3 ms·
I always found most of PKD’s short stories quite excellent, but all of his full-length books that I have read have been a slog. It’s quite telling that almost
by teddyh 2y ago
I always found most of PKD’s short stories quite excellent, but all of his full-length books that I have read have been a slog. It’s quite telling that almost all of the movies based on his works have been based on his short stories, not novels.
Therefore, I always recommend that people start reading his short stories, and avoid his books. See also: <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8805118 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8805118>
- slothtrop 2y agoThree Stigmata and DADOES are my favorites and they're full-length. The only one I didn't like was Valis. > It’s quite telling that almost all of the movies based on his works have been based on his short stories, not novels. Because that's easier to adapt to 2h films than a long novel? Lots of short stories become film.
- nativeit 2y agoI’m probably one of the rare HN subscribers with a formal education in film production rather than CS or engineering, and you are absolutely right. The first thing they teach about screenwriting is to temper one’s ambitions, because two-hours is nowhere near long enough to adapt a full novel without serious cuts. I imagine that’s obvious to anyone who’s been disappointed by a feature adaptation. I assume that it’s also down to the fact that it’s much more fun to expand on a good short story or novella than it is to have to choose what to cut from a good novel.