The Collected Utility Bills of Philip K. Dick

Vol. III: In the Pink.

Edited by Palmer Z. Fergusson.

Episco-Zadokite Press, Carefree, Arizona, 1995.

Trade paperback, $19.95; boxed leather edition with gold-embossed utility company logos, $39.95. 349 pp.

Reviewed by Bernie Kling.

Now that PKD's short stories and letters have been collected in their entirety, what's left for the serious Dick enthusiast to delve into? While P.Z. Ferguson answers this question for us in this beautifully produced, twentieth anniversary of the pink light experience edition of PKD's utility bills during the crucial period surrounding his mystical experiences of 2/3/74, the new questions he raises are far more significant.

Is there a correlation between PKD's electrical usage - in particular, certain unexplained kWH spikes in February and March of 1974 - and the pink light experiences that changed his life forever?

Were these experiences caused by synaptic misfiring due to simple dehydration? Water bills abnormally low for the days before designer water certainly raise this possibility. Or is there a connection between PKD's visions and the persistent water contamination that plagued Fullerotn, California in the early 1970s?

Do unusually high natural gas bills for the period in question indicate simply a regular overheating of PKD's apartment, or could the presence of large unburned quantities of natural gas have affected Dick's perceptions at this critical point in his life?

Why are PKD's trash disposal bills for 1974 simply unavailable? Apparently, they were sequestered by the ultra-top secret Refuse Inspection Unit (RIU) of the CIA as part of the US government's on-going investigation into PKD's activities. Repeated inquiries pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act have failed to make these documents public.

To his credit, editor Fergusson raises these vital questions but does not pretend to answer them. Instead, he provides us with the raw materials - "just the facts," so to speak - and encourages us to draw our own conclusions regarding the connection between PKD's energy input and mental output during 1974. While the data suggests a strong physical motivation for the events of 2/3/74, Fergusson avoids providing any quick and easy answers to the larger question: Did these physical conditions cause PKD's mind to generate spurious mental experiences - a reductice, "internal" solution to the enigma of 2/3/74 - or did they allow him to perceive and interact with a deeper, underlying reality from which he had previously been occluded? Fergusson leaves the search for these and other answers to us, though the four other volumes that will ultimately bracket this one are sure to provide further insights.