ARTEFACTS FOR SPACE TRAVEL - THE LITERARY REVIEW
‘Ubik’ is my favourite Philip K Dick book, though I cant claim to have read them all because he wrote so many. It was written in 1969, though the story is set in 1992. The bvasic premise is that the world has advanced to a point where people frequently visit the Moon - and humans have developed telepathic powers. RAD!
I sometimes get frustrated that it’s 2008, and all we have is the stupid internet – plus we still don’t know how gravity works.
I think now is a good time to read PKD, you’ll all relate to his paranoia...
Anyway, Ubik is amazing, read it. Thinking about it now, it’s really hard to explain, it involves half dead people in suspended animation, and the reader is never quite sure what is real. Time keeps shifting, the characters move back and forward and begin to age, some of them are killed by an unknown force of decay.
The story is about them trying to figure out what the fuck is going on. It’s actually quite scary to think about. I won’t give it away but the last few pages are bloody terrifying.
One of my favourite PDK themes is a religion called Mercerism. Basically people who practice Mercerism all own a black box, and when they look into the box they merge with a person called Mercer who is climbing a hill, naked, being pelted with rocks.
The user of the box can feel Mercer’s pain and grief. Mercerists get satisfaction from the experience. PKD tends to place his characters in bleak, emotionally bereft visions of the future, and by empathizing with mercer they are reminded of their humanity.
I think now is a good time to read PKD, you’ll all relate to his paranoia. You all have Facebook and Oyster cards right? You have digital TV and a mobile phone? You’re being watched, you’re being owned, they’re after you! Time to flee!
If you’ve never heard of us we’re Artefacts for Space Travel. You can Listen to us here www.myspace.com/artefactsforspacetravel . Our EP is out at the end of September on Stolen Recordings.
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