Ubik

216 pp. "Filled with paranoiac menace and unfettered slapstick, UBIK is a searing metaphysical comedy of death and salvation -- salvation which comes in a convenient aerosol spray, to be used only as directed!" "Ubik is a 1969 science fiction novel by American writer Philip K. Dick. In 2005, Time magazine named it one of the 100 greatest English-language novels published since 1923; critic Lev Grossman described it as "a deeply unsettling existential horror story, a nightmare you'll never be sure you've woken up from". The novel takes place in the 'North American Confederation' of 1992, wherein technology has advanced to the extent of permitting civilians to reach the Moon and psi phenomena are widely accepted as real. The protagonist is Joe Chip, a debt-ridden technician for Glen Runciter's "prudence organization", which employs people with the ability to block certain psychic powers (as in the case of an anti-telepath, who can prevent a telepath from reading a client's mind) to enforce privacy by request."