The Cookie Lady Beyond the Door Second Variety

The Complete Stories of Philip K. Dick Vol. 3:

Second Variety and Other Stories

By Philip K. Dick

EVersion 3.0 / Scan Notes at EOF

Contents

The Cookie Lady Beyond the Door Second Variety

Quot;A fitting tribute to a great philosophical writer who found science fiction the ideal form tor the expression of his ideas." -- The Independent

 

Second Variety is the third in a massive five-volume collection of the complete shorter fiction of the 20th Century's greatest SF author -- Philip K. Dick. It brings together 27 stories and includes such masterpieces as the title story, with its endless war being fought by ever more cunning and sophisticated robot weapons; "Impostor", in which a man is accused of being an alien spy and finds his whole identity called into question; and "Prominent Author", in which a fracture in space/time enables an ordinary future commuter to achieve unexpected literary fame.

Again and again in these stories -- written and published while America was in the grip of McCarthyism -- Dick speaks up for ordinary people and against militarism, paranoia and xenophobia. But first and foremost these are marvellously varied and entertaining stories from a writer who overflowed with ideas.

Quot;One of the most original practitioners writing any kind of fiction." -- Sunday Times

"An elusive and incomparable artist." -- Ursula LeGuin

Quot;The most consistantly brilliant SF writer in the world. . . author of more good short stories than I can count." -- John Brunner

  GraftonBooks A Division of HarperCollinsPublishers

Introduction

By Norman Spinrad

Philip K. Dick's debut story, Beyond Lies the Wub, was first published in 1952. This volume, SECOND VARIETY, contains 27 short stories published… That in itself is quite remarkable. Few writers could boast such prodigious… Considering that they were written in such a brief period by a new writer in the first flush of his career, that Dick…

The Cookie Lady

"Where you going, Bubber?" Ernie Mill shouted from across the street, fixing papers for his route. "No place," Bubber Surle said. "You going to see your lady friend?" Ernie laughed and laughed. "What do you go visit that old lady…

Beyond the Door

That night at the dinner table he brought it out and set it down beside her plate. Doris stared at it, her hand to her mouth. "My God, what is… "Well, open it." Doris tore the ribbon and paper from the square package with her sharp nails, her bosom rising and falling. Larry…

Second Variety

The Russian soldier made his way nervously up the ragged side of the hill, holding his gun ready. He glanced around him, licking his dry lips, his… Eric turned to Corporal Leone. "Want him? Or can I have him?" He… Leone considered. The Russian was close, moving rapidly, almost running. "Don't fire. Wait," Leone tensed.…

Jon's World

Kastner walked around the ship without speaking. He climbed the ramp and entered, disappearing cautiously inside. For a time his outline could be… "Well?" Caleb Ryan said. "What do you think?" Kastner came down the ramp. "Is it ready to go? Nothing left to work out?"

The Cosmic Poachers

"What kind of ship is it?" Captain Shure demanded, staring fixedly at the viewscreen, his hands gripping the fine adjustment. Navigator Nelson peered over his shoulder. "Wait a minute." He swung… "What are they doing here? What are they after? They must know the Sirius system is closed."

Progeny

Ed Doyle hurried. He caught a surface car, waved fifty credits in the robot driver's face, mopped his florid face with a red pocket-handkerchief,… The surface car slid up to a smooth halt before the great white-domed hospital… "Where?" Ed demanded, gazing around, his feet wide apart, his fists clenched, his chest rising and falling.…

Some Kinds of Life

"Joan, for heaven's sake!" Joan Clarke caught the irritation in her husband's voice, even through the… "What are you looking for?"

Martians Come in Clouds

Ted Barnes came in all grim-faced and trembling. He threw his coat and newspaper over the chair. "Another cloud," he muttered. "A… Lena came and took his coat to the closet. "I'm certainly glad you… "I get the shakes when I see one of them." Ted threw himself down on the couch, groping in his pockets for…

The Commuter

The little fellow was tired. He pushed his way slowly through the throng of people, across the lobby of the station, to the ticket window. He waited… "Next," Ed Jacobson, the ticket seller, rasped. The little fellow tossed a five dollar bill on the counter. "Give me a new commute book. Used up the old…

The World She Wanted

Half-dozing, Larry Brewster contemplated the litter of cigarette-butts, empty beer-bottles, and twisted match-folders heaped on the table before… In the back of the Wind-Up the small dixieland jazz combo played noisily. The… "There aren't seven levels in the zen-buddhist heaven," a competent female voice corrected, from directly…

A Surface Raid

Harl left the third level, catching a tube car going North. The tube car carried him swiftly through one of the big junction bubbles and down to the… Then the bubble was behind him and he was nearing his destination, the vast… The gleaming tube car ejected him and continued on its way, disappearing down the tube. Harl bounded agilely into the…

Project: Earth

The sound echoed hollowly through the big frame house. It vibrated among the dishes in the kitchen, the gutters along the roof, thumping slowly and… In the bathroom the three children huddled around the chair, nervous and… "You sure he can't see us?" Tommy rasped.

The Trouble with Bubbles

Nathan Hull left his surface car and crossed the pavement on foot, sniffing the chill morning air. Robot work-trucks were starting to rumble past. A…   PACIFIC TUBE COMPLETED;

Breakfast at Twilight

"Dad?" Earl asked, hurrying out of the bathroom, "you going to drive us to school today?" Tim McLean poured himself a second cup of coffee. "You kids can walk for… Judy pouted. "It's raining."

A Present for Pat

"What is it?" Patricia Blake demanded eagerly. "What's what?" Eric Blake murmured. "What did you bring? I know you brought me something!" Her bosom rose and fell excitedly under her mesh…

The Hood Maker

"A hood!" "Somebody with a hood!" Workers and shoppers hurried down the sidewalk, joining the forming crowd. A sallow-faced youth dropped his bike and…

Of Withered Apples

Something was tapping on the window. Blowing up against the pane, again and again. Carried by the wind. Tapping faintly, insistently. Lori, sitting on the couch, pretended not to hear. She gripped her book… "Darn!" Lori said, throwing her book down on the coffee table and hurrying to the window. She grasped the…

Human Is

Jill Herrick's blue eyes filled with tears. She gazed at her husband in unspeakable horror. "You're -- you're hideous!" she wailed. Lester Herrick continued working, arranging heaps of notes and graphs in… "Hideous," he stated, "is a value judgment. It contains no factual information." He sent a report…

Adjustment Team

It was bright morning. The sun shone down on the damp lawns and sidewalks, reflecting off the sparkling parked cars. The Clerk came walking… The dog was asleep inside his shed, his back turned to the world. Only his… "For heaven's sake," the Clerk exclaimed, hands on his hips. He tapped his mechanical pencil noisily against…

The Impossible Planet

"She just stands there," Norton said nervously. "Captain, you'll have to talk to her." "What does she want?" "She wants a ticket. She's stone deaf. She just stands there staring and she won't go away. It gives me the…

Imposter

"One of these days I'm going to take time off," Spence Olham said at first-meal. He looked around at his wife. "I think I've earned a… "And the Project?" "The war will be won without me. This ball of clay of ours isn't really in much danger." Olham sat down at…

James P. Crow

"You're a nasty little -- human being," the newly-formed Z Type robot shrilled peevishly. Donnie flushed and slunk away. It was true. He was a human being, a human… He wished he were dead. He wished he lay under the grass and the worms were eating him up and crawling through him and…

Planet for Transients

The late afternoon sun shone down blinding and hot, a great shimmering orb in the sky. Trent halted a moment to get his breath. Inside his… He slid his emergency pack over to the other side and hitched up his gun-belt.… Trent checked his counter, found the reading low enough, slid back his helmet for a precious moment.

Small Town

Verne Haskel crept miserably up the front steps of his house, his overcoat dragging behind him. He was tired. Tired and discouraged. And his feet… "My God," Madge exclaimed, as he closed the door and peeled off his… Haskel dumped his briefcase and began untying his shoes. His body sagged. His face was drawn and gray.

Souvenir

"Here we go, sir," the robot pilot said. The words startled Rogers and made him look up sharply. He tensed his body and adjusted the trace… This -- his heart caught -- was Williamson's World. The legendary lost planet… Frank Williamson had been the first Terran to develop an outer-space drive -- the first to hop from the Solar System…

Survey Team

Halloway came up through six miles of ash to see how the rocket looked in landing. He emerged from the lead-shielded bore and joined Young,… The surface of the planet was dark and silent. The air stung his nose. It… A soldier pointed into the blackness. "The mountains are over there. See them? The Rockies, and this is…

Prominent Author

"My husband," said Mary Ellis, "although he is a very prompt man, and hasn't been late to work in twenty-five years, is actually… "Incredible," said Dorothy Lawrence, who had finished her drink, and… Mrs Ellis beamed proudly, as if she personally were an employee of Terran Development. "Yes, it is incredible.…

Notes

 

All notes in italics are by Philip K. Dick. The year when the note was written appears in parentheses following the note. Most of these notes were written as story notes for the collections THE BEST OF PHILIP K. DICK (published 1977) and THE GOLDEN MAN (published 1980). A few were written at the request of editors publishing or reprinting a PKD story in a book or magazine.

When there is a date following the name of a story, it is the date the manuscript of that story was first received by Dick's agent, per the records of the Scott Meredith Literary Agency. Absence of a date means no record is available. The name of a magazine followed by a month and year indicates the first published appearance of a story. An alternate name following a story indicates Dick's original name for the story, as shown in the agency records.

These five volumes include all of Philip K. Dick's short fiction, with the exception of short novels later published as or included in novels, childhood writings, and unpublished writings for which manuscripts have not been found. The stories are arranged as closely as possible in chronological order of composition; research for this chronology was done by Gregg Rickman and Paul Williams.

 

THE COOKIE LADY 8/27/52. Fantasy Fiction, June 1953.

 

BEYOND THE DOOR 8/29/52. Fantastic Universe, Jan 1954.

 

SECOND VARIETY 10/3/52. Space Science Fiction, May 1953.

My grand theme -- who is human and who only appears (masquerades) as human? -- emerges most fully. Unless we can individually and collectively be certain of the answer to this question, we face what is, in my view, the most serious problem possible. Without answering it adequately, we cannot even be certain of our own selves. I cannot even know myself, let alone you. So I keep working on this theme; to me nothing is as important a question. And the answer comes very hard. (1976)

 

JON'S WORLD ("Jon") 10/21/52. Time to Come, edited by August Derleth, New York, 1954.

 

THE COSMIC POACHERS ("Burglar") 10/22/52. Imagination, July 1953.

 

PROGENY 11/3/52. If, Nov 1954.

 

SOME KINDS OF LIFE (The Beleaguered") 11/3/52. Fantastic Universe, Oct-Nov 1953 [under the pseudonym Richard Phillips].

 

MARTIANS COME IN CLOUDS ("The Buggies") 11/5/52. Fantastic Universe, June-July 1954.

 

THE COMMUTER 11/19/52. Amazing, Aug-Sept 1953.

 

THE WORLD SHE WANTED 11/24/52. Science Fiction Quarterly, May 1953.

 

A SURFACE RAID 12/2/52. Fantastic Universe, July 1955.

 

PROJECT: EARTH ("One Who Stole") 1/6/53. Imagination, Dec 1953.

 

THE TROUBLE WITH BUBBLES ("Plaything") 1/13/53. If, Sept 1953.

 

BREAKFAST AT TWILIGHT 1/17/53. Amazing, July 1954.

There you are in your home, and the soldiers smash down the door and tell you you're in the middle of World War III. Something's gone wrong with time. I like to fiddle with the idea of basic categories of reality, such as space and time, breaking down. It's my love of chaos, I suppose. (1976)

 

A PRESENT FOR PAT 1/17/53. Startling Stories, Jan 1954.

 

THE HOOD MAKER ("Immunity") 1/26/53. Imagination, June 1955.

 

OF WITHERED APPLES 1/26/53. Cosmos Science Fiction and Fantasy, July 1954.

 

HUMAN IS 2/2/53. Startling Stories, Winter 1955.

To me, this story states my early conclusions as to what is human. I have not really changed my view since I wrote this story, back in the Fifties. It's not what you look like, or what planet you were born on. It's how kind you are. The quality of kindness, to me, distinguishes us from rocks and sticks and metal, and will forever, whatever shape we take, wherever we go, whatever we become. For me, Human Is is my credo. May it be yours. (1976)

 

ADJUSTMENT TEAM 2/11/53. Orbit Science Fiction, Sept-Oct 1954.

 

THE IMPOSSIBLE PLANET ("Legend") 2/11/53. Imagination, Oct 1953.

 

IMPOSTER 2/24/53. Astounding, June 1953.

Here was my first story on the topic of: Am I a human? Or am I just programmed to believe I am human? When you consider that I wrote this back in 1953, it was, if I may say so, a pretty damn good new idea in sf. Of course, by now I've done it to death. But the theme still preoccupies me. It's an important theme because it forces us to ask: What is a human? And -- what isn't? (1976)

 

JAMES P. CROW 3/17/53. Planet Stories, May 1954.

 

PLANET FOR TRANSIENTS ("The Itinerants") 3/23/53. Fantastic Universe, Oct-Nov 1953. [Parts of this story were adapted for the novel DEUS IRAE.]

 

SMALL TOWN ("Engineer") 3/23/53. Amazing, May 1954.

Here the frustrations of a defeated small person -- small in terms of power, in particular power over others -- gradually become transformed into something sinister: the force of death. In rereading this story (which is of course a fantasy, not science fiction) I am impressed by the subtle change which takes place in the protagonist from Trod-Upon to Treader. Verne Haskel initially appears as the prototype of the impotent human being, but this conceals a drive at his core self which is anything but weak. It is as if I am saying, The put-upon person may be very dangerous. Be careful as to how you misuse him; he may be a mask for thanatos: the antagonist of life; he may not secretly wish to rule, he may wish to destroy. (1979)

 

SOUVENIR 3/26/53. Fantastic Universe, Oct 1954.

 

SURVEY TEAM 4/3/53. Fantastic Universe, May 1954.

 

PROMINENT AUTHOR 4/20/53. If, May 1954.

 

Philip K. Dick was born in Chicago in 1928 and lived most of his life in California. He attended college for a year at Berkeley. Apart from writing, his main interest was music: at one time he ran a record shop and also a classical music programme for a local radio station. He won the Hugo Award for his classic novel of alternative history, The Man in the High Castle (1962). He was married five times and had three children. He died in March 1982.

 

The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick

Volume l -- The Short, Happy Life of the Brown Oxford

Volume 2 -- We Can Remember It For You Wholesale

Volume 3 -- Second Variety

Volume 4 -- The Minority Report

Volume 5 -- The Eye of the Sibyl

 

Scan Notes, v3.0:Released in RTF only, with italics intact. Proofed carefully against DT.