The Skull

By Philip K. Dick

From the visionary mind of Philip K. Dick, author of groundbreaking sci-fi classics that inspired blockbuster films like Blade Runner, Total Recall, and Minority Report, comes a mind-bending tale of time travel and personal destiny. The Skull transports you to a future where the world is locked in a struggle between progress and dogma, where one man's life-altering decision will affect history and the fate of humanity.

Meet Conger, a prisoner granted a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for freedom--if he can complete an impossible mission to assassinate a man who died 200 years ago. As he travels back in time to the turbulent 1960s, Conger must navigate an era fraught with distrust and political agendas while seeking out the elusive founder of the First Church, a man whose fateful speech launched a cult that would challenge scientific progress. Armed with the skull of his target and the knowledge that his own life hangs in the balance, Conger becomes ensnared in a web of suspicion and intrigue that threatens not only the mission, but his own identity. As the tension mounts and the clock ticks down, he uncovers a stunning revelation that forces him to question everything he believed about himself and the world.

In The Skull, Philip K. Dick masterfully combines elements of science fiction, time travel, and humanity's search for meaning in a thrilling narrative that will keep you guessing until the very last page. With its unique premise and timeless themes, this extraordinary short story is sure to captivate fans of the genre and new readers alike.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Read Books Ltd.
• Release date: Jan 18, 2016
• ISBN: 9781473379510

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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THE SKULL

By

Philip K. Dick

Copyright © 2013 Read Books Ltd.

This book is copyright and may not be

reproduced or copied in any way without

the express permission of the publisher in writing

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

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 theme in many of his novels.

Dick married five times between 1959 and 1973, and had three children. He sold his first story in 1951 and from that point on he wrote full-time, selling his first novel in 1955. The 1950s were a difficult and impoverished time for Dick. He once said We couldn’t even pay the late fees on a library book. He published almost exclusively works of science fiction, but was said to covet a career in mainstream

Reviews for The Skull

[robert.zimmermann · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A nice, yet predictable, twist in this one. While it was predictable, I was still "forced" to keep reading to see just how things played out.

Another enjoyable story from Philip K. Dick.

[arkrayder · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Not one of Philip K. Dicks best stories but it keeps your attention and manages to seem fresh rather than old.

[pgiunta_3 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

After releasing a murderer name Conger from prison, government agents steal the skeletal remains of the long-dead founder of a pacifist religion. Providing Conger with a time machine and the man's skull for identification, the agents order him to travel back two centuries and kill the enigmatic founder before he starts his pacifist movement.

[kevn57-163679 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I love a good short story and this is a really fine one by a great short story writer. I just love this quote from the story "Those who take lives will lose their own. Those who kill, will die. But he who gives his own life away will live again!"

[gregorio_roth · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Poor Yurick, did I not know who thy was... is the question posed in this Novella. or Short Story.

[drled_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Synopsis: Conger has been removed from jail to do a job. He is to murder someone; however, this person has been dead for hundreds of years. The man to be killed had ended war; this wasn't good for the future because it allowed an increase in population, along with an increase in social issues. He goes back in time, but can't seem to find who he's looking for; he realizes that he is The Founder.Review: Written in September 1952 for World of Science Fiction, this interesting story that harkens back to the 'clothes make the man' stories.