The Ganymede Takeover
First British edition, 1971
The Ganymede Takeover (1967) is a collaborative science fiction novel by Philip K. Dick and Ray Nelson set on an Earth occupied by alien administrators from Ganymede, against whom a fractured human resistance movement struggles with varying motives and methods. This is the first British edition, published by Arrow Books.
Softcover. First British Edition. Arrow B537 (25p). London: Arrow Books, 1971. Levack 19c. Wintz & Hyde SF22.3. ISBN: 0090053702. #10985.
Fine.
Softcover. First British Edition. Arrow B537 (25p). London: Arrow Books, 1971. Levack 19c. Wintz & Hyde SF22.3. ISBN: 0090053702. #10985.
Fine.
Additional Details
The Ganymede Takeover (1967) is a collaborative novel by Philip K. Dick and Ray Nelson, set on an Earth that has been occupied by the Ganymedeans, a worm-like alien species who arrived with promises of peace and unity and have administered the planet with bureaucratic efficiency ever since. The occupation is not violently oppressive in the conventional science fiction sense. The Ganymedeans are in some ways genuinely well-intentioned, puzzled by human resistance, and convinced their administration is beneficial. The humans who resist them are not uniformly heroic either. Dick and Nelson treat the occupation as an ongoing negotiation between two species who fundamentally cannot understand each other's priorities.
The novel's most distinctive character is Percy X, a Black revolutionary leader who operates outside both the Ganymedean administrative structure and the mainstream human resistance. The authors' handling of Percy X was unusual for science fiction of the period. Rather than a peripheral figure, Percy X is presented as intelligent, principled, and operating with a coherent political logic that neither the Ganymedean administration nor the mainstream human resistance fully grasps. His presence gives the novel an additional layer of meaning that most alien invasion stories of the era did not attempt.
Rudolph Balkani, head of the Bureau of Psychedelic Research, is developing a weapon that would neutralize all psychic activity on the planet. It would be effective against the Ganymedeans, but also capable of destroying the human minds it was meant to protect. The various resistance factions, human and alien alike, circle around this development with different agendas and different ideas about whether deploying it would constitute liberation or catastrophe.
Nelson's background in science fiction fandom and his friendship with Dick in the Bay Area brought the two together for this project. First published as an Ace paperback original in 1967.
The novel's most distinctive character is Percy X, a Black revolutionary leader who operates outside both the Ganymedean administrative structure and the mainstream human resistance. The authors' handling of Percy X was unusual for science fiction of the period. Rather than a peripheral figure, Percy X is presented as intelligent, principled, and operating with a coherent political logic that neither the Ganymedean administration nor the mainstream human resistance fully grasps. His presence gives the novel an additional layer of meaning that most alien invasion stories of the era did not attempt.
Rudolph Balkani, head of the Bureau of Psychedelic Research, is developing a weapon that would neutralize all psychic activity on the planet. It would be effective against the Ganymedeans, but also capable of destroying the human minds it was meant to protect. The various resistance factions, human and alien alike, circle around this development with different agendas and different ideas about whether deploying it would constitute liberation or catastrophe.
Nelson's background in science fiction fandom and his friendship with Dick in the Bay Area brought the two together for this project. First published as an Ace paperback original in 1967.
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