Philip K. Dick, "The Short Happy Life of the Brown Oxford" (Collected Stories Vol. 1)
Another piece of bathroom reading material. In fact, this took so long to finish because I forgot to take it with me to my new bathroom when I moved to the shack in the back.
Philip K. Dick is one of those authors that we can never keep in the store. People won�t even blink when they see the prices on some of the more high-end rare things and snatch them up, plunking down 60 bucks for an old paperback.
That�s gotta say something about his quality. Oh sure, you get some people that are willing to pay outrageous prices for a Sue Grafton novel, but not with the same kind of regularity. You get curious seeing these fans talk about how much they love his stuff. Or at least I did, that�s why I picked this up.
And okay, he is pretty neat, but I�m still not sure I�m a fan. Since this is a collection of short stories there are bound to be a few clunkers, and it�s certainly true in this case. But the ratio is about 75 percent good stuff to 25 percent drivel, and that�s not half bad.
Some of the better stories have an almost horror-like feel to them, where he takes ordinary, innocuous objects and turns them into HARBINGERS OF DEATH. The best example comes from the story �Meddler,� wherein you read about how the world is poised to meet its end through butterflies.
Still though, I noticed he�s fond of the surprise ending and there were several times that I saw the ending coming a mile away. What was surprising, though, was that on some of the better stories like �Colony� where even dead people could tell what was going to happen, it was still a damn good story.
If you wanted this book, I�ll just say good luck finding a copy. I�ve seen this book come through the store at least a dozen times, so I didn�t feel bad picking one up for myself. But the copies we do have sell in two days time at the most. You�ll just have to come in and check every day.
