Book Review: Only Apparently Real by Paul Williams

 

Only Apparently Real By Paul Williams

Paperback, 196 pages

Published July 1st 1999 by Entwhistle Books (first published May 1986)

I have mixed and complicated feelings about this short but important book. Look I don’t consider myself a scholar of Philip K. Dick, despite my position as the most research-minded of the hosts of the Dickheads podcast I am not as devoted as some of you. I know some of you think about Phil every day, down to tiny little details. That is really not my thing. I like other writers, am interested in the genre as a whole, and have my own science fiction to worry about.

Long before Hollywood found gold in the PKD hills when Phil was largely a working but not super successful author it was Paul Williams that put him on the map. He did this by writing an extensive profile in Rolling Stone that was compiled from a series of interviews with Phil in 1974 fresh off his pink laser beam upload. We also get brief appearances by a friend of the podcast Tessa Dick who was the last of Phil’s wives.

So the majority of this book is an expansion on that article, and transcripts of the interviews, that for better or worse are unedited. This is deep dive, drill-down information that I think is for hardcore serious DICKHEADS. If you want an actually readable biography or back story of PKD Sutin’s Devine Invasions can’t be beaten.

The thing is much of OAR is quoted on the online ‘THE ENCYCLOPEDIA DICKIANA’ or in Sutin’s book. So in doing research for two dozen or so Dick novels for the podcast I have stumbled upon many of these quotes.

Think this book suffers from moments that might sound interesting on recording but in the transcription feel repetitive. The details on the break-in of PKD’s house in 1971 is not nearly as interesting to me as Paul Williams. Some of his theories about his black militant neighbors have not aged well. There is great insight, warts and all. How deep do you want your Dick experience? I think the Sutin book is more important personally.

If you are interested check out the Dickheads podcast.

https://soundcloud.com/dickheadspodcast