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The Zap Gun Paperback – November 12, 2002

by Philip K. Dick (Author)
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 69 ratings
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Scaldingly sarcastic yet enduringly empathetic, The Zap Gun is Dick’s remarkable novel depicting the insanity of the arms race. Lars Powderdry and Lilo Topchev are counterpart weapons fashion designers for a world divided into two factions–Wes-bloc and Peep-East. Since the Plowshare Protocols of 2002, their job has been to invent elaborate weapons that only seem massively lethal. But when alien satellites hostile to both sides appear in the sky, the two are brought together in the dire hope that they can create a weapon to save the world, a task made all the more difficult by Lars falling in love with Lilo even as he knows she’s trying to kill him.
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  1. Print length
    256 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Vintage
  4. Publication date
    November 12, 2002
  5. Dimensions
    5 x 0.75 x 8 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0375719369
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0375719363
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Dick [was] many authors: a poor man’s Pynchon, an oracular postmodern, a rich product of the changing counterculture.” --The Village Voice

“Dick’s best books always describe a future that is both entirely recognizable and utterly unimaginable.” --The New York Times Book Review

From the Inside Flap

arcastic yet enduringly empathetic, The Zap Gun is Dick’s remarkable novel depicting the insanity of the arms race. Lars Powderdry and Lilo Topchev are counterpart weapons fashion designers for a world divided into two factions–Wes-bloc and Peep-East. Since the Plowshare Protocols of 2002, their job has been to invent elaborate weapons that only seem massively lethal. But when alien satellites hostile to both sides appear in the sky, the two are brought together in the dire hope that they can create a weapon to save the world, a task made all the more difficult by Lars falling in love with Lilo even as he knows she’s trying to kill him.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Vintage; Reprint edition (November 12, 2002)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0375719369
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0375719363
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 6.4 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5 x 0.75 x 8 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 69 ratings

About the author

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Philip K. Dick

Philip K. Dick

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Over a writing career that spanned three decades, Philip K. Dick (1928-1982) published 36 science fiction novels and 121 short stories in which he explored the essence of what makes man human and the dangers of centralized power. Toward the end of his life, his work turned toward deeply personal, metaphysical questions concerning the nature of God. Eleven novels and short stories have been adapted to film; notably: Blade Runner (based on Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?), Total Recall, Minority Report, and A Scanner Darkly. The recipient of critical acclaim and numerous awards throughout his career, Dick was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2005, and in 2007 the Library of America published a selection of his novels in three volumes. His work has been translated into more than twenty-five languages.

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
69 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Just for Fun
5.0 out of 5 stars A different style
Reviewed in the United States on August 28, 2023
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This book is written in a style far different from any I have seen from later authors. It may take a bit of getting used to. But, once acclimated, it is a great read and I am glad I put out the effort. I do, however, find it quite strange that Amazon doesn't think it fit to be In their Kindle Unlimited collection. Odd, indeed!
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thecrwth
4.0 out of 5 stars Lighter on the brain than most PKD books
Reviewed in the United States on January 14, 2007
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I am generally a PKD fan. Most of his books have so many sub texts and paranoia that it takes a little neurosis to understand. This is one his few books where this is a little less intense. The plot and character interactions are straight forward. Themes are reitierated in a concise language. And the book has an unusual optimistic feel in the ending. Which, it being a PKD book, freaked me out.
2 people found this helpful
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Autonomeus
3.0 out of 5 stars Creative but slipshod, a paranoid Cold War premise
Reviewed in the United States on December 12, 2021
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Wes-bloc and Peep-East have been in a Cold War for years, holding each other hostage with a never-ending stream of ingenious and terrifying weapons that are never used. However, unknown to the "pursaps" (pure saps), the weapons are not real, and their impressive tests, broadcast for all to see, are merely staged. Only the "cogs" (cognoscenti), the elites, are in on the ruse.

THE PLOT (no spoilers)
The main character is Lars Powderdry (get it?), weapons designer for Wes-bloc. He is the head of a private company, which really makes no sense since his only client is the government. PKD seems to include this implausible element to characterize Wes-bloc as capitalist, using corporate contractors. His Peep-East counterpart is Lilo Topchev.

The story is full of PKD's typically zany names -- Dr. Todt, General Nitz, Nina Whitecotton (who is black), Oral Giacomini, and best of all -- Surley G. Febbs. The action is driven by the appearance of alien ships orbiting the Earth. Can the creators of fake weapons succeed in creating a real weapon to defeat the alien threat?

Several bizarre twists complicate the narrative, including a comic book called "The Blue Cephalopod Man From Titan" and an old military veteran hanging around in the park across from the entrance to the Wes-bloc HQ. The outcome is ingenious and absurd.

Mental illness and drugs are both featured as is typical for PKD, reflecting his real-life problems. There are two love interests for Lars, and as usual PKD's handling of women characters is lacking, also reflecting his real-life problems.

THE THEME (no spoilers)
As usual, PKD's theme is empathy, compassion, and love. One character tells Lars and his colleagues "love is the basis of your lives" (78-79). Powderdry is cynical, but he is in fact working to maintain peace. Later there is a discussion of caritas and agape (200).

SLIPSHOD WRITING
PKD supposedly never rewrote his stories. They were all first drafts until "A Scanner Darkly," which his then wife worked on rewriting with him before submitting it for publication. This is painfully evident in "The Zap Gun." For instance, at one point characters are in an elevator, and then mysteriously they are on an aircraft (46). A drug suddenly affects Powderdry in "...a terrible rush like bad fire" (122). Bad fire?

*** *** ***
"The Zap Gun" was written in 1964, one of six novels PKD wrote that year, his most prolific. It was immediately followed by "The Penultimate Truth," with another paranoid Cold War premise -- twin of "The Zap Gun." "Zap Gun" was published in two installments in "Worlds of Tomorrow," sister magazine to "Galaxy," in 1965 and 1966, and came out in paperback in 1967.
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freerangechicken
5.0 out of 5 stars PKD fan to the end
Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2013
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This is one of his more ? frivolous ? (and yet not so) books, along the lines of Ubiq. I bought it for my daughter having enjoyed it many years ago.
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Katya
5.0 out of 5 stars misunderstood....excellent parody and also story of longing
Reviewed in the United States on June 12, 2002
Of all PKD's books this may be the most misunderstood. Misunderstood because it is only a book about world politics on the surface. It represents one of his more imaginative books on his own creativity (plowshares, toys, inventions) and also a story of great longong both personally in love and professionally in his abilities. There is the usual self-doubt, the unexpected twists and, unlike many of his books, the ending his his optimistic and personally most fulfilled.
I have read near all of his novels, and the extended version of this book (not the short 1965 edition) is one of the best novels he ever wrote.
3 people found this helpful
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s.ferber
4.0 out of 5 stars Let's Get Sirius!
Reviewed in the United States on April 6, 2011
Cult author Philip K. Dick's 20th published sci-fi novel, "The Zap Gun," was first released in book form (Pyramid paperback R-1569, with a cover price of 50 cents) in 1967, after having been serialized in the November '65 and January '66 issues of "Worlds of Tomorrow" magazine under the title "Project Plowshare." Phil's previously published book had been "The Unteleported Man," later expanded as the largely incomprehensible "Lies, Inc.," but "The Zap Gun" is a completely understandable, reader-friendly novel that, as it turns out, is quite a winning satire on the arms race that was indeed so frightening back then. In Phil's book, it is the year 2004 (OK, maybe he should have made it 2104!), and the two major world powers have reached a detente of sorts in this game of armament one-upmanship. Rather than actually creating weapons, the two sides (Wes-bloc and Peep-East) now simply fake it, using "weapons fashion designers" to create convincing designs of the real thing, and then showing realistic but ersatz videos to their populations. Society, hence, is divided between the "pursaps" (the pure saps making up the bulk of society) and the "cogs" (the governmental cognoscenti who are in on the deception). But when the insectlike slavers from the Sirius system arrive and start dropping satellites into Earth orbit, things really DO get serious, and Lars Powderdry and the beautiful Lilo Topchev (the West's and the East's top "wep-fash" designers) must join forces to somehow construct a REAL weapon to save all of humankind....

Although Phil originally wrote "The Zap Gun" on commission for a Pyramid editor who wanted a novel written for that preset title, the result is anything but standard space opera fare (indeed, the alien invasion plot is dealt with so offhandedly, at the end, as to be almost an afterthought), and all of Dick's regular obsessions are on full display. As in "The Penultimate Truth" (written at the same time as this novel) and "The Simulacra," a duplicitous government manages to hoodwink the mass of mankind. Dick's fascination with drugs is evident here, too, and both Lars and Lilo not only depend on cerebral stimulants to effect the trance state that leads to their weapons visions, but also discuss LSD, peyote, mescaline and "magic mushrooms" with great apparent knowledge. The novel features several suicidal characters (seems like every Dick book I read has some such poor soul), one of whom actually succeeds in the sad act, and another who chooses to stick around in a wonderfully life-affirming scene. For some strange reason, the localities of Cheyenne, Wyoming and St. George, Utah are highlighted yet again, as they had been in "The Penultimate Truth" and "Now Wait For Last Year." As in "Now Wait" and "Lies, Inc.," female public toplessness is seen to be the fashion in "The Zap Gun," but whereas in those earlier books a woman's nipples were covered with a sentient Martian life form and flashlight/music-making pasties, respectively, HERE, they are merely described as being "silver-tipped." (These futuristic innovations don't seem half bad to me!) As in so many of Phil's other novels, several of the characters throw out German words and expressions, smoke cigars and talk about opera. And again, we have a character who is hoping to obtain a divorce from his mate; well, technically, Powderdry is here attempting to ditch his mistress.

As I said, lots of Dick's pet topics get another workout in this consistently amusing tale. And the book really is often very funny; indeed, Dick biographer Lawrence Sutin has called the novel's Surley G. Febbs "the funniest character Phil created." The author throws in a few surprising plot twists toward his finale, amuses us with some bizarre character names (such as Lucky Bagman, Oral Giocomini, Vincent Klug and General Nitz), keeps the pace of the story moving nicely, and even presents a time travel angle in a manner that for once didn't give this reader a headache. Sci-fi critic David Pringle has called the novel "one of Dick's most clotted narratives," but I still found it highly readable, and a lot of fun. (I'm not even sure I know precisely what he means by a "clotted narrative"!) Oh...I guarantee that you will chuckle when you read about Febbs' organization, with its catchy acronym BOCFDUTCRBASEBFIN....
One person found this helpful
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Scott McFarland
3.0 out of 5 stars Second-Rate PKD
Reviewed in the United States on July 4, 2012
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It comes off half-baked, doesn't have as many great/new ideas in it as usual and doesn't cohere even to the usual degree. Dick himself called the book "a turkey". Having said that, for PKD fans who work their way down to this book, there are some good/funny parts in it.
2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

jdpmel
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 18, 2018
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Brilliant!
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Matt Jenkins
4.0 out of 5 stars One of Dick's Funnier Novels
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 31, 2011
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"After the Plowshare Protocols way back in 2002, Lars Powderdry, Wes-bloc's brilliant weapons fashion designer, has been inventing elaborate devices that only seem to be massively lethal. And the deception is taking a heavy toll of his personal life. But whan alien satellites appear in the sky and it's clear that they aren't friendly, the world suddenly needs military might like never before. So, Wes-bloc and Peep-East temporarily patch up their differences and Lars meets up with Lilo Topchev, his eastern counterpart, in the hope that they can create a weapon to save the world. It's a difficult task made even trickier by Lars falling in love with Lilo even though he knows she is trying to kill him...."
-- from back cover

Philip K Dick's twentieth published novel, written in 1964 and published in 1967. The Zap Gun deals with a number of Dick's favourite themes, amongst others, truth, reality and political manipulation, drugs, times travel etc. As with all PKD's works this novel makes you marvel at his imagination but also (if you are of a philosophical turn of mind) brings you to question and consider the themes he raises for yourself.

"At a time when most 20th-century science fiction writers seem hopelessly dated, Dick gives us a vision of the future that captures the feel of our time."
--Wired

"The finest American novelist of our time."
--Hartford Advocate

"Hilarious and wildly brilliant"
--Lawrence Sutin, Divine Invasions

If you are new to Philip K Dick's work I would also recommend the following novels (which generally seem to be regarded as among his best):

 Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?
Ubik (S.F. Masterworks)
A Scanner Darkly (S.F. Masterworks)
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch (S.F. Masterworks)
Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said (S.F. Masterworks)

That said, though some of PKD's works are better than others, to my mind they are all well worth reading. I would also recommend his short story collections:

 Beyond Lies The Wub: Volume One Of The Collected Short Stories
Second Variety: Volume Two Of The Collected Short Stories
The Father-Thing: Volume Three Of The Collected Short Stories
Minority Report: Volume Four Of The Collected Short Stories
We Can Remember It For You Wholesale: Volume Five of The Collected Short Stories
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John Aherne
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 21, 2017
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Great novel. John
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S. J. Hannaway
2.0 out of 5 stars 'I wish the Aliens had won.'
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 29, 2015
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Philip K. Dick at his most underwhelming, with this exceptionally dull offering of his style of neurotic science fiction, not a patch on 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep' ( A.K.A.'Blade Runner') or 'Through a Scanner Darkly' ...
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R J Mongęr
1.0 out of 5 stars Hated this book.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 27, 2012
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From the word go, I regretted purchasing this book. Don't get me wrong p k dick is a brilliant writer - however this book in particular was - what's the word - awful.
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