From the author's page at wikipedia-
Philip K. Dick is Dead, Alas
Originally published as The Secret Ascension by Tor Books in 1987 (but subsequently reprinted with the author's preferred title), this work is an homage to writer Philip K. Dick, a pastiche of his style, and includes an alternate reality version of Dick as a character. The novel is set in a world in which Richard Milrose Nixon, in his fourth term as president, holds fascistic control over America, and the science fiction works of Philip K. Dick remain unpublished, distributed underground as samizdat, while his realist fiction titles are the ones that are celebrated as masterpieces. Author and reviewer Orson Scott Card writes that "the climax is not just an inward epiphany for a character… [T]he world changes in wonderful strange ways, and the audience can read the book passionately, with sweating fingers, eager to see what happens next, yet reluctant to leave the present moment. Imagine: A writer who is already one of the best, taking risks and finding ways to be better."[45] Card does take Bishop to task for the author's characterization of Richard Nixon, calling it a "caricature" and a "stock character of a madman." Locus reviewer Tom Whitmore calls the book "a masterful pastiche" and "…the closest thing to a classic Dick sf novel anyone has ever done."[46] Gerald Jonas in the New York Times writes "Mr. Bishop is a solid, serious writer whose reach (in his previous work) has always seemed to me to exceed his grasp. Here, he catches some of Dick's fire, especially in the early chapters… Then a lot happens very quickly (as in some of Dick's own novels), and the satire, which should hold things together, turns predictable. But…the ending (starring Philip K. Dick) approaches sublimity."[47] The novel was nominated for the Arthur C. Clarke Award in 1989.
Because I removed all of my books from the shelves at the condo and put them in boxes, and then pulled them from the boxes and reshelved them, I came in full contact with the collection for the first time since I moved into the condo back in 1995. I can't wait to truly settle into the house on Westview, and begin rereading all of the books that I've assembled over the decades. I'm going to drop out of The Classic Book Club this year because I want to reacquaint myself with all of these 'personal' classics.
I fully enjoyed this novel and read it in just a couple of days. Although I had read this one before, I didn't remember any of it.
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