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Encyclopedia > Clans of the Alphane Moon
Clans of the Alphane Moon
First edition cover
Author Philip K. Dick
Country United States
Language English
Genre(s) Science fiction novel
Publisher Ace Books
Released 1964
Media Type Print (Hardback & Paperback)
ISBN NA

Clans of the Alphane Moon is a 1964 science fiction novel by Philip K. Dick. It is based on Philip K. Dick's 1954 short story Shell Game, first published in Galaxy Science Fiction magazine. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1265x1909, 394 KB) This image is of a book cover, and the copyright for it is most likely owned either by the artist who created the cover or the publisher of the book. ... Philip Kindred Dick (December 16, 1928 – March 2, 1982) was an American science fiction writer. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Some notable science fiction novels, in alphabetical order by title: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke 334 by Thomas M. Disch An Age by Brian Aldiss The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton The Atrocity Exhibition by J.G. Ballard... Ace Books is the oldest continuing publisher of science fiction & fantasy novels, founded in 1953 by magazine publisher A. A. Wyn. ... A hardcover (or hardback or hardbound) book is bound with rigid protective covers (typically of cardboard covered with cloth or heavy paper) and a stitched spine. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... 1964 (MCMLXIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1964 calendar). ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... Philip Kindred Dick (December 16, 1928 – March 2, 1982) was an American science fiction writer. ... 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is in need of attention. ... Shell Game is a science fiction short story by Philip K. Dick. ... The Puppet Masters by Robert A. Heinlein in Galaxy, Sept. ...


Plot summary

War between Earth and insectoid-dominated Alphane II ended over a decade ago. (According to the novel, "Alphane" refers to the nearest star to our own system, Alpha Centauri). Some years after the end of hostilities, Earth intends to secure its now independent colony in the Alphane system, Alphane III M2. As a former satellite-based global psychiatric institution for colonists on other Alphane system worlds unable to cope with the stresses of colonisation, the inhabitants of Alphane III M2 have lived peacefully for years. But, under the pretence of a medical mission, Earth intends to take their colony back. Alpha Centauri (α Cen / α Centauri) is the brightest star system in the southern constellation of Centaurus. ...


Against this background, Chuck Rittersdorf and his wife Mary are separating. Although they think they are going their separate ways, they soon find themselves together again on Alphane III M2. Mary travels there through government work, Chuck sees it as a chance to kill Mary using his remote control simulacrum. Along the way he is guided by his Ganymedean Slime Mold neighbour Lord Running Clam and Mary finds herself manipulated by the Alphane sympathiser, comedian Bunny Hentman. The android Data, portrayed by Brent Spiner, from the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation An android is a robot made to resemble a human, usually both in appearance and behavior. ...


The Clans

On Alphane III M2, psychiatric diagnostic groups have differentiated themselves into caste-like pseudo-ethnicities. The inhabitants have formed seven clans:


The Pares are people suffering from paranoia. They function as the statesman class. The Pare representative to the supreme council is Gabriel Baines, and their settlement is called Adolfville (named after Adolf Hitler). It is located within the northern sector of Alphane III M2, and is heavily fortified. This is where the supreme council building is, a stone, six-storey high building, the largest one in Adolfville. For other senses of this word, see paranoia (disambiguation). ...


The Manses are suffering from bipolar disorder. They are the most active class, the warrior class. The Mans representative is Howard Straw. The Mans settlement is Da Vinci Heights. It is characterized as diverse but disordered, without aesthetic unity, "a hodgepodge of incomplete projects, started out but never finished." Also, this is where Alphane III M2's television transmitter is. There is supposed to be tension between them and the Pares, with the Manses constantly trying to stage a coup d'état. Bipolar Disorder is an affective mood disorder that manifests itself in a myriad of symptoms the most common of which are extreme oscillations between mania and depression over various time frames in each individual. ...


The Skitzes are the ones suffering from simple schizophrenia. They correspond to the poet class, with some of them being religious visionaries. The Skitz delegate to the bi-annual get-together at Adolfville is Omar Diamond. The Skitz town is named Joan d’Arc, "poor materially, but rich in eternal values."


The Heebs clan consists of people suffering from disorganized schizophrenia. Their settlement is Gandhitown. To the other clans, they are useful only for manual labour. Their representative is Jacob Simion. Gandhitown looks like "an inhabited garbage dump of cardboard dwellings." Like the Skitzes, some of the Heebs are religious visionaries as well; but they are inclined to produce ascetic saints, whereas the schizophrenics produce dogmatists. An example is "the famous Heeb saint, Ignatz Ledebur, who radiated spirituality as he wandered from town to town, spreading the warmth of his harmless Heeb personality." Another notable Heeb character is Sarah Apostoles; she together with Omar Diamond and Ignatz Ledebur form "the so-called Holy Triumvirate." Disorganized schizophrenia is a subtype of schizophrenia as defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. ...


The Polys suffer from polymorphic schizophrenia. Annette Golding is the Poly delegate to the supreme council and their settlement is called Hamlet Hamlet. They are the creative members of society, producing new ideas. The children from every clan on Alphane III M2 were born Polys, went to their common, central school as Polys, did not become differentiated until perhaps their tenth or eleventh year. And some never became differentiated.


The Ob-Coms are the ones with obsessive-compulsive disorder, their delegate is Ingred Hibbler. The name of their location is not given. They are the clerks and office holders of the society, the ritualistic functionaries, with no original ideas. Their conservatism balances the radical quality of the Polys and gives the society stability.


The Deps are suffering from clinical depression. Their representative to the supreme council is Dino Watters and the name of their town is Cotton Mather Estates, where they live "in endless dark gloom.” Clinical depression (also called major depressive disorder) is a state of intense sadness, melancholia or despair that has advanced to the point of being disruptive to an individuals social functioning and/or activities of daily living. ...


External links


Books by Philip K. Dick
Gather Yourselves Together | Voices From the Street | Vulcan's Hammer | Dr. Futurity | The Cosmic Puppets | Solar Lottery | Mary and the Giant | The World Jones Made | Eye in the Sky | The Man Who Japed | A Time for George Stavros | Pilgrim on the Hill | The Broken Bubble | Puttering About in a Small Land | Nicholas and the Higs | Time Out of Joint | In Milton Lumky Territory | Confessions of a Crap Artist | The Man Whose Teeth Were All Exactly Alike | Humpty Dumpty in Oakland | The Man in the High Castle | We Can Build You | Martian Time-Slip | Dr. Bloodmoney, or How We Got Along After the Bomb | The Game-Players of Titan | The Simulacra | The Crack in Space | Now Wait for Last Year | Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? | Clans of the Alphane Moon | The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch | The Zap Gun | The Penultimate Truth | Deus Irae | The Unteleported Man | The Ganymede Takeover | Counter-Clock World | Nick and the Glimmung | Ubik | Galactic Pot-Healer | A Maze of Death | Our Friends from Frolix 8 | Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said | A Scanner Darkly | Radio Free Albemuth | VALIS | The Divine Invasion | The Transmigration of Timothy Archer

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Clans of the Alphane Moon by Philip K. Dick (1466 words)
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Clans of the Alphane Moon is no exception to this phenomenon and successfully embeds a unique commentary on mental health and human nature in the weirdest science fiction book you've ever read.
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