Books

First edition, first printing, of one of Dick's darkest novels, a "bleak, poisoned exercise in theology, which has been described as his single finest work" (Clute & Nicholls). A Maze of Death stemmed from an attempt made by Dick and his friend William Sarill to "develop an abstract, logical system of religious thought, based on the arbitrary postulate that God exists" (Foreword). Octavo. Original blue cloth, spine lettered in silver. With dust jacket. "The Crack in Space" added in pencil to end of list of author's works. Spine cocked, ends slightly bumped, a little rubbing to spine ends and corners, rear free endpaper excised; jacket with a few nicks, unclipped: a very good copy in near-fine jacket. Clute & Nicholls, p. 329; Currey, p. 157; Locke, p. 69.

A Maze of Death is a 1970 science fiction novel by American writer Philip K. Dick. The story is set on a mysterious planet where a group of individuals are awaiting instructions for a mission that never arrives, leading them into a paranoid unraveling of reality and the nature of God. As typical of Dick's work, the novel explores themes of theology, cognitive dissonance, and the subjective nature of reality.