Earlier today, I finished reading a classic science fiction novel that I’ve always wanted to read, but had just never gotten around to, Philip K. Dick’s “Blade Runner,” aka, “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”First published in 1968, this book is about Rick Deckard. He’s a former San Francisco police officer, who now works as a Blade Runner, that is, a bounty hunter that “retires” runaway androids.
The novel is set in the year 2021, years after the world has been ravaged by an all-out nuclear war. Many types of animals are extinct, and many humans have already left Earth for colonies on places like Mars and beyond. Off world, humans keep androids as slaves, but every so often, these androids go rouge and find their way back to Earth. That’s when Blade Runners like Deckard are given contracts to seek out and take down these escaped androids.
Many of you will be familiar with this novel because of the 1982 movie, “Blade Runner,” which starred Harrison Ford as Deckard. Ridley Scott directed the movie, which also featured Daryl Hannah. The movie, which was released in June 1982, brought renewed attention to author, Philip K. Dick. Unfortunately, Dick died in March of that year, three months before the movie came out.
“Blade Runner” is often found on many recommended reading lists and “best-of” science fiction lists. As you might imagine, it has received several awards over the years, including a Nebula Award nomination in 1968. In 1998, the novel was voted No. 51 in the Locus Poll Award for best science fiction novel before 1990.
In the end, this novel was a lot of fun to read, and I took more than a little pleasure in scratching it off my list of books that I’ve always wanted to read. Have any of you ever read this book? If so, what did you think about it? Let us know in the comments section below.
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