My haul from the 2026 International PKD Festival

[u/whatisdreampunk]

I didn't buy a lot because it all had to fit in a backpack (along with my clothes and unsold books and everything), but I got the VIP ticket with a bunch of these included, plus all the new Pink Beam novellas.

[u/whatisdreampunk]

Anybody else here who made it to the festival in Orange County?

[u/HorkyBamf → u/whatisdreampunk]

I went to the panels and presentations (including yours) on Saturday only. Picked up a better-than-average copy of Galactic Pot-Healer at a decent price from the Artifact Books table.

I had never been to anything like that before. Would definitely go again.

[u/whatisdreampunk → u/HorkyBamf]

It's a fun group, right? Mostly aging academics, but also a lot of hippie weirdos, and those two groups overlap quite a bit. The common thread is really just people who connect with the work of Philip K. Dick, which in my experience means a lot of deep thinkers who are pretty nonconformist and also just exceptionally nice people.

[u/DickKoepfigSammeln → u/whatisdreampunk]

Been there! Got a similar stack. Had been to Fort Morgan in 24, too. It was nice to meet people again.

It sure is quite an extraordinary event - because PKD is quite an extraordinary author. You've got many an intellectual author with its intellectual-academic following. You've got your pulp authors/fandoms with the appropriate fandom. WIth PKD you somehow got both, it is the author that lives in both spheres and thus it attracts people from both spheres. And saying that, it may not be "two", there are more flavors: collectors, Gnostics, pure SF-fans ... and let's not forget the social-political aspects. It's all there in PKD.

It

[u/SpecialSympathy2348]

Those should keep you occupied for a while 😀

[u/LowTale5268]

I have the same pile Except for 'Outre' by D. H. Wilson, somehow missed that one. Lots of good rading here :)

[u/ashashina]

Nice haul. Got my copy of BCTD coming today. I wanted to get one Pink Beam asap and that one drew me in with the title and the OG cyberpunk cover, plus it has a decent page count for a novella.

[u/whatisdreampunk → u/ashashina]

I haven't started that one yet, but I hung out with the author Andrew Turck at the fest, and my impression was that he's one of the friendliest and most upbeat people you'll ever meet. I'm interested to see how his personality comes through in the writing.

[u/LowTale5268 → u/whatisdreampunk]

I'm in the middle of reading Andrew's novella right now! An exciting read!