PUTTERING ABOUT IN A SMALL LAND

Written in the late fifties but unpublished until after his death, this is one of Dick's greatest realistic novels. When Roger and Virginia Lindhal enroll their son Gregg in Mrs Alt's Los Padres Valley School in the mountains of Southern California, their marriage is already in deep trouble. Then the Lindhals meet Chic and Liz Bonner, whose two sons also board at Mrs Alt's school. The meeting is a catalyst for a complicated series of emotions and traumas, set against the backdrop of suburban Los Angeles in the early fifties. As Roger, Virginia, Chic and Liz orbit each other in ever-decaying circles, their lives threaten to run out of control. This is a realistic novel filled with details of everyday life and skillfully told from three points of view. It is powerful, eloquent, and gripping. Winner of both the HUGO and JOHN W. CAMPBELL AWARDs for best novel, widely regarded as the premiere science fiction writer of his day, and the object of cult-like adoration from his legions of fans, Philip K. Dick has come to be seen in a literary light that defies classification in much the same way as Borges and Calvino. With breathtaking insight, he utilizes vividly unfamiliar worlds to evoke the hauntingly and hilariously familiar in our society and ourselves.