The Skull
3.5/5
()
About this ebook
From the visionary mind of Philip K. Dick, author of groundbreaking sci-fi classics that inspired blockbuster films like Blade Runner, Total Recall, and Minority Report, comes a mind-bending tale of time travel and personal destiny. The Skull transports you to a future where the world is locked in a struggle between progress and dogma, where one man's life-altering decision will affect history and the fate of humanity.
Meet Conger, a prisoner granted a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for freedom--if he can complete an impossible mission to assassinate a man who died 200 years ago. As he travels back in time to the turbulent 1960s, Conger must navigate an era fraught with distrust and political agendas while seeking out the elusive founder of the First Church, a man whose fateful speech launched a cult that would challenge scientific progress. Armed with the skull of his target and the knowledge that his own life hangs in the balance, Conger becomes ensnared in a web of suspicion and intrigue that threatens not only the mission, but his own identity. As the tension mounts and the clock ticks down, he uncovers a stunning revelation that forces him to question everything he believed about himself and the world.
In The Skull, Philip K. Dick masterfully combines elements of science fiction, time travel, and humanity's search for meaning in a thrilling narrative that will keep you guessing until the very last page. With its unique premise and timeless themes, this extraordinary short story is sure to captivate fans of the genre and new readers alike.
Philip K. Dick
Philip K. Dick (1928-1982) - was a prolific novelist, essayist and short story writer - having published approximately 44 novels and 121 short stories. His works have been turned into numerous popular films, including Total Recall, Minority Report, and The Adjustment Bureau. He won a Hugo Award in 1963 for his novel The Man in the High Castle and has been named as one of the hundred greatest English-language writers by Time magazine.
Read more from Philip K. Dick
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Man in the High Castle Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Simulacra Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ubik Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lies, Inc. Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Solar Lottery Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Dr. Futurity Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Penultimate Truth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The World Jones Made Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Scanner Darkly Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Our Friends From Frolix 8 Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Dr. Bloodmoney Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Selected Stories Of Philip K. Dick Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5We Can Build You Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Crack in Space Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Cosmic Puppets Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Maze Of Death Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Galactic Pot-Healer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Radio Free Albemuth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Best of Philip K. Dick Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Time Out Of Joint Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Vulcan's Hammer Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Related to The Skull
Related ebooks
The Skull: Short Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Golden Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Piper in the Woods Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Way You Came In May Not Be the Best Way Out Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe House of Souls Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Exhibit Piece Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHartmann the Anarchist or The Doom of the Great City Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Variable Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gun Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Breakfast at Twilight Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Crystal Crypt Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Defenders Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Case of Oscar Slater Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Heart of the Serpent Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Hanging Stranger Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Beyond the Door Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Upon The Dull Earth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dog-Headed Death: A Gaius Hesperian Mystery Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMetropolis Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings7 best short stories by Ethel Watts Mumford Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSix Gates from Limbo Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Coming Race Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRebel Without a Bra: Planet Hy Man, #2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Flock of Ba-Hui and Other Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Shadow Over Innsmouth and Dagon Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Refutation of Visions of Glory by John Pontius (or, From Jodi Hildebrandt to Jodi Arias) Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Beyond Lies The Wub: Short Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Eternity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Island of the Innocent: A Novel of Greek and Jew in the Time of the Maccabees Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Short Stories For You
The Things They Carried Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Little Birds: Erotica Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Finn Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Skeleton Crew Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5100 Years of the Best American Short Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Stories of Ray Bradbury Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jackal, Jackal: Tales of the Dark and Fantastic Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ficciones Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sex and Erotic: Hard, hot and sexy Short-Stories for Adults Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Good Man Is Hard To Find And Other Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lovecraft Country: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Novices of Lerna Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas: A Story Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Unfinished Tales Of Numenor And Middle-Earth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Five Tuesdays in Winter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird: Stories Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Explicit Content: Red Hot Stories of Hardcore Erotica Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Four Past Midnight Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5So Late in the Day: Stories of Women and Men Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Warrior of the Light: A Manual Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bradbury Stories: 100 of His Most Celebrated Tales Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The ABC Murders: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dark Tower: And Other Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Night Side of the River Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Before You Sleep: Three Horrors Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for The Skull
64 ratings6 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A nice, yet predictable, twist in this one. While it was predictable, I was still "forced" to keep reading to see just how things played out.
Another enjoyable story from Philip K. Dick. - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Not one of Philip K. Dicks best stories but it keeps your attention and manages to seem fresh rather than old.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5After releasing a murderer name Conger from prison, government agents steal the skeletal remains of the long-dead founder of a pacifist religion. Providing Conger with a time machine and the man's skull for identification, the agents order him to travel back two centuries and kill the enigmatic founder before he starts his pacifist movement.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I love a good short story and this is a really fine one by a great short story writer. I just love this quote from the story "Those who take lives will lose their own. Those who kill, will die. But he who gives his own life away will live again!"
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Poor Yurick, did I not know who thy was... is the question posed in this Novella. or Short Story.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Synopsis: Conger has been removed from jail to do a job. He is to murder someone; however, this person has been dead for hundreds of years. The man to be killed had ended war; this wasn't good for the future because it allowed an increase in population, along with an increase in social issues. He goes back in time, but can't seem to find who he's looking for; he realizes that he is The Founder.Review: Written in September 1952 for World of Science Fiction, this interesting story that harkens back to the 'clothes make the man' stories.
Book preview
The Skull - Philip K. Dick
THE SKULL
By
Philip K. Dick
Copyright © 2013 Read Books Ltd.
This book is copyright and may not be
reproduced or copied in any way without
the express permission of the publisher in writing
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Philip K. Dick
Philip Kindred Dick was born on December 16 1928, in Chicago, Illinois. The death of his twin sister, Jane, six weeks after their birth profoundly affected the writer in later life and is said to account for the recurring theme of the ‘phantom twin’ in many of his works.
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 attended High School in Berkeley, California, where he and fellow science fiction author Ursula K.Le Guin were members of the same graduating class (1947) but were unknown to each other at the time. After graduation, he briefly attended the University of California in Berkeley, taking classes in History, Psychology, Philosophy, and Zoology. Through his studies in Philosophy, he came to believe that existence is based on internal perceptions which do not necessarily correspond to external reality; he described himself as an acosmic pantheist,
believing in the universe only as an extension of God. Dick ultimately concluded the world is not entirely real and there is no way to confirm whether what we see is truly there at all. This question from his early studies persisted as a theme in many of his novels.
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. The 1950s were a difficult and impoverished time for Dick. He once said We couldn’t even pay the late fees on a library book.
He published almost exclusively works of science fiction, but was said to covet a career in mainstream