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A review by marissavu
The Ganymede Takeover by Ray Faraday Nelson, Philip K. Dick
4.0
Wow... OK so here's my theory on the genesis of this novel, based on vague recollections of PKD's biographical details and the content of this book.
Philip K Dick is sitting at home working on the sequel to The Man in the High Castle, a little preoccupied with the smell from the cat litter box and having his usual bit of relationship stress with his (current) wife. Ray Nelson turns up, hears all about this manuscript in progress, and finally convinces PKD to drop acid. They have a grand and terrifying time and then PKD decides to never do acid again and also to toss out the High Castle sequel he was working on and instead co-write a different novel with Ray, salvaging random parts of the work he had in progress... and this is the wild-ass result. It's flawed, bizarre, funny, disturbing, psychedelic, silly but somehow deep at the same time. Includes elements such as a Bureau of Psychedelic Research, simulacra, precogs, telepathic thought amplifiers, and a mission called Operation Cat Droppings. I'm also gonna guess that Ray Nelson did an edit because it seems a bit more polished than PKD's usual style.
It's not PKD's finest novel and I wouldn't start here if you're newish to his writing, but if you already love his style and weird ideas, it's such a treat. He and Nelson make a good team. In case you don't know him, Ray Nelson wrote the kickass short story "Eight O' Clock In the Morning" that was adapted into one of the greatest 80s films, John Carpenter's THEY LIVE!
My fav characters in this novel:
- The dilapidated, sentient hotel that accuses guests of trying to leave without paying when it catches them looking out the window. lol.
- The ancient flying taxi cab that works for the resistance and proudly tells customers, "I do what I like." (Would it even be a PKD novel without a talking cab?)
- Joan, the novel's only woman, who all the men are creepily fascinated by (or worse) and who has an entire scene just standing watching a dead leaf hanging on a tree for about 12 hours until she almost gets hypothermia. Go Joan.
Overall a fun, nutty novel that comes out of what I think is PKD's best phase: 60s-ish, when his novels all seem so exuberant, funny, empathetic and psychedelic. The "talking-household-items era".
Philip K Dick is sitting at home working on the sequel to The Man in the High Castle, a little preoccupied with the smell from the cat litter box and having his usual bit of relationship stress with his (current) wife. Ray Nelson turns up, hears all about this manuscript in progress, and finally convinces PKD to drop acid. They have a grand and terrifying time and then PKD decides to never do acid again and also to toss out the High Castle sequel he was working on and instead co-write a different novel with Ray, salvaging random parts of the work he had in progress... and this is the wild-ass result. It's flawed, bizarre, funny, disturbing, psychedelic, silly but somehow deep at the same time. Includes elements such as a Bureau of Psychedelic Research, simulacra, precogs, telepathic thought amplifiers, and a mission called Operation Cat Droppings. I'm also gonna guess that Ray Nelson did an edit because it seems a bit more polished than PKD's usual style.
It's not PKD's finest novel and I wouldn't start here if you're newish to his writing, but if you already love his style and weird ideas, it's such a treat. He and Nelson make a good team. In case you don't know him, Ray Nelson wrote the kickass short story "Eight O' Clock In the Morning" that was adapted into one of the greatest 80s films, John Carpenter's THEY LIVE!
My fav characters in this novel:
- The dilapidated, sentient hotel that accuses guests of trying to leave without paying when it catches them looking out the window. lol.
- The ancient flying taxi cab that works for the resistance and proudly tells customers, "I do what I like." (Would it even be a PKD novel without a talking cab?)
- Joan, the novel's only woman, who all the men are creepily fascinated by (or worse) and who has an entire scene just standing watching a dead leaf hanging on a tree for about 12 hours until she almost gets hypothermia. Go Joan.
"Joan Hiashi had returned to normality, if by normality one meant this leafless world in which humans normally live."
Overall a fun, nutty novel that comes out of what I think is PKD's best phase: 60s-ish, when his novels all seem so exuberant, funny, empathetic and psychedelic. The "talking-household-items era".