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
Variable Man' is a novella about a war between the people of the Terran
System and that of Proxima Centauri. 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.
