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Underground > Books, Criticism & Writing >

A MAZE OF DEATH (PKD)

02:27 / 15.01.02

Worst fucking PKD book i've ever read. i enjoyed VALIS, WE CAN BUILD YOU, RADIO FREE ALBUMUTH, A SCANNER DARKLY, and CONFESSIONS OF A CRAP ARTIST much more.

contrary opinions?

07:18 / 15.01.02

I quite liked it myself but then again all the stuff you seem to like the stuff that came from a lot later in his career when he was writing far more autobiographical based narratives (crap artist was written earlier but was semi autobiographical too).

11:28 / 17.01.02

Me, I liked Ubik and A Scanner Darkly the best, but The Man in the High Castle is right up there.

I think A Maze of Death was written on lots of amphetamines, trying to get it in under the deadline. A potboiler that, for Phil, may have been a bloodboiler. Pretty lackluster stuff.

19:12 / 28.01.02

damn, I just bought that at a used bookstore one this weekend cause it had a cool psychedlic cover and the chapter names seemed like a laugh.

still, it can't be worse than the section of Radio Free Albemuth where Nick Brady is narrating, which is what I'm reading now.

11:43 / 31.01.02

I've been going through my father's extensive PKD collection bought back in the 60s and 70s, and it seems that the earlier the book, the not-as-good it is.

The scary religous books he finished with are the best I've read, although 'We Can Build You' where they build the simulacra Lincoln was pretty entertaining.

17:50 / 31.01.02

quote:Originally posted by Barry Auckland:
I've been going through my father's extensive PKD collection bought back in the 60s and 70s, and it seems that the earlier the book, the not-as-good it is.

Speak for yourself. I prefer his sci-fi stuff. I've been slowly reading his early short stories, and it's great. All kinds of fun ideas being thrown around.

If you can only get your head around books like VALIS, Scanner Darkly, etc. Then ignore the large majority of PKD's work. Because you're talking about a very small percentage of his output. (my guess would be about 6 or 7 books, tops)

If you can appreciate some of the strangest sci-fi you've read, then feel free to pick up his earlier work. But, don't expect to pick up something like VALIS.

Not to say they're all classics. But, all the ones I've come across are at the very least fun.