Human Is

By Philip K. Dick

From the mind of Philip K. Dick, the influential and visionary author behind blockbuster films like Blade Runner, Total Recall, and Minority Report, comes a captivating and suspenseful sci-fi short story, Human Is.

Originally published in 1955, this masterful tale of paranoia and psychological horror explores the consequences of space travel and the thin line between human and alien.

Venture into the heart of an interstellar mystery as we follow an emotionally battered wife, trapped in an abusive marriage. Her husband, a cold and cruel scientist, returns from a mission to the dying planet Rexor IV, seemingly changed for the better. Unbeknownst to her, an oppressed Rexorian has replaced her husband's psyche. Struggling with this newfound kindness, she is forced to confront her own humanity and unearth the truth behind her husband's transformation.

In this evocative and chilling story, Philip K. Dick expertly weaves together themes of identity, empathy, and alienation, drawing readers into a thrilling tale crafted with his trademark speculative fiction flair. Human Is is a must-read for any sci-fi enthusiast and a testament to Dick's status as a prolific master of pulp fiction, compelling readers to question what truly makes us human.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Read Books Ltd.
• Release date: Jan 18, 2016
• ISBN: 9781473379404

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.

Book preview

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Reviews for Human Is

[richardderus · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Rating: 4* of fiveI'd give the episode 4.5 stars because it's a lot richer and more nuanced, and because it's got the ineffably lovely Essie Davis of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries fame as the female lead.PKD's story is a different animal in the details...Vera and Silas Herrick are a scientist and a Colonel respectively, while Jill and Lester Herrick in the story are a housewife and a scientist respectively...but the broad strokes are the same. What exactly does it mean to be human? What makes someone a human being, mere accident of birth or some more inscrutable, indefinable something?Both stories center on this question and answer it in the same way. These issues aren't unfamiliar to the modern audience, either. We face our McCarthyite issues by not facing them, just as our parents didn't face them in the 1950s until they were forced to do so by one courageous, outraged man.We are still waiting for a man the equal of that one to arise, and wanna bet me he'll be a woman this time? She'd better get a wriggle on. Crap's gettin' all too real for the Dreamers and the deportees.The episode's other beauties are all about textures of the world of 2520. The writer and the producers make this a very different Terra, and the visuals are glorious. The world-building is done so much more readily with images than it is with words. PKD did little more than sketch in a world like the 1954 he was living in but with robot servants, robants. The showrunners made the Earth Vera and Silas live on a major factor in the story, where to PKD's story it was unimportant.Don't sprain anything hunting up the story. Sprain ankles, wrists, elbows if necessary to get the show into your eyes. It is outstanding.