Margins
Second Variety and Other Stories book cover
Second Variety and Other Stories
2010
First Published
3.85
Average Rating
262
Number of Pages
"The claws were bad enough in the first place—nasty, crawling little death-robots. But when they began to imitate their creators, it was time for the human race to make peace—if it could!" Philip K. Dick said of his story "Second Variety" "My grand theme—who is human and who only appears as human?—emerges most fully. Unless we can individually and collectively be certain of the answer to this question, we face what is, in my view, the most serious problem possible. Without answering it adequately, we cannot even be certain of our own selves." Reviewing the story, critic Zack Handlen wrote, "'Second Variety' is grim, violent, and suspenseful... While most of the twists are easy to spot once you discover the main plot—basically 'Are you or aren't you a machine'— they still have an impact, and Dick makes his point quite clearly." Besides the title story, this collection also includes nine more classic Philip K. Dick tales: "Piper in the Woods," "Beyond the Door," "The Crystal Crypt," "The Defenders," "The Gun," "The Skull," "The Eyes Have It," "Mr. Spaceship," and the novella "The Variable Man"—260 pages of mind-bending prose from the master of weird science fiction.
Avg Rating
3.85
Number of Ratings
131
5 STARS
18%
4 STARS
53%
3 STARS
25%
2 STARS
4%
1 STARS
0%
goodreads

Author

Philip K. Dick
Philip K. Dick
Author · 199 books

Philip K. Dick was born in Chicago in 1928 and lived most of his life in California. In 1952, he began writing professionally and proceeded to write numerous novels and short-story collections. He won the Hugo Award for the best novel in 1962 for The Man in the High Castle and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best novel of the year in 1974 for Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said. Philip K. Dick died on March 2, 1982, in Santa Ana, California, of heart failure following a stroke. In addition to 44 published novels, Dick wrote approximately 121 short stories, most of which appeared in science fiction magazines during his lifetime. Although Dick spent most of his career as a writer in near-poverty, ten of his stories have been adapted into popular films since his death, including Blade Runner, Total Recall, A Scanner Darkly, Minority Report, Paycheck, Next, Screamers, and The Adjustment Bureau. In 2005, Time magazine named Ubik one of the one hundred greatest English-language novels published since 1923. In 2007, Dick became the first science fiction writer to be included in The Library of America series.

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