Flow my tears, the policeman said

What Hacker News says

1. johncoltraneOct 2026
   J.R.R. Tolkien: The lord of the Rings (lost count)

   Philip K. Dick: Ubik, Flow My Tears The Policeman Said, A Scanner Darkly, etc. too many to count (many more than twice)

   William Gibson: everything at least twice

   Neal Stephenson: Snow crash (three times, I think)

   Clifford D. Simak: City

   H. P. Lovecraft: everything at least twice. There is a French compilation of The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, The Silver Key, and Through the Gates of the Silver Key that I've read countless times. I've used two editions and I'm at my third.

   Maurice G. Dantec: Babylon Babies (three times)

   Possibly many others.

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2. johncoltraneMay 2026
   A bunch of William Gibsons.

   Philip K. Dick's Ubik, A Scanner Darkly, and Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said.

   Clifford D. Simak's City.

   Classics.

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3. hx8Apr 2025
   I think Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said is a great title.

   It sets up the narrative style and loads the gun for a incoming tragedy.

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4. shrxDec 2024
   Related: Philip K. Dick's Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said is a great novel on this topic.

   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_My_Tears,_the_Policeman_S...

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5. NursieMay 2023
   Wasn’t a fan of the Three Stigmata, personally.

   I quite like to recommend “A Maze Of Death” as a starter, and the short story collections.

   There are some very weird (and IMHO great) concept novels like “Flow My Tears the Policeman Said”.

   And of course there’s “A Scanner Darkly”

   After a while you get a feeling there’s a sort of semi-coherent PKD reality out there, in which continuity is less important than the concept being played with, but the background is consistent in its own odd way.

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6. atombenderOct 2022
   I wouldn't call it unpolished at all. I would characterise PKD's prose as workmanlike. It's very effective, just not what anyone would ever call lyrical or stylish. Stephen King once described his own writing as "the literary equivalent of a Big Mac and fries", and there's some of that in PKD, at least on the surface level.

   I do think PKD improved as a writer in the 1970s, once he kicked his drug habit and slowed down his hyperactive output; from this era, Flow My Tears the Policeman Said, A Scanner Darkly, and the VALIS trilogy all has some beautiful writing and show Dick as a deeper and more mature writer.

   As for the rest of the sci-fi genre, there's a lot of talent among his contemporaries. I would especially suggest:

   * John Crowley. Widely recognized as actual an Author of real Literature, though only his earliest works could be called science fiction. Start with The Deep and Engine Summer.

   * Harlan Ellison. Some of his stories ("I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream", "Jeffty Is Five", etc.) are simply masterfully written.

   * Samuel Delaney. He's an acquired taste and certainly gets a bit self-indulgent, but novels like Babel 17 are often beautifully written.

   * Ursula LeGuin, e.g. The Left Hand of Darkness.

   * Gene Wolfe. Increasingly also recognized as a genius, I also particularly like his short stories. Start with The Fifth Head of Cerberus; graduate with the monumental The Book of the New Sun, which has no equal in or out of the genre.

   * J. G. Ballard. A consummate stylist, he eventually drifted away from SF, but his earlic works are fantastic. My favourite is The Crystal World, as well as his numerious short stories, including one of my favourite stories ever [1]).

   Of later writers, William Gibson, China Mieville and Iain M. Banks come to mind.

   [1] "Report on an Unidentified Space Station": http://geosci.uchicago.edu/~kite/doc/roauss.htm

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