Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
St Martins Pr (1985)
Description
In this biting satire, the Cold War may have ended, but the eastern and western governments never told their citizens. Instead they created an elaborate ruse wherein each side comes up with increasingly outlandish doomsday weapons -- weapons that don't work. But when aliens invade, the top designers of both sides have to come together to make a real doomsday device -- if they don't kill each other first. With its combination of romance, espionage, and alien invasion, The Zap Gun skewers the military-industrial complex in a way that's as relevant today as it was at the height of the Cold War.
User reviews
LibraryThing member GingerbreadMan
When it comes to ideas, there’s almost nobody as bold as Philip K. Dick. How about this for a setup? In 2004, the world is divided into two major power blocks: the capitalist Wes-bloc (where even policing is private) and the communist Peep-East. Between these a secret agreement is made. The arms
Until the day the insectoid Slavers arrive from Sirius and start emptying cities, that is. Now the two designer-mediums are brought together to try and create a REAL weapon, to save the world. A task made all the more difficult by the fact that Powderdry falls in love, while Topchev turns out to be a depressed teenager who just wants the world to end anyway.
It’s mind-boggling what Dick tosses together. But this is one of those instances (not entirely rare with this writer) where his execution isn’t as good as the set-up. As a reader I’m forced to accept many things, on an emotional level especially, that isn’t really grounded. It’s Dick telling me people are in love – I never really see it myself. Which makes the rather radical choices the characters make hard to relate to. Also, the plot is somewhat clunky and un-balanced, with a pretty bizarre deus ex machina element to it. Any Philip K.Dick novel is worth reading for the tidal wave of ideas alone, but this is far from his finest work.
Show More
race, necessary to keep the citizens feeling calm on both sides, is to be just a charade. Thus Lars Powderdry’s , the weapons design medium for Wes-bloc (dreaming up his designs in a trance-like state), job is now to think up designs for weapons that seem massively lethal, but which are built from components that can all be used for peaceful, “plowshared” products for the consumer market. Like an ornamental owl/cigar case for instance. He has a counterpart in Peep-East, a young woman named Lilo Topchev, who he is fascinated by without ever having met, and who has the same odd double duty. The fragile balance works.Until the day the insectoid Slavers arrive from Sirius and start emptying cities, that is. Now the two designer-mediums are brought together to try and create a REAL weapon, to save the world. A task made all the more difficult by the fact that Powderdry falls in love, while Topchev turns out to be a depressed teenager who just wants the world to end anyway.
It’s mind-boggling what Dick tosses together. But this is one of those instances (not entirely rare with this writer) where his execution isn’t as good as the set-up. As a reader I’m forced to accept many things, on an emotional level especially, that isn’t really grounded. It’s Dick telling me people are in love – I never really see it myself. Which makes the rather radical choices the characters make hard to relate to. Also, the plot is somewhat clunky and un-balanced, with a pretty bizarre deus ex machina element to it. Any Philip K.Dick novel is worth reading for the tidal wave of ideas alone, but this is far from his finest work.
Show Less
LibraryThing member RandyStafford
My raw reactions on reading this book in 1990 -- spoilers follow:
In a certain sense, Dick’s negative assessment of the novel’s first half being utterly unreadable is correct. The opening is boring and confusing. We never do get a coherent explanation of “plowsharing”. It seems to be
Like The Penultimate Truth this is a fake Cold War perpetrated by the power elite of East and West for their benefit though it is unclear exactly what the populace believes to be true. Here the weapons are not those horrifying weapons of mass destruction of old but rather silly, if inventive weapons like the Garbage Can Banger that keeps the enemy awake, produce obnoxious odors, or merely mess up his bureaucratic records. That is a funny element.
I thought Surley G. Febbs was totally unnecessary to the plot but occasionally funny in his arrogance.
I thought the novel really only took off when Dick began to pile on the baroque, van Vogtian plot twists starting with the revelation that Powderdry and Lilo Topchev are not tapping into a mystical dimension with their trances but the mind of an obscure comic book artist. (Dick’s works of the period often seem to feature creative people in rather despised jobs). The book got really fun then. The toy designed to psychologically corrupt the enemy (here with “empathy”) is much like Dick’s “War Game” and a touch I liked along with that of the uncurious Sirians.
I found the relationship between Powderdry and Topchev (as many of the relationships between man and women in Dick’s works) strange, troubling, and realistic. While not as disturbing and memorable as Norbert Steiner’s suicide in Martian Time-Slip, Maren Faine’s suicide was moving. There are plenty of usual Dick touches: authoritarian states, private police forces, troubled relationships, peculiar plot twists, appearances questioned, fakes proposed, fakes debunked, and fakes reaffirmed. Dick called it his null-null Y plots after critic Warrick’s observation), and humor.
In a certain sense, Dick’s negative assessment of the novel’s first half being utterly unreadable is correct. The opening is boring and confusing. We never do get a coherent explanation of “plowsharing”. It seems to be
Show More
conversion of mass produced weapons’ components -- which seem to work -- into civilian consumer goods hence giving the illusion of security and providing an economic boost and salvation from the cost of the arms race.Like The Penultimate Truth this is a fake Cold War perpetrated by the power elite of East and West for their benefit though it is unclear exactly what the populace believes to be true. Here the weapons are not those horrifying weapons of mass destruction of old but rather silly, if inventive weapons like the Garbage Can Banger that keeps the enemy awake, produce obnoxious odors, or merely mess up his bureaucratic records. That is a funny element.
I thought Surley G. Febbs was totally unnecessary to the plot but occasionally funny in his arrogance.
I thought the novel really only took off when Dick began to pile on the baroque, van Vogtian plot twists starting with the revelation that Powderdry and Lilo Topchev are not tapping into a mystical dimension with their trances but the mind of an obscure comic book artist. (Dick’s works of the period often seem to feature creative people in rather despised jobs). The book got really fun then. The toy designed to psychologically corrupt the enemy (here with “empathy”) is much like Dick’s “War Game” and a touch I liked along with that of the uncurious Sirians.
I found the relationship between Powderdry and Topchev (as many of the relationships between man and women in Dick’s works) strange, troubling, and realistic. While not as disturbing and memorable as Norbert Steiner’s suicide in Martian Time-Slip, Maren Faine’s suicide was moving. There are plenty of usual Dick touches: authoritarian states, private police forces, troubled relationships, peculiar plot twists, appearances questioned, fakes proposed, fakes debunked, and fakes reaffirmed. Dick called it his null-null Y plots after critic Warrick’s observation), and humor.
Show Less
LibraryThing member deslni01
Though a serialized novel, The Zap Gun isn't as dry and long-winded as one would expect. Set in the past-future of 2004, the Cold War still rages on between the West (Wes-Bloc) and the East (Peep-East). Rather than using nuclear warfare, because it's like people hitting themselves over the head
The story itself follows the premier weapons designers for both sides as they come together to figure out how to stop the invasion of an unknown alien force that seems to be arriving on Earth's doorstep. What is presented is a witty, quick-flowing novel full of humor and sarcasm directed at both the Cold War and, interestingly enough, our world today. Not just a novel of war-time humor, but a look at the way our world is run, from the Cogs (governments) to pursaps (pure saps - or, the average person), and from war toys to, well, toys.
Show More
with a hammer, the weapons of the Cold War have developed with certain specializations in mind - missiles that exploded, land, and at 10pm emit loud noises for days on end, for example.The story itself follows the premier weapons designers for both sides as they come together to figure out how to stop the invasion of an unknown alien force that seems to be arriving on Earth's doorstep. What is presented is a witty, quick-flowing novel full of humor and sarcasm directed at both the Cold War and, interestingly enough, our world today. Not just a novel of war-time humor, but a look at the way our world is run, from the Cogs (governments) to pursaps (pure saps - or, the average person), and from war toys to, well, toys.
Show Less
LibraryThing member brakketh
Weaponised empathy with all of the usual PKD bells and whistles.
LibraryThing member DanielSTJ
Cold-War paranoia fueled with Dick's intensive drive of science fiction, eccentric characters, and webs of alliances and partnerships. This book was a delightful surprise. I enjoyed the rapid pace of the plot and the way Dick maneuvers his characters with his story-line, slowly revealing more and
3.25 stars: worth reading.
Show More
more to entice the reader to continue the tale. Additionally, the dialogue in this book rang more true and I enjoyed all the little science fiction devices that Dick invented, and detailed, in this novel. Overall, a solid effort.3.25 stars: worth reading.
Show Less
Subjects
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1965
Physical description
8 inches
ISBN
0312944888 / 9780312944889
Other editions
Zap Gun by Philip K. Dick (Paperback)