I'm reading Philip K. Dick's "Time Out of Joint" for the first time

[Enraged_Ape]

If I were the handlers of Phil Dick's estate, I'd sue the people that made "The Truman Show". And to think that movie was hailed for its "originality".

Actually, if I were the handlers of Dick's estate, I'd probably sue the people that made "The Matrix" too.

Heck, Phil Dick's kids could probably sue half the people in Hollywood now (the half from whom they're not already making a bundle of legitimate money).

[Khephra]

1. I'm not sure that he had kids

I could be wrong, though.

Which one was TOoJ? Like Vonnegut, I remember the stories, but sometimes I can't place the right titles with the correct books.

[Enraged_Ape]

2. If I remember correctly, he had at least one

One of them, a baby boy, was the one involved in Dick's "religious experience", where he saw a pink beam of light and instantly diagnosed--in full medical detail--a hidden hernia that threatened his son's life.

"Time Out of Joint" involves a guy who solves a bizarre newspaper puzzle every week. He is, in fact, so good at the puzzle that he always wins the prizes offered and even makes a living doing it. Then he starts to realize that things are a bit...well..."off" about the world he's living in...

[Khephra]

3. Ok...I think I got it in mind now.

And things start fading in and out for him on a bus ride, right?

[Enraged_Ape]

4. That's right

And a soft drink stand melts down into a label.

[Khephra]

6. One of his best

I just finished "The Unteleported Man". It hurts me to say it, but it was the first PKD book I read that I didn't enjoy. The initial plot was original and had me interested...then a major reality shift happens which just didn't work for me. The feeling was of two books spliced together.

Supposedly there's a revised version with the ending that PKD wanted to use instead of the one that his editor forced upon him. Maybe one day I'll track that edition down to see if it's better. However, I don't exactly feel the urge to rush out and do it. That's a first for me with PKD.

[Enraged_Ape]

7. Thanks for the heads-up

I was not familiar with that one. So far, I've thoroughly enjoyed every PKD book I've read, even the whacked-out VALIS.

[Khephra]

8. Ah, VALIS

That's in my top three, that's for sure.

I've read all his short stories and about 75% of his published novels. Up until The Unteleported Man I had loved each and every one of the novels that I read.

Every artist misfires from time to time. Personaly I think this was one of those times for Phil.

[phantom power]

5. I spend a lot of time biting my tongue, when non-SF reading people

go on and on about how "original" or "wild" various sci-fi based movie ideas are.

There has never been *any* SF-related idea used in a movie that wasn't thought up by some SF author, at least 20 years before.