The Variable Man

Description

The Variable Man is one of Philip K. Dick’s early writings, published in 1953 before he even had a literary agent. It is also among the author’s best stories, republished in several collections since its first appearance and being continuously praised by critics and readers alike.

The plot of the novella is typical K. Dick. The corrupt government of the Centurian Empire is trying to stop the expansion of the Terran system, which leads to a war between the Terrans and Proxima Centauri. Both sides are continuously developing new weapons and updating defense strategies, a situation and process that leads to a strange kind of balance, a continuous standoff in which the parties do nothing else but calculate odds, without a single shot being fired and with no real battles taking place.

Terrans invent a bomb that Centauri can have no defense against, but they are unable to use it because their calculations regarding the chances of Terra to win the war become compromised by the existence of Thomas Cole, a man from the past transported into the future by an accident of the Time Bubble, on Centauri. He is the unknown variable, the factor that can decide the outcome of the war because he comes from a time when humans could solve problems and invent things using their natural genius. He helps Terra like no one else can and Terrans are finally free to travel beyond the confines of the Centauri, but not before lots of exciting adventures with Cole.

The Variable Man is, indeed a PKD classic. The plot is suspenseful, the storytelling is absolutely fascinating and the characters are great, too, making up a novella that will grab the attention of the readers from page one and will keep them at the edge of their seats to the last line.
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