Résultats de "Philip K. Dick" dans Toutes les catégories

In Our Friends from Frolix 8, the world is run by an elite few. And what determines whether one is part of the elite isn’t wealth or privilege, but brains. As children, every citizen of Earth is tested; some are found to be super-smart New Men and some are Unusuals, with various psychic powers. The vast majority are Undermen, performing menial jobs in an overpopulated world.

Sometimes even gods need help. In Galactic Pot-Healer that god is an alien creature known as The Glimmung, which looks alternately like a flaming wheel, a teenage girl, and a swirling mass of ocean life. In order to raise a sunken city, he summons beings from across the galaxy to Plowman’s Planet. Joe Fernwright is one of those summoned, needed for his skills at pot-healing—repairing broken ceramics. But from the moment Joe arrives on Plowman’s Planet, things start to go awry.

When a repairman accidentally discovers a parallel universe, everyone sees it as an opportunity, whether as a way to ease Earth’s overcrowding, set up a personal kingdom, or hide an inconvenient mistress. But when a civilization is found already living there, the people on this side of the crack are sent scrambling to discover their motives. Will these parallel humans come in peace, or are they just as corrupt and ill-intentioned as the people of this world?

When a routine tour of a particle accelerator goes awry, Jack Hamilton and the rest of his tour group find themselves in a world ruled by Old Testament morality, where the smallest infraction can bring about a plague of locusts. Escape from that world is not the end, though, as they plunge into a Communist dystopia and a world where everything is an enemy.

Following a devastating nuclear war, the Moral Reclamation government took over the world and forced its citizens to live by strictly puritanical rules—no premarital sex, drunkenness, or displaying of neon signs—all of which are reinforced through a constant barrage of messaging to the public. The chief purveyor of these messages is Alan Purcell, next in line to become head of the propaganda bureau. But there is just one problem: a statue of the government’s founder has been vandalized and the head is hidden in Purcell’s closet.

Dive into the thought-provoking world of Philip K. Dick’s science fiction classic, Variable Man. Originally published in 1953 in Space Science Fiction, this captivating tale unfolds in a future Earth shackled by a relentless obsession with war and an overreliance on mechanical calculators. What happens when an unpredictable variable—a man from the past who can mend not just appliances but also the very fabric of destiny—enters this rigid world? As he challenges the limitations of technology, he becomes both humanitys greatest hope and its inevitable downfall. Experience a ...

In a future where predictability reigns supreme, advanced computers can forecast the outcomes of wars before a single shot is fired. However, they foresee a grim stalemate between the Terran and Centaurian Empires. What they desperately require is an element of unpredictability, and that’s precisely what they get when Thomas Cole, a man from the past, is inadvertently thrust into their time. Can he disrupt their calculated predictions, or is he merely another variable in a game of chance? Discover the thrilling tale of The Variable Man, originally published in the September 1953 issue of...

In this biting satire, the Cold War may have ended, but the eastern and western governments never told their citizens. Instead they created an elaborate ruse, wherein each side comes up with increasingly outlandish doomsday weapons—weapons that don’t work. But when aliens invade, the top designers of both sides have to come together to make a real doomsday device—if they don’t kill each other first. With its combination of romance, espionage, and alien invasion, The Zap Gun skewers the military-industrial complex in a way that’s as relevant today as it was at the height of the Cold War.

This collection of five stories from early in his career casts a spotlight on Dick’s incredible imagination. In "Second Variety", robot warriors appear to have given one side the advantage in a devastating war. But a small band of soldiers begins to question just what the robots’ endgame truly is. In "Beyond Lies the Wub", a member of a spaceship’s crew buys a Wub ("a huge dirty pig!") for 50 cents, thinking it might be a good source of meat for the long journey home. Then the Wub speaks....

From the author of science-fiction classics such as The Man in the High Castle and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? comes a collection of short stories of dystopic visions of technological terror, post-nuclear holocaust warfare, time travel, space travel, man vs. alien, man vs. machine, man becomes machine, man becomes plant, and other fantastic tales,

Originally published in Space Science Fiction in May 1953, this gripping tale by Philip K. Dick explores a future where the horrors of war have driven humanity to rely on machines and computers to devise new ways of destruction. But when these deadly creations begin to mimic their creators, the stakes escalate, forcing the human race to confront the possibility of peace—if they can manage it. Dive into this thought-provoking classic that raises questions about technology, identity, and survival!

Aliens have invaded Earth, but not in the way you might expect! In The Eyes Have It, we encounter bizarre, one-celled creatures masquerading as ordinary humans, leading to a delightful satire on certain writing styles. This whimsical tale echoes the brilliance of science fiction legend Philip Dick. Meanwhile, Tony and the Beetles transports us to a distant future where Earths vast colonial empire is in jeopardy. Ten-year-old Tony faces the harsh realities of history as it catches up with humanity, offering a sobering yet engaging perspective on our past and what lies ahead. Two captivating ...

In the midst of a seemingly stalemated war with the Yucks from Proxima Centauri, a hidden truth lurks beneath the surface. Their mines, designed to strangle Terran planets, seem to propagate on their own, leaving humanity baffled. The brightest minds can only speculate that these ships and mines are somehow alive. Faced with desperation, humanity takes a bold step if the Yucks can harness organic vessels, why cant we? Enter Mr. Spaceship, a revolutionary concept that merges consciousness with warfare. But as the lines blur between machine and sentient being, will a conscious warship follow the...

Dive into two captivating tales in the unmistakable style of Philip K. Dick. First, meet the Wub‚Aîa 400-pound, slovenly creature that resembles a bizarre mix of walrus and hog. The hungry crew of a spaceship sees it as a potential meal for just 50 cents, but the Wub has its own ideas about fate. The second story, The Skull, weaves a gripping narrative of time travel intertwined with unscrupulous governments, prisoners, and religious undertones, all featuring a cunning assassin. Prepare for an exhilarating journey through imagination and thought! (summary by Phil Chenevert)

In a world ravaged by a global nuclear war, the early triumphs of the USSR force the United Nations government to retreat to the moon, abandoning troops and fearsome autonomous robots known as “Claws.” These relentless machines reproduce and evolve in hidden subterranean factories. After six grueling years of conflict, an urgent conference is called by the Soviets, prompting UN Major Joseph Hendricks to embark on a perilous journey to meet them. What he uncovers about the Claws along the way is far more alarming than he could have ever imagined. Originally published in the May 1953...

La novela más leída de Philip K. Dick, inspiración de Blade Runner. En el año 2021 la guerra mundial ha exterminado a millones de personas. Los supervivientes codician cualquier criatura viva, y aquellos que no pueden permitirse pagar por ellas se ven obligados a adquirir réplicas increíblemente realistas. Las empresas fabrican incluso seres humanos. Rick Deckard es un cazarrecompensas cuyo trabajo es encontrar androides rebeldes y retirarlos, pero la tarea no será tan sencilla cuando tenga que enfrentarse a los nuevos modelos Nexus-6, prácticamente indistinguibles de los seres humanos.

Journey into the mind-bending world of Philip K. Dick's "The Skull," a short story that masterfully blends time travel with moral ambiguity. When a prisoner is offered freedom for a mysterious assignment in the past, he stumbles upon revelations that challenge everything he believes about destiny and choice. This captivating tale showcases Dick's signature style—weaving philosophical questions with psychological tension and reality-warping concepts that leave listeners questioning everything.

Following an inexplicable urge, Ted Barton returns to his idyllic Virginia hometown for a vacation, but when he gets there, he is shocked to discover that the town has utterly changed. The stores and houses are all different and he doesn’t recognize anybody. The mystery deepens when he checks the town’s historical records…and reads that he died nearly twenty years earlier. As he attempts to uncover the secrets of the town, Barton is drawn deeper into the puzzle, and into a supernatural battle that could decide the fate of the universe.

"Träumen Androiden von elektrischen Schafen?" Diese Frage stellte sich Philip K. Dick im Titel seines 1968 erschienenen Romans. Ridley Scott hat daraus den Film "Blade Runner" gemacht, der 1982 in die Kinos kam. Roman wie Film erzählen die Geschichte des Kopfgeldjägers Rick Deckard, der Jagd auf künstliche Menschen macht. Im Hörbuch geht es allerdings um weit mehr.

Jack Isidore doesn’t see the world like most people. According to his brother-in-law, Charley, he’s a crap artist, obsessed with his own bizarre theories and ideas, which he fanatically records in his many notebooks. He is so grossly unequipped for real life that his sister and brother-in-law feel compelled to rescue him from it. But while Fay and Charley Hume put on a happy face for the world, they prove to be just as sealed off from reality, in thrall to obsessions that are slightly more acceptable than Jack’s but a great deal uglier.