UBIK / AUTHOR: PHILIP K. DICK / PUBLISHER: THE FOLIO SOCIETY / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
The Folio Society don’t produce new books. Instead they take well regarded classics and make them gorgeous and collectable. If you have book that you keep giving away to other people, then treat yourself to a Folio Society book and keep it. Of course, the work has to be a bit special and Philip K Dick’s classic Ubik fits the bill perfectly. It’s one of those books that has easily been described as impossible to adapt, though like much of Dick’s work, it’s not stopped them trying in the past.
It’s set in a world were a Confederated United States is thing, psychic powers are all too common and people can easily travel to the moon. We follow working class schlub Joe Chip, a technician who works in psychic security. It’s his job to stop passers-by from using their mind-reading powers unlawfully. They claim it’s for ‘privacy reasons’ but really it’s all about countering corporate espionage. Chip’s firm sends him to the moon, alongside a lady called Pat who can ‘unravel’ time. Less time-travel, more like pressing the ‘undo’ button on reality. A power that can be itself undone thanks to the mysterious Ubik, a material that also has remarkable reality bending processes.
The book itself is told in Dick’s famously flowery style and let’s be honest, we read a book like this as much for the engaging and dream-like writing rather than the story. The tale itself is mediation on the nature of time, death, and greed and tracking the actual plot is like pinning smoke; add time-warping to the mix and multiple twists and turns and we have a classic piece of weird fiction.
This edition comes with a forward from Kim Stanley Robinson, who brings his searing insight to bear on here; it’s a good essay and sets up the book nicely. This is a Folio Society book, so half of the reason for getting it is that it’s a physically beautiful thing. In Ubik’s case, they’ve out done themselves. La Boca’s art is particularly stunning. The colour plates capture the surreal joy of the work and are splendidly timed. The book is lime green with a bright pink slip case and is designed to make an interesting visual effect when removed from the case. Add to this the solid craftsmanship that has been used to assemble the book and what we have here is a thing that will last a very long time, regardless of reality-bending powers.
