The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldrich, Philip K. Dick (3.0)
PKD, as known by his fans, is most famous for ‘Do Androids
Dream of Electric Sheep’, which was adapted to become the movie ‘Blade Runner’.
In most of his short stories and novels, you have the distinct impression that
he was using LSD for inspiration. In this case, the main topic actually is drug
usage. It is set in the future where there is overcrowding and intense heat due
to climate change (oddly ahead of his time as this was written in the early
60’s). Groups of people are conscripted to go to satellites on the moon where
they spend much of their boring days using a drug that transports them to a
different reality in synch with the other people in their ‘group’. It’s not
always clear what it real and what is part of the ‘trip’, which can be
frustrating. On a side note, the concept of ‘precogs’, the theme he uses in
‘The Minority Report’ by which certain people have the ability to see possible
future actions and consequences, is used in this book too. As most PKD books,
this novel is not for everyone. If you are comfortable letting yourself trip
along with him and go wherever his crazy mind is going to go – it will be a
truly unique experience. If you like plots and characters that are relatively
easy to follow, you should probably stay clear.
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