Book Review: We Can Remember It For You Wholesale and Other Classics by Philip K. Dick

Classic Stories by Phil K. DickI read this collection of 27 speculative fiction tales immediately after The Philip K. Dick Reader, also by Citadel Press. Both collections are outstanding, with “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale” as the only common story between them.

My favorites include “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale” (on which the 1990 film, Total Recall, was based), “The Cookie Lady,” “Jon’s World,” “The Cosmic Poachers,” “The Commuter,” “The World She Wanted,” “The Adjustment Team” (on which the 2011 film, The Adjustment Bureau, was loosely based), “A Present for Pat,” “The Hood Maker,” “Human Is,” “The Impossible Planet,” “Imposter,” “Small Town,” and “Survey Team” (albeit, the ending was predictable).

Of those mentioned above, it should be noted that “The Commuter,” “Human Is,” “The Hood Maker,” and “The Impossible Planet” were among ten Phil K. Dick stories adapted for the 2017 Netflix mini-series Electric Dreams.

The Social Dilemma

The Social DilemmaFor the past year or so, I’ve labelled social media as a social disease. I’ve told people that were it not an essential part of a writer’s platform for promoting their work, I would have been gone about five years ago and never looked back.
Social media has inflicted egregious damage on our society through fake news, presenting customized “facts” that fit your beliefs, generating self-image problems, fracturing families and friendships, eroding mental health, enraging people into physically attacking others, and driving many to suicide.
I don’t give a damn what your political persuasion is. Your emotions and decisions are being not merely influenced, but manipulated by billion dollar corporations for the sake of profit.
But don’t take my word for it. Watch The Social Dilemma on Netflix and hear it straight from several key people who set our self-destruction in motion.

About This Writing Stuff…

This week, David Brown and Michelle Barker explain the differences between situation and plot while Jami Gold leads us into our protagonist’s dark moments.

Over at Mythcreants, Chris Winkle casts a skeptical eye on The Hero’s Journey and its basis, The Hero with a Thousand Faces.

Matt Knight warns against common perils in publishing contracts and agreements, Sarah Manavis discusses why Story Graph is a better online book cataloguing tool than Goodreads, and Josyln Chase provides methods to improve our productivity.

All that and a little more. Enjoy!

Situation Versus Plot by David Brown and Michelle Barker via Anne R. Allen

How to Leave Traditional Publishing, Go Indie, and Not Regret It by Kurt Dinan

Traditional and Self-Publishing Contracts—When to Say No! by Matt Knight

Black Moments: Understanding our Options by Jami Gold

Why Structures Like the Hero’s Journey Don’t Work by Chris Winkle

It’s Time to Throw Out the Hero with a Thousand Faces by Chris Winkle

Why Goodreads is Bad for Books by Sarah Manavis

Managing Your Cast by Dave King

Managing Expectations, One Book at a Time by Heather Webb

Road, Neighborhood, Sky: A Three-Layered Approach to Writing a Novel by Barbara Linn Probst

8 Proven Strategies to Write More and Boost Your Productivity by Joslyn Chase

Writing Your First Novel: How to Fix an (Accidentally) Autobiographical Novel by Sarah Gribble