You made me recall how much I love The Time Machine, which I read for the first time in 11th grade and have thought about off and on for 30+ years. Well done!
Some excellent choices there! "What Mad Universe" is a darling of a book...influential too! The Galloway Galleghar stories (The Proud Robot, etc.) are wonderful - I think I reviewed those, I'll have to check. Anything by Phillip K. Dick is great. I've never read anything by S. Lem that I didn't like, I just can't binge read them. lol Happy Boxing Day!
I’ve only read two novels by Lem. They were both pretty heavy. The other was Return From The Stars and its heaviness is uncut by the kind of humor that was in The Futurological Congress. I’ll probably read more of his stuff but I’m not in a a hurry as you say, I definitely couldn’t binge him.
I've read a whole stack of Lem's books. I think my favorites are, "Memoirs Found in a Bathtub" and "The Cyberiad". I also liked, "More Tales of Pirx the Pilot" and "The Futurological Congress." He had a interesting dialog/diatribe going with some American Sci-fi writers (I can't remember who at the moment) which basically said that he used science fiction as a means to show satire while American sci-fi writers were just writing westerns in space. There was consternation on both sides! ha-ha
I seem to remember some dust up where the SFWA gave him an honorary membership and then revoked it, followed by Ursula K. Le Guin resigning from the SFWA and declining a Nebula in support of Lem.
My favorite Lem drama comes from a paranoid episode where PKD was trying to draw the FBI’s attention to Lem’s writings as subversive and going so far as to suggest Lem was a pseudonym used by a committee of the Polish Communist Party, a strange read on Lem to be sure.
Have you read The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by PKD? It’s an expansion of the Perky Pat story and one of my favorite PKD novels. I absolutely adore the premise of life of Mars being so dull that the settlers have to take super-MDMA and play with dolls to distract themselves from the tedium of eking out an existence in the dust. When people ask me why PKD is my favorite sf author, I often describe this premise as a uniquely deranged idea that only he could’ve thought up and also crafted into an emotionally resonant story.
Back in 2021 I had a short story published that was inspired by Perky Pat/Three Stigmata— called “Stroganoff Sunday at Camp Manifest.” I think about 12 people ever read it, so I’ll shamelessly promote it now. They also recorded an audio version of the story. This story formed the germ of my current novel-in-progress. Sadly, the lit mag went out of business so I’m not sure how much longer the website will be up:
Glad you commented. I actually almost linked the Lillian Review of Books on The Stars My Destination as an opposing view but then was overly cautious about being perceived as trying to provoke a spat with a friendly publication 😛
I think of myself as not very familiar with PKD’s novels. IIRC I have only read Now Wait For Next Year, Cry My Tears The Policeman Said, The Ganymede Takeover, The Unteleported Man, Galactic Pot-Healer, and one his litfic novels about a radio personality whose title now escapes me. (Now that I’m looking at this list I’m realizing there are not a huge number of authors I’ve read six novels by but given PKD’s large following and big catalog, this feels like I have not yet begun to fight.)
I’ve been privately enjoying a sort of “Dick-cember” with his short fiction lately courtesy of the Lost Sci-Fi Podcast and public library access to the Libby app. I hadn’t realized “The Days of Perky Pat” had been expanded and riffed on further.
I’m so down for literary disagreement! Tag me next time; I’d be delighted to fight over the merits (or lack thereof…) of any SF.
That’s def an interesting choice of PKD novels to have read. Of those 5 titles I’ve only read the first two, but in my mental taxonomy I’d only consider Flow My Tears to be one of his “major” novels (Now Wait is as good as any of them, but seems to be less widely read/discussed for some reason). I think I’ve read around 14 of his books so far. I’d say you’ve got a lot to look forward to!
I also love his short fiction, which I’ve mostly encountered through a couple of mismatched compilation books. (One of them is “volume 5 of the collected stories”—never come across vols 1-4). It feels like meeting old friends to see the same concepts/characters pop up in his stories and novels.
You made me recall how much I love The Time Machine, which I read for the first time in 11th grade and have thought about off and on for 30+ years. Well done!
Some excellent choices there! "What Mad Universe" is a darling of a book...influential too! The Galloway Galleghar stories (The Proud Robot, etc.) are wonderful - I think I reviewed those, I'll have to check. Anything by Phillip K. Dick is great. I've never read anything by S. Lem that I didn't like, I just can't binge read them. lol Happy Boxing Day!
I’ve only read two novels by Lem. They were both pretty heavy. The other was Return From The Stars and its heaviness is uncut by the kind of humor that was in The Futurological Congress. I’ll probably read more of his stuff but I’m not in a a hurry as you say, I definitely couldn’t binge him.
I've read a whole stack of Lem's books. I think my favorites are, "Memoirs Found in a Bathtub" and "The Cyberiad". I also liked, "More Tales of Pirx the Pilot" and "The Futurological Congress." He had a interesting dialog/diatribe going with some American Sci-fi writers (I can't remember who at the moment) which basically said that he used science fiction as a means to show satire while American sci-fi writers were just writing westerns in space. There was consternation on both sides! ha-ha
I seem to remember some dust up where the SFWA gave him an honorary membership and then revoked it, followed by Ursula K. Le Guin resigning from the SFWA and declining a Nebula in support of Lem.
My favorite Lem drama comes from a paranoid episode where PKD was trying to draw the FBI’s attention to Lem’s writings as subversive and going so far as to suggest Lem was a pseudonym used by a committee of the Polish Communist Party, a strange read on Lem to be sure.
Right! lol What a thing that would have been to witness. Crazy!
Really appreciate these thoughtful recs. I’ll definitely read some of these stories in the coming year. I read The Stars My Destination this year and I was less impressed than you were—wrote a review of it if you’re interested (https://open.substack.com/pub/lillianreviewofbooks/p/gullys-travels?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web)
Have you read The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by PKD? It’s an expansion of the Perky Pat story and one of my favorite PKD novels. I absolutely adore the premise of life of Mars being so dull that the settlers have to take super-MDMA and play with dolls to distract themselves from the tedium of eking out an existence in the dust. When people ask me why PKD is my favorite sf author, I often describe this premise as a uniquely deranged idea that only he could’ve thought up and also crafted into an emotionally resonant story.
Back in 2021 I had a short story published that was inspired by Perky Pat/Three Stigmata— called “Stroganoff Sunday at Camp Manifest.” I think about 12 people ever read it, so I’ll shamelessly promote it now. They also recorded an audio version of the story. This story formed the germ of my current novel-in-progress. Sadly, the lit mag went out of business so I’m not sure how much longer the website will be up:
https://www.passengersjournal.com/volume-2-issue-2-prose/#selonick
Let me know if you check it out :)
Glad you commented. I actually almost linked the Lillian Review of Books on The Stars My Destination as an opposing view but then was overly cautious about being perceived as trying to provoke a spat with a friendly publication 😛
I think of myself as not very familiar with PKD’s novels. IIRC I have only read Now Wait For Next Year, Cry My Tears The Policeman Said, The Ganymede Takeover, The Unteleported Man, Galactic Pot-Healer, and one his litfic novels about a radio personality whose title now escapes me. (Now that I’m looking at this list I’m realizing there are not a huge number of authors I’ve read six novels by but given PKD’s large following and big catalog, this feels like I have not yet begun to fight.)
I’ve been privately enjoying a sort of “Dick-cember” with his short fiction lately courtesy of the Lost Sci-Fi Podcast and public library access to the Libby app. I hadn’t realized “The Days of Perky Pat” had been expanded and riffed on further.
I’m so down for literary disagreement! Tag me next time; I’d be delighted to fight over the merits (or lack thereof…) of any SF.
That’s def an interesting choice of PKD novels to have read. Of those 5 titles I’ve only read the first two, but in my mental taxonomy I’d only consider Flow My Tears to be one of his “major” novels (Now Wait is as good as any of them, but seems to be less widely read/discussed for some reason). I think I’ve read around 14 of his books so far. I’d say you’ve got a lot to look forward to!
I also love his short fiction, which I’ve mostly encountered through a couple of mismatched compilation books. (One of them is “volume 5 of the collected stories”—never come across vols 1-4). It feels like meeting old friends to see the same concepts/characters pop up in his stories and novels.