Ubik (S.F. Masterworks) (Paperback)

What I found was neither first-rate nor second-rate Dick - sort of A- or B+. The marks off are because the premise of the plot is too singular to allow true empathy with the characters' predicament, and also for the tricksy switchback ending on the very last page, in a book which had quite enough hairpins and U-turns up to that point. However, these quibbles aside, it's a fine piece of "hard" SF and, although basic in its prose, not at all badly written as even some of the most defensive reviews here and on the American site suggest.

The book, written in 1969, is set in 1992 on an Earth where psychic powers of telepathy and precognition have been discovered in some people. They are used mainly for corporate sabotage and industrial espionage (one of Dick's favourite themes is that however grand our science and abilities may become, people will always be ultimately greedy and corruptible), and consequently, a further species of people with counter-psychic powers has evolved to remedy these abuses. As Dick puts it, "Clams developed hard shells to protect them; therefore, birds learn to fly the clam up high in the air and drop him on a rock."

The central character, Glen Runciter, operates a "prudence organisation" which hires out counter-psychics to protect businesses or individuals who fall prey to "telepaths" and "precogs." Unfortunately the psychics have been disappearing and most of his staff are redundant. He is presented with a business proposition which will use almost all his idle "counter-psis" in one operation - which seems to good to be true. It is. It's a plan set by the rival head of the world's largest psychic organisation, and a bomb goes off at the meeting, killing Runciter but leaving his counter-psis alive. Or, as the booming voice in the trailer for the film of the book might say, does it? Because this is where the story really begins, and the twists and turns referred to earlier. There's a bit of The Others here, a bit of The Sixth Sense, and a large amount of Open Your Eyes/Vanilla Sky. Except of course that Ubik was first.

So we are left to wonder who is dead and who is alive, what reality is what, why food keeps decaying and inanimate objects keep regressing back to more primitive forms, and what this all has to do with the ubiquitous Ubik, a universal food preparation aid, digestif, scouring cleaner and financial institution...

To say more would of course detract from the point of reading the book. Of interest too, though, is Dick's awareness of the clichés of SF and playfulness with them - where he fills the opening chapters with a blizzard of neologisms for new technologies in his 1992, and goes to great lengths to describe all the hideous outfits that everyone in "the future" is wearing (at least I think this was deliberate ... it was written in 1969 after all). Although it's not the point of the book, as with all SF it's also interesting to see what inventions of Dick's actually stand a cat in hell's chance of making it in the real future. Well, the jury's still out on videophones ("vidphones," originally enough), and email of one sort or another is with us (" 'stant mail," rather clumsily), as too - albeit online and not in print -are newspapers that tailor themselves to your interests ("homeopapes"!), but why did no SF writer apparently see music being transmitted in the future on anything other than LPs and tapes? I suppose a little silver disc played with a laser just seemed too far-out even for 1969. Man.

Fortunately, Minority Report touches upon many of the major themes within Ubik, espcially the industry grown out of Pre-cognition and Psionic ability. It is therefore timely to read this now, and hopefully this will spur on others to take an interest in this most fascinating of authors.

Ubik touches upon many of Dick's core themes (a true Auteur): psychic ability (and its power), faith and religion, regression and postmodernity, death, insanity, drugs, experience etc. etc. However, it truly excels as a narrative, and I completely disagree with those critics who merely saw the characters within this book.

Some points within in are beyond imagination, and will simply blow your mind. The vertigo within this surpasses any other SF I have read. Added to this is some excellent characterisation and social commentary (for example, Runciter vs. Joe Chip, both attempting to save the company, but both representing the dichotomies within capitalism), and some crazy philosophy.

Anyway, before I drool too much, and contemplate starting it again, I shall leave you with my strongest urges to read this book! Forget the rubbish about "well, its not technologically accurate", because that is to lose the point with Dick; unlike other SF writes (most notably Asimov, who likes to portray a history of the future), Dick merely expresses possible worlds (very dark and crazy worlds). Yes, themes do exist, such as 'papes and hovercars and vidphones, but ignore this and concetrate on Dick's stiringly accurate imagination. Sit back and realise that the future is now, in the most unbelievable way imaginable.

Above all, Ubik is very very accessible. It's not cluttered with the messed-up amphetamine-fuelled oddness of his later novels, and there's less techno babble than usual. Even if you're not into science fiction, it's well worth a look if only to show you that just because a novel is set in the future, doesn't mean it has to be full of ridiculous overblown theatrics and weird aliens.