"The most consistently brilliant science fiction writer in the world".
--John Brunner
THE INSPIRATION FOR BLADERUNNER. . .
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? was published in 1968. Grim and foreboding, even today it is a masterpiece ahead of its time.
By 2021, the World War had killed millions, driving entire species into extinction and sending mankind off-planet. Those who remained coveted any living creature, and for people who couldn't afford one, companies built incredibly realistic simulacrae: horses, birds, cats, sheep. . .
They even built humans.
Emigrees to Mars received androids so sophisticated it was impossible to tell them from true men or women. Fearful of the havoc these artificial humans could wreak, the government banned them from Earth. But when androids didn't want to be identified, they just blended in.
Rick Deckard was an officially sanctioned bounty hunter whose job was to find rogue androids, and to retire them. But cornered, androids tended to fight back, with deadly results.
"[Dick] sees all the sparkling and terrifying possibilities. . . that other authors shy away from".
--Paul Williams
Rolling Stone
So I employed my shoddy doodling to make this sketch inspired by the book.
When is an android not an android? PKD's protagonist gets ever more deeply drawn into the dilemma of what makes us human.
This book is not anti-robot, in fact the androids have more ambition and more drive than any of the humans, including the protagonist.
We witness a society in its death throes, killing artificial life that is stronger, smarter and more capable than the humans on earth.
The story may not make sense in logical terms, and the characters', both human and android, emotional lives lurch around in a not quite believable way, but despite these idiosyncracies, I was transported into the Philip K. Dick world and had no trouble reaching the end of this crazy vision.
