The best science fiction books written by Philip K. Dick

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a professional artist and musician, and I owe a huge debt to Philip K. Dick. I started to read his works at a very young age (I believe I’ve read most everything he’s written at least twice), and my love of his work has continued throughout my life and he has been the greatest inspiration to my music, writing, and art. I felt so influenced and indebted that a created a comic book to honor him and to tell my stories and ideas that have populated my imagination as a result of his books.


I wrote...

Legend of the Mind

By Jeff Hopp,

Book cover of Legend of the Mind

What is my book about?

Legend of the Mind is graphic novel homage to the hugely influential science fiction author Philip K. Dick. A colorful, psychedelic adventure in which the reader is carried along a convoluted stream of events like a leaf riding rapids. The loosely-drawn, lively narrative panels are interspersed with dazzling full-page compositions of surreal magnificence. Space opera meets mysticism that carries you beyond the familiar world and into pastures bizarre.

Legends of the Mind’s hero flits from one state of reality to the next, waking from a dream, activating or deactivating an immersive hologram, or being teleported to a new realm. There is no way of telling which, if any, of the arenas he finds himself in are 'real' reality or some alternative illusion.

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch

Jeff Hopp Why did I love this book?

I am a huge fan of dreampunk books and this book helped create the genre. Reading it took me into a dreamworld that lead into another dreamworld and then yet another.

As with all Philip K. Dick books I was left wondering if I ever did return to the reality I believe I live in. I also found the character of Palmer Eldritch himself to be one of my all-time favorites.

By Philip K. Dick,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In the overcrowded world and cramped space colonies of the late twenty-first century, tedium can be endured through the use of the drug Can-D, which enables the user to inhabit a shared illusory world.

But when industrialist Palmer Eldritch returns from an interstellar trip, he brings with him a new drug, Chew-Z, which is far more potent than Can-D. But could the permanent state of drugged illusion it induces be part of something much more sinister?


Book cover of Valis

Jeff Hopp Why did I love this book?

I consider myself a very spiritual person and I believe that it is a person’s responsibility to question what it means to be spiritual in order to better understand one’s own faith.

As I am, Philip K. Dick was obviously obsessed with wanting spiritual answers. Valis is very entertaining, but it also made me question all that I believe in a way that expanded and made my spirituality stronger.

By Philip K. Dick,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked Valis as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

It began with a blinding light, a divine revelation from a mysterious intelligence that called itself VALIS (Vast Active Living Intelligence System). And with that, the fabric of reality was torn apart and laid bare so that anything seemed possible, but nothing seemed quite right.

It was madness, pure and simple. But what if it were true?


Book cover of The Divine Invasion

Jeff Hopp Why did I love this book?

I loved this book because it blends many religions and faiths and churns out an amazing explanation of the universe and how our realities are created.

I think this was not only an incredibly entertaining book full of fascinating characters and realities, but its spiritual questions and answers just captivated my soul and imagination and expanded my view of life and the universe. I also felt really connected to so many characters in this book and that really made it special.

By Philip K. Dick,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Divine Invasion as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Featuring virtual reality, parallel worlds, and interstellar travel, The Divine Invasion is the second novel in the VALIS trilogy by Philip K. Dick, the Hugo Award–winning author of The Man in the High Castle and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?—the basis for the film Blade Runner.

God is not dead, he has merely been exiled to an extraterrestrial planet. It is on this planet that Yah—as this possible God is known—meets Herb Asher and convinces him to help Yah return to Earth, which is itself under the control of the demonic Belial. To do this, Asher must shepherd a…


Book cover of Ubik

Jeff Hopp Why did I love this book?

Ubik is everything I love in a science fiction book – a metaphysical comedy full of alternate realities, dystopian futures, paranoia, time, death, salvation, and madness.

A psi-powers suspense mystery thriller which only my favorite author could create which has greatly influenced so many writers and movie makers ever since it was first published. If a Ubik movie was ever made, I think viewers would complain they’ve seen its plot too many times before, but they wouldn’t realize that is because so many other writers have copied and duplicated it.

By Philip K. Dick,

Why should I read it?

7 authors picked Ubik as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A classic science fiction tale of artifical worlds by one of the great American writers of the 20th century

Glen Runciter is dead.

Or is he?

Someone died in the explosion orchestrated by his business rivals, but even as his funeral is scheduled, his mourning employees are receiving bewildering messages from their boss. And the world around them is warping and regressing in ways which suggest that their own time is running out.

If it hasn't already.

Readers minds have been blown by Ubik:

'Sheer craziness, a book defying any straightforward synopsis . . . a unique time travel adventure…


Book cover of The Man in the High Castle

Jeff Hopp Why did I love this book?

I am a huge fan of alternate history books, and this was the book that started my love affair.

The author’s character and set building in this book was just brilliant. I’m not sure if PKD was the first to create the multiverse genre, but he is one of the greatest to have ever taken his readers on such a wild journey to them. The TV series was fantastic, but the book is a masterpiece.

By Philip K. Dick,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked The Man in the High Castle as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'Dick's best work, and the most memorable alternative world tale...ever written' SCIENCE FICTION: THE 100 BEST NOVELS

It is 1962 and the Second World War has been over for seventeen years: people have now had a chance to adjust to the new order. But it's not been easy. The Mediterranean has been drained to make farmland, the population of Africa has virtually been wiped out and America has been divided between the Nazis and the Japanese. In the neutral buffer zone that divides the two superpowers lives the man in the high castle, the author of an underground bestseller, a…


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Conditions are Different After Dark

By Owen W. Knight,

Book cover of Conditions are Different After Dark

Owen W. Knight Author Of The Visitors

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Visionary Compassionate Imaginative Conspiracist Apophenia (or apophenic)

Owen's 3 favorite reads in 2023

What is my book about?

In 1662, a man is wrongly executed for signing the death warrant of Charles I. Awaiting execution, he asks to speak with a priest, to whom he declares a curse on the village that betrayed him. The priest responds with a counter-curse, leaving just one option to nullify it.

Over four centuries later, Faith and James move to the country to start a new life and a family. They discover their village lives under the curse uttered by the hanged man. Could their arrival be connected? They fear their choice of new home is no coincidence. Unexplained events hint at threats or warnings to leave. They become convinced the village remains cursed despite their friends’ denials. Who can they trust, and who are potential enemies?

Conditions are Different After Dark

By Owen W. Knight,

What is this book about?

In 1660, a man is wrongly executed for signing the death warrant of Charles I. While awaiting execution, he asks to speak with a priest, to whom he declares a curse on the village that betrayed him. The priest responds with a counter-curse, leaving just one option to nullify it.
Over four centuries later, Faith and James move to the country to start a new life and a family. They learn that their village lives under the curse uttered by the hanged man. Could their arrival be connected?
Faith and James fear that their choice of a new home is…


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