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Phillip K. Dick (1928-1982)

During the late 1930s through the early 1950s, the genre of science-fiction was at its peak. This was mainly because of the new enhancement of technology. This idea of technology has opened up the minds of veteran and new writers. Things such as earth-ruling creatues or talking automobiles were a hit in this time. One of those amazing writers, who provided this, was [|Phillip K. Dick]. Born on December 16, 1928, Phillip wasn’t born into a huge family. Just a mother, his father, and his sister, Jane. His mother died six weeks after Jane’s birth and Phillip coped with this tradegy horribly. With that in mind, he finished high school and went to college traditionally as someone would do. How did Dick become a sci-fi writer though? It wasn’t planned if you’re wondering. He was a simple american novelist that really just wrote upon his own expieriences, his life in general. For example, he was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. Around the parts he was from, there was a lot of drug dealing and drug busts as there are today. In his 1977 novel, "//A Scanner Darkley",// Phillip mixed in his life with some science fiction. With him being around a drug controlled enviornment while coming up, it gave him the idea to this story. You could call it sort of a semi-autobiagraphy. The book includes an extensive portrayal of drug culture and drug use. The setting is different ,though, as it takes place in Orange County, California instead of Chicago where he grew up. His writing style is more of an autobigraphical style as he gets more than half of his ideas from his life and past expieriences. He does have a couple of full science fiction novels, though such as "//Frozen Journey".// Right off the back when reading this novel, it opens you up to a science fiction environment. For example, the ship that’s carrying the passengers can talk! He also uses some expicit language. Throughout Dick’s life, he has written over 120 short stories and plenty of minor works published in pulp magazines. He has been around many of poplar people and writers such as Stanislaw Lem, Robert A. Heinlein, and Robert Silverberg. He also has been highly regarded in France, but still did not get any recognition until his death in 1982. Dick died on March 2, 1982 in California, where he lived for a lot of his life, because of heart failure. Dick will be remembered forrever for his amazing half autobigraphical half sci-fi novels.

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