I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon

Description

Philip K. Dick. I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon. Garden City: Doubleday, 1985. First edition, first printing. Octavo. 179 pages. I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon is also the title of a short story by Philip K. Dick. (The short story was first published in Playboy in December 1980, under the title Frozen Journey.) In it, a man regains consciousness during a failed attempt at cryosleep on board a spaceship, which is on a ten-year journey. The ship’s artificial intelligence attempts to maintain his sanity throughout the rest of the voyage by causing him to recall memories from his 200-year-long life. Like most of Philip K. Dick’s work, it involves a questioning of what it is to be human and of what reality is. The story also has a theme of guilt, as the memories of the passenger are spoiled by the guilt he retains about actions he initiated during his lifetime. “How to Build a Universe That Doesn’t Fall Apart Two Days Later” (1978) “The Short Happy Life of the Brown Oxford” (1954) “Explorers We” (1959) “Holy Quarrel” (1966) “What’ll We Do with Ragland Park?” (1963) “Strange Memories of Death” (1984) “The Alien Mind” (1981) “The Exit Door Leads In” (1979) “Chains of Air, Web of Aether” (1980) “Rautavaara’s Case” (1980) “I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon” (1980)