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Philip K Dick

Andrew M Butler

Who was Dick? A freaked-out junkie who took too many drugs? An explorer of madness who go too close to his subject and ended up claiming to have met God? A practical joker? The most consistently brilliant SF writer in the world?

At a time when most SF was about cowboys in outer space, Dick explored the landscapes of the mind, conjured with fake realities and was able to make you believe six impossible things before breakfast. He embodied the counter-culture a decade before the 1960's.

Perhaps best known for Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? - the novel which inspired Blade Runner - Dick's world is one where psychiatrists come in suitcases, and where God speaks through cat food commercials and comes in a handy aerosol can. And where you might be a figment of someone else's imagination...

As well as an introductory essay, this pocket sized volume reviews and analyses each of Philip K Dick's novels, and for those who want more there is a listing of the many other books and articles which have grappled with this genius.

Andrew M Butler is Senior Lecturer Media and Cultural Studies at Canterbury Christ Church University College and author of the Pocket Essentials Terry Pratchett, Philip K Dick, Cyberpunk and, with Bob Ford, Postmodernism. He was the winner of the 2004 Pioneer Award and would collect shiny trousers in his spare time if he had any.

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