I will define science fiction, first, by saying what sci-fi is not. It
cannot be defined as "a story (or novel or play) set in the future" since
there exists such a thing as a space adventure, which is set in the future
but is not sci-fi: it is just that: adventures, fights and wars in the
future in space involving super-advanced technology.
Why then is it not science fiction?
Space adventure lacks the
distinct new idea
that is the essential ingredient. Also, there can be science fiction set in
the present: the alternate world story or novel.
(Philip K Dick)
Genius
Philip K Dick was a creative genius.
His collected short stories are an incredible treasure of humour, new ideas,
fun and imagination.
Story after story engages your attention and sustains it with ease.
Dick's ideas have been liberally plagiarised since the early 1980's and can
be seen in movies and countless TV sci-fi series episodes.
Unfortunately, few people credit Dick or seem willing to acknowledge his
brilliance.
What makes Dick good?
The stories are
not derivative.
When you read a Philip K Dick story, you immediately notice that the
plot is not a variation on a theme.
It an entirely new insight, concept or consideration.
In our modern era of re-hashed plots and re-worked ideas, this is
good news.
Dick also challenges how you think.
He questions many of the mainstream cultural values, traditions and norms that
people blindly take for granted.
His aim is to make the reality within his stories slightly askew, and in so
doing reveal some previously unexplored avenue of consideration.
Forty years later Edward De Bono released his Lateral Thinking book. If
you had read Philip K Dick, this was old news indeed.
Dick's thinking was completely lateral/outside the box. For him there was no
box.
Missing it
There have been quite a few film adaptations of Philip K Dick's stories:
Blade Runner, Total Recall, Imposter, Minority Report, Next, Screamers, Paycheck,
Barjo and A Scanner Darkly.
Unfortunately, they tend to be much more action-oriented than his short stories
and novels.
Dick's protagonist is always a quiet person, not an action hero. They do not
usually change the world.
Their struggle is personal, strange and interesting.
What if?
One of Dick's major accomplishments
was his ability to challenge the reader again and again and again.
There is nothing linear and predictable about his stories. He follows no pattern
or formula.
Perspective, perception, belief, understanding and acceptance are questioned
constantly.
The very nature of reality is brought under scrutiny.
Philip K Dick is always asking "What if?"
This question underlies each of his stories and echoes in the mind of the
reader.
The conceptual dislocation - the new idea, in other words - must be truly new (or a new variation on an old one) and it must be intellectually stimulating to the reader; it must invade his mind and wake it up to the possibility of something he had not up to then thought of.
(Philip K Dick)
http://www.philipkdick.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_K._Dick
Page created 18 June 2000