The more than 120 stories written by Philip K. Dick provide an embarrassment of riches for the compilers of this volume. The final selection features ten early stories and one novella that represent, in variety and balance, the best early work of America's favorite science fiction author. They are tales in his most bizarre, humorous, and ironic moods. They give the full range and flavor of Philip K. Dick, one of the great masters of the short story and the science fiction genre. Content: Beyond Lies the Wub Beyond the Door The Crystal Crypt The Defenders The Eyes Have It The Gun Mr. Spaceship Piper in the woods Second Variety The Skull The Variable Man
Author
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.
