Valis

<p><P><b>Valis</b> is the first book in Philip K. Dick's incomparable final trio of novels (the others being are <i>The Divine Invasion</i> and <i>The Transmigration of Timothy Archer</i>). This disorienting and bleakly funny work is about a schizophrenic hero named Horselover Fat; the hidden mysteries of Gnostic Christianity; and reality as revealed through a pink laser. <b>Valis</b> is a theological detective story, in which God is both a missing person and the perpetrator of the ultimate crime.<P>&quot;The fact that what Dick is entertaining us about is reality and madness, time and death, sin and salvation&#151;this has escaped most critics. Nobody notices that we have our own homegrown Borges, and have had him for thirty years.&quot;&#151;Ursula K. Le Guin, <i>New Republic</i></p><h3>Publishers Weekly</h3><p>The quest for God is the binding theme of this trilogy. The ``funny and painful and sometimes brilliant'' VALIS(anagram) finds protagonist and Dick alter-ego Horselover Fat unable to reconcile human suffering with his belief in God. Invasion is a ``fascinating and highly readable'' vision of Armageddon, blending New Testament, Kabbalah and Dick's own worldview. In Transmigration , Angel Archer reminisces about her father-in-law, Timothy, an Episcopal bishop obsessed with a set of ancient scrolls that shed faith-threatening new light on Jesus: ``This finely crafted, odd but compelling book demonstrates Dick's great erudition, keen human insight and subtle ironic sense of humor,'' said PW. (July)</p>