Philip Kindred Dick (1928 - 1982), PKD to his fans, is one of my favourite SF authors. Incredibly prolific, he started as a TV and audio repairman before becoming a full-time writer and drug-using beatnik.

Yes, drugs. And you better believe it shows in his writing. "Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away" he said, and the notion of reality and how we perceive it is explored throughout his stories. His writing is easily the equal of William Burroughs', and his lifestyle would put Kerouac's to shame, yet he is largely ignored by mainstream critics because he's SF.

PKD's books and short stories are a joy to read. His style is compact (as are the works themselves - epics weren't his thing) with an economy of prose that makes it possible to zip through it without being left cheated. I can't think of anything of his I've read that I didn't like.

Notable novels include

Eye IN The Sky (1957)
Time Out Of Joint (1959)
The Man In The High Castle (1962) - Hugo Award-winning tale of an alternate universe where the Axis won WW2
The Game Players Of Titan (1963)
Martian Time-slip (1964)
The Threee Stigmata Of Eldritch Palmer (1964)
Counter-Clock World (1967) - after Judgement Day, time goes backwards; people are dug out of the ground, vomit food onto plates in restaurants, then get younger. . .
Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? (1968) - filmed as Blade Runner in 1982 (the movie title is actually a Burroughs term), but with a lot of the weirder elements removed. I think PKD got to see it before he died, at least I hope so, and I hope he approved.
Ubik (1969)
Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said (1974) - my favourite book title of all time!
The Minority Report - a 1955 novella soon to be filmed with Tom Cruise, apparently. Being able to see the future, the police arrest people before they commit crimes. Then one of the policemen is arrested for murder. . .

Then there are the short stories - my favourites include Roog (one of his first, the world seen through the eyes of a dog driven mad by the strangeness of the human universe), Beyond Lies The Wub (another favourite title!), Electric Ant, We Can Remember It For You Wholesale (filmed as Total Recall, only - all together now - only weirder), Screamers (also filmed in 1993 starring Peter Weller) and particularly The Short Happy Life of the Brown Oxford - a mad professor discovers the Principle of Annoyance which can animate non-living material, on the basis that if you irritate something enough, it'll get up and move away from you!

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Outside of a dog, a book is a mans best friend. Inside of a dog, it's to dark to read. Groucho Marx

Frankly, I was expecting an ENDING at the end of the story. Oh, well.

Sounds like he was speaking with Steven Hawkings (who had a very similar theory that was proved wrong).

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HMS White Star (your local friendly agent of Chaos:-) )

A Maze Of Death features a character watching a movie of The Lord Of The Rings - and it was written long before even the Bakshi cartoon film. . .

The Simulacra features a USA where the First Lady has become so powerful they simply keep her in office and vote her a new husband every four years! Of course it turns out she's the fourth actress to play the role, and the husband is always an android, but that's not the point. Or maybe it is. 8)

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"Have you seen blood in the moonlight, Will? It appears quite black."