Philip K. Dick – Page 74

Review of Philip K. Dick Recorded Telephone Interviews

Philip K. Dick Recorded Telephone Interviews
Conducted by John Boonstra
2 CDs – Approx. 111 Minutes [UNABRIDGED EXCERPTS]
Published: 1991
Themes: / Non-Fiction / Science Fiction / Interview /

These discs combine telephone interviews conducted 3/11/81 and 6/28/81. Portions appeared in The Hartford Advocate and The Twilight Zone Magazine. I’ve interviewed dozens of interesting people in the years since, but no conversation has been quite so exhilarating. It was a privilege to have even this brief contact with PKD…”
— John Boonstra

This is a set of 2 CD-Rs with printer paper labels and a photocopy of a handwritten insert written by the interviewer John Boonstra. The packaging and media is straight out of the Staples catalogue. But the content… oh the content… It’s the ultimate! Disc 1 is one long uninterrupted audio track. It starts with a ringing telephone, answered by a “Hello?” And if you’ve heard his voice anywhere else you instantly know it is Philip K. Dick.

Boonstra conducted by telephone these two interviews. Boonstra was better prepared than we have any right to expect – he was familiar with the vast majority of his subject’s writing and anxious to engage someone who he clearly admired greatly. Dick himself is full of life, overflowing with funny anecdotes, eager to talk and expound and is a true delight to hear in such an unfiltered setting.

Admittedly the sound quality isn’t great. A constant tape hiss mars both interviews, but the voices are both loud and clear, and in stereo. Dick’s voice comes out of the left speaker and Boonstra’s out of the right. They talk for nearly two hours over the course of the two interviews and I was riveted the entire time. Unfortunately the last portion of the first interview is completely cut off and the first portion of the second interview is entirely missing. Boonstra prompts Dick now and again with well researched questions and Dick never shies away, giving us the inside dope on many aspects of his professional and private lives as well as explaining the research that went into many of his later books including, The Cosmic Puppets, The Man In the High Castle, Martian Time-Slip, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, The Galactic Pot-Healer, Confessions Of A Crap Artist, VALIS, The Divine Invasion, The Transmigration Of Timothy Archer and others.

If you like Philip K. Dick’s novels you’ll love these interviews! I just wish there were more of them. Unfortunately Dick died less than a year after the second interview was recorded. I got two CD set from Zack Wood: click here to check out his site and tell him SFFAUDIO sent you!

Posted by Jesse Willis

Here’s a really cool 29 minute radio documentary o…

SFFaudio Online Audio

Here’s a really cool 29 minute radio documentary originally produced for WZBC Boston radio by Benjamen Walker entitled “Saint Phil.” Host Benjamen Walker argues for the canonization of PKD. He talks with authors Jonathan Lethem and Josh Glenn about the Science Fiction genius Philip K Dick. He also gets “UBIK” tattooed on his body. You can listen to the MP3 at the WTRO Radio site by clicking HERE!.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Review of Martian Time-Slip By Philip K. Dick

Martian Time-Slip
By Philip K. Dick; Read by Tom Parker
6 Cassettes – 9 hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
ISBN: 0786113529
Date Published: 1998
Themes: / Science Fiction / Mars / Politics / Time-travel / Mental Illness / Aliens / Philosophy /

On the arid colony of Mars the only thing more precious than water may be a ten-year-old schizophrenic boy named Manfred Steiner. For although the UN has slated “anomalous” children for deportation and destruction, other people–especially Supreme Goodmember Arnie Kott of the Water Workers’ Union -suspect that Manfred’s disorder may be a window into the future.

While the Mars of our reality is a fascinating planet in its own right, the Mars of fiction is far more accessible, and nearly as alien! Ray Bradbury’s Mars was a walk through the pastoral and allegorical mind of Bradbury’s youth. Edgar Rice Burrough’s Mars, a fantasyland where many buckles were swashed and princesses were saved. But Philip K. Dick’s Mars is the strangest of them all, a place where everyday reality is malleable and where political corruption continues as it does on Earth. Martian Time-Slip, as read exceedingly well by Tom Parker, is a poignant and utterly fascinating journey both across the newly colonized Martian landscape and through the lives of its varied central characters. A journey not to be missed, I have no doubt that eventually the real colonists on the real Mars will be reading Philip K. Dick’s Martian Time-Slip – and a few of them may even be listening to Parker’s excellent performance of this amazing novel.

More and more it seems you can count on Blackstone Audio to pick a great book, match it with an appropriate narrator and follow through with high production values. Martian Time-Slip just adds to this reputation. It comes in a library style clamshell binding with a cool cover featuring the original art from the paperback release. And to top it all off this superb production includes every single word in the book, including the teaser back cover. There is little else to say except: Martian Time-Slip, highly recommended!

Posted by Jesse Willis

Here’s an interesting episode of WNYC’s The Brian …

Here’s an interesting episode of WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show:

“When Life Imitates Science Fiction”
Wednesday, January 07, 2004, 13 Minutes
LINK TO THE WNYC SHOW: http://www.wnyc.org/shows/bl/episodes/01072004

When did science fiction and reality become indistinguishable? Guest Steven Shaviro discusses the relevance of science fiction stories of Philip K. Dick, William Burroughs, K.W. Jeter, and Bruce Sterling to modern life.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Review of The Reel Stuff edited by Brian Thomsen and Martin H. Greenberg

The Reel Stuff
Edited by Brian Thomsen and Martin H. Greenberg
Read by Various
6 Cassettes – 9 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
ISBN: 0886465745
Publisher: dhAudio
Published: 2000 [OUT OF PRINT]
Themes: / Science Fiction / Horror / Computers / Memory / Aliens / Urban Legend / Space Travel / Time Travel /

The Reel Stuff is a collection of stories that have been adapted into films. They are all great stories, and this collection has the added attraction of comparing these stories to the films. dhAudio really did a fabulous job with this one. The stories:

Johnny Mnemonic by William Gibson, read by Christopher Graybill
FILM: Johnny Mnemonic (1995)
Johnny Mnemonic was published in 1981, a few years before Gibson’s Hugo and Nebula-award winning Neuromancer hit the scene, illuminating the whole Cyberpunk sub-genre. This story is a clear view of that sub-genre as it has all the elements; human/computer interfaces, plenty of violence, and quick-witted characters. In this story, the title character holds a piece of data in his brain that is wanted by some powerful folks who are willing to do plenty to get it. Christopher Graybill does a great job with it.

Amanda and the Alien by Robert Silverberg, read by Colleen Delany
FILM: Amanda and the Alien (1995 – TV)
This tale, by the great Robert Silverberg, is humourous and sexy. The main character is a ditzy teenage girl named Amanda who takes an alien who can morph into anyone it eats under her wing. Definitely a B-movie kind of story, but purposefully so. Colleen Delany performs well, capturing the Amanda character perfectly.

Mimic by Donald A. Wollheim, read by Terence Aselford
FILM: Mimic (1997)
Mimic is a very short tale that reads almost like a documentary about the peculiar ways in which animals hide from other animals. This is then extrapolated in a very spooky way to humans. Terence Aselford didn’t have a heck of a lot to work with here, but he kept it interesting.

The Forbidden by Clive Barker, read by Vanessa Maroney
FILM: Candyman (1992)
Clive Barker drums up some modern mythology here as a female professor explores urban legend among the lower class in London. The story is effective and chilling in the hands of Vanessa Maroney, who navigates Barker’s weirdness as if it were really happening.

We Can Remember It For You Wholesale by Philip K. Dick, read by Terence Aselford
FILM: Total Recall (1990)
Terence Aselford gets another chance in this collection, reading this reality-bender by Philip K. Dick. The main character wants to go to Mars in the worst way, but can’t afford it. The solution? Take a virtual vacation! Have memories implanted so you can “have gone” to Mars. But here, things get complicated when the implantee’s supressed memories surface during the procedure. Dick again manages to leave me wondering what the heck is really real – where exactly is the immovable bedrock? Nothing is sacred in Philip K. Dick’s hands.

Nightflyers by George R.R. Martin, read by Christopher Graybill
FILM: Nightflyers (1987)
Martin here spins a science fiction horror story. Think Psycho meets Lost in Space and maybe you’ll have a feel… a group of people ride on a ship that is controlled by a mystery man who never leaves the cockpit. Christopher Graybill again is impressive in his reading.

Air Raid John Varley, read by Nannette Savard
FILM: Millenium (1989)
Nannette Savard reads a very strange, very affecting story about Earth’s future. In it, humans have evolved just a bit, but the Earth’s biosphere has been destroyed, its people diseased. Varley’s descriptions are vivid and graphic – these people are in a bad way. To keep the species going, they go back in time to retrieve healthy airline passengers, mid-flight, since history shows they are on the verge of fiery death. These passengers become humanity’s hope. Varley is a very affecting writer, and through the main character we experience much. Savard does a great job conveying this to the listener.

Sandkings by George R.R. Martin, read by Richard Rohan
FILM: The Outer Limits: Sandkings (1995)
Simon Kress wants a pet, but something interesting… something out of the ordinary. He finds what he’s looking for when he purchases a group or creatures called sandkings which live in a large terrarium with plenty of sand lining the bottom. They build castles and fight battles. They even worship. And they are endlessly fascinating. Well, they were. Perhaps a little prodding from Kress will end the monotony… This one is my favorite of this excellent collection. Sandkings is original and fascinating, both as a character study of a man with too much comfort and as an exploration of an alien animal species.

Posted by Scott D. Danielson

Check out this cool 3 minute clip from a French Ph…

SFFaudio Online Audio

Check out this cool 3 minute clip from a French Philip K. Dick Fansite – don’t worry, it is in English. In it Philip K. Dick talks about some of his ideas about the origin of ideas. Where do the pesky things come from? How are they are created? Or discovered? Or revealed? And by who?

“If You Think This World Is Bad, You Should See Some Of The Others”

| MP3 | REALAUDIO | WINDOWS MEDIA |

Posted by Jesse Willis