The Crack in Space [Hardcover]

Philip K. Dick (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1991

In The Crack in Space, a repairman discovers that a hole in a faulty Jifi-scuttler leads to a parallel world. Jim Briskin, campaigning to be the first black president of the United States, thinks alter-Earth is the solution to the chronic overpopulation that has seventy million people cryogenically frozen; Tito Cravelli, a shadowy private detective, wants to know why Dr Lurton Sands is hiding his mistress on the planet; billionaire mutant George Walt wants to make the empty world all his own. But when the other earth turns out to be inhabited, everything changes.

Winner of both the Hugo and John W. Campbell awards for best novel, widely regarded as the premiere science fiction writer of his day, and the object of cult-like adoration from his legions of fans, Philip K. Dick has come to be seen in a literary light that defies classification in much the same way as Borges and Calvino. With breathtaking insight, he utilizes vividly unfamiliar worlds to evoke the hauntingly and hilariously familiar in our society and ourselves.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Dick’s best books always describe a future that is both entirely recognizable and utterly unimaginable.” –The New York Times Book Review --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From the Back Cover

"Dick’s best books always describe a future that is both entirely recognizable and utterly unimaginable."—The New York Times Book Review

When a repairman accidentally discovers a parallel universe, everyone sees it as an opportunity, whether as a way to ease Earth’s overcrowding, set up a personal kingdom, or hide an inconvenient mistress. But when a civilization is found already living there, the people on this side of the crack are sent scrambling to discover their motives. Will these parallel humans come in peace, or are they just as corrupt and ill-intentioned as the people of this world?

Over a career that spanned three decades, Philip K. Dick (1928–1982) wrote 121 short stories and 45 novels, establishing himself as one of the most visionary authors of the twentieth century. His work is included in the Library of America and has been translated into more than twenty-five languages. Eleven works have been adapted to film, including Blade Runner (based on Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?), Total Recall, Minority Report, and A Scanner Darkly.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Severn House Pub Ltd (June 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0727817817
• ISBN-13: 978-0727817815
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,073,813 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dick plays it straight in this one, March 29, 2005

By 

123nick456789 "Lounge Singer" (Phoenix) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Crack in Space: A Novel (Paperback)

After passing the half-way point in this book, I began anticipating the traditional "Dick-twist". You know, the part where the book takes an extremely unexpected and bizarre twist and the story you thought you were reading is completely changed. Take, for example, the LSD dart in "Lies Inc", or the "grubbish" from Martian Time-Slip.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that he didn't go that way with this one, and instead gives us a story with a reasonable beginning, middle, and end. The book starts as many do- Dick presents us with the usual large cast of amusing and seemingly independent characters, that eventually become completely interwoven with each other. The plot- a hole in a "Jifi-Scuttler" turns out to be a door to a parallel Earth (of course we never learn just what a "Jifi-Scuttler" is supposed to do normally), long after our Earth has been crowded past maximum capacity.

I don't need to tell you any more than that. Dick gives us a wonderful, entertaining premise for a science fiction story, and then tells us that story from beginning to end, complete with the usual hilarious Dick ideas and character dialogue.

I recommend this one 110% for any Dick fan. The only reason The Crack in Space gets 4 stars is because it's just a shade below his obvious 5-star classics that every Dick fan is already aware of. 4.5 - 4.75 stars would be more appropriate, if Amazon allowed such ratings.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I love this book., January 28, 2008

By 

Michael Gordon "Michael Gordon" (Los Angeles, Ca) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Crack in Space: A Novel (Paperback)

I really like this book. This book is an incredibly interesting tale of the political and social ramifications of the existence of an alternative Earth. Truly magnificent story with a great deal of surprises.

11 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars SF NOVELS OPUS EIGHTEEN, August 13, 2001

By 

Daniel S. "Daniel" (Geneva, Switzerland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Crack in Space (Hardcover)

CRACK IN SPACE is, in my opinion, a minor effort in Philip K. Dick's career. One will find in it good ideas but scarcely developed.

Later in the 21st century, the world population can decide to be cryogenized in order to quit for a while a society dealing with an endemic unemployment. Those who choose this solution are stocked in piles waiting for a better day. In the meantime, Jim Briskin, the black candidate to the U.S. presidential election, needs desperately new political ideas to gather votes. Incidentally, a little hole that has appeared in a translator seems to lead into a new world and could be the long-awaited solution to the cryogenized people problem.

Well, one recognizes in CRACK IN SPACE some of Dick's themes as the emergence of an unknown world that defies the intelligence of politicians and scientists. But don't forget that a "new world" in Philip K. Dick's terminology is not a world that suddenly appears light years away from the Earth, it's rather a world that is close to us, so close in fact that this world often exists in the mind of the characters only.

In short, if you want to make an agreeable trip through Philip K. Dick's main obsessions, you may enjoy CRACK IN SPACE but if you still don't know this writer , try UBIK or BLADE RUNNER first.

A book for Dick's fans only.