Customer Reviews

Paycheck And Other Classic Stories By Philip K. Dick

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I just wanted to inform that this is the same "The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick, Vol. 1", published before under the titles "Beyond Lies the Wub" or "The Short Happy Life of the Brown Oxford". I think it would be much easier to find this new edition, but this title is listed as "by Steven Owen Godersky" and not "by Philip K. Dick". If you already own the collection (or this particular volume), there is no need to buy it - the content is exactly the same. I am referring to the ISBN 0806526300 in this review, not the 0575070013 - so pay attention when you buy it.

While this is a reissue of an earlier publication, this story collection is an excellent first book for those new to Philip K. Dick, as I was. In his forward to this edition, Dick writes that good science fiction must offer the reader a truly new idea and "it must be intellectually stimulating to the reader; it must invade his [or her] mind and wake it up to the possibility of something [s]he had not up to then thought of." (The brackets are mine.)

If we accept Dick's definition of good sci-fi, then this is truly good. The collection contains no stories that are "bad," and many that are outstanding. My favorites include "The Skull," the "Infinites," "The Variable Man," and "Beyond Lies the Wub."

If you don't yet own a story collection of Dick's, this one would be a good place to start.

The single star is not for the work of the author but the way amazon has filed the kindle edition of a different book under this title.

I downloaded the kindle edition of this work, and it has different content to the descriptions in other reviews for the print edition. What I guess is the matter is that there is a volume Paycheck and Other Classic Stories which is the first of the 5 volume collected short stories, containing early career work, (as per an earlier review) that has not been made up for kindle, and another entitled Paycheck which is made up for kindle but appears to be shorter and contain later stories as well.
I suggest checking the Philip k Dick website to check what should be in this volume. Note that on amazon that when you click on the look inside feature for the print edition of Paycheck and Other Classic Stories there is a disclaimer that what you see is the inside of the kindle edition.
The contents page is very different to what is on the Philip K Dick website.

I enjoy reading a good short story and this book has plenity of them. Dick writes the old style, without tricks, and does it very well. The stories are short but full of imaginative plots. It's a good resding expecially if you enjoy scienci fiction.

Paycheck(and the short stories here)is my first journey into the mind of Philip K.Dick, and I loved it. Each story in this collection grabs you and doesn't let go, the author perfectly takes you on a ride into an unknown part of the past and future.
This collection in my opinion of short stories is up there with Vonnegut's 'WELCOME TO THE MONKEY HOUSE' and Bradbury's 'THE OCTOBER COUNTRY'. I'm now hooked on this author and I highly recommend it for any aged Sci Fi reader.

This is a GREAT collection of Phillip K. Dick's earliest short stories. Great writing all around. My only complaint is that there is a very repetitive feel as Dick is obsessed with two topics: war, and "what does 'human' really mean?" If you don't mind having the same points driven home page after page, it's a winner.

J.Ja

It's a good collection. It is true that this is a reissue, however there are plenty of people who have never seen it before. (Including Me.)

The story Paycheck is completely different from the movie, in ALL manners. Also, it includes a ton of good stories, even if a few aren't the best. The forward also helps.

It's just a VERY good Sci-Fi book. Enough said. Beyond the Wub is priceless.

My husband turned me onto this author. It is definitely science fiction and I thought I would hate it, but I found several short stories in it I liked. They are really thought provoking. My husband bought this book and I know he would give it 5 stars, so I did. This is a nice change from a long, chaptered story, because you can jump around and pick and choose the longer and shorter ones depending on what time frame you are looking at. The stores run in length from 4 pages to 15 pages just to give you an idea.

This collection was previously released as "The Short Happy Life Of The Brown Oxford" ISBN 0806511532. Don't be fooled by the new cover and title. It's being reissued under the title of the movie starring Ben Affleck and Uma Thurman. You probably already have the collection if you're a PKD fan. The 1 star rating is for the cheap attempt to get my money a second time.