Musings/Träumereien/Devaneios

Published September 2016.

“’There’s a problem with time and I don’t know how to explain it to you.’” (*repeated several times*)

In “The Gradual” by Christopher Priest

I just put down the book. Blew my mind. I'm kind of seeing things at the moment…

When Phil Dick died only Christopher Priest remained to explore similar themes. Despite exploring similar literary veins, Priest was always less concerned with the trappings of the SF genre than Dick was. Anyone seriously interested in SF for grown-ups should read him in his own right. I’ve said elsewhere that if I’m a fan of any genre, it’d have to be SF. It’s my first love, and it’ll always remain so. When I was a young SF-neophyte and I discovered Phil Dick, I felt that my kind of soul had made contact with his work. It was a very defining experience, and it felt like it was innate. It’s hard to explain my feelings at the time. For me, that experience was absolutely bound up in finding these books that were dealing with the nature of reality and of what makes us authentic humans. Phil Dick always maintained that the bombardment of the so-called pseudo-realities began to produce make-believe and spurious humans very quickly — as fake as Lady Gaga. I was used to the Asimovs, Heinleins, and Clarkes, which were more run-of-the-mill SF.

If you're into literary SF, read on.