When was Philip K. Dick born and where did he grow up?

Philip K. Dick was born on the 16th of December 1928 in Chicago, Illinois. He moved to Washington D.C. with his mother after their divorce when he was five years old before returning to California in June 1938.

Which novel by Philip K. Dick won the Hugo Award for Best Novel?

The Man in the High Castle published in 1962 won the Hugo Award for Best Novel. The book depicted an alternative history where Axis powers ruled the United States.

How many films based on Philip K. Dick writing generated revenue by 2009?

Films based on Philip K. Dick writing accumulated over one billion dollars in revenue by 2009. Notable adaptations include Blade Runner released in 1982 Total Recall adapted twice in 1990 and 2012 and Minority Report appearing in 2002.

When was Philip K. Dick inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame?

Philip K. Dick was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2005. He also became the first science fiction writer included in The Library of America series in 2007.

Philip K. Dick: the story on HearLore

Q: What major life event happened to Philip K. Dick in February 1974?

On the 20th of February 1974 Philip K. Dick received Darvon from a young woman while recovering from wisdom tooth extraction. This incident triggered hallucinations involving geometric patterns and images of Jesus that led him to document one million words in an eight-thousand-page journal known as the Exegesis between 1974 and his death in 1982.

Philip Kindred Dick was born on the 16th of December 1928 in Chicago, Illinois. He arrived six weeks prematurely alongside his twin sister Jane Charlotte Dick. The infant girl died just six weeks later on the 26th of January 1929. This early loss haunted Philip for the rest of his life and became a recurring motif known as the phantom twin within his books. His father Joseph Edgar Dick worked for the United States Department of Agriculture while his mother Dorothy Kindred raised him alone after their divorce when he was five years old. She moved to Washington D.C. with her son and enrolled him at John Eaton Elementary School between 1936 and 1938. Teachers noted his ability in storytelling despite his lowest grade being a C in Written Composition. He attended Quaker schools which shaped his early worldview before returning to California in June 1938.

Dick sold his first story titled Roog in 1951 when he was twenty-two years old. The tale described a dog who imagined garbage men stealing food stored safely away. By 1953 trade magazines called him one of the most prolific new professionals in the field. He published almost exclusively within science fiction magazines during the 1950s yet faced severe financial hardship. He once lamented that they could not even pay late fees on library books. His debut novel Solar Lottery appeared in 1955 as half of an Ace Double alongside another author's work. The dream of mainstream literary success died formally in January 1963 when the Scott Meredith Literary Agency returned all his unsold novels. Only Confessions of a Crap Artist saw publication during his lifetime in 1975 through Paul Williams' Entwhistle Books. He relied on low-paying science fiction publishers like Ace until a French company agreed to publish his entire catalog in the mid-1960s.

On the 20th of February 1974 Dick received Darvon from a young woman while recovering from wisdom tooth extraction. She wore a golden necklace with a fish-shaped design she identified as a sign used by early Christians. As she left the sun glinted off her pendant creating what he called a pink beam of light. He believed this beam imparted wisdom and clairvoyance and claimed it was intelligent. During February and March 1974 he experienced hallucinations involving geometric patterns brief images of Jesus and ancient Rome. He began living two parallel lives one as Philip K. Dick and another as Thomas a Christian persecuted by Romans in the first century AD. He documented these experiences in an eight-thousand-page journal dubbed the Exegesis containing one million words written between 1974 and his death in 1982. He theorized that history had stopped in the first century AD and that the Empire never ended.

His novel The Man in the High Castle published in 1962 won the Hugo Award for Best Novel. It depicted an alternative history where Axis powers ruled the United States. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep appeared in 1968 and followed a bounty hunter policing androids on a dying Earth. This work became the literary source for Blade Runner released in 1982. Ubik arrived in 1969 and employed psychic telepathy alongside a suspended state after death to create eroding reality. Flow My Tears the Policeman Said won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award in 1975. Jason Taverner wakes up in Los Angeles with no identity records or recognition from anyone he knew. A Scanner Darkly published in 1977 featured an undercover detective losing touch with reality due to Substance D. VALIS released in 1980 examined Dick's own unexplained experiences as perhaps his most postmodern and autobiographical novel.

Films based on Dick's writing accumulated over one billion dollars in revenue by 2009. Blade Runner directed by Ridley Scott opened in 1982 starring Harrison Ford and Rutger Hauer. Dick died less than four months before its release yet fully backed the film after seeing sequences matching his imagination. Total Recall adapted twice in 1990 and 2012 starred Arnold Schwarzenegger and Colin Farrell respectively. Minority Report appeared in 2002 directed by Steven Spielberg with Tom Cruise. A Scanner Darkly received an animated rotoscope adaptation in 2006 featuring Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder. Amazon Prime Video launched The Man in the High Castle series in January 2015 which became their most-watched original program at that time. Channel 4 produced Electric Dreams starting in 2017 adapting various short stories into an anthology format.

Dick was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2005. Time magazine named Ubik one of the hundred greatest English-language novels published since 1923 in 2005. He became the first science fiction writer included in The Library of America series in 2007. Lawrence Sutin wrote a biography titled Divine Invasions: A Life of Philip K. Dick in 1989. Critics like Fredric Jameson called him the Shakespeare of Science Fiction while Roberto Bolaño described him as Thoreau plus the death of the American dream. His work influenced filmmakers including the Wachowskis for The Matrix and David Cronenberg for Videodrome. The Philip K. Dick estate operates Electric Shepherd Productions which created films and TV shows decades after his passing. Fans recreated him as a simulacrum android displayed at events like the 2019 Web Summit though its head went missing in February 2006.

Philip K. Dick.

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