Synopses & Reviews
Jack Hamilton and his wife are on a guided tour of a brand-new particle accelerator when the particle beam goes off track and knocks the entire tour group from a catwalk. The group lies sprawled on the floor until EMTs revive them moments later, and all leave without any serious injuries.
What the outside world doesn't realize is that for those few moments, the tour group lives out several days in increasingly bizarre fantasy worlds—worlds created out of their own minds. Dick uses these fantasies to skewer typical worldviews, like one with a rigidly Old-Testament view of morality or one where absolutely everyone and everything is out to get you.
Philip K. Dick was aggressively individualistic, and it shows in Eye in the Sky, where no worldview is safe from his acerbic and hilarious take-downs. Combined with the thrills of a group of people trying to escape from a world where the rules are upside-down, it is a lesson in morality hidden inside a comedy. Would you want to live in someone else's world? Would they want to live in yours?
Synopsis
A wry look at how different people see the world, told in the caustically fun style of award-winning science fiction novelist Philip K. Dick.
Synopsis
When a tour group is in an accident that sends them into alternate worlds, Philip K. Dick gets free reign to espouse his individualistic worldview—and take potshots at everyone elses. The mix of thrills as the group tries to escape and the upside-down rules of the various worlds serve to couch Dicks morality lesson, making for a truly wild ride. From a place ruled by strict Old Testament laws—blaspheming can bring on a plague of locusts—to a Communist dystopia full of snarling capitalists, Eye in the Sky leaves no worldview unscathed.
Synopsis
“I have never seen [its] theme handled with greater technical dexterity or given more psychological meaning.”—
Fantasy and Science Fiction When a routine tour of a particle accelerator goes awry, Jack Hamilton and the rest of his tour group find themselves in a world ruled by Old Testament morality, where the smallest infraction can bring about a plague of locusts. Escape from that world is not the end, though, as they plunge into a Communist dystopia and a world where everything is an enemy.
Philip K. Dick was aggressively individualistic and no worldview is safe from his acerbic and hilarious take downs. Eye in the Sky blends the thrills and the jokes to craft a startling morality lesson hidden inside a comedy.
About the Author
Over a writing career that spanned three decades, Philip K. Dick (1928-1982) published 36 science fiction novels and 121 short stories in which he explored the essence of what makes man human and the dangers of centralized power. Toward the end of his life, his work turned toward deeply personal, metaphysical questions concerning the nature of God. Eleven novels and short stories have been adapted to film; notably: Blade Runner (based on Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?), Total Recall, Minority Report, and A Scanner Darkly. The recipient of critical acclaim and numerous awards throughout his career, Dick was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2005, and in 2007 the Library of America published a selection of his novels in three volumes. His work has been translated into more than twenty-five languages.