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The World Jones Made by Philip K. Dick
pub: Gollancz. 199 page enlarged paperback. Price: £ 6.99 (UK). ISBN: 0-575-07457-4

check out website: www.orionbooks.co.uk


This is one of Philip Dick's earliest published works. As such, it has to be expected that there were likely to be some rawness compared to his later books.

Floyd Jones is a malcontent pre-cog with the ability to see one year into the future. As such, he lives the same period twice over.

The World Jones Made by Philip K. DickHe stirs the interest of the secret police and in return incites a revolt and revolution that sets himself as the leader of the world when 'drifters' - single-cell protoplasms land on Earth. 'Course, he sees all of this happening but can do nothing about changing events other than ensuring that he does what he foresees. Seeing only one year into the future isn't quite enough to control events and his failure is risking invasion and genocide.

The basic premise of this book is very sound as well as interesting. The problem tends to stem from Dick throwing in tangent plots of mutants bred to live on Venus - back in 1956, the planet was thought to have a poisonous atmosphere but possible to support life - and the life of Cussick, who discovered Jones.

Granted these threads make more sense at the end but too much time is spent diverting to them. What is singularly lacking is not seeing more of how Jones grows and declines with his knowledge. It seems odd that a character as potentially interesting as Jones ends up nearly side-lined in a book about his career.

In that respect, this book is also a demonstration that even one of the best SF writers had as much teething problems as any of the neo-writers coming out today.

For that reason alone, it should be included on your reading list as a reminder that all writers have to start somewhere. It might not be his best work but is certainly worth reading.

GF Willmetts


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