Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Piper In The Woods: Short Story
    Piper In The Woods: Short Story
    Piper In The Woods: Short Story
    Ebook35 pages18 minutes

    Piper In The Woods: Short Story

    By Philip K. Dick

    3.5/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Henry Harris, an army doctor, is startled when a solider returns from a mission on an asteroid claiming to be a plant. When several more men return from the same asteroid also claiming to be plants, Harris travels to the asteroid himself to investigate the strange phenomenon.

    Philip K. Dick was an American science-fiction novelist, short-story writer and essayist. His first short story, “Beyond Lies the Wub,” was published shortly after his high school graduation. Some of his most famous short stories were adapted for film, including “The Minority Report,” “Paycheck,” “Second Variety” (adapted into the film Screamers) and “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale” (adapted into the film Total Recall).

    HarperCollins brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperCollins short-stories collection to build your digital library.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateDec 31, 2013
    ISBN9781443433280
    Piper In The Woods: Short Story
    Author

    Philip K. Dick

    Over a writing career that spanned three decades, PHILIP K. DICK (1928–1982) published 36 science fiction novels and 121 short stories in which he explored the essence of what makes man human and the dangers of centralized power. Toward the end of his life, his work turned to deeply personal, metaphysical questions concerning the nature of God. Eleven novels and short stories have been adapted to film, notably Blade Runner (based on Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?), Total Recall, Minority Report, and A Scanner Darkly, as well as television's The Man in the High Castle. The recipient of critical acclaim and numerous awards throughout his career, including the Hugo and John W. Campbell awards, Dick was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2005, and between 2007 and 2009, the Library of America published a selection of his novels in three volumes. His work has been translated into more than twenty-five languages.

    Read more from Philip K. Dick

    Related to Piper In The Woods

    Related ebooks

    Science Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Book One: Notes Of Origin

      Feb 28, 2023

      Book One: Notes Of Origin
      14 min read

    • Article

      Chuckles

      Nov 10, 2023

      David Hasselhoff walks into a bar. He orders a drink and the bartender recognises him. “It’s a pleasure to serve you, Mr Hasselhoff,” the bartender says. “Just call me Hoff,” the actor replies. “Sure,” the bartender says, “No hassle.” Newspaper boy:

      1 min read

    • Article

      Storyteller

      Nov 4, 2021

      Storyteller
      11 min read

    • Article

      Fantasy and Reality

      Aug 3, 2017

      Fantasy and Reality
      4 min read

    • Article

      The Room Above

      Sep 10, 2021

      For a moment, he had no thoughts. Just…observations… A blue hole. No – a window… Crystalline sky swelling through a big square gap in the otherwise plain white wall. He blinked. Was that sky out there? What was in here? Where was ‘here’? He blinked s

      29 min read

    • Article

      Leviathan

      Aug 10, 2022

      After we killed the passengers, we put the bodies in one of the low-pressure, unheated storage compartments. Some people had wanted to have some kind of solemn burial-in-space thing; that was too ghoulish for most of us, though. Mostly the ones we ki

      25 min read

    • Article

      Red Alert

      Dec 3, 2020

      Red Alert
      5 min read

    • Article

      Change Of Heart

      May 7, 2020

      Change Of Heart
      7 min read

    • Article

      Eating Oatmeal with Alasdair Gray

      Jan 1, 2020

      Alasdair Gray as a young man. Photo provided by the author in 2016.  The Scottish writer Alasdair Gray died on December 29th, at the age of eighty-five, four years after a fall from the outside steps of his house left him with a spinal injury that co

      5 min read

    • Article

      … And Other Creatures

      Apr 12, 2017

      … And Other Creatures
      4 min read

    • Article

      Meat is Meat

      Feb 10, 2024

      “Doctor…” “Yes, Captain?” Circling like a typhoon, the captain paced around the catch, her boots crunching on the scattered scales as though on shards of broken crockery. She maintained her distance with a learned suspicion, ready to jerk away should

      15 min read

    • Article

      The Dividual

      Aug 10, 2021

      The first dividual I saw I was six, holding my uncle’s hand in immigrations. Ahead of us was a group of seven men and women, blue masks covering their heads and shoulders. They carried between them a pale violet tree trunk, its roots bundled in a bur

      22 min read

    • Article

      Equinox

      May 18, 2022

      In this strange world, where identities change with the rising and setting of the sun, supernatural forces are at work – and they’re causing trouble… St Leonars prison was an appropriately imposing building. It rose out of the surrounding shacks and

      5 min read

    • Article

      Secrets Of The Seamstress

      Apr 20, 2022

      Secrets Of The Seamstress
      8 min read

    • Article

      Secrets Of The Seamstress

      Apr 20, 2022

      Secrets Of The Seamstress
      8 min read

    • Article

      The Time Traveller Returns

      Oct 29, 2018

      The Time Traveller Returns
      7 min read

    • Article

      Daniel J. Hinkley

      Jun 23, 2022

      DANIEL J. HINKLEY rose to fame in the plant world through his plant-collecting expeditions, which brought numerous beguiling introductions to the trade, and through Heronswood, the Seattle-area destination and mail-order nursery that he developed thr

      14 min read

    • Article

      How I Learned to Talk

      Sep 3, 2019

      How I Learned to Talk
      20 min read

    • Article

      ‘‘Each Day Is A Gift”

      Jun 19, 2019

      ‘‘Each Day Is A Gift”
      5 min read

    • Article

      Bound

      Apr 10, 2022

      I came fully awake as I sat up and cracked my head on the thwart of my upturned canoe. The pain cleared my head. I felt under my bedroll for my knife, hoping I hadn’t made enough noise to attract the attention of whatever—whoever?—had waked me. I did

      17 min read

    • Article

      The Fly King Speaks: Meet Fredrik Sjöberg, author of the sleeper hit, The Fly Trap.

      Mar 12, 2015

      So I’m reading The Fly Trap by Fredrik Sjöberg, a slim book by a writer I’ve never heard of, and I’m riveted for reasons I can’t explain. I honestly have no idea what the book is about. The author begins by talking about the time he worked as a prop

      6 min read

    • Article

      Faery Land

      Mar 24, 2020

      Faery Land
      8 min read

    • Article

      History’s Five Best Body Part Stories

      Dec 8, 2023

      A few years ago, medical historian and surgeon-in-training Suzie Edge was in the operating room preparing to amputate a patient’s leg. She began telling her colleagues just how such an amputation might have gone during the 1815 Battle of Waterloo, wh

      4 min read

    • Article

      Club Together

      Dec 17, 2020

      Club Together
      6 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Piper In The Woods

    3.5/5

    14 ratings1 review

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      Asteroid Y-3 orbits near Jupiter. It has earth-like gravity and a thriving ecosystem. This is contrary to modern scientific knowledge, which makes the story feel a bit dated. That nuance aside, I enjoyed this story. It touches on the subject of returning to nature, wherefrom so much has been stripped out of our lives.

    Book preview

    Piper In The Woods - Philip K. Dick

    Piper_in_the_Woods_cover_resized.jpg

    PIPER IN THE WOODS

    Philip K. Dick

    HarperPerennialClassicsLogo.jpg

    CONTENTS

    Piper in the Woods

    About the Author

    About the Series

    Copyright

    About the Publisher

    Piper in the Woods

    Earth maintained an important garrison on Asteroid Y-3. Now suddenly it was imperiled with a biological impossibility—men becoming plants!

    Well, Corporal Westerburg, Doctor Henry Harris said gently, just why do you think you’re a plant?

    As he spoke, Harris glanced down again at the card on his desk. It was from the Base Commander himself, made out in Cox’s heavy scrawl: Doc, this is the lad I told you about. Talk to him and try to find out how he got this delusion. He’s from the new Garrison, the new check-station on Asteroid Y-3, and we don’t want anything to go wrong there. Especially a silly damn thing like this!

    Harris pushed the card aside and stared back up at the youth across the desk from him. The young man seemed ill at ease and appeared to be avoiding answering the question Harris had put to him. Harris frowned. Westerburg was a good-looking chap, actually handsome in his Patrol uniform, a shock of blond hair over one eye. He was tall, almost six feet, a fine healthy lad, just two years out of Training, according to the card. Born in Detroit. Had measles when he was nine. Interested in jet engines, tennis, and girls. Twenty-six years old.

    Well, Corporal Westerburg, Doctor Harris said again. Why do you think you’re a plant?

    The Corporal looked up shyly. He cleared his throat. "Sir, I am a plant, I don’t just think so. I’ve been a plant for several days, now."

    I see. The Doctor nodded. You mean that you weren’t always a plant?

    No, sir. I just became a plant recently.

    And what were you before you became a plant?

    Well, sir, I was just like the rest of you.

    There was silence. Doctor Harris took up his pen and scratched a few lines, but nothing of importance came. A plant? And such a healthy-looking lad! Harris removed his steel-rimmed glasses and polished them with his handkerchief. He put them on again and leaned back in his chair. "Care

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1