At the beginning of the story the priest Philos Diktos witnesses the Sibyl talking with two Immortals who predict two thousand years of darkness and ignorance. Jumping forward to 1974 Philip remembers growing up and his desire to be a science fiction author all the while having dreams and visions of ancient Rome. One night when he is an old man he is visited by the two aliens who tell him they now work through mortals to wake people up and bring springtime to the winter world. Back in Rome we find all that was an account of Philos Diktos who had traveled into the future. He documents this in a scroll to his fellow Romans along with the poet Virgil’s declaration that the tyranny in the future will eventually come to an end and springtime will be reborn.

Cast of characters

• Philos Diktos / Philip Dick – a Roman priest / twentieth-century sci-fi author
• The Cumaean Sibyl
• Carol Heims – Philip’s psychologist
• J’Annis and F’fr’am – the Immortals from Albemuth

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Dick is working through his issues with women here. I’ll just leave it at that.

Cast of characters

• Cadbury – the titular beaver
• Hilda – Cadbury’s wife
• Dr. Drat – Cadbury’s psychiatrist
• Carol Stickyfoot – Cadbury’s love interest

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Max Fischer has somehow figured out a way to once again disable the supercomputer Unicephalon 40-D, regain the Presidency and imprison the news clown Jim Briskin. Media mogul Sebastian Hada wants Briskin to prop up the failing CULTURE programming on his network which is of course difficult with Briskin in jail. 

While plotting how to get Briskin out and airing nonstop editorials on his network about how Briskin must be released Hada pursues a folksinger named Ragland Park for CULTURE. Hada soon realizes that Rags has a latent ability to seemingly predict (or create) the future through his ballads and with the help of his psychoanalyst gets Rags to write a ballad where Fischer frees Briskin. 

Fischer does release Briskin from prison, and after Rags performs his ballad on CULTURE everyone, including Fischer, seems to have a grasp on what Ragland Park can do. Everyone that is except Rags himself who remains clueless of his abilities. He writes a ballad about the FBI killing him and then that’s what happens, although Fischer thinks it’s his own psionic talents that affected the outcome.

Cast of characters

• Jim Briskin – a news clown imprisoned by the FBI after what happened in “Stand-by.” Briskin shows up later in Dick’s novel The Crack in Space
• Sebastian Hada – a media mogul 
• Dr. Yasumi – Hada’s psychoanalyst
• Nat Kaminsky – Hada’s production chief
• Maximilian Fischer – the President of the United States
• Leon Lait – Fischer’s cousin and Attorney General

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Although he doesn’t tell Sharp this, Humphreys decides there is nothing he can do for him. The story ends with Giller meeting with his own psychoanalyst and complaining about the compulsion he’s always had for great heights and the irresistible urge to push people. 

Cast of characters

• Paul Sharp – suffers from a fear of heights and falling
• Humphreys – Sharp’s psychoanalyst
• Giller – wants Sharp to rebuild the Petaluma-Sonoma area in Northern California

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It’s a goofy premise that just illustrates mankind’s destiny to create factions and fight to the death over the stupidest trivialities. 

Cast of characters

• Don Walsh – our undecided protagonist
• Betty Walsh – Don’s wife
• Jimmy Walsh – Don’s son in the Purist Youth League
• Carl – Don’s Naturalist brother-in-law
• Charley – a robot psychoanalyst 

The post The Chromium Fence appeared first on the world Dick made.

“Exhibit Piece” was adapted for the first season of Electric Dreams as the episode “Real Life”, but it has absolutely nothing to do with the story it is supposedly based on.

Cast of characters

• George Miller – in charge of the twentieth century exhibit at the History Agency
• Controller Fleming – Miller’s boss
• Don and Ted – Miller’s sons in the 1950s
• Marjorie – Miller’s wife in the 1950s
• Adam Grunberg – Miller’s psychiatrist in the 1950s
• Director Carnap – the History Agency director

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The Null-Os begin their grand scheme to detonate a progression of larger and larger bombs. Their country annihilating bombs are a success, but before they can detonate the earth bomb some pesky humans who have managed to survive attack them. In the melee Lemuel is shot. The other Null-Os escape in a spacecraft, and Lemuel, even as he is about to be killed by the humans, is at peace knowing the Null-Os will still complete their plan.

Presumably “Null-O” is some sort of satire of A.E. van Vogt’s stilted novel The World of Null-A which was quite a success (in spite of being bad) when it was published at the end of the 40s.

Cast of characters

• Lemuel Jorgenson – our Null-O protagonist
• Ralph Jorgenson – Lemuel’s father
• Jean Jorgenson – Lemuel’s mother
• Dr. James North – Lemuel’s psychiatrist
• Dr. Jacob Weller, Dr. Frisch – part of a group of Null-Os hoping to destroy the entire universe

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Dr. Henry Harris investigates this strange phenomenon, but all he has to go on are whispers about a mysterious group called the pipers who live in the woods near the base. After meeting a native of the asteroid in the forest, eventually Harris uncovers that there are no pipers. He realizes instead these over-worked young men and women suffer from a mass delusion as they wish to escape the pressure of constant training and stress of everyday life.

Harris has a lot of work to do to cure this malady of the modern age, but first he must relax in the dirt he gathered from the woods.

Cast of characters

• Corporal Westerburg – patrolman on Asteroid Y-3 who thinks he’s a plant
• Dr. Henry Harris – trying to figure out why people keep claiming to be plants
• Commander Cox – Y-3’s base commander
• Robert Bradshaw – chief biologist on Y-3 who also thinks he’s a plant
• Lawrence Watts – Garrison Chief on Y-3

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His psychoanalyst connects him with Vivian Arrasmith, a female Blobel and former Terran spy who reverts to human form six hours of every day. They marry, but years later when they have difficulty in their relationship Vivian stabilizes as a human full time in order to save her marriage not knowing that Munster has stabilized full time as a Blobel in order to operate a business on Titan.

Cast of characters

• George Munster – a human who turns into a Blobel
• Dr. Jones – Munster’s robot psychoanalyst
• Vivian Arrasmith – Munster’s wife. A Blobel who turns into a human
• Pete Ruggles, Sherman Downs, Reinholt Glaubman – Munster’s fellow vets
• Nina Glaubman – Munster’s mistress
• Henry Ramarau – Munster’s attorney

The post Oh, To Be a Blobel! appeared first on the world Dick made.

Cast of characters

• Caleb Myers – officer who first pulls over the speeding Cupertino
• John Cupertino – our psychotic protagonist
• Carol Cupertino – John Cupertino’s wife
• Dr. Gottlieb Hagopian – Cupertino’s psychiatrist
• Dr. Edgar Green – Six-planet Educational Enterprise’s psychologist

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