Martian Time-Slip and The Golden Man [Audio Cassette]

Philip K. Dick (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2, 2007

Blackstone Audio presents this collection of two stories by Philip K. Dick, the only science-fiction writer to be included in the Library of America.

In Martian Time-Slip, a ten-year-old schizophrenic boy named Manfred Steiner lives on the arid colony of Mars. Although the UN has slated such children for deportation and destruction, some suspect that Manfred's disorder may be a window into the future.

In The Golden Man, as monstrous mutants roam freely in post-nuclear America, a government agency, the DCA, is formed to get rid of them. But also targeted is eighteen-year-old Cris Johnson. He is a perfect specimen of young manhood, an icon of masculine beauty. He is the golden man. The DCA's fear that he might reproduce a new race of golden men with super-human survival skills makes his destruction paramount.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The fact that what Dick is entertaining us about is reality and madness, time and death, sin and salvation--this has escaped most critics. Nobody notices that we have our own homegrown Borges." --Ursula K. LeGuin, New Republic

About the Author

PHILIP KINDRED DICK (1928 1982) was an American science-fiction writer. In addition to forty-four books currently in print, he produced a number of short stories and minor works. At least seven of his stories have been adapted into films. Foreshadowing the cyberpunk sub-genre, he brought the anomic world of California to many of his works, exploring sociological and political themes in his early novels and stories, often dominated by neo-feudal corporate quasigovernments, while his later work tackled drugs and theology. --This text refers to an alternate Audio Cassette edition.

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Blackstone Audio Inc.; Unabridged edition (April 2, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1433200651
• ISBN-13: 978-1433200656
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,282,127 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Compelling Book, July 11, 2007

By 

M. Sojka (Mount Shasta, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Martian Time-Slip and The Golden Man (Audio CD)

This was my first read of a Philip K. Dick book. Dick was a prolific writer of Science Fiction writing 30+ books over his life.

This book (Martian Time-Slip) reminded me of Bradbury's Martian Chronicles in the way human society on Mars carried on its same practices of bigotry, greed, betrayal and other human foibles. Another grand experiment seemingly doomed.

Where this book really shined was in Dick's description of a schizophrenic and what goes on in their mind. Dick used an interesting writing method in one place to show a particular scene from the perspective of two characters with normal minds, one autistic child, an aboriginal Martian, and a schizophrenic. The method, though originally a little annoying in the beginning was very effective in creating a window to understanding and experiencing how a schizophrenic feels.

The reader of this book does a good job of creating the speech rhythm and sound of someone from the 60's and handles the various voices quite well. I liked him very much and will seek other books he might have read.

The Golden Man is a short story that is interesting, amusing, and a little disturbing. It is about a time on earth after some type of horrific war where many human mutations have been born with the world policy to destroy all the mutations before they can reproduce. The story focus is about a boy/man of 18 who cannot speak but is tall, golden, muscular - basically a perfect physical specimen, but cannot communicate verbally and sees the world from a different time perspective than normal humans. Obviously, woman find him irresistible and men see him as the ultimate danger.

4.0 out of 5 stars Martian Time-Slip and The Golden Man [Audio CD], July 12, 2010

By 

Mary-Grace Ellington "http://mgellington.word... (Greensboro, NC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Martian Time-Slip and The Golden Man (MP3 CD)

In Martian Time-Slip, I found no single sympathetic character. I listened to the CDs on my commute. It was easy to sink back into the world the author created. It was easy to analyze each character especially because they were all flawed in some way. He did a terrific job of playing the setting on Mars into the plot. It was such a layered piece. He tackled several themes/issues head on. I did not sink into The Golden Man as deeply. Still, it was enjoyable.

4.0 out of 5 stars what is reality? take a look inside a troubled mind, February 19, 2009

By 

Magic Man (Brigadoon) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Martian Time-Slip and The Golden Man (MP3 CD)

At one point in this book, I said to myself, If anyone was in doubt as to whether Philip K. Dick took drugs, here is confirmation. But I was just mixed up in the time slips.

It is the future. Humans have colonized Mars but life is hard on the colony with little water and scant employment. The native Martians are a low class. Jack is a repairman whose path crosses that of Arnie Cott, a corrupt local power broker. There are time warps and visions of the future, schizophrenics who live in a different time realm, and Martians with special powers.

But really this book is about people dealing with fear and with suffering, about power and its misuses. And it asks the question, What is reality? What do we really know about it?

Not much.

I enjoyed it. I listened to the audiobook narrated by Grover Gardner and published by Blackstone Audiobooks. Good reading. [Note on content: one character uses profanity regularly, and there are one or two brief, not-particularly-graphic sex scenes.]

The audiobook includes an additional CD with the story The Golden Man, ostensibly the basis for the Nicholas Cage movie Next. In fact, the two have nothing in common except the idea that a person can see the future, but I enjoyed both.