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Get The Finest Memory And Identity Science Fiction

By Cathy Mercer


Science fiction usually deals with futuristic stories. Technology is usually central to the subject matter of these stories, sometimes pointing to the potential danger of humans relying too much on it. Memory and identity science fiction is among the most popular forms of the genre. The author Philip K. Dick is the most well known writer of the genre, many of his books have been turned into movies.

Philip K. Dick spent almost his entire career writing sci-fi. He wrote over thirty novels and short five story anthologies, over three decades. He was first published in 1952 after he started send short stories to various pulp magazines. A short story called Roog, was his first sale to a science fiction publication.

Dick often explored the notion of reality being determined by perception, that there is no objective reality. Many of his protagonists even question the nature of their own existence. Even though most of his stories take a futuristic setting, they are derived from Dick's own real life experiences and this gives them a believable quality.

Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? is probably Dick's most well known work. It was originally published in 1968 and is set in the future. There has been a nuclear war and most forms of animal are extinct because of radiation poisoning. The book explores the contrast between humans and androids who look like humans. It was made into a feature film called Bladerunner which starred Harrison Ford.

Two sequels to Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? have been written, both by K. W. Jeter. Jeter was a long-time associate of Dick's. These sequels were published in the latter half of the 1990s and dealt with the differences between Dick's story and the film of it. Dick's estate was happy for the sequels to be published.

The Philip K. Dick Society was created to help keep Dick's work in the public eye. Some fans built a robot that looked like Dick. The robot's head was lost while it was being transported and it was never found. A new one was made later on though. Many biographies about Dick have been published over the years but Emmanuel Carrere's is considered to be the most colorful.

Other important sci-fi writers are Robert A. Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov. They are considered as influential figures within the genre. Heinlein has been noted as the first sci-fi writer to become mainstream. Asimov produced an enormous volume of work and was primarily famous for exploring robotics. Most of Clarke's work investigated the notion of humans being weaker than alien life forms. The movie 2001: A Space Odyssey is based on one of his stories.

Dick died in 1982 after suffering a stroke at his home in Santa Ana. Although he was in poverty for much of his writing career, he is arguably one of the most influential writers of memory and identify science fiction. Certainly in cinema his influence is obvious. Filmmakers such as Christopher Nolan and David Cronenberg have been inspired by him. He has influenced films such as Donnie Darko and Memento.




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