond Chandler and is guaranteed to activate the pleasure-centers of all the French Marxists PKD was always turning into the Feds while zoning on a late-night bowl with a glass of wine (it was California / he didn't consider marijuana a drug).
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    "Moody Richard" (Dan Hicks)
ubikmite
  • drjon

Oho the pot

Oho
Phil Dick's widow Tessa B. Dick is being forced to sell Oho, the little laughing pot (right, linked).

Oho is virtually a relic, mentioned in a number of Phil's books, including VALIS and Deus Irae (and possibly in Galactic Pot Healer as well -- damn, it's my favourite Dick as well, and I can't remember off-hand).

Tessa is in very dire financial straits, her home may be foreclosed and she is walking everywhere as she cannot afford to get her car fixed.

I wish I could afford to buy Oho myself. I've been a "Dickhead" since my boyhood, and would dearly love a memento from one of my most important influences.

However, if you're like me, you may not have the money to buy a genuine Dick relic (and help out Phil's last great love), but maybe you can afford to buy one of Tessa's books? She has two in print: The Dim Reflection of Philip K. Dick, which is a short memoir (and a steal at $6.25) and a novel, Origins, Part One: Thor's Hammer. I'll be picking up one.

She is also working on The Owl in Daylight is Blind, "the owl in daylight as philip k. dick would have written it": here's hoping she has great success with that book.

(Thanks to Total Dick-Head for bringing this to my attention. This entry is reposted from my own journal.)