Showing results by author "Philip K. Dick" in All Categories

This collection comprises stories by and inspired by the originators of weird fiction. From Allen's "The Arctic Death", through to Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart", Stoker's "Dracula's Guest", and beyond. Time immemorial; worlds unimaginable.

Do we control our destiny, or do unseen forces manipulate us? Ed Fletcher is a real estate agent with a normal life, until one day he leaves the house for work a few minutes later than he should have. He arrives at a terrifying, grey, ash world. Ed rushes home and tells his wife, Ruth, who goes back to the office with him. When they return, everything is normal. But he soon realizes people and objects have subtly changed. Panic-stricken, he runs to a public phone to warn the police, only to have the phone booth ascend heavenward with Fletcher inside....

Ragle Gumm has a unique job: every day he wins a newspaper contest. And when he isn't consulting his charts and tables, he enjoys his life in a small town, in 1959. At least, that's what he thinks. But then strange things start happening. He finds a phone book where all the numbers have been disconnected, and a magazine article about a famous starlet named Marilyn Monroe, whom he's never heard of. Plus, everyday objects are beginning to disappear and are replaced by strips of paper with words written on them, like "bowl of flowers" and "soft-drink stand".

Earth is trapped in the crossfire of an unwinnable war between two alien civilizations. Its leader is perpetually on the verge of death. And on top of that, a new drug has just entered circulation—a drug that haphazardly sends its users traveling through time. In an attempt to escape his doomed marriage, Dr. Eric Sweetscent becomes caught up in all of it. But he has questions: Is Earth on the right side of the war? Is he supposed to heal Earth's leader or keep him sick? And can he change the harrowing future that the drug has shown him?

In this P. K. Dick short story read by award-winning narrator Mike Vendetti almost everyone had a bomb shelter, but if they didn't have the latest model, chances where they wouldn't survive a nuclear attack. Mike Foster's dad wouldn't be bullied into buying a shelter until finally one Christmas he signed up for the easy payment plan and....

In "Beyond Lies the Wub", the crew of a spaceship buys a "wub", a large pig-like animal from a native martian to eat on the way home. The Wub turns out to be a sentient being capable of intelligent conversation, empathy, and possibly telepathy and mind control. When a crew member converses with the remarkable Wub, the captain makes a rash and violent decision that could put the return mission in danger.

Adjustment Team is a science fiction short story by American writer Philip K. Dick. It was first published in Orbit Science Fiction (September–October 1954, No. 4) with illustration by Faragasso. A man called the Clerk approaches a talking dog, and explains in businesslike manner that "Sector T137" is scheduled for "adjustment" at 9 o'clock. He instructs the dog to bark at exactly 8:15, which the Clerk explains will summon "A Friend with a Car", which will take real estate salesman Ed Fletcher to work before 9, but while the Clerk is preoccupied, the dog falls asleep and as a result barks a minute too late.

When a space survey team encounters a mysterious automated weapon system on a seemingly abandoned planet, they're drawn into a tense confrontation that challenges their understanding of technology and survival.

Floyd Jones is sullen, ungainly, and quite possibly mad, but he really can see exactly one year into the future. And this talent means that in a very short time he rises from being a disgruntled carnival fortune-teller to convulse an entire planet. For Jones becomes a demagogue, whipping up the ideal-starved population into a frenzy against the threat of the 'drifters', enormous single-cell protoplasms that may be landing on Earth soon.

Leo Runcible—of Runcible Realty—is too excitable and too pushy. His wife drinks too much. He may be a man of principle, but Liberal Jewish Leo is an outsider in the lilywhite Carquinez, Marin County. When he gets into a pointless argument with a customer over his neighbour Walt Dombrosio's house guests, the resulting ramifications follow a bizarre logic of cause and effect to lead in entirely unexpected directions ...

Following a devastating nuclear war, the Moral Reclamation government took over the world and forced its citizens to live by strictly puritanical rules—no premarital sex, drunkenness, or displaying of neon signs—all of which are reinforced through a constant barrage of public messages. The chief purveyor of these messages is Alan Purcell, next in line to become head of the propaganda bureau. But there is just one problem: a statue of the government’s founder has been vandalized and the head is hidden in Purcell’s closet.

Philip K Dick’s classic dystopian novel set in the future where the remaining human survivors on Earth must gamble for their future with aliens from Titan, one of the moons circling Saturn. Roaming the pristine landscape of Earth, cared for by machines and aliens, the few remaining humans alive since the war with Titan play Bluff, allowing them to win or lose property and also form new marriages in order to maximise the remote chance some pairings will produce a child.

Journey into the mind-bending world of Philip K. Dick's "The Skull," a short story that masterfully blends time travel with moral ambiguity. When a prisoner is offered freedom for a mysterious assignment in the past, he stumbles upon revelations that challenge everything he believes about destiny and choice. This captivating tale showcases Dick's signature style—weaving philosophical questions with psychological tension and reality-warping concepts that leave listeners questioning everything.

Journey to the stars with this immersive audiobook rendition of Philip K. Dick's captivating short story "The Crystal Crypt." Set against the backdrop of interplanetary tension between Earth and Mars, this gripping tale follows three fugitives harboring a secret that could change the course of human history. As the last Earth ship prepares to depart from Mars, a desperate search threatens to expose a mystery that has vanished an entire Martian city.

Journey into the mind of sci-fi master Philip K. Dick with this captivating audiobook rendition of 'Tony and the Beetles.' Set against the backdrop of interstellar conflict, young Tony faces a shifting reality when Earth's dominance over beetle-like aliens suddenly crumbles. Experience Dick's profound exploration of prejudice, childhood innocence, and societal change through immersive narration that brings every nuance to life.

When military personnel stationed on a distant asteroid begin claiming they are no longer human, Dr. Henry Harris is sent to investigate. The soldiers insist they have become "Pipers"—carefree beings with no responsibilities, despite their unchanged physical forms. As Harris delves deeper into the mystery, he faces an unsettling question: Is this a psychological phenomenon, or is something far stranger at play?

The Crawlers is a science fiction short story by American writer Philip K. Dick. Submitted under the title Foundling Home, it was first published as The Crawlers in Imagination magazine, July 1954. The story starts out from the point of view of a crawler constructing one of its curious hives. The crawler seems sentient and to genuinely enjoy building its odd dwelling. The story is set in a small Midwestern town, with references later in the story to mysterious "pools" which seem to cause mutations.

Step into the mind-bending world of The Variable Man by Philip K. Dick. In a future where war, technology, and predictive algorithms determine every outcome, a man from the past unexpectedly arrives—throwing the entire system into chaos. As governments and military forces scramble to eliminate this anomaly, they soon realize that his very unpredictability might be the key to reshaping the future.

Dive into the classic short story Mr. Spaceship by legendary science fiction author Philip K. Dick. Set in a future where war is waged with autonomous machines, this gripping tale explores the consequences of replacing mechanical systems with human minds—literally. When scientists upload a human brain into a spaceship to outsmart alien mines, the line between man and machine begins to blur.

Discover Philip K. Dick's chilling post-apocalyptic masterpiece "The Defenders," where humanity hides underground while robot "leadies" wage nuclear war above. But when humans venture to the surface, they uncover a shocking conspiracy that challenges everything they believe.