Part 17 Philip K Dick 1971 Interview
James Holmes: Well, what would you, as an epitaph to your life, what would you.
Philip K. Dick: Wait a minute, no sir. Somebody else will have to do that, I’m not going to do that. Some guy, this is what you’re supposed to do, you’re supposed to actually write your obit and submit it in advance, presumably at birth to your agent so that they won’t have to fuss around and I’m not going to do that. I refuse to. They’ll have to, I can’t do everything man. They have to do part of it. I could write ‘He died without having written anything’ and disappeared without his name even being known and that seems like the show I’m on, how are they going to print that ‘Unknown nonexistent writer fails to succumb to a merely hysterical illness. Now we used to kid around with this girl that was going to get an abortion that if her pregnancy was hysterical then she could pay for the abortion with nonexistent money that is hysterical money and so forth and so forth. No I’m not going to write my own epitaph. I can’t spell it right, I get it mixed up with epithet. You can put on my gravestone ‘He ran out of things to say’ in Latin. No, I’m not going to do that.
James Holmes: You’re a great man as well.
Philip K. Dick: To look up Latin words in.
James Holmes: Right. But you don’t know what you are seeking?
Philip K. Dick: Well no, I don’t say a few words in Latin and look them up. I just don’t know Latin except when I take certain medicinal elements that increase my brain, my metabolism. Then I speak and write in Latin, otherwise I don’t. But once in a while when reading a book, you know the “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”, I find footnotes saying what they really did was as follows and then it’s in Latin so I’ve got to look it up. Takes a long time but it’s very interesting. That is a very fine book. Want me to look up a word for you? There’s one they don’t give me a definition for.
James Holmes: There’s one where they print the definition in Greek?
Philip K. Dick: No they’ve just given the word; there’s no definition at all. It’s published in English these days but it couldn’t be in there. Should I lay the word on you?
James Holmes: Yeah
Philip K. Dick: Ah, I’m not gonna.
James Holmes: Turn right at Banff and I’ll show it to the teddy bear.
Philip K. Dick: OK, there it is. I’ll read it off.
James Holmes: OK. Got it?
Philip K. Dick: Mm hmm. Think we should say it aloud?
James. Holmes: I don’t know.
Philip K. Dick: Better not, man.
James Holmes: Yeah
Philip K. Dick: I’ll say it in Latin. No we’ll say it in English. You know it mystified me why they would include it, you know, if they didn’t define it. I’m going to write in my own definition.
James Holmes: Is there anything to say?
Philip K. Dick: Mm hmm. It’s even, the declension or whatever they give is there too for it. It’s a feminine declension. Consists of a prefix…nah. It’s like, you know, answers before the question. I think it was L. Sprague deCamp who did a whole novel with dialogue that people didn’t say. And then there’s a bunch of, you know, lines he didn’t say angrily. And that was the dialogue. You know, like answers before the question. Like I’ll say “No”…we were talking about that…I’ll say “No” and then you propound the question after that. Like, well, “Will Jesus Christ be remembered after his lifespan?”. I put that in that children’s’ story that I just finished. Where this guy’s given up trying to figure out what questions to ask Him, states and answer with no question and then waits for somebody to propound the question. Like why did you give that answer? It’s better on paper but I can’t find it; it’s in there with all those other things I was going to quote.
James Holmes: Do you use tranks?
Philip K. Dick: Only when prescribed by a physician who’s in his right mind and is in good standing with the AMA. And only from a pharmacy that pays its bills on time and buys its materials from ethical houses, and I get to carry the packages between the ethical house and the pharmacy. I don’t accept free samples even from doctors. The doctor might die of a stroke before I got home, have a hell of a time explaining why I have 8,000 stelazine tablets that say “for professional use only”. Mine is amateurish. No, and I don’t take anything now really. I used to take a lot of tranquilizers, you know like I had…at one time prescriptions for 10 different tranquilizers and I took them all. It cost me $150.00/month and all it did was dim my acuity to the point where I continued to refill the prescriptions. Finally, I ran out of money, couldn’t pay my bill, they wouldn’t refill them and I woke up and realized I was being shucked out of $150.00/month. Now I don’t take anything unless somebody lays it on me and it’s sterile water or inert salts. And even then I want it certified by the, whoever it is that pure food and drug people. The less of that stuff you take, the better.
James Holmes: What do you think of waterbeds?
Philip K. Dick: Depends on who’s in them. What do you think of waterbeds?
James Holmes: I like them.
Philip K. Dick: You turned on by waterbeds?
James Holmes: No
Philip K. Dick: Hey well what is the advantage? In winter do they freeze, do you put antifreeze .somebody said like slime grows on them, you know green…is that true?
James Holmes: I’ve heard it.
Philip K. Dick: Well who’d want something like that around the house? You’d have to chlorinate your waterbed, like oxygenate the water, heat……
James Holmes: Putting fish in there..
Philip K. Dick: putting in antifreeze. I don’t understand it. What is the turn-on part, you know because like I sat down the other day over at a chick’s house on something that had a paisley shawl over it and it quaked and undulated sexually and she says “Don’t run in fear, that’s a waterbed”. I says “Whatever it is, you know, I don’t like it. It’s animate but it isn’t. I kind of looked at her and she just sank.
James Holmes: She didn’t do anything to help you change your mind?
Philip K. Dick: No. No fucking room on it.
James Holmes: Too bad
Philip K. Dick: Babe’s still sitting there right now I guess. In fact I know a chick who’s got a waterbed put aside for her in her hope chest along with 800 Pepsi Cola bottle tops and the empty Pepsi….no she turned those in for the deposit. There’s no water in it, I guess she’s going to fill it up later on. Paid $40.00 for it….I don’t know what the purpose of it is. It’s just one of those metaphysical realities that Kafka wrote about that is beyond my ability to comprehend.
James Holmes: Do you have any problem with science fiction groupies?
Philip K. Dick: You mean a fen?
James Holmes: Feminine fans at science fiction conventions.
Philip K. Dick: Yes
James Holmes: Do you have any…Is it usual or
Philip K. Dick: Yep, the usual.
James Holmes: Are you the father of any illegitimate science fiction writers?
Philip K. Dick: As many as I know about. And as far as I know, I don’t know of any…Well how old would they be, my friend? Let’s see now. Ron Goulart was the same age as me and he was very young. Lay it on me, is there something I don’t know because, like, I was 19….no I don’t see how I could be. Turn off the technology because…. would you repeat that question; don’t rephrase it, just repeat it.
James Holmes: I don’t know whether I can repeat it.
Philip K. Dick: Well you said it once, I’m sure you can say it again.
James Holmes: Well, I can say it again but I might rephrase it.
Philip K. Dick: Well I’ll rephrase it then the way it was said? “Are you the father of any illegitimate science fiction writers?”
James Holmes: Yeah
Philip K. Dick: Who’s good in the field now that’s very young?
James Holmes: Uh, Chip Delany.
Philip K. Dick: And what color is he?
James Holmes: Oh he’s black.
Philip K. Dick: I’m his father.
James Holmes: Well, you should be very proud.
Philip K. Dick: I am. He’s a very fine writer. In fact his name is attached to one of these novels that I really enjoyed through my publication Sunshine 24. Yes, Babel 17.
James Holmes: Unfortunately that seems to be listed at Number 9, very low..
Philip K. Dick: We’ll change that. Well, you know you can put them wherever you want. They all get read during the year. Yeah, Chip Delany is a very fine writer. I didn’t realize he was black. I’ve talked to him. Is he black all the time or just, you know, during…
James Holmes: Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
Philip K. Dick: Oh, he’s a good writer, and very handsome too you know – striking profile. Large cranium…worry lines, you know. I’m going to have to reread everything he’s written now. He is really very fine. Who else is young and very good?
James Holmes: Ummm
Philip K. Dick: And who are their mothers, that would ….
James Holmes: I was just wondering if you and Judith Merrill.
Philip K. Dick: OH ! If you ask Judith Merrill the answer was “No” five times and “Yes” on the sixth time. If you ask me the answer was “No” 4,000 times, and there were no further questions. No, Judith Merrill – she’s 1922 now…no, that would have been really past menopause, it would have been impossible. See, I was 19 too, no I was past menopause even then. So biologically it could not have happened.
James Holmes: What do you think about modern music? Anything?
Philip K. Dick: What do you mean by “modern music”?
James Holmes: Oh, rock, rock and roll.
Philip K. Dick: I think it is a barbaric Communist assault designed to weaken the integrity of American youth. And next time I see Grace Slick I’m going to tell her that and pray on the name of the Holy Bible she stop singing those songs and sing hymns. And I know what Grace Slick will say when I say that, too. Same thing she said last time I told her that.
James Holmes: What did she say?
Philip K. Dick: Well you know how she talks? She’s reading a book of mine with the idea of playing a role in the book when it’s made into a film.
James Holmes: Oh, are you going to have one made into a film?
Philip K. Dick: No, that’s somebody else’s, some producer’s.
James Holmes: Which one?
Philip K. Dick: A small experimental outfit that spun off of CBS TV. They tied up the property while they were with CBS and now they’ve tied it up independently.
James Holmes: Which book are they going to make into a movie?
Philip K. Dick: “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” and she’s reading the book, or was reading it with the idea of playing the role of Priscilla the Android.
James Holmes: Are you going to write the screenplay?
Philip K. Dick. I hope so. I asked for her in the role as she was interested, so a mutual friend turned the book over to her and asked her to read it. Last I heard she was walking off with the book. She would be ideal for that. She is marvelous. I really admire her. I don’t admire the book very much, actually, but I really….she would do something for that book, she would make that character into something really great, really human.
James Holmes: Have you ever thought you were God?
Continued in:
Part 18 Philip K Dick 1971 Interview