Second Variety: Volume Two Of The Collected Stories (Collected Short Stories of Philip K. Dick) [Paperback]

This second volume of the collected stories of one of the most influential of all science fiction writers gathers 27 stories from August 1952 to April 1953. In this extraordinarily creative period Dick produced a seemingly endless stream of breathtakingly audacious ideas, delving ever deeper into what would become major themes of his career: alienation and the nature of humanity. In "Second Variety" Hendricks and the Russian soldier Tasso fight a desperate battle for survival in a relentless future war against machine foes. Dick commented that here "my grand theme--who is human and who only appears as human--emerges most fully". The story is a taut, Cold-War-era ancestor of The Terminator. In 1976 Dick wrote "For me 'Human Is' is my credo". Lester is an emotionless workaholic devoted to making poisons for the military. When he returns from Rexor IV a literally changed man his wife faces a unique decision. The final story "Prominent Author" is an ingenious tale of instantaneous transport with strange repercussions in time. Still subversively shocking it points to the theological explorations which became increasingly important in Dick's later writing.

With an introduction by Norman Spinrad and brief notes this collection is an opportunity to follow the development of a writer from dazzlingly original newcomer to a master of science fiction. While Ray Bradbury's The Golden Apples of the Sun (1953) reshaped the short story to his own poetic ends, Dick was rapidly turning the genre inside out. --Gary S. Dalkin

The second volume of the complete stories of the twentieth century¿s greatest SF author.

The stories within SECOND VARIETY were written between 1952 and 1955, while America was in the grip of McCarthyism. The concerns of the time are reflected in stories such as ¿Second Variety¿, which tells of an endless war fought by ever more cunning and sophisticated robots, or ¿Imposter¿ where a man accused of being an alien spy finds his whole identity called into question. Using his marvellously varied, quirky and idiosyncratic style, Dick speaks up for ordinary people against militarism, paranoia and xenophobia.

SALES POINTS * ¿ A fitting tribute to a great philosophical writer who found science fiction the ideal form the expression of his ideas¿ The Independent * ¿ One of the most original practitioners writing any kind of fiction. Philip K. Dick made most of the European avant-garde seem naval gazers in a cul-de-sac¿ Sunday Times * ¿ Dick quietly produced serious fiction in a popular form and there can be no greater praise¿ Michael Moorcock * ¿ No other writer of his generation had such a powerful intellectual presence. He stamped himself no only on our memories but in our imaginations¿ Brian Aldiss