Philip K. Dick
(December 16, 1928 – March 2, 1982)
Philip K. Dick (PKD), an American SF writer, lived most of his life in California. He sold his first story in 1951 and through the 1970s was a prolific writer whose stories frequently had paranoid themes. Since his death, his reputation has increased to the point where he is regarded by many was one of the greats of the field. Many of his stories have been made into successful movies.
The Philip K. Dick Award was set up to honor the best original paperback novel, since so much of Dick's work came out first in paperback. A literary biography of Dick, Only Apparently Real: The World of Philip K. Dick by Paul Williams (Arbor House, 1986), was nominated for the 1987 Best Non-Fiction Book Hugo.
Dick coined kipple.
Entry in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction.
Fanzines about Dick and his work:[edit]
Awards, Honors and GoHships:
- 1963 -- 1963 Best Novel Hugo for The Man in the High Castle
- 1968 -- 1968 Best Novelette Hugo nominee
- 1972 -- V-Con 2
- 1974 -- Westercon 27
- 1975 -- 1975 Best Novel Hugo nominee
- 1987 -- Readercon 1 (Memorial Guest)
- 1991 -- Philip K. Dick Celebration
- 2004 -- 1954 Best Novelette Retro Hugo nominee
- 2005 -- A Scanner Darkly Book of Honor at Potlatch 14, Science Fiction Hall of Fame
Major Works[edit]
The Man in the High Castle[edit]
In this 1962 alternate history novel, Germany and Japan were the victors in World War II, and they have split the conquered United States between them. The principal protagonist, Robert Childan, runs a memorabilia store and sells Americana to the Japanese overlords.
The novel also features a sympathetic Japanese businessman, a judo instructess who goes in search of the reclusive Hawthorne Abendsen, the "man in the high castle," and Abendsen himself -- who has written a SF novel in which Germany and Japan lost World War II.
The novel questions our whole notion of reality, and is probably Dick's finest work.
Awards and Honors
- 1963 — 1963 Best Novel Hugo
| Person | 1928—1982 |
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