In a Near Fine unclipped dust jacket with very light rubbing, light toning and a small nick to the crown of the spine. He wrote full-time from 1951, when he sold his first short story, and went on to produce 44 novels and five collections of short stories. An alternative history that remains chilling and relevant today, The Man in the High Castle imagines a world wherein the Axis Powers defeated the Allies in World War II.

The way the characters use the I Ching for key decisions reflects a much different morality than American virtue. Ah, black humor, as in this snatch of dialogue when judo instructor Juliana Frink talks with a fellow American, Joe the truck drive in a Colorado small-town: ““Did you hear the Bob Hope show the other night?

Dick is having a bit of fun writing an alternative reality which includes a novel about alternative reality. An unabridged The Man in the High Castle audiobook, read by George Guidall and running approximately 9. This is my first foray into the works of Philip K Dick - and , no doubt like many other readers in the past few years, I was inspired to read the book by the television series. He even goes so far as to tell a story within a story, as he imagines an author in this world speculating on what life would have been like if the Nazis hadn't won.

The origin of that painting was then traced back to a Dutch art dealer named Han van Meegeren, who consequently was arrested and charged with the crime of collaborating with the Nazis.

The “native” American characters talk with Japanese accents (and now things like American comic books are considered native culture) and an Asian sense of social place is part of life. Shan’s work is strongly influenced by his home city of Shanghai: its skyscrapers and bungalows, contemporary concepts and traditional superstitions, Communist ideology and flourishing subcultures. My personal reaction was that Mr Dick did an incredible amount of homework to understand the Japanese culture and portray its nature very accurately for Americans. Actually, I take back what I said earlier about the characters’ not having any interesting storylines – Juliana’s was good, particularly towards the finale when she goes to meet the man in the high castle, and I loved the subtlety of the ending too.