Dick’s voracious appetite for reading Carl Jung, Plato, and any philosopher of note’s text that he could get his hands on shines through masterfully in myriad nuanced subtleties. That world is Ted’s hometown, which he returns to after many years to find its history is not as he has remembered.Īnd there are unexpected gods, unforeseen characters of diabolical, selfish, and devious minds, and also their foils who are dying lights amidst the darkening battleground for something far vaster than Ted could have ever guessed. It is through this vessel that crafting such a marvelous world is possible. You feel what he feels, and as the precarious situation gets stranger and grander in scope than one would think possible, the suspension of disbelief is there and we hungrily eat up the world that has been built.

What is immediately intriguing at the outset is the utter realness of the protagonist Ted Barton, as his emotions, confusion and painful revelations shake the reader to their core. I was surprised upon reading Michael Swanwick’s introduction to this edition that this book is considered Dick’s only fantasy novel.īut I hate labeling genres, and I do not know it, but I suspect he would have as well. The following TFF Book Review of The Cosmic Puppets by Philip K. Dick classic The Cosmic Puppets and then my first fine press review of the Centipede Press treatment, which they have given to PKD in a gorgeous boxed set trilogy that also contains Dr. Nothing comes close.įor this very special article, we kick off the new year with a TFF book review of the 1957 Philip K. There is no writing, no fiction, like that of PKD. Dick is an inspiration of mine, and I have only perused a healthy percentage of his prolific body of work…so far. Dick’s The Cosmic Puppets via Centipede Press Wows, and I mean Wows with a great limited edition of a fantastic book!

Centipede press book of the new sun