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 new book on Amazon
Author: gary franck 
Date:   09-15-05 13:14

Hey, has anyone else heard that the PKD estate is trying to stop publication of a new PKD biography? It's called A Family Darkly, and I hear it has a lot of insider info. It's already on pre-sale on Amazon. Apparently, they're suing the author.
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 Re: new book on Amazon
Author: Joe Chip 
Date:   09-15-05 17:45

Hi,

A quick search pulled up this:

A Family Darkly
Love, Loss, and the Final Passions of Philip K. Dick

Anne Mini

0-7867-1638-X
ISBN13/EAN 978-0786-71638-8
$15.95 (Canada Yes)
Trade Paper
224pp, 5 1/2 x 8 1/4
Memoir
BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Literary
BIO007000
Winter 2006
Rights: NA

Carroll & Graf

Description:
While at the height of his agoraphobia, Philip Dick formed an odd bond with the child of his second wife—author Anne Mini. Finding herself alone at a young age—due to an overworked mother and a father dying of cancer—Mini turned to her mother's first husband, Dick, for companionship. The two spoke only on the telephone, yet by indulging one's loneliness and the other's paranoia, they came to construct a fantastic and fictive biography for the famously elusive sci-fi writer that, strangely enough, helped generate not only a majority of the accepted biographical information currently available on Dick, but functioned as source material for some of his acclaimed final works, including VALIS.
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 Re: new book on Amazon
Author: Annee Pusateri 
Date:   09-17-05 14:41

Yea, I heard about this too. I read somewhere though that the estate doesn't have a leg to stand on. Has anyone else heard about any of this? Personally, I can't wait to read it!
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 Re: new book on Amazon
Author: Bester 
Date:   09-18-05 14:53

Link to a blog written by Anne Mini, containing her reactions to the 'threats' of being sued by the Estate. Her opinions are strongly put, and because they are naturally one-sided and emotive, its difficult to unpick what’s really going on from them.

Reading this blog hasn’t encouraged me to take Ms Mini very seriously. It often finds her banging on about ‘telling the truth, the whole truth’, blah blah blah, which is never a very attractive sign in a biographer. An autobiography, however seriously intended, is in large part going to be that person's subjective versions of events. If the writer isn’t able to acknowledge this openly, I’m not all that inclined to trust them.
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 Re: new book on Amazon
Author: Bester 
Date:   09-18-05 14:54


Sorry, forgot to post the link:

http://www.pnwa.org/blog/
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 Re: new book on Amazon
Author: pixien 
Date:   09-20-05 10:11

sorry all, i didn't catch that this thread was already opened. so what's the family's huff exactly about the book? i've read the author's blog, which ok is her side, granted, but why the fuss from the family?
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 Re: new book on Amazon
Author: Rich 
Date:   09-21-05 18:30

I've posted some words on this up at http://scifi.uk.com because I think it's unfair. Surely you can't censor/copyright memories? And having a book like this published would be another jigsaw piece in the puzzle that was PDK's life; from an unusual and unique perspective.

Rich.
http://scifi.uk.com - (From One SF Junkie To Another)
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 Re: new book on Amazon
Author: Chancer 
Date:   09-22-05 02:06

What I can't figure out is what possible grounds the family has for suing? It's a memoir -- by definition it's the author's memories of and perspective on the subject.

Unless something is actually libelous (and I haven't seen any mention of claims of libel), how can the family stop someone from publishing their own personal memories of PKD? Are they claiming they own the author's memories?!
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 Re: new book on Amazon
Author: cj 
Date:   09-24-05 05:07

Presumably unflattering things are said about PKD, and about members of the family who are still drawing breath. My guess is that part of the family's motivation for being less than enthused about this book is a worry over the value of the intellectual property of PKD's to which they currently lay claim.

I am assuming that the unflattering revelations will be the sorts of things one always finds out about talented but mentally disturbed individuals. (And I don't mean to downplay PKD as a personality, doubtless he is a beautiful snowflake of unique uniqueness, as are all clever lunatics.) Most likely: he lied a lot, invented illnesses to avoid obligations or gain sympathy, whined incessantly, displayed occasional emotional sadism toward those who were most sympathetic toward him, had extreme emotional reactions to any criticism and somehow managed, even when ostensibly trying to help someone else or support someone else emotionally, to manipulate things such that he was the real recipient of pity and reassurance.

A few pages into Valis, I was already convinced that PKD was the sort of friend/friendly acquaintance who would be likely to ignore all efforts to contact him and then suddenly, when feeling up or down, would call you at 3 in the morning and rant feverishly for a very long time into the phone, knowing full well you had to be at work in a few hours.

I'm interested in the guy. I'm interested in the particulars. But the point is, the fact that he was not always the haunted eccentric/benign schmuck who had suffered into insight that seemed to be his public persona is not a shock.

So the question is, if it turns out that PKD was a basically pretty good guy who could also be a giant throbbing pain in the ass from time to time, is that really going to change anyone's opinion of his writing? That's an unfair way to frame the question. It contains my point of view, so let me try again: Will your opinion of PKD's work change, will you enjoy it any less or respect it any less, if some moderately unflattering or embarrassing details about his life are revealed?

So Mike, did they have a Hitler building where you grew up?
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 Re: new book on Amazon
Author: Tersa Hart 
Date:   10-06-05 15:11

CJ, I really agree with your post. I don't think that this memoir/bio/autobio will change the way that PKD's works are received (or that any memoir could do so).

Also, as a HUGE fan of free speech in the US, I'm just upset whenever I hear of censorship. I hope that this book still is published (I pre-ordered it last month). Makes me glad I don't write memoir-style stories. What a nightmare/bother to go through...it's such a long, crazy road to try and get published, to have something like this happen would just drive me bonkers.
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 Re: new book on Amazon
Author: Joe_Chip 
Date:   10-06-05 15:41

I find it incredible that this woman Anne Mini has written a book about Philip K. Dick, a man she NEVER met in person. And it's called "A Family Darkly?!" She was the daughter of Phil's second wife - not even related to Phil. What right does she have to publish anything about his real family?

This woman doesn't seem to be qualified to write a biography (or a "memoir") as she calls it. I'd much rather hear his ex-wife's thoughts or someone that had a real connection to the man. Mini claims they spoke on the phone a number of times - when she was 8 years old! What's that all about?! Phil wasn't even a phone person. He preferred to write letters. If she was the inspiration for child in Valis (as she ludicrously claims), then Phil would have at least written some letters to her and none exist.

This just goes to show that anyone who claims to have had any contact with PKD can get a book deal. Credibility is a non-issue apparently.

This whole thing (and the debate around it) smells like a total crock. If you want to know more about Phil the man, I'd suggest picking up Lawrence Sutin's excellent (and fact-driven!) biography "Divine Invasions", Anne Dick's book "The Search for Philip K. Dick" or Gwen Lee's interview with Phil "What if Our World is Their Heaven." All much more credible and thoroughly researched sources than this load of crap.

Take care,
Joe Chip
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 Re: new book on Amazon
Author: Gary Franck 
Date:   10-12-05 11:47

Does anyone else read how much vitriol was in that last posting? Why exactly do you care so much about this, "Joe Chip"? Unless you're a family member with a vedetta here, I just don't understand why you're so upset. It's difficult to get a book published these days. No publisher is going to take a book solely on the fact that someone had a tenuous relationship with a famous person. There has to be more heft there.

Just because she was the daughter of his second wife doesn't mean she didn't have a relationship with him. Are you suggesting that step-children don't matter? aren't real family? Yikes.

Besides that, there is a true difference between biography and memoir. Huge. A biography is intended to a be a comprehensive outline, fleshed out, of a man's life. (Or woman's.) A memoir is one individual's story, a life told through stories. And where it happens to intersect with PKD is where the publishers are choosing to emphasize, I'm sure.

Publishers choose titles, sometimes arbitrarily. It sounds good, that's all.

I read the blog that "Bester" posted, and it's filled with helpful tips for writers and an authentic accounting of this process. Any writer who reads it will be helped. It's also clear from reading it that Ms. Mini is an excellent, incisive writer with a needed sense of humor. I'd like to read any book she wrote, after reading that blog. I'm really looking forward to this one.

I do hope, fervently, that the family comes to its senses and stops trying to censor something because their feelings might be hurt. If you are reading this (and especially if you have been posting here), stop this.
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 Re: new book on Amazon
Author: Joe_Chip 
Date:   10-12-05 19:33

Gary, in your message above you write, "No publisher is going to take a book solely on the fact that someone had a tenuous relationship with a famous person. There has to be more heft there."

I doubt it. She had a handful of phone conversations with Phil Dick when she was 8 years old! How insightful can it be? Phil Dick very rarely spoke on the phone anyway, so there's a good chance she's making all this up.

I know that most of the posts on this board are from people that Anne sent here so this whole discussion is lopsided. If Anne Mini is such an expert on book publishing as her blog states, then why hasn't she had a book published yet? And now that she has a deal, she's being threatened with lawsuits?! I wouldn't trust her advice on the publishing industry, that's for sure!

There are many more people who actually met PKD in person who are 100 times more qualified to write a memoir on the man and his work.

Joe Chip
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 Re: new book on Amazon
Author: Sitka 
Date:   10-13-05 18:31

I've been listening in, and I really don't understand all the hub-bub (or anger). First, Joe Chip, if you haven't read the book yet, how do you know Anne never met PKD? Or that the phone calls were few or insubstantial? Her mother obviously DID have a substantial relationship with the man.

I'll fess up. Being a writer in a writer's group in Seattle, I have read the manuscript for A Family Darkly (though perhaps not the final). Anne did not send me here, by the way. I came to see what was going on.

I found Anne's book interesting. It wasn't just about Philip. There was a lot about the beatnik culture of the era when he and her mom first met, and other tidbits of time and space in Anne's life. It didn't seem to me to paint anyone in a bad light--eccentric, slightly parnoid, maybe. But we all knew that. It is part of the appeal, after all. Is it all "true"? How would I know. A lot of it was well backed up. A lot more was presented from numerous viewpoints (i.e. here's what my mom told me, here's the "official" version, here's what the PKD estate says.) As to the phone calls, the reader, presumably, is intelligent enough to decide for themselves.

Note: I do know that "A Family Darkly" was a title choosen by the publishers, not Anne (I remember her saying she didn't like it!) I believe it refers to HER family.

Anyway, it made me interested enough to want to learn more... I will look into the aforementioned "Biographies." Thanks for that info.
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 Re: new book on Amazon
Author: Gary Franck 
Date:   10-14-05 12:25

It's becoming increasingly clear to me that "Joe Chip" is actually a family member in disguise. Why else would you so unceasingly and so ridiculously excoriate this woman for trying to publish a book? Unless you were trying to thwart the publication of that book. Why else would you have so much background information on this?

Meanwhile, you're insulting people left and right. Stepchildren aren't real family. Publishers are stupid enough to be duped by someone who isn't that bright and has only a tangential relationship with a famous person. Someone who has never had a book published before isn't a real writer. Anyone threatened with lawsuits isn't to be trusted.

Wow, that's a lot of truisms for one person.

The fact is that Anne did not send me here. I don't even know her. I'm a writer as well, and a fellow writer alerted me to the fact that this book is being threatened with censorship by narrow-minded people. So I came over here. After reading some of this, I went to Anne's blog, since I was directed to it by this forum. I've been impressed with Anne's forthright, generous manner, and as a writer, I've learned from reading it. And I certainly want to read the book after she shared her insights.

She doesn't claim to be an expert in publishing. She's simply sharing her experience. And what you seem to repeatedly misunderstand is that a memoir is just that: someone sharing her experience. From everything I've read, it's clear that this is NOT a PKD biography (someone above wrote autobiography, which would be PKD himself writing it). Anne is simply sharing her own slice of life.

Really, you're looking a little foolish here, "Joe Chip." Calm down. Why are you so invested in this? And why is the publication of this book such a personal threat to you?
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 Re: new book on Amazon
Author: Runciter 
Date:   10-14-05 14:03

It's becoming increasingly clear to me that recent "supporters" have been sent here by Anne as a sad attempt at "voicing an opinion."

Why would he have so much background information on this? Well, if you've kept up with the whole thing for the past month or so you would, too. A lot of it has been said in her "blog" and in various interviews she has done. She has stated many times that the only contact she's ever had with the man is over the phone when she was eight years old. She has also admitted that she's never met him in person. But since Anne has sent you here herself recently, how would you know all of that?

I share the same concerns as Joe_Chip. It's frustrating to see every single person who has ever laid eyes on PKD to think they're entitled to write a book about him. Like he said in a previous post, how much can you write about a man you had a few phone calls with at eight years old? That's right. Not much.

When the book does come out, Anne can get her little royalty checks and finally cash in on PKD's name. Then the pile of rubbish will be forgotten once she's gotten "her share."
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 Re: new book on Amazon
Author: Joe Chip 
Date:   10-14-05 21:53

I've been posting here for a couple of years using the handle Joe Chip, so although paranoia is appropriate for a PKD thread I'm not an Anne Mini plant.

I am going to switch to another user name though so as not to be associated with the posts of Joe_Chip, as I couldn't disagree more with his and Runciter's posts. If someone wants to write a book, then here in America they get to do it. Noone is forced to buy it. And if they want to critisize the book and categorize it as "rubbish" or "a load of crap" they might want to consider reading it first. I think that's the generally accepted practice for reviewing a book.

The former Joe Chip.
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 Re: new book on Amazon
Author: Lyrric 
Date:   10-15-05 19:34

You sound awfully hostile, Joe_Chip. Why are you so against this book? And so what if Anne Minni never met Philip in person? She did have a connection to him and she spoke to him a very great deal. You know the best way to have this kind of debate is to LET THE BOOK BE PUBLISHED. Then you can read it and at that point if you think it's a crock, you'll have facts to back it up instead of basing all your arguments off a two sentence synopsis. The whole point of living in a free society is the opportunity for informed debate. But who can we be informed if we're not allowed to read the book?

I say, let it be published! Censorship is terrible and it goes against everything that Philip K. Dick stood for. It's so laughable and terrible that this is the stance his estate is taking.
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 Re: new book on Amazon
Author: Chancer 
Date:   10-16-05 19:06

"It's frustrating to see every single person who has ever laid eyes on PKD to think they're entitled to write a book about him."

Umm, well, actually, since PKD, as a well-known author, is a public personage, I believe that anybody _can_ write a book about him. Whether it's a good book, or worth reading or publishing is another matter.

And anybody who ever laid eyes on PKD is certainly entitled to write a memoir which includes mentioning 'I once laid eyes on PKD, and I thought he looked excited/tired/bored/upset/whatever.' As long as what they say is true, nobody has the right to prevent somone writing about their own experiences! Unless they've repealed the First Amendment recently.

Who does Runciter think you have to be to write a biography, anyway? Lots of biographies are written by people who never met the subject (because they're writing about someone who died long before). Should those bios be banned?
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 Re: new book on Amazon
Author: Runciter 
Date:   10-16-05 19:26

Who do you have to be? A close family member or a close friend. Otherwise anything that anyone says should be take with a grain of salt. And yes, they should be banned.
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 Re: new book on Amazon
Author: Gary Franck 
Date:   10-16-05 20:07

Okay, this is just growing ridiculous. There have been so many ridiculous statements made that I'm starting to wonder if someone isn't trying to pull our chain? Only family members or close friends should write biographies? Don't you realize that sometimes family members have the least perspective on us? And no one should write a biography of Benjamin Franklin? Or Disraeli? Or Virginia Woolf? What?

And you still keep overlooking the fact that there's a difference between biography and memoir. Joe Chip and Runciter (if you're not the same person using two different pseudonyms), what is your problem?

Anything that riles you up this much is only going to be more and more popular. Alan Ginsberg's "Howl" only became a best-seller because someone tried to censor it. If you're trying to drive up the sales of Anne's book, you're doing a fine job!
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 Re: new book on Amazon
Author: Joe_Chip 
Date:   10-16-05 20:27

It seems that the discussion on this list needs to recognize the difference between a memoir and a biography. Of course, non-family members and writers who never met the subject can write a biography. A memoir is claiming to be a much different animal. And the situation with A Family Darkly seems entirely ridiculous that a publisher is legitimizing hazy memories of an 8-year old who had a few phone conversations with PKD.

And I'm not suggesting censorship, but that PKD fans need to consider the source of these "memories". Without having read the manuscript, it is obvious there are much better biographies, interviews, primary and secondary source material that would be of considerably more credibility and interest than what this book is claiming to be...

If I were a publisher, I wouldn't touch this piece of material. I'd seek out someone with a real connection to PKD to write a book - memoir or biography - with legitimacy and credibility.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it...

Joe_Chip
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 Re: new book on Amazon
Author: Runciter 
Date:   10-16-05 20:50

"And no one should write a biography of Benjamin Franklin? Or Disraeli? Or Virginia Woolf? What?"

Unless the person writing the book knew them personally, or know of someone who is/was close to the particular person, then no, you have no business writing a biography OR memoir. That's like me saying "Hello" to Tom Cruise, he flips me off and then down the road I write a memoir of it. There's no substance. Just like there's no substance from an eight year old girl talking to a man she vaguely knows over the phone a few times.

Since it's pointless arguing with a bunch of lemmings that Anne has sent to defend her garbage, I'm done with this thread.

Here's hoping that the PKD Estate will have this "memoir" canceled.
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 Re: new book on Amazon
Author: sandra 
Date:   10-21-05 13:56

Hi, I am sorry this memoir upsets you already that much.
Why do you get so upset about Anne Mini's memoir, a book you haven't read yet, (since it has not been published yet, right?)

Wouldn't it have been great to have had PKD in your life, even if it was only by phone conversations ? And than to be able to write about it, since you happen to be a writer? As far as I understood it is a memoir which is about Anne's memories of PKD from when she was a young girl. PKD was in her life, something to be jealous of. And Anne as a writer as the talent to write about it. Who can say what is real and what is fantasy...To believe or not to believe, .......
we can decide for ourselves as readers to buy the book if we are interested in it, and to decide to like or dislike it.
But to have other people decide that for us(the estate) by trying to prevent to have this memoir from being published,...seems really WRONG to me.
That was my two cents on the subject.
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 Re: new book on Amazon
Author: dausten 
Date:   11-17-05 17:33

Is there such as thing as bad publicity?!!

Seems the PKD estate is doing the author a huge favor by giving it so much pre-publication attention.

It's the kind of publicity a new, unpublished author might dream of manifesting, in a "made you look" kinda way.

It'll be interesting to see if the estate settles this before publication. Or if, instead, they will opt to foot this protion of the publicity bill entirely by pushing it to trial - and losing.
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