The operating principle was random selection: positions of public power were decided by a sophisticated lottery. Everyone had a chance, everyone could live in hope that they would be chosen to be the boss, the Quizmaster. But with the power came the game - the assassination game - which everyone could watch on TV. Would the new man be good enough to avoid his chosen killer? Which made for fascinating and exciting viewing, compelling enough to distract the public's attention while the Big Five industrial complexes run the world, the solar system and the people, unnoticed and completely unopposed. Then, in 2203, with the choice of a member of a maverick cult as Quizmaster, the system developed a little hitch... About the Author Philip K. Dick (1928-1982) was born in Chicago but lived in California for most of his life. He went to college at Berkeley for a year, ran a record store and had his own classical-music show on a local radio station. He published his first short story, 'Beyond Lies the Wub' in 1952. Among his many fine novels are The Man in the High Castle, Time Out of Joint, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said. Prizes Philip K. Dick's first published book 'One of the two or three most important figures in 20th-century US sf' The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction 'Dick amused, enthralled and astounded his readers...There's no pomposity in Dick's work, no falseness. When the moment comes, Dick can pull all the stops out and sound the big resonating chords, though calm, ironic understatement is his forte' Brian W. Aldiss 'The most consistently brilliant sf writer in the world' John Brunner 'An elusive and incomparable artist' Ursula K. Le Guin 'One of the most original practioners writing any kind of fiction' Sunday Times |
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