THE SIMULACRA

American Editions


From the back cover of the 1964 Ace edition

his is a novel of some very extraordinary people in the very extraordinary world of the 21st Century. They include a striking beauty who had ruled the White House for nearly a century, a pianist who played without touching the keyboard, the world's last practicing psychiatrist, a rabblerousing time traveler, and a host of other men, women, simulacra, "chuppers," and conniving things, aU meshed together in an intricately plotted novel of idea and counter-idea, action and reaction. It's a Philip K. Dick story of the future, a steady pyrotechnic display such as has made its author a top-rated Hugo winner.


From the back cover of the 1964 Ace edition

The 21 st Century. It was a shifting, shadowy and extraordinary world. . . and very dangerous. Most people, as in the present, were content to survive and grab what little pleasure they could. But there were others who cunningly played the deadly game of world mastery. . . . There was the incredible beauty who had ruled the White House for nearly a century, the world's last practicing psychiatrist, a psychokinetic pianist, the time traveler, the simulacra, and the "chuppers".


From the back cover of the Vintage edition

Set in the middle of the twenty-first century, The Simulacra is the story of an America where the whole government is a fraud and the President is an android. Against this backdrop Dr. Superb, the sole remaining psychotherapist, is struggling to practice in a world full of the maladjusted. Ian Duncan is desperately in love with the first lady, Nicole Thibideaux, who he has never met. Richard Kongrosian refuses to see anyone because he is convinced his body odor is lethal. And the fascistic Bertold Goltz is trying to overthrow the government. With wonderful aplomb, Philip K. Dick brings this story to a crashing conclusion and in classic fashion shows there is always another layer of conspiracy beneath the one we see.