I am officially a Dickhead. And by that I mean, I read my first Philip K. Dick book the other day <3

I’m the biggest scifi enjoyer you’ll ever meet, so it’s surprising it’s taken me this long to pick up one of his books, but also not surprising at all (just look at my favorites list…). My go-to book choice will most of the time, if not always, be a silly little scifi comedy. Project Hail Mary, Redshirts, Dungeon Crawler Carl, etc. etc. So it’s a little out of my comfort zone to be reading Serious Science Fiction. Even more to be reading Serious Science Fiction written in the 60s!!! And what’s so awesome is I absolutely lovvvveeeeed Ubik.

Ubik is a mind-bending, twisty, thriller story about weaponized telepathy and the organizations tasked with fighting back against those trying to invade everyone’s minds. At least, it starts out like that. It quickly spirals into a nightmare where nothing and no one can be trusted and also what in the hell is Ubik.

This book was the first physical book I bought in a hot minute. I’ve been reading on my cute little sage kindle for far too long and I needed to actually touch real paper. Maybe it’s the ability to actually see how many pages I had left, or the ability to tab all my favorite lines, or even just how good the plot was, but I finished Ubik in less than 2 days.

I found it fascinating that in this book alone, Philip K. Dick already essentially predicted our dumbass subscription based society. Our protagonist, Joe Chip, is terribly broke and can’t even afford to pay his electronic talking door to leave his conapt. Every appliance in this story requires a fee to function which made me think about that new Samsung AI handle-less fridge you have to talk to in order for it to open. Say hello to Dick’s dystopian vision of 1990, Samsung fridge users. Man that fridge is so stupid.

The world Dick made (ha get it) within this story is so trippy and inventive. He goes from corporate espionage to a dream within a dream within a half-life so seamlessly that you’re not even sure when the switch occurred; who actually is in tech induced half life and who’s attending the funeral.

Each chapter begins with a commercial advertising this mysterious, ever-changing Ubik product. It’s instant coffee, and a razor blade; a used car, but also a bowl of frosted flakes? It’s only in the last act that the reader gains any information as to the function of Ubik and why it’s been threaded throughout the plot since page one. I actually really wanna make myself a fake can of Ubik. Put it on my bookshelf next to my SLIGHTLY SHORTER COPY OF UBIK. Okay, not to derail this review, but I had bought three Dick books: Ubik, Time Out of Joint, and The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch AND UBIK IS LIKE 1/4 OF AN INCH SHORTER THAN THE OTHER TWO. What is wrong with Mariner Classics. These books are from the same exact reprint set. Whatever. Anyway.

I Love The Twists In This Book. On a reread, everything would seem so obvious, but my first go, my jaw was fully dropped. Dick writes his twists where you’ll only see them happening a few sentences before some bombshell of a line and you’ll be sitting there like WAIIIIIIT.

It’s kind of devastating that while Dick’s works have been adapted something like 10-11 times, Ubik isn’t one of them. Not to say that no one has tried, the rights have been passed around since the book had been released, but by virtue of the plot’s insane timeline and time-devolvement, it unfortunately makes sense. But like.. man. GIMME UBIK ADAPTATIONNNNNNN. I’m not someone who’s great at fancasting (other than Matt Berry should’ve been PJOTV’s Dionysus and Seth Green needs to voice Mordecai in the Dungeon Crawler Carl tv adaptation), but if anyone has a fancast for Pat Conley, please talk to me about it. I’m so curious.

Am I a superfan of Ubik? Well, as you could probably tell, yes! But also, I’ve already jumped into reading Philip K. Dick’s Time Out of Joint, so I might be considering superfan status for Mr. Dick as well… If anyone has recommendations for which PKD book to pick up after Time Out of Joint, hit my line!!!