Yesterday, as I was searching for a form I use to write letters of recommendation for my students, I stumbled on this letter I wrote to Jason Koornick, then the webmaster of PhilipKDick.com. The year was 2006 (probably) and the world was still reeling from the Star Wars Prequels; your humble blogger was looking to break into the PKD web community. Kind of a funny letter in hindsight:
Hi Jason,
The site is great. It's amazing how much is happening in PKD-world these days! I wanted to introduce myself to you as a fellow Dick-head. My name is David Gill and I have been a PKD fan for 20 years. I just completed my masters degree at San Francisco State University and wrote my thesis on PKD (specifically an alternate (Freudian) reading of Time Out of Joint ((totally underrated novel!) and a study of Dick's legacy focusing on his meta-fiction appearances (Carrere, Bishop, Lethem, et al)). I am presenting a chapter from the thesis at the National Association of the Humanities in San Francisco in February and hope to present the second chapter at the Eldon conference in Riverside. I teach English at SFSU and regularly assign Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? – coincidentally, grading papers last night, I caught a student copying from your Blade Runner page. LOL!
Just wanted to say hi. I’d really like to get more involved in the Dick community -- this is one of those times I wish Dick had been named Dickenson or something slightly less suggestive ;) With all that’s going on I think the fanbase could really get more active and organized. Did you know there has never been an academic conference dedicated to Dick in the Bay Area? The last conference dedicated to PKD was in the early nineties in England. One of my longer term goals is to put on a conference here.
I would be interested in talking to you about the Owl in Daylight (congrats on the executive producer credit – that’s amazing!) and all things Dickian. I read all the academic papers on PKD I can l find and try to stay up-to-date on them. The Library of America release, Voice From The Street, 25th anniversary BR DVD, bio-pics… It’s too much!!! And it’s his birthday today!
Keep up the great work,
Who knows what would have happened if Jason had written back. But he didn't, and this blog was born. In Jason Koornick news, he's penned a script for Dean Cain TV movie called A Mile in His Shoes currently showing on GMC.
3 comments:
Well I think it's worked out pretty well. Love the dig at the end btw...
No intended dig at the end.
OK, you were just supplying us with Jason Koornick news. Being from the UK, I have never heard of GMC or Dean Cain but for some reason assumed it sounded bad. Why I thought being involved in TV makes you less successful than being a webmaster I don't know... I guess it shows the estimation I hold TDH in!
Post a Comment