This early work by Philip K. Dick was originally published in 1953 and
we are now republishing it with a brand new introductory biography. 'The
Hanging Stranger' is a short story about a man who finds a dead stranger
hanging from a lamp post and begins to realise that his town is not what
he thought it was. Philip Kindred Dick was born on December 16 1928, in
Chicago, Illinois. Dick and his family moved to the Bay Area of San
Francisco when he was young, and later on to Washington DC following his
parents divorce. Dick attended Elementary school and then a Quaker
school before the family moved back to California. It was around this
time that Dick began to take an active interest in the science fiction
genre, reading his first magazine 'Stirring Science Stories', at age
twelve. Dick married five times between 1959 and 1973, and had three
children. He sold his first story in 1951 and from that point on he
wrote full-time, selling his first novel in 1955. In addition to 44
published novels, Dick wrote an estimated 121 short stories, most of
which appeared in science fiction magazines during his lifetime. In
addition to 44 published novels, Dick wrote an estimated 121 short
stories, most of which appeared in science fiction magazines during his
lifetime. After his death, many of his stories made the transition to
the big screen, with blockbuster films such as Blade Runner, Total
Recall and Minority Report being based on his works.
