Martian Time-Slip
Martian Time-Slip is a 1964 science fiction novel by American writer Philip K. Dick. The novel uses the common science fiction concept of a human colony on Mars. However, it also includes the themes of mental illness, the physics of time and the dangers of centralized authority. The novel was first published under the title All We Marsmen, serialized in the August, October and December 1963 issues of Worlds of Tomorrow magazine. The subsequent 1964 publication as Martian Time-Slip is virtually identical, with different chapter breaks.
Stats for nerds
7recommend
19mentions
12people
2011–2025years
63% recommend37% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- Agreed. I've read about half the books on this list and wouldn't consider them difficult. But I've got some new books to buy now, which is always a good thing.
If you like Ubik, Martian Time Slip might also pass as difficult.
- I consider Ubik to be Dick's best work... so if you found it only "somewhat intriguing", I doubt you'll be any more pleased with anything else he wrote.
That said, if you are interested in reading more by him, of his books I can recommend:
- The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
- Martian Time-Slip
- Galactic Pot Healer
- Eye in the Sky
- the middle part of Lies, Inc
Some of his short stories:
- Beyond Lies the Wub
- Faith of Our Fathers
- The "standards" are my favorites. There were a few outliers that I didn't expect.
I'm predisposed to like anything "time travel": "Martian Time Slip" and it's analysis of autism (sci-fi autism) was a subtle body horror; so Dr. Futurity (reminds me of interactive fiction time-travel puzzles), The World Jones Made (more precog trying to change the future and having "prescience" aka Dune), Time Out of Joint (kinda like The Truman Show or "Time Enough for Love" by Albert Finney), and Counter Clock World about time moving backwards and the religious cults it spawns (just plain nutty, not perfect, but a fun concept to toy with).
He has a recurring theme in some books where the idea of the first Martian settlers from Earth being abandoned-working class drug-addicts is pops up several times, and I think that is one hell of a way to look at it compared to all the other stories about Mars. The idea that they are all failed farmers and sit around taking government-issued mind-altering drugs and playing board games where they become the characters to deal with suburban boredom is just bonkers (Three Stigmata of Palmer E., Martian Time Slip [poverty on mars] and a few others).
"Ubik" is really top-tier though. There's a reason that the standards are called "standards". :)
- I strongly recommend reading Ubik. To me it is his strongest and most consistently good book.
I used to love The Three Stigmata too, but when I tried to read it again recently I couldn't get in to it either. I do think you have to be in the right mood to savor a Dick book, so maybe I was in the wrong mood that time.
The other first-tier PKD book for me is Martian Time-Slip.
Second-tier PKD books for me are VALIS and Galactic Pot Healer.
Third-tier are Maze of Death, Eye in the Sky, and Divine Invasion (the 2nd in the VALIS trilogy.. didn't like the 3rd in the series, The Transmigration of Timothy Archer at all).
Many of his other books, like Lies, Inc, also have great parts in them, but are kind of inconsistent.
Some of his short stories are excellent. My favorites:
- Beyond Lies the Wub
- Roog
- The Father Thing
- Faith of Our Fathers
I didn't really like A Scanner Darkly, nor Do Android Dream of Electric Sheep and would consider them of minor import had not movies been made of them. Other books in this category are Now Wait for Last Year (made in to Total Recall) and Time Out of Joint (made in to The Truman Show.. though the book is much darker). The movie Minority Report was based on another minor short story of his, as The Terminator might have been partially based on his story Second Variety.
Virtually all of the movies made from his work only bear only a very slight resemblance to the originals, which tends to be a lot darker, a lot less action-filled, and much more thought-provoking than the Hollywood adaptations.
- I'd add Ubik to this as well, and would personally rate it higher than the Three Stigmata. For me, Ubik is PKD's greatest and most accessible book.
1st rank - Ubik, The Three Stigmata, A Martian Time Slip, Faith of Our Fathers
2nd rank - (The Divine Invasion or The Galactic Pot Healer ... don't remember which now... it's been a long time), A Maze of Death
3rd rank - VALIS, Eye in the Sky
Honorable mention: the middle of Lies, Inc -- it has a weak start and ending, but the middle is up there with the best PKD has ever written.
I found The Transmigration of Timothy Archer to be pretty boring, but I didn't make it all the way through, and some PKD books (like Lies, Inc) start dull and turn great, so I might give it another go sometime.. but the impression I got when first reading it was that this was a book written around the time PKD was starting to transition to writing more "serious literature" (aka not scifi), and to me PKD is just much stronger at writing scifi, particularly of the really mind-bending, bad acid trip kind, and he just wasn't cut out to write "serious literature"... so yeah, right now I'd pass on The Transmigration of Timothy Archer.
I'm also kind of sick of his obsession with his pink light mystical experience.. I wish he'd just gotten over it already and moved on to something else. Writing about it once was more than enough.
- I've been on a PKD kick recently, because I had read some of his short stories as a teenager and seen movies based on his work, and kept hearing how much of a genius he was. In the past month or so I've been going through his body of work, and my mind is getting blown at every turn. My goal is to read all that he's ever written over 2015.
Here's a rough progression I recommend for those who want to delve into one of the best writers who has ever lived (of course hardcore PKD fans might disagree with the following, and I'd be happy to debate with them :-):
STARTING POINT:
- Ubik, Flow My Tears the Policeman Said, The Man In The High Castle, A Scanner Darkly, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - those are his most famous novels, self contained, and the most accessible. They're fantastic, and a great entry point into PKD's mind. Most of these are from the later years of his life, when he had developed a pretty consistent, high quality style. You just can't go wrong with these, and if you don't like them you probably shouldn't bother with the rest of his work.
- Movies based on his work, notably Blade Runner (which he himself expressed appreciation for, although he never saw it fully), and A Scanner Darkly, the first Total Recall + the adaptation of Confessions of a Crap Artist. While they're not strictly PKDian, they're a good way to get immersed in his way of thinking as the directors did a pretty good job of conveying his themes. The more recent ones (Adjustment Bureau, Total Recall remake, Minority Report, etc.) are fun as well but uneven in quality - but they can be a completely fine introduction to his mind bending ideas, especially if you want to convince friends who aren't into reading to try out his books.
INTERMEDIATE:
- Stuff from his mid-years: Galactic Pot Healer, Time Out Of Joint, Martian Time Slip, Confessions of a Crap Artist, The Crack In Space. Still very good stuff, but I think you need to be already well acquainted with PKD to fully appreciate them and see how his style and ideas were developing.
- The Valis Tri/Tetralogy (Valis/Divine Invasion/Radio Free Albemuth/The Transmigration of Timothy Archer). That's where you start to get deep into PKD lore, and you should read about his life to get the context in which they were written.
- Most of the short stories from ~1960 and onwards. Some are great, some less so, but they're short so you can easily get through the ones you like less.
FOR THE HARDCORE FAN ONLY:
- all the obscure short stories and remaining novels not mentioned above - they're not necessarily harder to get into, but they're from his earlier years and thus don't have the same level of craftsmanship (a few are not even really sci-fi). Also he wrote so much stuff that you should only spend time with those dozens of works if you're really, really into him.
- The Exegesis of PKD: a selection of about 10% of his personal notes, written towards the end of his life when he was completely {drugged out | schizophrenic | a religious nutjob} (pick one or more, or invent your own). It's basically his interpretations of life, the universe, and everything else, based on (somewhat sound) insights from philosophy, physics, biology, etc. This is an insane book that you can only appreciate (and have the strength to go through) if you already have a solid understanding of his world views and ideas.
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Someone recently wrote on reddit "Nobody writes like Feynman; but luckily he wrote a lot.", which is a quote that I love and would apply equally well to PKD.
