More than two decades ago, another small press issued The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick in a hardcover edition limited to only 500 sets. Earlier this year, the Dick estate approached us to see if we’d issue them in hardcover again, with a uniform set of dust jackets by Bill Sienkiewicz, two stories that weren’t in the previous collected set, as well as additional story notes.
We enthusiastically said yes, and The King of the Elves is the first volume of our set, due in December. As our description notes: The King of the Elves is the opening installment of a uniform, five-volume edition of The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick, expanded from the previous Collected Stories set to incorporate new story notes, and two added tales, one previously unpublished, and one uncollected. This generous collection contains 22 stories and novellas including Dick’s first published story, “Beyond Lies the Wub,” together with such landmark tales as “The Preserving Machine,” in which an attempt to preserve our fragile cultural heritage takes an unexpected turn, “The Variable Man,” a brilliantly imagined novella encompassing war, time travel, and the varied uses of technology, and the title story, in which Shadrach Jones, owner of a dilapidated gas station in Colorado, stumbles into an ongoing war between trolls and elves, and encounters a fantastic — and utterly unexpected — destiny. Like the best of Dick’s novels, these stories offer a wide variety of narrative and intellectual pleasures, and provide an ideal introduction to one of the singular imaginations of the modern era.
As an added incentive to order early, until the end of the day, September 10, 2010, we’re offering special prices on the leatherbound and trade hardcover editions of Elves. You can look for us to issue a new volume in the set roughly every six months.
