What other author combines scifi with theology as brilliantly

the star by clarke

>>9233182

Nah man, that book just uses some religious imagery as a backdrop, and not a thought provoking one at that.

>>9233174
Some anon recommended me Robert Silverberg when I asked for similar authors to Dick. Haven't got into him yet and I don't know if that's exactly what you're looking for, but you might want to check him out.

>>9233375
>>9233174
Silverberg's okay, I've only ever gotten around to reading cheap short story collections he did, and they read like pulpier versions of PKD, but I'd like to try his more famous works.

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Dick is unique in that most speed freaks can't stay behind a typewriter long enough to get any of their insane maunderings down, much less get them published.

also he was a robot.

>>9234312
There were at least five individuals who took the role of "Philip K. Dick" throughout his career. One was a robot.

>>9233341
Suck my dick. pkd isn't exactly deep.

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>>9233375
Silverburg's "Dying Inside" is perhaps the closest he ever got to PKD in my experience, but most of Silverburg's stuff is one Cuil below PKD in terms of introspection.

>>9234312
>speed freaks
Jesus, why is this always mentioned in every thread of his?

He didn't write all of his books on speed, far from it. He only used it during a certain period of his life when he was very poor and needed to write the books to survive.

>>9234320
Depth is not a binary state, and Philip K. Dick has more to say than your average joe scifi writer.

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>>9234320

> dick isn't deep

it's only deep if you try to make sense of it, and i'm not going to invest much time trying to put on PKD's particular brand of tinfoil just to see where he was coming from.

speed is a hell of a drug.

>>9234327
>Depth is not a binary state

Get to fuck you mongolid.

>>9234326
i have spent some time around speed freaks. in many of them, abuse of the drug did permanent damage to their brains. it left some of them barely able to wipe their asses, but a few retained enough motor skills to talk and talk and talk and get extremely upset if you couldn't keep up with their latest assault on logic and the human condition.

imagine being grilled by a deranged marvel fanboy about the minor details of Deadpool's origin story, only if you make a mistake he'll poke you with a butterfly knife. sort of like that.

there are a few PKD books where he just lets his backbrain go for a run. "End of Zoobko, or perhaps Zoob of Endko", springs to mind, except i can't remember which book that came from. playing with words? perhaps. just don't try to pretend he understood the mysteries of the universe.

>>9234340
>Get to fuck
OK, I will get to fuck, mouthbreather.

>>9234342
>Despite his heavy amphetamine use, however, Dick later said that doctors told him the amphetamines never actually affected him, that his liver had processed them before they reached his brain.[36]
Dick did nothing wrong. It was a placebo effect and he was never on speed at all.

This makes sense, because his writing doesn't have the long rambling style typical of those hopped up on amphetamines IMO.

https://books.google.com/books?id=5L-_BwAAQBAJ&pg=PT36&lpg=PT36&dq=philip+k+dick+placebo+effect&source=bl&ots=wx-TiXyDkJ&sig=2LstSW0cGE_kUVw1o8nv8iZwAdk&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj86dum29TSAhXr5oMKHerJDvoQ6AEIHDAA#v=onepage&q=philip%20k%20dick%20placebo%20effect&f=false

Why is Dick so much better than any other sci-fi author?

>>9234358
>because his writing doesn't have the long rambling style typical of those hopped up on amphetamines IMO.

i disagree with your opinion.

https://books.google.com.au/books?id=MqSfu21lEF0C&pg=PA135&lpg=PA135&dq=%22end+of+zoobko%22&source=bl&ots=oORhmrezXd&sig=QtE2RFdwcIU8NVUuxkVyNnI4M4E&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi3ud23hNXSAhXEJZQKHVtcDy0Q6AEIGTAA#v=onepage&q=%22end%20of%20zoobko%22&f=false

>>9234817
>Why is Dick so much better than any other sci-fi author?

because you mistake your opinion for fact, and this will cause you problems until the day you die.

>>9235144
Did PKD diddle you? Or maybe some other speed freak? For all the rep he gets for being "psychedelic", "junkie lit" and what not, drugs were always extremely secondary on PKD's life (he actually actively avoided them for most of his life, and all of his descriptions about his drug use seem to make it look like a social rather than addiction thing) and his best and most significant work was written sober.

>>9235490
>(he actually actively avoided them for most of his life,


did you know? putting the word "actually" in a sentence doesn't make it true? FACT!

>>9234817
because you haven't read ballard

Reposting from the /sffg/ thread:

Anyone else notice that the majority of Philip K. Dick's characters are very unlikable? They're all self-centered, arrogant and anti-social. They're all smart as fuck, and conniving too. What does this reflect on Dick's part? As far as I know he generally wasn't very similar to his characters in the asshole department (except to women, to an extent). What gives?

>>9235559
I saw his complete works at the bookplace last weekend and it was huge, any suggestions of what I should check out first to see if it's worth it?

>>9235569
Honestly, I've read I Am Alive and You Are Dead recently and he does come off as a bit of a self-centered asshole, but then again, almost always with the women in his life.

>>9235578
high-rise. atrocity exhibition if you're feeling adventurous. much of his work isn't traditionally sci-fi but he's considered an essential component of the 'new wave' nonetheless.

>>9235559
Interview in Virus#23
Cyberpunk Influences:

William Gibson: (back to the list) Alfred Bester, yeah. Bester I'll go for. [William Burroughs'] Naked Lunch, yes. Philip K. Dick, though, had almost no influence.

Tom Maddox: Right, you've really never much really read...

William Gibson: I never really read Dick because I read Pynchon. You don't need Dick if you've read Pynchon. I mean Dick was the guy who couldn't quite do it.

Tom Maddox: Ah, I think that's different, but you haven't read Dick, Bill (laughs).