The Little Black Box (1966)

My favourites in this fifth volume of Philp K Dick's complete short stories are the epic 'The Faith of Our fathers', the almost moving 'Chains of Air, Web of Aether', the fascinating solipsistic philosophy of 'The Electric Ant' and the cleverly amusing 'Not by Its Cover', about sentient fur cover binding (from the infamous wub creature) that re-writes the contents of the books it encloses.

This is an excellent collection, with only a couple of stories really failing to make any impact on me ('The Eye of the Sybil' and 'Strange Memories of Death'). Each of the others has at least a couple of points to recommend it and most are at least very good. Philip K Dick, although not a stylish or fluid writer, has a talent for introducing extraordinary themes and ideas through his rather bland characters, and in the short story form he has no trouble drawing the reader quickly in to each new tale. This is a collection you can easily read cover to cover in a few days (as I did!) ( )

Dick was a prodigious writer, and a compelling storyteller. His short stories are amongst the best ever produced by the genre, and this collection is proof. Running the gamut from comedy to schlock to horror, each one is enjoyable; it's wonderful to note that this collection is volume five - yes, that's right, four more books full of his stories! Yay! ( )