re:mote voices

Title:Martian Time Slip
Author: Philip K. Dick
Publisher: Gollancz

Colonisation of Mars has reached a cusp point – settlers are getting by, just about, while the rate of immigration has fallen off. However conditions on Earth are getting increasingly bad, such that the UN would like Mars to be the solution.

Jack Bohlen is a repairman, an ability that is in demand on a planet where it costs so much to get parts, let alone just buying a new one. As such it is not surprising that he is drawn into the circles surrounding Arnie Kott, who is probably the most powerful man on the planet, and would like to keep it that way.

To a degree Martian Time Slip takes on Shakespearian dimensions. Kott as king, who would maintain his power through machinations, but in doing so causes the pieces of his fate to fall into place. Bohlen is something of an innocent, but becomes a pawn in the game of fates that Kott has set in motion. Kott even using his mistress to bring Bohlen in, though of course that backfires. The third voice in the novel is that of an autistic boy called Manfred, with Kott convinced that the mentally ill can see the future. If Kott had access to someone who could see the future then his destiny would be assured – so Manfred becomes like the three witches round a cauldron issuing dire warnings – gubble, gubble.

Philip K. Dick has a writing style which transforms a base idea into something entirely different. Martian Time Slip is a particularly striking example of this. A story about Mars, Martians, and colonisation is presented as a starting point. From there this becomes a novel about mental illness, altered perceptions of state of mind and how that changes how an individual looks at the world around them. Two out of the three lead roles suffer from mental illness – Jack is a schizophrenic and Manfred is autistic. With Dick’s writing style each character is provided with a distinct voice. Such that Arni Kott is a driven and powerful character, but he is also a racist, sexist, bigot – someone we see treat everyone around him in an appalling fashion. More importantly though, Dick manages to induce the novel as break down; taking the reader into disturbing territories as we enter the paranoia’s and fears of characters as their mental state deteriorates.

Martian Time Slip combines the science fiction ideas of Mars and possible time travel with those of isolation and personal horror. Looping passages in an increasingly distorted fashion until we are into one of those flip outs which make reading Philip K. Dick so unique and memorable.