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“Taken as directed, Ubik provides uninterrupted sleep without morning after grogginess. You awaken fresh, ready to tackle all those little annoying problems facing you. Do not exceed the recommended dosage.��

Passing in 1982, Phillip K. Dick was a fascinating author. College dropout, heavy drug user, suicidal tendencies, and known for tumultuous relationships with women and his struggles with mental illness, he certainly wasn’t the gentleman scientist that Asimov, Clarke, or Heinlein were held up to be. But he brought something new to science fiction. A postmodern, counter-culture exploration focused on paranoia, alternate or altered states of realities, and the nature of perception. It’s a twist on science fiction we are familiar with today, but in 60’s and 70’s Dick’s approach was raw, novel, and probably disturbing to many. However, looking back, there is no doubt about his impact. His works have been adapted widely into films and television, and influences are seen often in fiction and even music.

Dick wrote Ubik in 1969 and set his story twenty-three years in the future �� 1992. In Dick’s future, humanity has established a colony on the moon and has also found a way to temporary sustain people’s consciousness (‘half-life��) and allow communication with the ‘mostly dead.�� In addition, everything is coin-operated �� appliances, elevators, and even doors. It reminded me of the outlandish pneumatic tubes in the movie ‘Brazil�� and serves a similar purpose in theme. Finally, psychic and counter-psychic capabilities (‘inertials��) exist in a small number of people. Corporations control these telepaths and ‘inertials�� allowing for corporate espionage and an arm’s-race-like control of the abilities.

All of this world-building allow Dick to create a world where reality is shifting. He telegraphs the major plot twist but offers up some red herrings to keep the reader guessing. On the surface it’s a statement on government and corporate control over our lives, but more deeply it questions our perception of consciousness and reality.

In all honesty, I’m more of a fan of Phillip K. Dick’s movie and TV adaptions verses his novels. They are intriguing and enjoyably puzzling, but they don’t move me the way some of my favorite science fiction works do. I find most of the characters unlikable and the endings depressing. However, I do appreciate his creativity and pioneering themes, questioning perception and reality.

An imaginative journey of a near future where telepathy is monetized, death is postponed, and reality is seldom what it seems. Four Ubik-infused stars, which are guaranteed to cause readers to philosophize when used as directed!