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It s been many years since I first read it, so with the new film coming up, I decided to give it another go. It is very different from its movie counterpart Blade Runner. I hope Blade Runner 2049 makes use of some of the many elements left out of the first film.
Set in 1992, the first pages are just a conversation between Rick Deckard and his wife Iran about what kind of artificial mood stimulus they should go for. (They don t do drugs, they have a machine.)
The common theme in most of PKDs books and the films, is what is real and what is fake and what difference does it make. The books deal much more with character. We learn that Deckard keeps an electric sheep grazing on his roof, pretending it is real, because post World War Terminus, owning real animals is one of the biggest status symbols imaginable, and this is Deckard s dream. Tells you something about the man.
Now to take on Shirley Jackson's The Haunting Of Hill House and John Fowles' The Collector.
One of my favorites! Yes, Do Androids Dream...? is a very different beast from the film—which happens to be my favorite film of all-time—but I love them both. I should reread it again some day. Maybe I will before next October. Enjoy, man!
What timing, I was actually on a Stephen King-a-thon last year! Read my way through his first three on paperback, finishing The Shining in October. At the same time I was plowing through some of his more recent fiction—his Bill Hodges trilogy, Under the Dome, From a Buick Eight—on audio in the car. Also worked my way through a damned lot of his short fiction last year. I tell ya, man, I'm pretty well burnt out on King at the moment. I do have a really nice copy of his complete version of The Stand just waiting to be read though. So any day now, I guess, I'll dive back in.
I gotta say I think the best thing I read from King throughout all of last year—apart from some of his excellent early short fiction like "The Raft," "The Monkey," "Gramma," "I Am the Doorway"—was his autobiography "On Writing." The first half of the book is all about Little Stevie growing up and struggling to get published and finally making it big and moving on to even bigger battles like alcohol and cocaine, and the second half is advice to writers on just about every topic of writing and getting published imaginable. I write a lot of fiction myself and aspire to get published one day—maybe not anytime soon, but one day—and I actually found King's "On Writing" immensely helpful and inspirational. The autobiographical part of the book is well worth the read though for anyone not interested in the finer points of the art of writing.
I've read everything from the JFK book forward and enjoyed each entry.
I did watch the three hour Salem's Lots 1979 TV mini-series movie with David Soul over the holidays. That was a real creepy sit. The series caught the tone of the book perfectly I thought.
Looking forward to the new title, which will be out this year, and then I might dive back into the Gunslinger series. I've only read the first two books.
Meantime this Ripper book, I am reading "I Ripper" is King worthy. Probably some of the most gruesome stuff that I have ever read, as Jack liked his knife, but we do learn that Jack killed quickly. He did his cutting post-mortem. His "work" as he calls it.
He wasn't a sadist.
I watched that version too shortly after I finished the book last year. Found it a bit tedious to get through to be honest, though it did hew pretty closely to the novel and the vampire effects were pretty spectacular for late 70s made-for-TV.
Too bad Dick died a few weeks before the release of Blade Runner.He was only 54 at the time. I wonder what he would have thought of the film, besides that it was a commercial failure.
I too love them both.
I'm quite certain Dick saw a rough cut of the film before he passed and spoke favorably of it. I'll have to dig up where I read that and verify.
Here's something: openculture.com/2013/03/philip_k_dick_previews_blade_runner.html
He may not have seen a complete cut of the film, but he was familiar with the script and had viewed footage.
He spoke favorably of Blade Runner in a letter he wrote during the fall of '81: “This indeed is not science fiction. It is not fantasy; it is exactly what Harrison said: futurism. The impact of Blade Runner is simply going to be overwhelming, both on the public and on creative people — and, I believe, on science fiction as a field. [ … ] Nothing we have done, individually or collectively, matches Blade Runner. This is not escapism; it is super realism, so gritty and detailed and authentic and goddam convincing that, well, after the segment I found my normal present-day ‘reality’ pallid by comparison.”
The letter continues: "As for my own role in the Blade Runner project, I can only say that I did not know that a work of mine or a set of ideas of mine could be escalated into such stunning dimensions. My life and creative work are justified and completed by Blade Runner. Thank you...and it is going to be one hell of a commercial success. It will prove invincible."
He also later said, “It was my own interior world. They caught it perfectly.”
Whenever I read other authors being snobby about Fleming, I think 'well, he was good enough for Kingsley Amis'.
They involve murder but are not mystery whodunnits.
Whatever they are they are superbly written,full of atmosphere and a group of beautifully written characters.
All Of A Winters Night is the latest.
I have that somewhere, probably read it next year when I do my Sci-Fi book challenge. Only read The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Dick before and didn't think much to it. Maybe I wasn't in the right mood for it.
You do need to be in the right mood for Dick. :-O
I actually really don't like reading. There was a time in my life where i didn't read a single book for probably 6 years (or more). I would MUCH rather be doing something active BUT reading is good for you SO I set a yearly goal. 2016 was 6 - I read 10. 2017 is 10 but I'm pretty sure I'll beat that. I make myself read at least 1 non-fiction book per fiction book to keep the noggin sharp ;).
Fnar Fnar! :))
Thank you. I hope it swill be something different from me and the blog! Will send you a link when I publish it there.
And you're certainly right about Kingsley Amis - what a great man and Bond fan! :)
A ripping good read. Pygmalion and Sherlock Holmes are both heavily referenced btw.
This is a fine fictional take on the Jack The Ripper murders
Could even be close to what actually went down.
The author made it all fit.
Book qualifies as Sherlockian, mystery, terror,thriller.
Some big reveals that are well covered, but still well hinted at.
Edge of seat, page turner.
Best book I've read in a long time.
Is it any good? The film was great.
It is great but more different in tone than I thought it would be. More satire than spy thriller (although it is also a spy thriller). Sometimes it feels almost Burgessian. There are quite a few parallels to make with A Clockwork Orange actually.
I have that one on my shelf and need to read it some time. I think it may have influenced Fleming's TMWTGG possibly (the attempted assassination of M at the start).
I read it somewhere that it might have been an influence but I'd need to read the novel to be sure that it was. As it stands, they both contain general brainwashing anyhow.