A fitting tribute to a great philosophical writer who found science fiction the ideal form tor the expression of his ideas. Π²ΠβΠΒ The Independent Second Variety is the third in a massive five-volume collection of the complete shorter fiction of the 20th Century's greatest SF author Π²Πβ Philip K. Dick. It brings together 27 stories and includes such masterpieces as the title story, with its endless war being fought by ever more cunning and sophisticated robot weapons; "Impostor", in which a man is accused of being an alien spy and finds his whole identity called into question; and "Prominent Author", in which a fracture in space/time enables an ordinary future commuter to achieve unexpected literary fame. Again and again in these stories Π²Πβ written and published while America was in the grip of McCarthyism Π²Πβ Dick speaks up for ordinary people and against militarism, paranoia and xenophobia. But first and foremost these are marvellously varied and entertaining stories from a writer who overflowed with ideas. "One of the most original practitioners writing any kind of fiction." Π²Πβ Sunday Times "An elusive and incomparable artist." Π²Πβ Ursula LeGuin "The most consistantly brilliant SF writer in the worldΠ²ΠΒ¦ author of more good short stories than I can count." Π²Πβ John Brunner