serconzine PKD Otaku

[Frank C. Bertrand]

Has anyone here by any chance actually read one or more issues of the serconzine PKD Otaku?? It's very professionally edited by Patrick Clark, with a visually stunning design and layout by Nick Buchanan. The next issue, roundabout end of July, 2012, will be its 25th issue anniversary. Will you be part of it??

[Derkein]

No, I prefer to read his books myself rather than a fans views in a fanzine. I consider some of Master Dicks books classics, others not so.

For a scifi read with a fabulous story with all the classic requirements plus time travel, aliens, superhumans and human past and future history I think Julian Mays Many Colored Land/Galactic Milieu/intervention series is one of the very best. So well written and cohesive that you can believe it could be so.

[Frank C. Bertrand]

Can't say I'm familiar with Julian Mays" work, but I do know that fandom and fanzines have done a lot for perpetuating Philip K. Dick's reputation in the face of a onslaught of obfuscating academic attention that continues to attempt to make him into some kind of PoMo Mystic. Some of the best writing about PKD can be found in fanzines and serconzines. It's a source that really shouldn't be overlooked.

[Derkein]

Can't say I'm familiar with Julian Mays" work, but I do know that fandom and fanzines have done a lot for perpetuating Philip K. Dick's reputation in the face of a onslaught of obfuscating academic attention that continues to attempt to make him into some kind of PoMo Mystic. Some of the best writing about PKD can be found in fanzines and serconzines. It's a source that really shouldn't be overlooked.

I suppose it depends whether you look upon him as some kind of PoMo mystic, a hero, or simply a good scifi writer.

[Derkein]

Despite what I said above, i decided to go and have a very quick read.
It seems to me that the fanzine does exactly what the very prolific advertiser above says it tried not to - aka
"Generally what has resulted from his writing is a vast questioning of reality by the industrial world. What is reality? Dick cut us loose from hidebound convention and, some believe, made a quantum leap in … what? Metaphysics? Physics? Philosophy? Even in Literature? We do not know because we have no ground to stand on; Dick freed us from an accepted reality and now we find ourselves floating around in a space of pure relativism"
and
"With this excellent edition of THE EXEGESIS OF PHILIP K. DICK we now
have more of the territory pioneered by PKD to explore in search of Reality

These are just two examples of a number in this format which I find at odds with your "in the face of a onslaught of obfuscating academic attention that continues to attempt to make him into some kind of PoMo Mystic." stance

I have already commented in this forum on my views of voices in the head, and mine and others experiences (real or imagined) with entities that are the source of at least some. Whether PKD's was false, psychosis, stoned or some 'genuine' contact from some entity (human or not and being what it claimed or not) is not for me to say.

I have only read some of exegesis and found nothing to hold me to read it thoroughly. No offense intended to any who found it different, and I would welcome discussion on it and have it for reference.

I have already stated that I find a number of his scifi books worthy of being considered classics and have some in my vast collection.

[Frank C. Bertrand]

Ahh, I get it, you're the resident "Devil's Advocate." That is a good thing, really. Every section of this august Cheating the Ferryman should have one. Glad to me you. And I'm also glad that you took the time to read an issue of PKD Otaku. Thank you for doing that. Wish there were more individuals as daring as you who would actually read it. As for what it is, it's indeed meant to be a response to, an antidote against, a different perspective from the proliferating obfuscation of Philip K. Dick by those denizens of the dilapidated ivory towers strewn about our land -- in a serconzine format. No more, no less. Its editor, Patrick Clark, chooses what gets published. Each writer is responsible for their own views.

[Derkein]

Ahh, I get it, you're the resident "Devil's Advocate."

Clearly only part of it ...
Nice to get a reply as i feared you were just dumping adverts everywhere and sundry. You have been quite busy. Commendations on the effort you apply to the role.

As you seem to be fond of the term obfuscating, perhaps you would care to clarify what aspects you would care to discuss here if it isn't the PoMo mystical side? Hopefully something a little more concrete (current in joke) than obscure tie-ins with some of the many, many quantum speculation 'theories.

I assume that as you appear to be 'against' the mystic part of PKD, you don't personally relate to or have opinions or consider yourself an expert on the more 'mystical' side of PKD ?

[Frank C. Bertrand]

Actually, Mr. Durkein, I'm someone who has actually interviewed Philip K. Dick, and has been writing about him since the late 1970s. I believe only Bruce Gillespie and a few others can say otherwise. So I do indeed have some rather strong opinions about his writing as is, not what someone tells us he meant to write or should have written. In fact, I've been called vitriolic and strident, to which I gladly agree. I'd much rather be that than an ambivalent Yahoo hiding behind all kinds of credentials, giving unquestioning allegiance to the current academic fad, say PoMo Mysticism. And, NO, Philip K. Dick is not a Mystic by any stretch of the fervid imagination.

Did he have an interest in mysticism? Yes, indeed. But he had an even stronger interest in Philosophy, Psychology and German culture. These were all "intellectual tools" in his intellectual toolbox, which he used to "try" and fabricate answers to his two salient themes, what is reality and what is human-ness.
I've yet to see verifiable, empirical evidence to prove otherwise.

[Derkein]

You still come across as somewhat obfuscating Mr Berkrand.
I'd be interested to hear your interpretations of his writings, and the reasoning behind your interpretations in a multi-way discussion here (which I would probably add to) rather than as some sort of proclamation in a fanzine, particularly if coloured by your own 'brief interview with PKD' and especially if supported by your own experiences and investigations.

I assume that as you revile 'all kinds of credentials', that you have none. Notwithstanding, I see insightful and intelligent discussion as always welcome and valuable and I would look to you to support your views, not just quote PKD.

I saw his views on philosophy as transient as most of his examinations into specific areas seemed to be. I do not see this as a particular problem as many look for something which touches their soul rather than their mind in these sort of areas, but I am no expert on PKD and would be happy to consider other viewpoints.

Even your own views are "a student of the Pre-Socratic philosophers and to a lesser extent, Pre-Socratic politics. But he also liked works by Spinoza, Kant and Hume, in fact most anything from 18th and 19th German philosophy, literature and music".
A brief skin through exegesis shows many more I believe.

I imagine it can be hard when an object of worship is questioned but as the second part of my sig states :

[Frank C. Bertrand]

My apologies for misspelling your nome de plume, which is, of course Derkein, which two Deutsche words can be translated as "none such." Very clever indeed, as well as how you chose to spell my last name. Bravo. Yes, I only have a lowly BGS after my name, with a major in Literature and a minor in Philosophy. Don't want any others. And I know of no creditable academic study that shows a statistically significant correlation between esoteric initials after one's name and actual ability.

I usually start with something that Philip K. Dick actually wrote, in his so called Exegesis. That is, "I'm a fictionalizing philosopher." Note, he didn't write fictionalizing mystic, or Gnostic, or postmodernist. So why do most academics seem to think that the only PKD works worth discussing are the so called VALIS trilogy and the so called Exegesis??? That is sloppy scholarship and demeaning to all his short stories, novels, letters, interviews and essays.

Also seems you should consider sending a LOC (that is "fanspeak" for Letter Of Comment) to Patrick Clark, the editor of PKD Otaku. Might be more beneficial that trying to kill the messenger because you don't like the message.