The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch

Book cover of The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch

Book description

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…

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Why read it?

4 authors picked The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Jeff Hopp

Author

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.

From Jeff's list on science fiction written by Philip K. Dick.

A. R. Davis

Author

Like many of you I have enjoyed the movie and tv versions of some of Dick’s stories such as Blade Runner, The Man in the High Castle, and Total Recall. I have also read his thousand-page plus Exegesis, a rambling and chaotic attempt to make sense of his life. He was a deeply disturbed and troubled genius. This book is one of the best examples of that genius. The writing is clear, the ideas are deep. The religious symbolism and concepts are everywhere as Dick takes the reader from competing drug dealers through layer upon layer of hallucinations or…

From A.R.'s list on sci-fi that explores the nature of reality.

Mike Russell

Author

PKD’s stories ask ‘What is real and what is not?’ I think this is one of the most important questions to ask. His books attempt to reveal the truth by penetrating social conditioning and even perception itself, never as a purely intellectual exercise but as an expression of a profound human need and always with a great deal of fun. Discovering his books made me realise I was not alone in asking such questions and that I was not alone in seeing surrealism, humour, and big questions as non-contradictory.

From Mike's list on questioning the nature of reality and fun to read.

Broken Mirror

By Cody Sisco,

Book cover of Broken Mirror

New book alert!

What is my book about?

A fractured mind or a global conspiracy? Uncovering the truth can be hell when nobody believes you… and you can’t even trust yourself.

"A fantastic science fiction thriller with a sincere and important message.”—Kirkus Reviews.

“A breathtaking, deeply dark alternate-history Earth with complex characters, layered worldbuilding, and twist after twist after twist.”—Julianna Caro, Reedsy Discovery.

Broken Mirror is the first volume in a queer psychological science fiction saga that looks at the stigma of mental illness and the hellish distrust and alienation that goes with it.

Broken Mirror

By Cody Sisco,

What is this book about?

Broken Mirror: the start of a smart, complex, and imaginative cyberpunk alternate history saga. Literary science fiction from a fresh, young voice.

In a skewed mirror universe, a mentally ill young man searches for his grandfather’s killer.

Someone killed Jefferson Eastmore. His grandson Victor is sure of it, but no one believes him.

Diagnosed with mirror resonance syndrome and shunned by Semiautonomous California society, Victor suffers from hyperempathy, blank outs, and sensory overload. Jefferson devoted his life to researching mental illness and curing Broken Mirrors like Victor through genetic engineering, but now that he’s gone, Victor must walk a narrow…

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Fred Nadis

Author

Gorging on Philip K. Dick novels in the 1970s made me a full-blown science fiction fan. Written in 1964, this is likely his best. It is dazzling in its twists and turns, philosophical, comic, and at times, downright creepy. The earth has become nearly uninhabitable—with temperatures reaching 180 degrees on a typical day—and the UN is forcing people to colonize Mars, Venus, and the moons of Earth, Jupiter, and Saturn. The colonists, miserable outcasts, get their kicks while gathered around a Perky Pat layout, complete with small dolls and accessories. They ingest the alien lichen Can-D which “translates” them into…

From Fred's list on botched space colonization efforts.