Deus Irae by Phillip K. Dick and Roger Zelazny

Now THAT is a cover

“Philip K. Dick and Roger Zelazny take you on a dangerous journey across a devastated landscape in search of the great God of Wrath.

What chance has Tibor McMasters—one limbless heretic—against the awesome powers of the Dues Irae, entity behind World War III? Commissioned to paint his likeness, Tibor must first find him—travel through the frightening mutations of the holocaust... While his Christian companion acts on orders to sabotage his mission. 

A desperate plot... a perilous pilgrimage... the violent clash of good and evil, echoing in an alien terrain... Who will survive the scornful power of.. Dues Irae.”

 --The Back Cover

1976 Publication, 182 pages, $1.75. I bought a mint copy at Bucket O' Blood for $8.

'Deus Irae by Philip K Dick and Roger Zelazney- like Canticle for Leibowitz if you tore out every page and smoked a PCP laced joint with it' -@msears

The first few pages of Deus Irae made me groan—the meandering prose felt more like a writing experiment than an actual story—but luckily the book tightened up after the first few short chapters.

The Servants of Wrath, to whom the limbless artist (he has an apparatus) Tibor McMasters devotes his paintings, worship Carleton Lufteufel, ex-chairman of the Energy Research and Development Agency of the United States of America. Lufteufel is also the man responsible for reducing the world to ash and fallout in 1982.

In the 20 or so years since the nuclear holocaust, the Servants of Wrath have overtaken Christianity, the most prominent faith in the United States, especially in Charlotteville, where Tibor is slaving away on a mural of their God of Wrath. When Tibor has completed all of his mural except for the face of Carleton Lufteufel, it is decided that he will have to journey into the wastes and find the man himself, as none of the photographs the Servants of Wrath have are satisfactory.

After a brief loss of faith, in which Tibor expresses interest in joining the handful of Christians on the outskirts of town, the “inc” (short for incomplete human) gets on his cow-driven cart, and slowly begins his quest to find the God of Wrath himself. From this point on the religious musings, previously the driving force of the story, take a backseat to a twisted Wizard of Oz-style journey—plenty of chatty encounters with giant mutated insects, an automated repair facility with a haywire AI, giant mutated lizards, a telepathic packs of rats, another AI that feeds off the acid dissolved flesh of wanderers, and a crazy old drunk guy in a barn.

If that sounds entertaining whatsoever, then I recommend you pick up this bizarre little novel and get ready for a post apocalyptic romp through the paranoid and drugged out wasteland of Dues Irae. 

I am rather surprised that Deus Irae isn't touted as highly as some of Dick's other later works, and it made me interested in reading more Zelazny, an author I have yet to delve into. 

Before The Classics- Time Out Of Joint By Phillip K. Dick

“THE BUM

Ragle Gumm had it easy, living with relatives and making enough money to get by on just doing newspaper puzzles —and winning all the time. He had to admit he was essentially a bum... But a happy one.

But then... A refreshment stand disappeared in front of his eyes and a slip of paper inscribed  SOFT DRINK STAND fluttered down... Messages about him came in on his nephews crystal set... And a tattered old magazine he found featured things he knew never existed—such as a supposedly famous actress named Marilyn Monroe...

Ragle gumm knew that either he was going mad... Or the universe was. ”—The back cover

Dell Books $2.25 1979. I paid three bucks. Originally published 1959.

Philip K. Dick is probably better known now than at any time in his life- there are numerous biographies about the man, best of collections of his work, and even an award named after him. In 1959, when Time Out of Joint became his fifth (published) novel, Dick was a relative unknown to all but Sci-Fi die-hards, and would continue to be until The Man in the High Castle was published in 1962. 

Time Out of Joint begins at a slow burn, as not very much happens for the first forty-five pages other than the introduction of the cast of characters, until the aforementioned surreal 'SOFT DRINK STAND' incident, which kicks the story into a higher gear. Like most of Dick's work this novel focuses, on reality and our perceptions of it. However, Time Out of Joint makes a small spin on that by making it fairly obvious that this is a simulated reality executed by some outside force (if you have read Enders Game or even seen the terrible “Truman Show” movie, you will pick this up pretty quickly).

I liked Ragle Gumm as a protagonist, but I got the distinct feeling that Dick did not want us to. Looking through a 1950's lens, we were to believe that a man who made a large salary, had decent luck with women, and a good rapport with his family, could still be a 'loser' because he did all of these things outside of the norm. Ragle's family helps him in his quest to unravel the mystery of what is wrong with their reality- from his sister and nephew attempting to decipher radio signals on a homemade 'crystal set' to his brother in law Vic helping Ragle try and leave town and see what is going on outside of their little community. The results ha a strong 'Twilight Zone' feel.

The beginning of this book definitely had a frustrated artist feel to it, almost to the point of being 'angsty'. Boiled down, Time Out of Joint is a period piece about a time in Philip K. Dick’s life that I would assume he’d rather have forgotten. A story that could have easily laid the paranoia on real thick is deflated by tentative jabs directed at consumerism, conformity, and anti-communism.

This review is taking a turn toward the negative, which was not my intention, but the faults of this novel are many and fairly easy to point out.The illusion that is the backdrop of Gumm's reality is much more interesting than the secret it’s hiding, which is probably the most that I can state without venturing into 'spoiler' territory.

Time Out of Joint shows more promise than creativity or writing chops, and you can see Dick teetering towards the greatness that characterized the middle of his career. Although I enjoyed this novel, I wouldn’t say it’s a classic or even a must-read from Dick’s pantheon. The payoff just isn’t there at the end, but there are some cool moments leading towards the climax.