001: The Hanging Stranger by Philip K. Dick - At Least One Vintage Sci-Fi Story Every Week

If you’re old enough you may be surprised to discover that this short sci-fi story was written by a man whose work you have enjoyed on the big screen for 40 years! His 1968 novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” became the 1982 movie Blade Runner, Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos. 

A 1966 short story he wrote showed up on the big screen as the 1990 smash hit Total Recall with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sharon Stone. 

Other box office blockbusters based on his works are Minority Report directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Cruise, and 2011’s The Adjustment Bureau starring Matt Damon and Emily Blunt. 

Amazon produced 4 seasons of “The Man In The High Castle”, based on his novel with the same name, set in a parallel universe where the Germans and Japanese win World War II and rule the world. 

Sadly he wasn’t alive to see these incredibly successful movies. Philip K Dick passed away in March 1982, 3 months before Blade Runner debuted. He was only 53.

Philip Kindred Dick was a prolific American science fiction writer. He wrote 44 novels and somewhere around 120 short stories, most of which appeared in science fiction magazines like the one we’re going to share with you in today’s episode of the lost sci-fi podcast. His work, although cherished by many, received very little acclaim for about 10 years until he wrote the novel The Man In The High Castle.

Todays lost sci-fi short story first appeared in December 1953 in “Science Fiction Adventures” Magazine which cost 35 cents. And now for your listening pleasure Philip K Dick’s, “The Hanging Stranger”