Philip K. Dick

Philip K. Dick

Country 
GenderMale
Birthday
BiographyPhilip Kindred Dick (December 16, 1928 – March 2, 1982) was an American science fiction short story writer and novelist. He wrote 45 novels and about 121 short stories, most of which appeared in science fiction magazines. His fiction explored varied philosophical and social questions such as the nature of reality, perception, human nature, and identity, and commonly featured characters struggling against alternate realities, illusory environments, monopolistic corporations, drug abuse, authoritarian governments, and altered states of consciousness. He is considered one of the most important figures in 20th-century science fiction.

Born in Chicago, Dick moved to the San Francisco Bay Area with his family at a young age. He began publishing science fiction stories in 1952, at age 23. He found little commercial success until his alternative history novel The Man in the High Castle (1962) earned him acclaim, including a Hugo Award for Best Novel, when he was 33. He followed with science fiction novels such as Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968) and Ubik (1969). His 1974 novel Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel.

Following years of drug use and a series of mystical experiences in 1974, Dick's work engaged more explicitly with issues of theology, metaphysics, and the nature of reality, as in the novels A Scanner Darkly (1977), VALIS (1981), and The Transmigration of Timothy Archer (1982). A collection of his speculative nonfiction writing on these themes was published posthumously as The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick (2011). He died in 1982 at the age of 53 due to complications of a stroke. Following his death, he became "widely regarded as a master of imaginative, paranoid fiction in the vein of Franz Kafka and Thomas Pynchon".

Dick's posthumous influence has been widespread, extending beyond literary circles into Hollywood filmmaking. Popular films based on his works include Blade Runner (1982), Total Recall (adapted twice: in 1990 and in 2012), Screamers (1995), Minority Report (2002), A Scanner Darkly (2006), The Adjustment Bureau (2011), and Radio Free Albemuth (2010). Beginning in 2015, Amazon Prime Video produced the multi-season television adaptation The Man in the High Castle, based on Dick's 1962 novel; and in 2017 Channel 4 produced the anthology series Electric Dreams, based on various Dick stories.

In 2005, Time magazine named Ubik (1969) one of the hundred greatest English-language novels published since 1923. In 2007, Dick became the first science fiction writer included in The Library of America series.

Biography from the Wikipedia article Philip K. Dick. Licensed under CC-BY-SA. Full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Part of Crew

Recently Updated Shows

Recently updated shows that might be of your interest.
The Creep Tapes
Running

The Creep Tapes

Based on a collection of videotapes in the secret vault of the world's deadliest and most socially uncomfortable serial killer, who hires his victims to film him for the day under false pretenses, each episode exposes a new victim from one of the fabled 'Creep Tapes'.

GenreHorror
America's Funniest Home Videos
Running

America's Funniest Home Videos

ABC's longest-running primetime entertainment show, America's Funniest Home Videos, returns for season 36 this fall with the same mission -- giving families something genuinely funny to enjoy together on Sunday nights.

"AFV," the longest-running primetime entertainment show in ABC history, returns for season 36 with the same mission - to provide viewers with hysterical moments that fly by at a dizzying pace.

The Real Housewives of Potomac
Running

The Real Housewives of Potomac

Just up the river from our nation's capital lies a hidden gem—Potomac, Maryland. Its rolling hills, gated mansions, sophisticated prep schools, and exclusive country clubs all serve to keep the area invitation-only. Sprinkled throughout this community are a handful of old-line, wealthy African-American families who have historically broken racial barriers to provide a life of privilege for their children. The Real Housewives of Potomac follows the upscale lives of six intriguing, well-to-do women: Gizelle Bryant, Katie Rost, Karen Huger, Charrisse Jackson-Jordan, Robyn Dixon, and Ashley Darby, all of whom have fought for their places in this society by way of legacy or marriage. In a town where entry is granted only through class, pedigree, and lineage, how far will these ladies go to secure their spot at the top of this prestigious circle?

The Traitors Canada
Running

The Traitors Canada

Follow a group of contestants – including some familiar faces – who live together as they complete a series of challenges with the goal of earning a cash prize. The catch? Some of the contestants are traitors who will attempt to deceive and manipulate their way to the prize instead of sharing it amongst the group. In this psychological adventure will the traitors be unmasked in time?

Homestead: The Series
Running

Homestead: The Series

A continuation of the movie Homestead... Amid chaos, ex-Green Beret joins prepper compound; love grows, truths arise, and a community unites.