#57. THE SIMULACRA By Philip K Dick

Published : 1964
Pages : 220
Overall Mark : 7/10

A few years from now, the President of the USA will be an android and his entire government a fraud. Everyone in the country is maladjusted. Doesn't seem possible, does it? Welcome to the world of Dr Superb, the sole remaining psychotherapist. Philip K. Dick tells a story of desperate love, lethal body odour and an attempted fascistic takeover of the USA and shows that there is always another layer of conspiracy beneath the one we see.

PHILIP K. DICK (1928-1982)
'One of the two or three most important figures in 20th century US SF' (The Encyclopedia Of Science Fiction). Born one of twins - his sister died in infancy - he lived most of his life in California, and wrote more than fifty books in a career of prodigious productivity and achievement. The films Blade Runner and Minority Report are both based on his stories.

VERDICT
Dick's view of a future America - now joined with Europe - is an interesting one, filled with espionage and secretive lies that are kept from the public. The idea of the president secretly being a robot and his consort being played by an actress are funfilled and ribald, and the usual set of characters you'd expect from Dick are mixed together in such a way that brings them all together in the end, though a more conclusive finale might have made this a more appealing read.