Minority Report by Philip K. Dick

advertise.

	EUROPE'S MOST VISITED SF/F WEB SITE

Minority Report by Philip K. Dick

Pub: Gollancz. 290 page hardback. Price: Ł 6.99 (UK). ISBN: 1857987381

Check out website: www.orionbooks.co.uk

For those in the know, which should be practically every SF fan. ‘Minority Report’ is actually a short story that the recent Spielberg film on release is based on.

Minority Report book Then again, so too is ‘Impostor’ (filmed under the same name and reviewed last month), ‘Second Variety’ (filmed as ‘Screamers’) and ‘We Can Remember It For You Wholesale’ (filmed as ‘Total Recall’) - and all are featured in this book as well as another five short stories.

Considering all the Dick material available, you might well have some of these stories already, just not all in the same book. If you’re new to Dick’s work, then this is a good way to get the original stories the films were based on.

It’s a wonder really why Gollancz didn’t promote this book as ‘the stories the films were based on’. Of all the SF authors, Dick must surely rank as the writer who’s had the most films based on his work.

Of the filmed short stories, I still like ‘Second Variety’. It’s regarded as a classic in any short story collection with sentient evolving robots taking out both sides of a future war.

A comparison of the titular story, ‘Minority Report’ to the film will have to wait until it comes out on video. A demonstration of where things can go wrong when people are imprisoned before they actually commit murder.

The story is a year older than me - indeed most of the stories here are 30-40 years old now - it’s a shame Dick didn’t actually speculate more on whether murder was justified in some circumstances.

Of the non-film related stories, the one that impressed me the most was ‘Electric Ant’ where a self-aware android discovering what he manipulates his reality before contemplating suicide. ‘War Game’ is a devious story where a human colony’s toys are being investigated as potential infiltrated weapons.

With the hardback price being no greater than a paperback, this is one book I’m sure many of you will be adding to your collections.

GF Willmetts

FREE SF MAGAZINE
Sign up for the Crowsnest SF e-magazine - full of funny reports and gossip. Be the first to find out about hot science fiction happenings & news!

more on the magazine...

CHAT ABOUT THIS STORY

NEWS ARCHIVE