Progeny

By Philip K. Dick

From the brilliant mind of Philip K. Dick, author of the legendary science fiction stories that inspired blockbuster films like Blade Runner, Total Recall, and Minority Report, comes Progeny, a gripping sci-fi short story that masterfully blends speculative fiction, psychological depth, and dark humor to create a world where humans relinquish their parental roles to robots in the pursuit of the perfect society.

In a not-so-distant future, Ed Doyle, a colonist from Proxima, learns that he will not see his newborn son for nine long years after racing to Los Angeles Central Hospital to witness the birth. No stranger to life on the fringes of society, Ed questions the emotionally sterile path the world has chosen when he discovers that his son, Peter, will be exclusively raised by robotic nannies to protect him from the perceived imperfections of human caregivers. Under the watchful eyes of Doctor Bish, a robotic doctor, Peter embarks on a life meticulously planned by a society blinded by the allure of scientific progress. Haunted by the memory of his own rebellious youth, Ed struggles with the erosion of human connections in this dystopian world.

Unravel the twisted narrative of intentional chaos as a father's love for his son challenges the chilling vision of humanity's future where heart and instinct have been discarded for cold efficiency. Can love and humanity prevail in this world governed by machines?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Read Books Ltd.
• Release date: Jan 18, 2016
• ISBN: 9781473379466

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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Progeny

BY

Phillip K. Dick

Copyright © 2013 Read Books Ltd.

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Philip K. Dick

Philip Kindred Dick was born on December 16 1928, in Chicago, Illinois. The death of his twin sister, Jane, six weeks after their birth profoundly affected the writer in later life and is said to account for the recurring theme of the ‘phantom twin’ in many of his works.  

Dick and his family moved to the Bay Area of San Francisco when he was young, and later on to Washington DC following his parents divorce. Dick attended Elementary school and then a Quaker school before the family moved back to California. It was around this time that Dick began to take an active interest in the science fiction genre, reading his first magazine ‘Stirring Science Stories’, at age twelve.

Dick attended High School in Berkeley, California, where he and fellow science fiction author Ursula K.Le Guin were members of the same graduating class (1947) but were unknown to each other at the time. After graduation, he briefly attended the University of California in Berkeley, taking classes in History, Psychology, Philosophy, and Zoology. Through his studies in Philosophy, he came to believe that existence is based on internal perceptions which do not necessarily correspond to external reality; he described himself as an acosmic pantheist, believing in the universe only as an extension of God. Dick ultimately concluded the world is not entirely real and there is no way to confirm whether what we see is truly there at all. This question from his early studies persisted as a