As science fiction fans prepare to descend upon WorldCon next weekend, fans and researchers of author Philip K. Dick have staged their own celebration of the genre at Cal State Fullerton.<\/p>\n
The fourth annual Philip K. Dick Festival took place Aug. 20-23, splitting locations between the CSUF Pollak Library and the nearby Fullerton Marriott, a change from the festival\u2019s previous meeting grounds located in Colorado.<\/p>\n
The convention\u2019s namesake stems from sci-fi writer Dick, who was born in 1928 and died in 1982. Over the course of his career, he was the author of 36 novels as well as five volumes of short stories, most notably the 1977 \u201cA Scanner Darkly\u201d and \u201cDo Androids Dream of Electric Sleep?,\u201d which was published in 1968. This novel would go on to inspire the 1982 \u201cBlade Runner\u201d franchise.<\/p>\n
Dick\u2019s work garnered him a devoted and international fanbase who host biannual festivals in honor of the writer\u2019s legacy. The fan base also meets online weekly to discuss his books and ideas at length.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His fans have made newsletters, zines, anthologies and podcasts over the decades to create an evolving community of writers and readers influenced by Dick and his life’s work alike.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was more like a philosopher who used science fiction to communicate philosophical ideas. And that\u2019s why you have this wide swab of people who have come from multiple countries to be here,\u201d said author and event organizer David Agranoff. \u201cWe\u2019re very inspired by his work and as a writer Phil is the biggest influence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although the writer was born in Chicago and spent the majority of his life in Northern California, Dick spent the last decade of his life in Orange County at the invitation of CSUF professor Willis McNelly.<\/p>\n
Dick left his manuscripts and papers to the university\u2019s archives after his death for future students to observe and study. His works are currently a part of the larger Willis E. McNelly Science Fiction Collection in the Pollak Library archives and special collections.<\/p>\n
The convention\u2019s first day opened cheerily with a meet and greet at the nearby Marriott\u2019s hotel bar, followed by a \u201cPKD in Orange County\u201d trivia panel hosted by Langhorne J. Tweed and Agranoff, the host of the \u201cDickHeads Podcast.\u201d<\/p>\n
During Friday\u2019s activities, festival attendees could visit the Pollak Library to view some of Dick\u2019s manuscripts housed in the university\u2019s archives.<\/p>\n
Each presentation tailored to sci-fi fans, physics fans, political science fans and the like dissected Dick\u2019s work from a specific angle or perspective, in lectures such as \u201cInside Dick\u2019s Head: A Psychospiritual Portrait,\u201d \u201cPKD and Quantum Theology\u201d and \u201cThe Conquest of Death and the Divine Afterlife.\u201d Each lecture painted the writer\u2019s legacy in a way that was specific to each fan\u2019s area of expertise.<\/p>\n
Friday also brought five student presentations discussing Dick\u2019s work from various lenses, including his depiction of female characters and how his work relates to current topics of discussion such as generative artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n
English graduate student Alli Lappin Dubin, who presented one of the student papers featured at the festival, spoke to the significance of Dick\u2019s writing on a personal level.<\/p>\n
\u201cPKD really is so good at exploring the existential questions that kind of plague the voice in the back of your mind, he\u2019s that voice,\u201d Dubin said. \u201cAll of his novels, not just the one that I wrote about, really have this thread of the individual versus the state and how that kind of fractures your sense of self.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dubin\u2019s paper, \u201cTaking Donna Back: Gender and Sexuality in A Scanner Darkly,\u201d explored Donna, a female character in \u201cA Scanner Darkly,\u201d who specifically sparked conversation about Dick\u2019s portrayal of women compared to his treatment of women in his personal life.<\/p>\n
To close out its penultimate day, and commonly the convention\u2019s last full day, the festival hosted an inaugural award ceremony, wherein they gave four \u201cPink Beam\u201d awards to recognize the Best in Show, Best Book, Best Paper and Lifetime Achievement in Philip K. Dick Research, which was awarded to Lord Running Clam, a longtime member of the community and the individual who began hosting the Philip K. Dick Festival.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s festival concluded on Sunday with an OC caravan car tour of notable OC locations that Dick lived in or frequented during his time spent in the area.<\/p>\n
The 2028 festival will take place in Berkeley and will recognize the year where Dick spent his youth and early career. Additionally, they will celebrate this as the year that Dick would have celebrated his 100 birthday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As science fiction fans prepare to descend upon WorldCon next weekend, fans and researchers of author Philip K.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":442840,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,8009,175418,172538,172539,46117],"class_list":["post-442839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-convention","tag-fullerton-marriott","tag-philip-k-dick","tag-pollak-library","tag-sci-fi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=442839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442839\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/442840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=442839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=442839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=442839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}