Dr. Futurity by PKD

I read this novel in an ACE double where it was paired with the Unteleported Man. Both are by PKD. I reviewed the Unteleported Man previously. ACE doubles are something I had never seen before; this one was from 1972 and is kind of retro cool.

I read some reviews (on sites other than amazon) that are very negative about Dr. Futurity. I disagree. I did like the book. It even had a much less open ending compared to other books by PKD that I have read - I'm not a big fan of open endings in novels as a rule.

Anyway, in Dr. Futurity, we have a medical doctor from a time not very far ahead of our present who gets dragged several hundred years into Earth's future. This future society is very different to his and ours as well. For one thing, the people seem to be basically American Indian; white people no longer exist. Reproduction is strictly controlled and "defectives" are not tolerated. Medicine is no longer practiced - in fact, it seems like practicing it is a serious crime. Technology is advanced. Few old people are around.

The doctor, last name Parsons, does not know how he was brought into the future, nor who is responsible. Soon after arriving, he makes the mistake of healing an injured woman and is exiled to Mars. On his way to Mars, agents of the people who brought him into the future intercept him, but they are killed in the process. Things are touch and go, but Parsons gets back to Earth and meets the people who brought him into the future and learn that they want him to revive one of their group.

He does what they ask, but this is soon mysteriously undone. They end up traveling to the 16th century as part of the fix required. Lots of twists and turns from here until the end. The time "paradoxes" are all over the place, so you have to pay attention while reading.

The group Parsons tries to help has a plan to alter history. What is it and will it succeed? Does Parsons ever get back to his own time? You'll have to read the story to find out. Don't want to spoil it for you.

I thought the book was well written, and it kept me interested throughout. Some may not agree with how the author handled the time "paradoxes", but I say not to get all hung up there and just enjoy the story as it unfolds. It even has kind of a happy ending.

The Unteleported Man

This is a review of  the Unteleported Man by PKD.

First, there are several versions out there of the Unteleported Man and not all under the same title. This version appealed to me the most, so I got a copy and have just finished it. Overall, I liked the story and the writing. The style might take a bit of getting used to since the author did not use exactly "standard" English grammar and spelling, but it is not too far off. Sometimes he used a sort of made up slang that was usually easy to figure out, thought it took me a while to figure out that "hyper-see" meant "hyper-c" where the "c" refers to the speed of light, so hyper-see referred to travel at faster than light speed.

This story is set on Earth in 2014 where the population is 7 billion and the planet very overcrowded - the author seemed to get the population about right for what it should be next year, but the rest was not so close. WWIII took place in the 1980's. A united Germany seems to be running the world, at least through dominance of the UN. Ships are available that can travel a little faster than light and there are Earth colonies all over the solar system, but these have not been a great success.

A teleportation technology exists which has been used to transport millions of people to a planet 24 light years away in about 15 minutes - this is versus a ship at hyper-see taking 18 years. Only problem is that the teleportation is a one way trip - or so they say, at least.

Things about this colony light years away are not adding up, so the hero, a Mr. Applebaum, proposes to take his hyper-see ship to see what the real story is in this far off colony. That's when powerful forces go into action to stop him.

People are told that things in this far off colony are just wonderful. So why stop Applebaum? Makes some people from LIES, Inc. wonder. Great name for a company, no? An acronymn, but not quite what you might think.

Applebaum finally sets off in his ship, but some people from LIES decide to teleport and get answers a lot quicker. And, they sure do. Not quite as expected maybe.

The UN stops Applebaum and brings him back to Earth - called Terra in the story. What happens next is quite a surprise.

I didn't care much for the ending. A little less than conclusive for my taste, but did have a large amount of hope. This made it 4 stars for me and not 5 (out of 5) though.

The story kept me interested throughout and was a fast read. Recommended.

Just a quick mention of an expanded version of this story. The author doubled the size of the story some years after writing this version. Mixed a sort of quantum theory kind of view of reality created by the observer in some sense along with an LSD trip. I thought the quantum stuff might be interesting, but the LSD stuff not so much - especially when it involved 100 pages. But, thought I'd mention it as others might want to read it. I think it was retitled "Lies, Inc" in this version.

Hope you enjoy whatever version you pick.