Beyond Lies the Wub

By Philip K. Dick

“We are a very old race,” the wub said. “Very old and very ponderous. It is difficult for us to move around. You can appreciate that anything so slow and heavy would be at the mercy of more agile forms of life. There was no use in our relying on physical defenses. How could we win? Too heavy to run, too soft to fight, too good-natured to hunt for game—”

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wilder Publications, Inc.
• Release date: Mar 20, 2015
• ISBN: 9781633848023

Philip K. Dick

Over a writing career that spanned three decades, PHILIP K. DICK (1928–1982) published 36 science fiction novels and 121 short stories in which he explored the essence of what makes man human and the dangers of centralized power. Toward the end of his life, his work turned to deeply personal, metaphysical questions concerning the nature of God. Eleven novels and short stories have been adapted to film, notably Blade Runner (based on Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?), Total Recall, Minority Report, and A Scanner Darkly, as well as television's The Man in the High Castle. The recipient of critical acclaim and numerous awards throughout his career, including the Hugo and John W. Campbell awards, Dick was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2005, and between 2007 and 2009, the Library of America published a selection of his novels in three volumes. His work has been translated into more than twenty-five languages.

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Reviews for Beyond Lies the Wub

[m_mozeleski · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The short story collection definitely shows how PKD approached topics and literature, and each story is a little more subtle than the last. PKD definitely favors standoffs between older, archaic methods of doing things and newer, modern ways of doing things. This theme is made clearest in "The Variable Man".

9/10

[lavaturtle · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Reading this really is more like reading poetry than reading a science fiction novel. You have to stop and let each story roll around in your mind.

[dagon12 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I know that this is going to be sacrilegious but I did not enjoy this collection very much. Most of the stories were not interesting or easily predictable. It was very easy to know what was going to happen. Plus the stories were also very heavy-handed in their themes: anti-war, anti-government and anti-corporation. When it comes down to it, the theme is not as important to me as the story that is being told. I'm fine with anti-war stories so long as I am interested in the story unfolding. In this case though, the theme is so in the reader's face that it is impossible to ignore. Not necessarily a problem so long as the story could carry it. Unfortunately that was not the case here. And as I mentioned, easily predictable which means no mystery as it unfolds. I was really hoping to like the collection since so many movies are based on Dick's ideas. I've listed the few stories that I did like below but otherwise I can't in good conscience recommend this collection. It was difficult for me to finish reading the book."Roog" - A dog protects his house from the Roog."Expendable" - A man is caught in an insect war.

[gregorio_roth · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A really short book about what lies within a man's hunger.

[salimbol · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An excellent collection of Dick's early stories. They're as intelligent and well-written as you'd think, with more of a sense of humour in some of them than I'd expected (I tend to think of Dick as so very *serious*, but I see I've done him an injustice). Unsurprisingly, they have a very 50s flavour, but without feeling too terribly dated.

[arten60 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great stuff I was rather enamoured with Beyond lies the Wub, The Indefatigable Frog and Prize ship. The latter had you thinking about Gullivers travels, then he hits you with the idea of an expanding universe. Interestingly another book in my library The Final Theory written by Mark Mccutcheon puts forward the idea the whole universe and everything in it is expanding and that gravity does not exist, what we think of as gravity is the force of expansion. Synchronicity, maybe.

[robinjacksonpearson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Vintage mid-century SF at its finest. It's filled with lots of intriguing scenarios, a few optimistic and several horrific. Some of my favorite stories in this collection were The Variable Man, Paycheck, Beyond Lies the Wub, and Roog.

[danielstj · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

By far one of the best Sci-Fi and short short story collections I have read. Nearly ever story is engaging and enthralling. Very enjoyable.