A Short Story Review: Recall Mechanism, Philip K. Dick (1959)
February 6, 2011 § 2 Comments
First publication for 'Recall Mechanism', If, July 1959
4/5 (Very Good)
“In the privacy of his living room, he sat dully examining a series of reports on carrot mutations.”
Paul Sharp files reports on what to rebuild in the swathes of H-bomb blasted California landscape for the Division of War Destruction Salvage… Sharp’s yet another anxiety-ridden citizen attending the Pysch Front for therapy — he has a type of hallucination triggered by walking up steps that spins out of control. Humphreys, an analyst for the Pysch Front, attempts to treat him. But the cause of his trauma is from six months in the future…
Philip K. Dick, as always, is adept at creating his iconic post-war California with a series of unusual images: the Detroit Rat and its webs, mutated carrots and the accompanying diseases, bombed eucalyptus groves… ’Recall Mechanism’ is most interesting (in regards to the continuity of the PKD canon) for its discussion of the origins of one of PKD’s central themes — precognition and its practitioners, precogs.
Definitely worth finding/reading!
I am going to have to look for this one. I’ve only read Dick’s major works and I’ve been meaning to check out his others.
Have you read PKD’s novel Martian Time-Slip? It’s absolutely underrated and one of my favorites of his. Up there with his best (in my opinion).