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  • Volume I: The King of the Elves

  • By: Philip K. Dick
  • Narrated by: Kate Rudd
  • Length: 20 hrs and 9 mins
  • 3.9 out of 5 stars (9 ratings)

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Volume I: The King of the Elves cover art

Volume I: The King of the Elves

By: Philip K. Dick
Narrated by: Kate Rudd
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Publisher's Summary

Philip K. Dick (1928-1982) was one of the seminal figures of 20th century science fiction. His many stories and novels, which include such classics as The Man in the High Castle and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, reflect a deeply personal world view, exploring the fragile, multifarious nature of reality itself and examining those elements that make us - or fail to make us - fully human. He did as much as anyone to demolish the artificial barrier between genre fiction and "literature," and the best of his work has earned a permanent place in American popular culture.

The King of the Elves is the opening installment of a uniform, five-volume edition of The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick, expanded from the previous Collected Stories set to incorporate new story notes, and two added tales, one previously unpublished, and one uncollected. This generous collection contains 22 stories and novellas including Dick's first published story, "Beyond Lies the Wub," together with such landmark tales as "The Preserving Machine," in which an attempt to preserve our fragile cultural heritage takes an unexpected turn, The Variable Man, a brilliantly imagined novella encompassing war, time travel, and the varied uses of technology, and the title story, in which Shadrach Jones, owner of a dilapidated gas station in Colorado, stumbles into an ongoing war between trolls and elves, and encounters a fantastic - and utterly unexpected - destiny. Like the best of Dick's novels, these stories offer a wide variety of narrative and intellectual pleasures, and provide an ideal introduction to one of the singular imaginations of the modern era.

©2010 The Philip K. Dick Testamentary Trust (P)2015 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

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Early stories show the development of PKD

There are many interesting stories in the collection. Even when they are less than perfectly executed they already have the beginnings of the authors approach

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Some Up Some Down..

A fine grouping of very listenable short stories with thought provoking ideas..
Some require to be heard a second time...

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Some gems

I have read Phillip K Dick since the 70s and have really enjoyed his novels. This collection of shorter stories has some great stuff, but unfortunately they are in the minority. Some are really showing their age and although Dick has a good imagination his grasp of science at times is week, The narrator copes well with the general story line but characterisation is often weak. On two different audio players I used the stories had very little gaps between them and this can be annoying. Still, if you like this author, it's probably worth investing in.

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