Image by Pete Wesch, via Wikimedia Commons
Although he died when he was only 53 years old, Philip K. Dick (1928 – 1982) published 44 novels and 121 short stories during his lifetime and solidified his position as the most literary of science fiction writers. His novel Ubik appears on TIME magazine’s list of the 100 best English-language novels, and Dick is the only science fiction writer to get honored in the prestigious Library of America series, a kind of pantheon of American literature.
If you’re not intimately familiar with his novels, then you assuredly know major films based on Dick’s work – Blade Runner, Total Recall, A Scanner Darkly and Minority Report. Today, we bring you another way to get acquainted with his writing. We’re presenting a selection of Dick’s stories available for free on the web. Below we have culled together 33 short stories from our two collections, 800 Free eBooks for iPad, Kindle & Other Devices and 1,000 Free Audio Books: Download Great Books for Free. The stories, it appears, are all in the public domain.
NOTE: The recent update to this page was assisted by this helpful resource at SFF Audio, which has researched the public domain status of many PKD stories and amassed a handy list.
eTexts (find download instructions here)
- “Adjustment Team”
- “Beyond the Door”
- “Beyond Lies the Wub”
- “Breakfast at Twilight”
- “Exhibit Piece”
- “Foster You’re Dead”
- “Human Is”
- “James P. Crow”
- “Meddler”
- “Mr. Spaceship”
- “Piper in the Woods”
- “Progeny”
- “Prominent Author”
- “Sales Pitch”
- PDF – eText
- “Second Variety”
- “Shell Game”
- “Small Town”
- “Souvenir”
- “Survey Team”
- “The Crawlers”
- “The Crystal Crypt”
- “The Defenders”
- “The Eyes Have It”
- “The Golden Man”
- “The Gun”
- “The Hanging Stranger”
- “The Last of tbe Masters”
- “The Skull”
- “The Turning Wheel”
- “The Variable Man”
- “Tony and the Beetles”
- “Upon the Dull Earth”:
- “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale”
Audio
- “Beyond Lies the Wub” – Free MP3
- “Beyond the Door” – Free MP3
- “Second Variety” – Free MP3 Zip File – Stream Online
- “The Defenders” – Free MP3
- “The Hanging Stranger” – Free MP3
- “The Variable Man” – Free MP3 Zip File – Stream Online
- “Tony and the Beetles” – MP3 Part 1 – MP3 Part II
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You can also find an audio dramatization of PKD’s “Beyond Lies the Wub” at radioprojectx.com. Enjoy!
You can add “Adjustment Team” to the list of Philip K. Dick stories in the public domain in the United States that are available on the web.
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Adjustment_Team
I’m Thomas:
http://accordingtojudas.com/prologue
First, Library of America has published other sf writers. Second, most literary of sf writers? bwa ha ha ha ha….
So, where’s the “download all” button? Did I miss it? maybe I scanned through too quickly? You must be insane, if you expect people to download one by one. You’re totally blowing your credibility, if that’s what you expect!
Geez, Charles, I hope you’re joking. How lazy can you be?
This is great.
I’ve read a goodly number of PKD’s work already, but not all. Which of the above are the best?
where can I download these files so I can listen to them when I am out and about on my MP3 player?
The reading of “The Defenders” was ruined for me by the voice of the lead-ies. I’m all for throwing some effects into audiobooks but that particular effect was really abrasive and made it hard to understand the dialogue.
I have always loved PKD’s magnificent work…I have often wondered about an alternate version of “BLADERUNNER” (Which, understand, is as perfect as perfect can be) directed.by Ridley S. Artistic director GIGER…that really would have been something a bit frightening to say the least. Cheers!