The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch

The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch is a typically complex novel by the science fiction writer Philip K. Dick. The novel covers a number of common themes in Dick's work including: drug use, the commercial use of precognition and the idea that what we perceive may not be reality. Philip K. Dick, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch (book cover) This image is a book cover. ... Philip K. Dick, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch (book cover) This image is a book cover. ... A novel is an extended work of written, narrative, prose fiction, usually in story form; the writer of a novel is a novelist. ... 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 K. Dick Philip Kindred Dick (December 16, 1928 – March 2, 1982), often known by his initials PKD, or by the pen name Richard Phillips, was an American science fiction writer and novelist who changed the genre profoundly. ... Recreational drug use is the use of psychoactive drugs for recreational rather than medical or spiritual purposes, although the distinction is not always clear. ... Precognition is a form of extra-sensory perception which allows a percipient to perceive information about future places or events before they happen (as opposed to merely predicting them based on deductive reasoning and current knowledge). ...

The plot of this novel involves the use of a hallucinogenic substance called Chew-Z which is marketed with the promise of eternal life with the slogan, God promises eternal life. We can deliver it. The drug threatens to replace its competitor, Can-D, which is used for communal entertainment by lonely Martian colonists. However, the effects of Chew-Z are not as simple as eternal life or entertainment. Palmer Eldritch, a man who brought the drug back from the Prox star system, may have ulterior motives involving the God-like powers that Chew-Z seems to grant him - as well as total control of humanity - since everyone who tries Chew-Z seems to hallucinate visions that include him and eventually becomes him. The "three stigmata" refers to the symbols of the appearance of Palmer Eldritch: an artificial hand, artificial eyes (Jensen visor), and a deformed jaw containing steel teeth. Hallucinogenic drug - drugs that can alter sensory perceptions. ... Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the solar system, named after the Roman god of war (the counterpart of the Greek Ares), on account of its blood red color as viewed in the night sky. ...

See also

• Minority Report
• Mars in fiction
• The Days of Perky Pat