Although he died when he was only 53 years old, Philip K. Dick (1928 – 1982) published 44 novels and 121 short stories during his lifetime and solidified his position as arguably the most literary of science fiction writers. His novel Ubik appears on TIME magazine’s list of the 100 best English-language novels, and Dick is the only science fiction writer to get honored in the prestigious Library of America series, a kind of pantheon of American literature.
If you’re not intimately familiar with his novels, then you assuredly know major films based on Dick’s work – Blade Runner, Total Recall, A Scanner Darklyand Minority Report. Today, we bring you another way to get acquainted with his writing. We’re presenting a selection of Dick’s stories available for free on the web. Below we have culled together 11 short stories from our collections, 600 Free eBooks for iPad, Kindle & Other Devices and 550 Free Audio Books: Download Great Books for Free. Some of the stories collected here have also found their way into the recently-published book, Selected Stories by Philip K. Dick, which features an introduction by Jonathan Lethem.
eTexts (find download instructions here)
- “Beyond the Door”
- ”Beyond Lies the Wub”
- “Mr. Spaceship”
- “Piper in the Woods”
- “Second Variety”
- “The Crystal Crypt”
- “The Defenders”
- “The Eyes Have It”
- “The Gun”
- “The Hanging Stranger”
- “The Skull”
- “The Variable Man”
- “Tony and the Beetles”
Audio
- “Beyond Lies the Wub” – Free MP3
- “Beyond the Door” – Free MP3
- “Second Variety” – Free MP3 Zip File – Stream Online
- “The Defenders” – Free MP3
- “The Gun” – YouTube
- “The Variable Man” – Free MP3 Zip File – Stream Online
P.S. Don’t miss the film Philip K. Dick: A Day in the Afterlife (1994), a documentary appearing in our collection of Free Movies Online.
Related Content:
Robert Crumb Illustrates Philip K. Dick’s Infamous, Hallucinatory Meeting with God (1974)
Philip K. Dick Previews Blade Runner: “The Impact of the Film is Going to be Overwhelming” (1981)
Free Science Fiction Classics on the Web: Huxley, Orwell, Asimov, Gaiman & Beyond
Great announcement, but I have one small quibble: it’s incorrect to say PKD is the only SF author in the Library of America. Vonnegut is in there with work that seems SF to me (ditto with Lovecraft). There’s also an SF author or two represented in the Library of America’s AMERICAN FANTASTIC TALES boxed set.
As a librarian, I would classify Lovecraft as HORROR and Vonnegut as LITERATURE, so actually, that is absolutely correct about PKD being the only SF author in the Library of America.
Lovecraft and Vonnegut definitely used SF themes in various stories but that element was not the core of either of their work.
can’t things fall in multiple categories? much lovecraft is clearly SF by most definitions, since his conception of magic is clearly that it represents higher science; charlie stross has argued (with tounge ambiguously planted in cheek) for his classification as a writer of political thrillers; and he’s clearly also horror.
my quibble with this is that there are many, many far more literary writers in SF. Most of Dick’s work is stylistically sloppy, his novels riddled with the plot-holes of someone who wrote a novel a month. much of the later stuff is superb, but the same could be said of almost everything delaney’s ever written. stylistically, dick was a hack. his ideas were brilliant, and the stories and the metaphors they trade in are often brilliant as well, but it’s not really a literary brilliance in the usual sense.
Thanks! : )
@eric
Absolutely agree about the plot-holes – Counterclock World, for example, has so many it could be used as a sieve.
Just one example – there are way too many to list – a guy opening a packet of whiskers and applying them to his chin. To meet the book’s criteria (time running backwards, for those who haven’t read it), he should slosh his razor in a bowl of soapy, whiskery, water, and “shave” in reverse, the razor applying the whiskers.
As for the dead “undying” while still buried – why would they? It makes no sense.
Oh damn – criterion, not criteria, and face meant, not chin.
What’s the copyright status of these? I presume you’re not just avoiding the issue.
my little hatchet.”
The Internet is global, but not so Apple’s iBook store, so I’m afraid many of us billions outside the US cannot take advantge of this generous offer.
As Patrick says, in the UK it’s not possible to download. Unless there’s another way of doing it that’s not explained.
Incidentally, books “culled together” would usually mean that they are picked out as being inferior, at least as far as my dictionary is concerned.
Or “gathered” together? Consider consulting an actual dictionary instead of your internal recollections.
Ah, the “dictionary of definitions for the person publishing pretentious comments.” I know it well. No, “cull” simply means to select a group, and is pretentious enough in it’s misuse (you don’t need “together,” showing the person doesn’t know how to use it) here to satisfy even you. It’s root is Latin, colligere, meaning simply “to collect.”
hi there,
video.google.com is gone.
link is broken.
There are a couple more short PKD readings here – slightly hokey and imho not as good as Second Variety or The Variable Man (but then again, what is?)
http://protectingprojectpulp.com/protecting-project-pulp-67-philip-k-dick/
“Prominent Author” by Philip K. Dick, first published in Worlds of Science Fiction, May 1954
http://protectingprojectpulp.com/protecting-project-pulp-58-philip-k-dick/
“Strange Eden” by Philip K. Dick, first published in Imagination.
sent for me stories boke thanke
sent me stories books
Link to ‘A Day in the Afterlife’ returns 404
Philip K. Dick – A Day In The Afterlife (complete) is on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cK2MPgAHRk
where’s ” A Little Something for Us Tempunauts”!
please I request if anyone have it’s link then please give it to me!
please I request you all..
i agree.
if that was the case, limo categories would occur leading to categorisation becoming incapable of category management see
Cheers dudes / dudettes for a really good collection! Much appreciated! Keep up the good work!
Why not credit that B&W illustration for PK Dick’s “Beyond Lies The Wub”… it is by H.B. Vestal. http://todaysinspiration.blogspot.com/2012/03/hb-vestal-1916-2007.html
Can’t wait for the new dick drop!! cant wait so excited ;)
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