Philip K. Dick

Philip K. Dick was a pretty messed up guy- he was married multiple times, struggled with poorly diagnosed mental illness for much of his life, and never approached the success of fellow writers Frank Herbert or Isaac Asimov- but there is no denying that his mind produced some remarkable science fiction. Dick's stories are alternately dreamlike and terrifying. They're frequently reminiscent of Kafka- well, if Kafka had written sci-fi books in the latter half of the twentieth century and was actually halfway readable.

Note: There have been about a bazillion film versions of Dick's books, ranging from Blade Runner (based on the book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?) and Total Recall (based on the short story "We Can Remember it for You Wholesale") to Minority Report and Paycheck. The movie versions of Dick's stories are by no means consistent hits, but filmmakers just keep on trying.


Aftertaste:
Like pretty much every other sci-fi writer of that era, he couldn't write a decent female character if his life depended on it.

Availability:
Everywhere.

Other Recommendations:
Dune, by Frank Herbert

"Harrison Bergeron", by Kurt Vonnegut, found in the collection Welcome to the Monkey House


Website:
http://www.philipkdick.com/ -