Penultimate Dick-heads

Final thoughts on the FEST: It was a small gathering, but what we lacked in number we compensated for in knowledge and commitment. In other words, QUALITY not quantity, baby! The creme de la creme of PKD fans and scholars were there. For you non-Dicks, The Penultimate Truth is the title of one of Phil's novels. One 'zine writer (Perry Kinman) came from Japan! Frank Hollander, the penultimate PKD collector, came from Seattle. Some made the pilgrimage to the grave site at Fort Morgan (a few hours from Nederland.) Long-time fans came from Minnesota (Patrick Clark) and Missouri (Laura Entwhistle.) There were scholars: Sam Umland from Nebraska, several from California, including the dynamic duo of Gill and Davis. And others from Colorado and the great Southwest. Between the fest, my pre-release party, promo copies and sales, at least 65 FDO copies are now in circulation. I even sold one at a rest stop on I-25 (thanks to my van window screen ad.)

In an interview, Michael Bishop (who wrote my favorite PKD homage The Secret Ascension ) once said:

Philip K. Dick didn't write science fiction at all. He wrote vividly dramatized and paranoiacally imagined narratives about his own bodily involvement in, and psychic estrangement from, the major U.S. cultural neuroses of the 1950s, 1960s, and early 1970s... I would even go so far as to say that Dick was a mainstream novelist wholly successfully disguising himself as a science fiction writer.

So, in a way, it's hard to imagine how the festival could have been any better. All of us who attended are glad we did and feel like a secret society of Penultimate Dick-heads. Shhh, we have a secret meeting place, too. FDO on Fbook ;) More pics are posted there. OH, and Please don't forget to send your feedback on the FDO edition. You can email, tweet (#aksbook), call, or post on the Errata Sheet. Just send it no later than Labor Day, as I edit the final edition. Thanks again.