WE CAN REMEMBER IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE
A short story by Philip K. Dick - Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux on Patreon.
“We Can Remember It for You Wholesale” is a science fiction short story written by the late author Philip K. Dick and first published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (April 1966 issue). The story has been republished several times in book collections, most recently in Selected Stories of Philip K. Dick (2002), which is where I read it (although I first read this story in another book collection back in the 1990s).
“We Can Remember It for You Wholesale” was loosely adapted into the 1990 Arnold Schwarzenegger film, Total Recall, which was directed by Paul Verhoeven. That film is the subject of a 2012 remake starring Colin Farrell and directed by Len Wiseman.
“We Can Remember It for You Wholesale” takes place sometime in an indeterminate future in which humans have traveled to Mars and colonized the planet. The story hints or suggests that some of the rest of the solar system has also been visited by humans and perhaps colonized.
The story focuses on Douglas Quail, a nobody clerk and salaried employee. Quail yearns to travel to Mars the way other men might yearn to bed a pageant queen. His wife, a harpy-type named Kirsten, is not interested in traveling to Mars, but does agree that her wimpy husband needs adventure. Quail knows that he cannot afford a trip to Mars, which is expensive, not to mention that few people are even allowed to visit the planet.
Quail visits Rekal Incorporated, a company that offers “extra-factual memory implants.” These memories, which are implanted into the customer’s brain, are more real than real memories because implanted memories don’t fade away. Quail’s extra-factual memory package includes an adventure on Mars in which he is an agent for the Interplan Police Agency. However, something goes wrong during the memory implant, when Rekal discovers that there is more to Quail’s memories than they or even he realized.
I’ve found Philip K. Dick to be one of the most imaginative science fiction authors (and one of the most imaginative authors, in general) that I have ever encountered. I think his best work is found in his novels, but in his short stories, Dick presented seemingly countless inventive scenarios.
“We Can Remember It for You Wholesale” presents a familiar theme in Dick’s work: how the human mind struggles with shifting realities. Usually, a lead character will find himself trying to discern which is the real reality or which is his reality. Another familiar theme is man vs. bureaucracy or man vs. man (individual or organized) that act in opposition to the protagonist. In this story, Quail’s desires and yearnings to both visit Mars and to have a more fulfilling life runs up against the reality of a disapproving wife, his finances, Rekal, and Interplan.
I don’t want to spoil this story for anyone who has not yet read it or who have read it and don’t remember the details. However, I must say that the scenes in which the Rekal operatives find themselves confronted by the secrets Quail’s memories hold make this story worth reading. It is classic Philip K. Dick – the little guy fighting and even striking back at the forces gathered against him.
B+
Friday, August 3, 2012
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Review: SLAM DUNK Volume 23
SLAM DUNK, VOL. 23
VIZ MEDIA
CARTOONIST: Takehiko Inoue
TRANSLATION: Joe Yamazaki
ENGLISH ADAPTATION: Stan!
LETTERS: James Gaubatz
COVER: Takehiko Inoue with Matt Hinrichs
ISBN: 978-1-4215-3329-2; paperback; Rated “T” for “Teen”
192pp, B&W, $9.99 U.S., $12.99 CAN
Takehiko Inoue, born in 1967 in Okuchi, Kagoshima, Japan, is an acclaimed manga artist and creator. His most famous work, Slam Dunk, which focuses on a high school basketball team, was serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump in Japan from 1990 to 1996. Slam Dunk was so popular that it apparently helped popularize basketball in Japan and East Asia.
Slam Dunk focuses on the Shohoku Prefecture High School basketball team, which has the dedication and discipline it takes to be the best. Takenori Akagi, team captain and starting center, dreams of making it to the finals of Nationals, but, as a third year (essentially a senior), this is his last shot at a championship. But to win, hotshot freshmen, like superstar Kaede Rukawa and basketball novice, Hanamichi Sakuragi, must learn to play together as a team. If winning isn’t everything, why is second place less desirable than first place?
As Slam Dunk, Vol. 23 (entitled A Rank vs. C Rank) opens, Shohoku High has made it to Nationals. They arrive in Hiroshima City with being champions on their minds. But the team is in for a shock. The magazine, “Weekly Basketball,” has Shohoku High listed as a “C” rank team, while their opening round opponents are “A” rank. Speaking of opponents, their opening round opponent is Toyotama High from the Osaka region. Toyotama is a scoring machine, and Shohoku is about to run right into the buzz saw of a run-and-gun team. Can they keep up or come up with a winning strategy?
Recent volumes of the Slam Dunk manga have focused on the action of individual basketball games between Shohoku and their opponents. Volume 22 was a change of pace, in which creator Takehiko Inoue offered readers character drama These vignettes that opened up windows into the various characters’ pasts as either basketball players or as some other kind of participant in the game.
Volume 23 returns to the hard court. Just as other such volumes have, Vol. 23 reveals Inoue’s love for and knowledge of the sport. As one of the world’s great manga artists and comic book creators, Inoue perfectly captures basketball, a game in motion, in still images that seem to move on the very page on which they appear and sometimes seem to shiver over to the next page. Inoue’s grasp of the figure in motion and his ability to depict and to pose bodies in action is high art.
A
VIZ MEDIA
CARTOONIST: Takehiko Inoue
TRANSLATION: Joe Yamazaki
ENGLISH ADAPTATION: Stan!
LETTERS: James Gaubatz
COVER: Takehiko Inoue with Matt Hinrichs
ISBN: 978-1-4215-3329-2; paperback; Rated “T” for “Teen”
192pp, B&W, $9.99 U.S., $12.99 CAN
Takehiko Inoue, born in 1967 in Okuchi, Kagoshima, Japan, is an acclaimed manga artist and creator. His most famous work, Slam Dunk, which focuses on a high school basketball team, was serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump in Japan from 1990 to 1996. Slam Dunk was so popular that it apparently helped popularize basketball in Japan and East Asia.
Slam Dunk focuses on the Shohoku Prefecture High School basketball team, which has the dedication and discipline it takes to be the best. Takenori Akagi, team captain and starting center, dreams of making it to the finals of Nationals, but, as a third year (essentially a senior), this is his last shot at a championship. But to win, hotshot freshmen, like superstar Kaede Rukawa and basketball novice, Hanamichi Sakuragi, must learn to play together as a team. If winning isn’t everything, why is second place less desirable than first place?
As Slam Dunk, Vol. 23 (entitled A Rank vs. C Rank) opens, Shohoku High has made it to Nationals. They arrive in Hiroshima City with being champions on their minds. But the team is in for a shock. The magazine, “Weekly Basketball,” has Shohoku High listed as a “C” rank team, while their opening round opponents are “A” rank. Speaking of opponents, their opening round opponent is Toyotama High from the Osaka region. Toyotama is a scoring machine, and Shohoku is about to run right into the buzz saw of a run-and-gun team. Can they keep up or come up with a winning strategy?
Recent volumes of the Slam Dunk manga have focused on the action of individual basketball games between Shohoku and their opponents. Volume 22 was a change of pace, in which creator Takehiko Inoue offered readers character drama These vignettes that opened up windows into the various characters’ pasts as either basketball players or as some other kind of participant in the game.
Volume 23 returns to the hard court. Just as other such volumes have, Vol. 23 reveals Inoue’s love for and knowledge of the sport. As one of the world’s great manga artists and comic book creators, Inoue perfectly captures basketball, a game in motion, in still images that seem to move on the very page on which they appear and sometimes seem to shiver over to the next page. Inoue’s grasp of the figure in motion and his ability to depict and to pose bodies in action is high art.
A
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Top Shelf and Knockabout Announce New Alan Moore Tome, "Unearthing"
Announcing Alan Moore's UNEARTHING exclusive signed & numbered pre-order
Top Shelf Productions and Knockabout Comics are truly pleased to announce a project several years in the making: a sumptuous new book from Alan Moore, serving as a biography of his close friend and mentor Steve Moore (no relation), a history of London, a mystical journey, and a tribute to human imagination. Called by The New York Times a "poetic and densely allusive text," Unearthing has now been transformed by Alan Moore and photographer Mitch Jenkins into a stunning narrative art-book.
And while UNEARTHING will be offered in the upcoming October Diamond Previews in two incredible editions, to help fund the production of this enormous expensive work of art, the creators have graciously agreed to an exclusive third edition incorporating a letterpress bookplate, hand-signed & numbered by Alan Moore and Mitch Jenkins, limited to 300 copies worldwide. These 300 Signed & Numbered “double-sized hardcover” copies are being pre-sold (starting today), as a Top Shelf website exclusive. By pre-ordering one today, you’ll not only be able to secure one of these rare Signed & Numbered editions, but you will also have done your part to help to get this gorgeous project off the ground.
Pre-order one now.
Here’s what people are already saying about UNEARTHING!
“A tribute to a colleague and mentor and a demonstration that Moore has transcended the boundaries of the graphic novel.” -- The New York Times
"Steve Moore, who lives in the same room he was born in 61 years earlier, is a living metaphor for the history, geography and geology of Shooter's Hill and a conduit to the Greek gods and spiritual manifestations... Is it great art? Yes!" -- N.M.E.
“The men of Unearthing are only marginally of this plane of existence, and what they’ve created is positively out of this world.” -- The AV Club
And here are more details on this monumental project!
One of the world’s foremost authors of the fantastic, Alan Moore, joins internationally esteemed photographer Mitch Jenkins for an unprecedented visual and literary experience.
An intensely poetic and innovative work of biography, Unearthing maps the lifetime of author, orientalist and occultist Steve Moore, while simultaneously investigating the extraordinary history of South London with which that life has been intertwined. Integrating text with haunting and exquisite imagery, Unearthing excavates a territory at the margins of a city, of reality, and of human imagination.
Starting life in Iain Sinclair’s seminal anthology LONDON: City of Disappearances, this dazzling and hypnotic piece has evolved through a series of live performances and acclaimed recordings, culminating in this breathtaking full-color volume.
UNEARTHING by Alan Moore & Mitch Jenkins
Three formats will be produced: a deluxe softcover edition, a special double-sized hardcover edition (limited to 1500 copies), and a special signed & numbered double-sized hardcover edition (limited to 300 copies worldwide).
UNEARTHING Signed & Numbered Edition
-- Web Exclusive (Pre-Order Now)
-- Double-Sized Hardcover Edition w/S&N Bookplate
-- Limited to 300 copies worldwide
-- 184 pages • 11.75” x 16.5” (A3 size!) • $99.00
-- ISBN 978-1-60309-150-3 • For mature readers (18+)
-- Scheduled for December 2012
UNEARTHING Double-Sized Hardcover Edition
-- Limited to 1,500 copies worldwide
-- 184 pages • 11.75” x 16.5” (A3 size!) • $74.95
-- ISBN 978-1-60309-150-3 • For mature readers (18+)
-- Scheduled for December 2012
-- Will be featured in the October Diamond Previews
UNEARTHING Deluxe softcover edition with French flaps
-- 184 pages • 8.5” x 11.75” (A4 size) • $29.95
-- ISBN 978-1-60309-151-0 • For mature readers (18+)
-- Scheduled for December 2012
-- Will be featured in the October Diamond Previews
Thanks in advance for all your support of this amazing project!
Your friend thru comics,
Chris Staros
Complete Archives of "The Comics Journal" Now Online
THE COMPLETE COMICS JOURNAL ARCHIVES JOIN THE UNDERGROUND AND INDEPENDENT COMICS ARCHIVE FROM ALEXANDER STREET PRESS
July 31st, 2012 – Seattle, WA — Fantagraphics Books, publisher of The Comics Journal, has announced a partnership with Alexander Street Press to make the complete archive of the The Comics Journal available as part of its Underground and Independent Comics online collection. This is the first-ever scholarly online collection for researchers and students of literary and underground comic books and graphic novels, and the inclusion of more than 25,000 pages of interviews, commentary, theory and criticism from the 35 year history of The Comics Journal marks a significant contribution to the academic study of the comics form.
“Most back issues of The Comics Journal are sold out and unavailable,” says Comics Journal founder and Fantagraphics President Gary Groth. “This will allow academics, critics, and historians access to the magazine that's covered the widest range of cartooning for the longest period of time. We believe Alexander Street Press' project serves an important cultural function and we're very pleased to be part of it.”
The Underground and Independent Comics online collection covers the works that inspired the first underground comix from the 1960s (such as works by Basil Wolverton and Harvey Kurtzman), to the first generation of underground cartoonists (including R. Crumb, Gilbert Shelton, Spain Rodriguez and many others) and encompasses modern sequential artists like Gilbert Hernandez, Jaime Hernandez and Daniel Clowes, with over 75,000 pages of comics from the 1950s to present. With the inclusion of The Comics Journal archives, scholars can now similarly trace the roots of comics criticism and have access to the Journal’s incomparable oral history of the field.
Institutions who have already subscribed or purchased the archive include the Library of Congress, British Library, Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Notre Dame and many others.
Comics have become an increasingly popular area of academic study, and yet the typical library has only a small selection of graphic novels in the catalog. Underground and Independent Comics solves this problem, collecting thousands of comics and related texts in one, easy-to-use online collection. With multiple combinable search fields, users can sort the materials in the collection by type, coloring, publication date, writer, penciler, inker, character, genre, publisher and more. Scholarship never before possible is now just a few keystrokes away.
“The chance to have access to 100,000 pages of underground and new wave comics in ways that were unimaginable a short time ago should change the face of comics research completely.” — James Danky, faculty of the School of Journalism and Mass Communications, University of Wisconsin-Madison
July 31st, 2012 – Seattle, WA — Fantagraphics Books, publisher of The Comics Journal, has announced a partnership with Alexander Street Press to make the complete archive of the The Comics Journal available as part of its Underground and Independent Comics online collection. This is the first-ever scholarly online collection for researchers and students of literary and underground comic books and graphic novels, and the inclusion of more than 25,000 pages of interviews, commentary, theory and criticism from the 35 year history of The Comics Journal marks a significant contribution to the academic study of the comics form.
“Most back issues of The Comics Journal are sold out and unavailable,” says Comics Journal founder and Fantagraphics President Gary Groth. “This will allow academics, critics, and historians access to the magazine that's covered the widest range of cartooning for the longest period of time. We believe Alexander Street Press' project serves an important cultural function and we're very pleased to be part of it.”
The Underground and Independent Comics online collection covers the works that inspired the first underground comix from the 1960s (such as works by Basil Wolverton and Harvey Kurtzman), to the first generation of underground cartoonists (including R. Crumb, Gilbert Shelton, Spain Rodriguez and many others) and encompasses modern sequential artists like Gilbert Hernandez, Jaime Hernandez and Daniel Clowes, with over 75,000 pages of comics from the 1950s to present. With the inclusion of The Comics Journal archives, scholars can now similarly trace the roots of comics criticism and have access to the Journal’s incomparable oral history of the field.
Institutions who have already subscribed or purchased the archive include the Library of Congress, British Library, Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Notre Dame and many others.
Comics have become an increasingly popular area of academic study, and yet the typical library has only a small selection of graphic novels in the catalog. Underground and Independent Comics solves this problem, collecting thousands of comics and related texts in one, easy-to-use online collection. With multiple combinable search fields, users can sort the materials in the collection by type, coloring, publication date, writer, penciler, inker, character, genre, publisher and more. Scholarship never before possible is now just a few keystrokes away.
“The chance to have access to 100,000 pages of underground and new wave comics in ways that were unimaginable a short time ago should change the face of comics research completely.” — James Danky, faculty of the School of Journalism and Mass Communications, University of Wisconsin-Madison
August (2012) Reads You
It is August 2012 so... Welcome to I Reads You! This is my blog about the things I read: mostly comic books, comics, and related books. Sometimes, I’ll write about or link to other topics: typically books, politics, and entertainment.
I’m Leroy Douresseaux, and I have another blog: www.negromancer.com. I also write for the Comic Book Bin (which also has smart phones apps and comics).
All images and text appearing on this blog are copyright © and/or trademark their respective owners.
I’m Leroy Douresseaux, and I have another blog: www.negromancer.com. I also write for the Comic Book Bin (which also has smart phones apps and comics).
All images and text appearing on this blog are copyright © and/or trademark their respective owners.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
DC Comics from Diamond Distributors for August 1 2012
DC COMICS
JUN120164 ACTION COMICS #12 $3.99
JUN120167 ACTION COMICS #12 COMBO PACK $4.99
MAY120312 AMAZINGLY STUPID MAD TP $12.99
JUN120206 ANIMAL MAN #12 $2.99
MAY120289 BATMAN NO MANS LAND TP VOL 03 NEW EDITION $34.99
JUN120190 BATWING #12 $2.99
JUN120121 BEFORE WATCHMEN NITE OWL #2 (MR) $3.99
JUN120123 BEFORE WATCHMEN NITE OWL #2 COMBO PACK (MR) $4.99
JUN120181 DETECTIVE COMICS #12 $3.99
JUN120183 DETECTIVE COMICS #12 COMBO PACK $4.99
JUN120204 DIAL H #4 $2.99
JUN120148 EARTH 2 #4 $2.99
DEC110293 FLASH ARCHIVES HC VOL 06 $59.99
JUN120214 GI COMBAT #4 $3.99
JUN120162 GREEN ARROW #12 $2.99
MAY120294 HITMAN TP VOL 07 CLOSING TIME $29.99
MAY120324 HOUSE OF MYSTERY TP VOL 08 DESOLATION (MR) $14.99
JUN120282 IZOMBIE #28 (MR) $2.99
JUN120146 JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL #12 $2.99
JUN120263 LOONEY TUNES #208 $2.99
JUN120203 RED LANTERNS #12 $2.99
JUN120230 SMALLVILLE SEASON 11 #4 $3.99
JUN120215 STORMWATCH #12 $2.99
MAY120285 SUPERBOY TP VOL 01 INCUBATION $14.99
APR120245 SUPERMAN ACTION COMICS HC VOL 01 SUPERMAN MEN OF STEEL $24.99
JUN120207 SWAMP THING #12 $2.99
JUN120285 SWEET TOOTH #36 (MR) $2.99
JUN120150 WORLDS FINEST #4 $2.99
JUN120164 ACTION COMICS #12 $3.99
JUN120167 ACTION COMICS #12 COMBO PACK $4.99
MAY120312 AMAZINGLY STUPID MAD TP $12.99
JUN120206 ANIMAL MAN #12 $2.99
MAY120289 BATMAN NO MANS LAND TP VOL 03 NEW EDITION $34.99
JUN120190 BATWING #12 $2.99
JUN120121 BEFORE WATCHMEN NITE OWL #2 (MR) $3.99
JUN120123 BEFORE WATCHMEN NITE OWL #2 COMBO PACK (MR) $4.99
JUN120181 DETECTIVE COMICS #12 $3.99
JUN120183 DETECTIVE COMICS #12 COMBO PACK $4.99
JUN120204 DIAL H #4 $2.99
JUN120148 EARTH 2 #4 $2.99
DEC110293 FLASH ARCHIVES HC VOL 06 $59.99
JUN120214 GI COMBAT #4 $3.99
JUN120162 GREEN ARROW #12 $2.99
MAY120294 HITMAN TP VOL 07 CLOSING TIME $29.99
MAY120324 HOUSE OF MYSTERY TP VOL 08 DESOLATION (MR) $14.99
JUN120282 IZOMBIE #28 (MR) $2.99
JUN120146 JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL #12 $2.99
JUN120263 LOONEY TUNES #208 $2.99
JUN120203 RED LANTERNS #12 $2.99
JUN120230 SMALLVILLE SEASON 11 #4 $3.99
JUN120215 STORMWATCH #12 $2.99
MAY120285 SUPERBOY TP VOL 01 INCUBATION $14.99
APR120245 SUPERMAN ACTION COMICS HC VOL 01 SUPERMAN MEN OF STEEL $24.99
JUN120207 SWAMP THING #12 $2.99
JUN120285 SWEET TOOTH #36 (MR) $2.99
JUN120150 WORLDS FINEST #4 $2.99
Marvel Comics from Diamond Distributors for August 1 2012
MARVEL COMICS
JUN120676 AGE OF APOCALYPSE #6 $2.99
JUN120609 AVENGERS ACADEMY #34 $2.99
MAY120778 AVENGERS TRIAL OF YELLOWJACKET TP $39.99
MAY128066 AVENGERS VS X-MEN #0 6TH PTG CHO VAR $3.99
MAY128067 AVENGERS VS X-MEN #1 6TH PTG CHEUNG VAR $3.99
MAY128068 AVENGERS VS X-MEN #2 6TH PTG CHEUNG VAR $3.99
JUN120592 AVENGERS VS X-MEN #9 AVX $3.99
JUN120614 AVENGING SPIDER-MAN #10 $3.99
JUN120655 DAREDEVIL #16 $2.99
JUN120700 DEADPOOL KILLS MARVEL UNIVERSE #1 $2.99
JUN120649 DEFENDERS #9 $3.99
JUN120677 FIRST X-MEN #1 $3.99
JUN120704 FURY MAX #5 (MR) $3.99
JUN120659 HAWKEYE #1 $2.99
MAY120777 INCREDIBLE HULK REGRESSION TP $39.99
JUN120651 INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #522 $3.99
MAR120653 IRON MAN PREM HC REVENGE OF MANDARIN $39.99
JUN120674 MUPPETS #2 $2.99
MAR120638 NEW X-MEN OMNIBUS HC NEW PTG $125.00
JUN120624 PETER PARKER SPIDER-MAN #156.1 $2.99
MAY120770 PUNISHER BY GREG RUCKA TP VOL 01 $16.99
MAY120780 THING CLASSIC TP VOL 02 $34.99
JUN120633 ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN #13 DWF $3.99
JUN120685 X-FACTOR #241 $2.99
MAR120651 X-FORCE CHILDS PLAY PREM HC $39.99
JUN120689 X-MEN #33 $3.99
MAY120771 X-MEN FF TP $16.99
MAR120649 X-MEN ICEMAN PREM HC $24.99
MAR120655 X-MEN OPERATION ZERO TOLERANCE HC $75.00
JUN120676 AGE OF APOCALYPSE #6 $2.99
JUN120609 AVENGERS ACADEMY #34 $2.99
MAY120778 AVENGERS TRIAL OF YELLOWJACKET TP $39.99
MAY128066 AVENGERS VS X-MEN #0 6TH PTG CHO VAR $3.99
MAY128067 AVENGERS VS X-MEN #1 6TH PTG CHEUNG VAR $3.99
MAY128068 AVENGERS VS X-MEN #2 6TH PTG CHEUNG VAR $3.99
JUN120592 AVENGERS VS X-MEN #9 AVX $3.99
JUN120614 AVENGING SPIDER-MAN #10 $3.99
JUN120655 DAREDEVIL #16 $2.99
JUN120700 DEADPOOL KILLS MARVEL UNIVERSE #1 $2.99
JUN120649 DEFENDERS #9 $3.99
JUN120677 FIRST X-MEN #1 $3.99
JUN120704 FURY MAX #5 (MR) $3.99
JUN120659 HAWKEYE #1 $2.99
MAY120777 INCREDIBLE HULK REGRESSION TP $39.99
JUN120651 INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #522 $3.99
MAR120653 IRON MAN PREM HC REVENGE OF MANDARIN $39.99
JUN120674 MUPPETS #2 $2.99
MAR120638 NEW X-MEN OMNIBUS HC NEW PTG $125.00
JUN120624 PETER PARKER SPIDER-MAN #156.1 $2.99
MAY120770 PUNISHER BY GREG RUCKA TP VOL 01 $16.99
MAY120780 THING CLASSIC TP VOL 02 $34.99
JUN120633 ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN #13 DWF $3.99
JUN120685 X-FACTOR #241 $2.99
MAR120651 X-FORCE CHILDS PLAY PREM HC $39.99
JUN120689 X-MEN #33 $3.99
MAY120771 X-MEN FF TP $16.99
MAR120649 X-MEN ICEMAN PREM HC $24.99
MAR120655 X-MEN OPERATION ZERO TOLERANCE HC $75.00
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