If you've ever wondered what kind of stories Garrison Keillor might write if he were a drugged-out, paranoid new-wave science fiction author living in Berkley, California, during the 1960s, well I reckon old Phil Dick's Dr. Bloodmoney is a close approximation.
It's a post-apocalyptic home companion.
A slice of this post-nuclear American life.
It has a pastoral feel to it, bringing to mind the works of William Saroyan and John Steinbeck, if, of course, these authors wrote about deformed characters with powerful mental abilities, mutant animals, botched space flight, and nuclear war.
It's among Dick's richest books in terms of character; it is quite “literary” in the way it deals with the drama. This book is not driven by a thrilling plot or any kind of strong SF impetus beyond the end of the world scenario and some mutant-like things born from the destruction. Instead, Dr. Bloodmoney is entirely character driven, and each character, out of a very large cast, is given the time and room to grow.
Dr. Bloodmoney is a post-apocalyptic novel, although one that is as different from Mad Max and other more mainstream examples as is Walter M. Miller Jr.'s A Canticle for Liebowitz. It is most definitely a product of its time; the fear of the Cold War hangs heavy over Dick's narrative, and the constant threat and promise of nuclear devastation is demonstrated expertly. Dick creates a frightening sense of chaos and destruction once the bombs start dropping, and he also illustrates his post-apocalyptic society with an equal amount of skill.
While Dick's version of the scenario is bleak and rife with turmoil, he does not predict a total breakdown of human society. Instead, he takes a decidedly optimistic approach to the tragedy of a nuclear-war torn world. Dick presents a group of survivors who retain their humanity towards one another even when faced with outlandish and dire circumstances. Not all of the characters are as eager to get along as the best of them, but enough are that I would place the book among Dick's more hopeful and positive works. There is actually a gleam of hope in the book, one that rings with strong emotional truth.
Many of Dick's more important works (which this is) deal with God, religious mysticism, and Gnosticism. I find it strange that here, in one of his only truly post-apocalyptic offerings, Dick seems to skirt the subjects all together - he focuses only on humanity, not offering any kind of divine intervention. It is as if in Dick's mind, the destruction of the world has divorced his characters from any kind of Godly influence - the characters never even mention God; out of sight, out of mind. The characters in this novel seem to be in some kind of purgatory, one where only their physical bodies have survived.
The closest thing we get to a God-like figure is in Walt Dangerfield, an astronaut stranded in high-atmosphere orbit who witnesses the near destruction of the planet. Walt represents a God-like presence even if he does not posses any divine powers. He is “out there” looking down on humanity, and he speaks to the characters through a disembodied voice via radio waves (the God-in-a-satellite motif was something important to Dick: see VALIS and Radio Free Albemuth). As a cosmic deejay, Walt reads books and plays records and broadcasts the audio down to the Earth's survivors; he becomes an important link to humanity's past.
Hoppy Harrington, a phocomelus (a “flipper-baby,” born with no arms and legs) with telekinetic powers, and the novel's true antagonist, tries to usurp control of Walt's satellite and use it for his own selfish desires. Here Dick illustrates how mankind tries to co-opt God and religion, and has thus used these good and benevolent forces for our own selfish and unrighteous desires. This is as close as Dick gets to any kind of religious or spiritual metaphor.
Dr. Bloodmoney is an anomalous book. It doesn't neatly fit in with any of Dick's other books. It's not about drugs or personal paranoia; it is not about technology run amok; it is not about depression or mental disorders; and it does not deal with simulacra or the authenticity of human emotion. Most of Dick's work can be categorized into different periods, each with its own central theme. Dr. Bloodmoney is a unique book from an author with a unique body of work. It is a powerful work of character-driven science fiction that demands to be read.
