jhado wrote:
I've only read two K Dick books; The Three Stigmata Of Palmer Eldrich, and A Scanner Darkly. I enjoyed them but found them a bit hard going in places...they made my brain hurt a bit

I'll be reading more K Dick stuff though, and I'll pay more attention and concentrate harder

Philip K. Dick is my favourite writer, and I sincerely believe he is the best ever writer in all literary history. The uniqueness, foresight and quality of his work is without question, and look how much he produced:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_K._Dick_bibliography

An absolute genius. You can see the influence of his work today on a film like Eternal Sunshine.

Do you know, I love the film Blade Runner, yet I've never even heard the name Philip K. Dick before now. I don't dooo Sci-Fi so I'll let myself of the Ignoramous Hook there and maybe dip into something of his up ahead.

cantata wrote:
There's been a few movies based on K Dick books. Minority Report, Total Recall to name two. I think the others are pretty much Direct adaptations, I'm not too sure.

I'll be reading more of his stuff in the future definately.

Total Recall too Great C.V.!

It's funny but even as a writer I don't bother about the writer when it comes to films. *must pay more attention at the back*

cantata wrote:
I love Total Recall

Well I'd die happy if I only had Blade Runner and Total Recall on my list of "Books wot I writ".

The most famous films based on Dick books are Blade Runner and Total Recall, but there are about ten in total. Plus loads of films either consciously or unconsciously rip-off his ideas. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is very consciously influenced by his work.

I would really recommend everyone to read the short story "We can Remember if for you Wholesale" on which Total Recall was based. Incredible that this was published in 1966. If you look at Dick's themes:

"Five recurring philosophical themes in Dick's work have been classified by Philip K. Dick scholar Erik Davis: false realities, human vs. machine, entropy, the nature of God, and social control. In Understanding Philip K. Dick, Eric Carl Link discussed eight themes or 'ideas and motifs': Epistemology and the Nature of Reality, Know Thyself, The Android and the Human, Entropy and Pot Healing, The Theodicy Problem, Warfare and Power Politics, The Evolved Human, and 'Technology, Media, Drugs and Madness'".

And he began his career in 1950s America, no wonder he was skint until the last years of his life when Blade Runner was optioned!

cantata wrote:


I think Total Recall is based on the novel 'We Can Remember It For You Wholesale' Movie goers might not have taken to the film if they had have kept that title though

I'm not sure how close the film is to the book.

I must read more K Dick

wake_up_bomb wrote:
I have much in common with Philip K. Dick, YaaaY (Just not the book finally being optioned bit... yet!)

hadabusa wrote:
No they're not.

One of King's best books is 'Different Seasons', which is made up of 4 'short stories' (for want of a better term).

The Shawshank Redemption is one of those stories. Terrible? I don't think so.

diamondgeezer wrote:
Hmmm... well I reiterate that as a writer I don't think much of Stephen King (dreary, long-winded, heavily padded to give the page count, predictable); and his stories were almost re-written by others for the screen (Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile were taken on by the mighty Frank Darabont - oh, how I wish he'd take on one of my stories! - and 7/8s of the story was cut out).

But Duma Key is interesting. Not horrific, interesting.

cantata wrote:
You are a writer? Excellent!

I feel I have a book in me...but my laziness gets in the way of me doing anything about it..

So, what kind of writing do you do? And are you doing it 'professionally' so to speak?

I read one of cantata's short stories DG, and it was enjoyable
I should set about reading her other one, Long Shadows, but I've been extremely lazy recently reading wise

Long Shadows is a proper, full novel. I will read it, soon

Cantata, would you like to promote your stories here?

diamondgeezer wrote:


Well, I've written quite literally all of my life, even alongside and during the other work I've done along the way. I've also ghost-written and edited a couple of magazines, sold short stories under pseudonyms, etc. Then I told my agent I needed MONEY, I mean not just a few quid here and there now and again...

So, now I'm trying Crime. Might as well, coz it does pay, actually. furthermore, because the agent has now retired and I like to do things the hard way... I'm trying to set up a few of my books as ebooks (see Trade Zone post ) and when I have about four or five of them on Kindle direct Publishing, I plan to set up my own site/blog and go from there.

I've also just finished a "demon" thingy - I figured the vampires-in-love thingy wasn't worth following as its bubbkle will burst soon enough, and no one is currently doing a "Devil Rides Out" thingy, so....

Now I just need Frank Darabont's address or phone number...

And DG, everyone has book/s in them. If you live and mix and do... there are your book/s! You just have to sit down and put one word down after another (about 100,000 times).

diamondgeezer wrote:
I agree

Dunno if it Stephen King or James Herbert, but I tried to read one book, until it got to the bit where a dog was crawling down the hall on it's stumps. Because someone had cut it's legs off!!

That was enough for me, I can't do gory horror.

The Devil Rides Out was brilliant, Denis Wheatley wasn't it?

jhado wrote:


James herbert books are very much like Stephen King. I really enjoy Denis Wheatley and yes, The Devil Rides Out... was brilliant.

jhado wrote:
T'was indeed Dennis Wheatley. He wrote a good few other books too and has a society set up about him.