When I read Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore's 1946 novella "Chessboard Planet" some years back, the thought occurred to me that this story is a must-read for all fans of cult author Philip K. Dick. In the story, the United States is in the midst of a decades-long war with the European union and is in big trouble, because scientists working for the enemy have come up with a formula employing "variable constants" that can completely preempt reality. In the story's memorable opening, a doorknob opens a blue eye and watches one of the protagonists, and ultimately, the tale becomes hallucinatory in the extreme, as equations and counterequations for abrogating reality are bounced back and forth by the two sides. Anyway, somehow I wasn't surprised to read, just recently, in an article written by Dick in 1968 called "Notes Made Late at Night by a Weary SF Writer," that that image of the blue-eyed doorknob was one of his favorite in all of science fiction. And his 22nd sci-fi novel, "The Ganymede Takeover," seems to me one of his books that is most indebted to this great Kuttner & Moore work."The Ganymede Takeover" is in many ways the oddball of Dick's sci-fi oeuvre. Originally released in 1966 as a 50-cent Ace paperback (G-637, for all you collectors out there), it is the only science fiction novel by Dick not currently in print by Vintage Books and one of only two books that Dick coauthored. I suppose that part of the fun in reading this novel is trying to discern where Dick's input leaves off and Ray Nelson's (his first novel) begins. In the story, the people of Earth have been conquered by the snakelike, telepathic inhabitants of Ganymede. In the year 2047, a Ganymedean named Mekkis comes to Earth to act as administrator of the district of Tennessee, where "Neeg-parts" (Negro partisans), under the command of freedom fighter Percy X (read: Malcolm), have been stirring up trouble. To this area also converges Joan Hiashi, a TV hostess looking to record some of the Neeg-parts' hymns (just as Nat Flieger, in Dick's 1964 novel "The Simulacra," traveled into the wilds of radiation-mutated northern California to record the music of the inhabitants there), and Paul Rivers, of the World Psychiatric Association. When Percy X gets his hands on some cached government weapons that have been created with the assistance of Dr. Rudolph Balkani, of the Bureau of Psychedelic Research (!), things really start to get hairy, however. In a battle royale between Percy's men and those of Gus Swenesgard--a "wik" (worm kisser), or what might today be called a quisling--machines that cause severe illusions are utilized; thus, vampires, orange unicorns, transvestites, inch-high lesbians, carnivorous vacuum cleaners, Frankenstein, Godzilla, King Kong, the Wolfman, man-eating plants, et al. contend in a free-for-all that Kuttner & Moore might well have gaped at in approbation. In a direct nod to that winking doorknob, Dick has a Tennessee mountain suddenly grow an eyeball on its flank! And then things get even stranger, when Percy X decides to utilize the fearsome Hell Weapon! As you can probably tell, this really is some pretty way-out stuff here; certainly a product of '60s California, and a clear reflection of Dick's changing taste in drugs, progressing from prescription amphetamines to LSD. As in many other Dick novels, amphetamines ARE mentioned (Balkani stays awake on uppers for days, writing his final thesis on "Oblivion Therapy"), pot is given a passing reference (filter-tip marijuana cigarettes called Berkeley Boo are popular), and the author's love of music is shown (folk and blues, for a change, as opposed to classical). In retrospect, it seems to me that Nelson may have been responsible here for the alien takeover plot, with Dick supplying all the drug references and mind-blowing psychedelic pyrotechnics, but this guessing game is as futile as figuring out the respective contributions in Kuttner & Moore's stories. Suffice it to say that this melding of talents is a very happy one; "The Ganymede Takeover" is remarkably fast moving and fun, despite "The Science Fiction Encyclopedia"'s claim that its furious action is "rather implausibly emphasized." And really, how can you dislike any book with a Bureau of Psychedelic Research, and one in which one of the Ganymedean conquerors lists as his prize souvenir from Earth nothing less than the complete collection of the original Three Stooges shorts? Even Kuttner & Moore would never have thought of that!
Гигантские черви с Ганимеда захватили планету. Последний оплот человеческого Сопротивления – американский Юг, в болотах которого Черные Мусульмане во главе с телепатом Перси Х ведут отчаянную борьбу за выживание. Именно к ним отправляется известная телеведущая и коллабрационистка Джоан Хаяси, собираясь по приказу захватчиков ликвидировать их главного врага-нига. И именно к ним намерен попасть психолог Пол Риверс, в руки которого попадает последнее и самое страшное изобретение доктора Рудольфа Болкани – оружие, способное подарить человечеству Небытие. Если его активировать хотя бы раз, то каждое разумное существо на планете навсегда потеряет связь с реальностью…Обычно самое интересное в совместных работах – угадывать кто какой фрагмент написал, кому принадлежит авторство той или иной части и на чьей совести лежит шутка номер сто тридцать четыре. Рэй Нельсон – фантаст средней руки. Из всего его творчества нам известен только рассказ про волшебные очки, по мотивам которого Джон Карпентер снял фильм “Они живут среди нас”. Язык у Рэя Нельсона похож на язык современных отечественных фантастов, что совсем не прибавляет ему очков. При внимательном чтении вообще остается сильное впечатление, что его великий соавтор (то бишь сам Филипп Дик) практически не принимал участия в непосредственном написании книги. Разумеется, ключевая идея – типично его, мотивы некоторых героев – тоже, но все остальное слишком сильно противоречит творческим принципам маэстро. Дик никогда не писал от лица пришельцев, поэтому все сюжетные линии про интриги гигантских червяков не могли быть написаны им. Дик не любил героев, кидающих понты, а “черная” тема никогда не была для него особо интересной – вычеркиваем заодно и всю линию нигов. В результате, после беглого анализа мы понимаем, что в книге остается всего лишь два “настоящих” персонажа Филиппа Дика – усталый спаситель человечества Пол Риверс и воинственный реднек Гас Свенесгард. (2005.05.08)
What do You think about The Ganymede Takeover (1990)?
[Original review, based on dim memories of reading the book as a teen]I thought this was one of the better Philip K. Dicks... there are some fine passages. Here's the one I found most memorable. The mad genius psychologist subjects the girl to aggressive deprogramming using total sensory deprivation, which destroys her personality. He then falls in love with her. She's not interested, but he persists.One night, the resistance movement sneak her out, replacing her with a replica robot. The next day, the psychologist resumes his amorous advances. The robot is even less interested than the girl was. Suddenly, the psychologist snaps. He clubs her over the head with the heavy bust of Freud he always keeps on his desk - as he believes, killing her."I didn't mean to do that," he says, shocked by his own action. Then he sees that she's a robot, moreover one that he's constructed himself. The next day, his staff discover his body next to that of the wrecked machine.I've always felt that Dick was saying something insightful here about a certain kind of pathological relationship._________________________________________[Update, May 2014]After seeing Not's review the other day, I felt compelled to reread this book, which I hadn't looked at since I was about 15. I was rather shocked to see how horribly written it was - Not is in no way exaggerating, and evidently my standards were deplorably low at the time. I was also surprised to learn that Dick's co-author Nelson had spent some time in Paris and got to know Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir and Boris Vian. All I can say is, at different times in your life you notice different things.
—Manny
Cover Art: A black fighter craft flying over some farmland.. kinda a cool ship, but not breathtaking or anything. Only very vaguely connected to the story... they did mention some scout planes and bombers and such.Plot: The Worm-like hive society of Ganymede has taken over the Earth, the last pocket of resistant is the 'Negro Partisans' of Tennessee under the leader of Percy X. Meanwhile, Percy's college girlfriend gets mixed up in the sensory deprivation experiments of Dr, Balkani. A plantation boss named Gus accidently finds a lost UN cache of super weapons and loses them to Percy, but these weapons are so terrible they cause the users to become paranoid schizophrenics.The new Gany ruler in charge of Tennessee becomes a fan of Dr. Balkani, and becomes obsessed with it's secrets, leading him to leave the hive mind and help Earth break free.What I thought: After starting the book, I'm pretty sure I've read it before, long ago (or at least tried to). This is defniitely an acid trip on paper... it's really weird. There's alot of stuff about letting go of life to live it and things of that nature. It could be I just didn't get it totally, but that wasn't the sense I got, really it's just a product of the last 60s ;)There were a couple of weird interludes too... one that gave us a couple page history of jazz music, and one that spent a good 5 pages on early 20th century war plane models (Which one of the aliens collected). Setting: The story takes place around 2040 or so.. so 75 or so years in the future at the time of writing. Earth had been conquered some time ago, as the Ganymedeans were sending a civilian governor to replace the military one. There's no mention of other aliens, space travel, or anything of that nature.Tech: Not much past the 60s, really. They have Vidphones (including cellphone-like pocket ones), but not computers to speak of. Lots of basic services seem to be run by low level AI (the hotel rooms and taxis, for instance), but it's really more Jetson-like than anything. There's still Microfilm for archiving documents, and Dr. Balkani writes his findings using a typewriter. There were a few things, though... the 'hell weapon' that the book was focused on was a psychic device of some sort that put the entire world into sensory deprivation.. the lesser weapons were basically green lantern rings.. they made thoughts become real. Unfortunately, the illusions made didn't go away right away, which made the users kinda crazy.The good guys seemed to have whatever they needed to fix things.. including X-Men style Image Inducers, and Robot Doubles.Odds and ends: They mention that Unisex clothes replaced gender specific fashions 'in the 90s' which was pretty funny. Though, after thinking about it, that's not an unreasonable extension of the feminist movement.It cracked me up that the people do the research on the mind weapons were the "World Psychadelic Council".. very appropriate. He was right on with marajuana cigarettes and meth pills, though. Not so on with the UN as the ruling body of the Earth (though LOTS of 60s and 70s Sci-Fi went with that)It was also really funny that the aliens made their own money, and took the time to research and put cultural icons on the money (which the characters in world hated)...a fun little detail :)
—Joe Santoro
Oggettivamente LA CONQUISTA DI GANIMEDE ,poteva venire meglio. C'è tutta la narrativa di Dick a cui siamo abituati, nonchè tutti i personaggi e gli oggetti assurdi tipici della narrazione Dickiana. Fonivid, simulacri, precog etc, etc. Cosa non convince? I personaggi paradossalmente. I dialoghi abbastanza sterili, poteva osare ma non ha osato. Tutto ruota intorno all'oblio, ala caducità della vita, alle menti comuni corrotte (chiara critica ad un comunismo fallimentare), ma anche ai leader dei movimenti emancipatori , il personagigo di Percy X è un chiaro riferimento a Malcolm X che operava negli anni in cui il romanzo è stato scritto. Una critica al bigottismo americano, del Tennesse dove è ambientata l'opera, dove i Neg (chiara abbreviazione della parola Negro, e lo so non si usa ma all'epoca di Dick non c'era nulla di strano). La ragazza dal Nulla, la yamato-americana che diventa oggetto sessuale ambito. Tanta carne al fuoco e quello che mi interessava sapere, ovvero la società Ganimediana, come si vive su Ganimede, delle descrizioni paesaggistiche di questo, il tutto messo in secondo piano a favore di iperboli mentali di cui capisco la critica, ma non comprendo la proposta. Una lettura godibile e sufficiente. 2-5 I capolavori di Dick Sono altri.
—Bellerofonte Chimeras
