You may not have read the novels of Philip K. Dick, but you have seen the films.
He wrote the novels which were the basis of the hit films Blade Runner, Total Recall, Minority Report, A Scanner Darkly, and the TV series The Man In The High Castle. His works are extremely imaginative and many well before their time. The Cosmic Puppets begins like an episode of The Twilight Zone, and then ramps up into a battle of the Gods for the existence of man.
Ted Barton is eager to show his new wife the small Virginia town he grew up in, recognizing all the landmarks approaching Millgate. He is shocked then to find the town completely changed - the street names are different, the people strange, the stores replaced - it is like he is out of his mind. He is able to move his wife out of town before returning to investigate. Searching the town archives, he locates the historical records which do in fact have his name listed as a resident - as a child who died of scarlet fever twenty years earlier.
Who are the spectral 'Wanderers' who walk through walls and never make eye contact? What is the power the local children possess - little Mary and Peter who can form rough clay into hand sized, man-shaped golems that spring to life and must be caught before they escape? Peter is able to control spiders and bugs; Mary can converse with bees. Mary can also transfer her soul into a living clay golem, a trick which comes in handy. The biggest secret is revealed when Ted meets another resident who indeed remembers their shared past, and possessing the mental capacity to make it reappear - but will the Gods allow that to happen?
This is a captivating mystery that, in its short 136 pages, really packs a lot of story. Written in 1957, it is as exciting today as it must have been back then. The strange pall cast over the sleepy mountain town turns into an all out battle between the Gods. Very inventive and utterly unique.
Recommended.
1957 / Tradeback / 136 pages
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