''Voices From The Street'' is an early realist novel by American science fiction author Philip K. Dick, written in the early 1950s. Unpublished at the time, it was released on January 23, 2007, by

Tor Books Tor Books is the primary imprint of Tor Publishing Group (previously Tom Doherty Associates), a publishing company based in New York City. It primarily publishes science fiction and fantasy titles, and is the largest publisher of Chinese sci ...

for the first time. As with many of his early books which were considered unsuitable for publication when they were first submitted as manuscripts, this was not

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

, but rather

literary fiction Literary fiction, mainstream fiction, non-genre fiction or serious fiction is a label that, in the book trade, refers to market novels that do not fit neatly into an established genre (see genre fiction); or, otherwise, refers to novels that are ch ...

. The original

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in ...

was 547 pages in length. There is some speculation that the unpleasant

marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between ...

in the manuscript may be an attempt by Dick to sort out his own faltering second marriage to Kleo Apostolides (1950–58), as noted in Lawrence Sutin and Emmanuel Carrère's biographies of the author.

Connections to other Dick works

Hadley's boss, Jim Fergesson, appeared briefly in Dick's previous novel ''

Gather Yourselves Together ''Gather Yourselves Together'' is an early novel by the science fiction author Philip K. Dick, written around 1948–1950, and published posthumously by WCS Books in 1994. As with many of his early books which were considered unsuitable for publi ...

'' as well as in ''

Humpty Dumpty in Oakland ''Humpty Dumpty in Oakland'' is a realist, non-science fiction novel authored by Philip K. Dick. Originally completed in 1960, but rejected by prior publishers, this work was posthumously published by Gollancz in the United Kingdom in 1986. An A ...

'', this time as the

proprietor Ownership is the state or fact of legal possession and control over property, which may be any asset, tangible or intangible. Ownership can involve multiple rights, collectively referred to as title, which may be separated and held by different ...

of an

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

and

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmi ...

repair shop. Fergessen makes a final appearance in Dick's later

post-apocalyptic Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; ast ...

science fiction novel '' Dr. Bloodmoney'', cast in his original role of proprietor of a television and radio repair shop (although he is killed in the opening stages of

World War III World War III or the Third World War, often abbreviated as WWIII or WW3, are names given to a hypothetical worldwide large-scale military conflict subsequent to World War I and World War II. The term has been in use since at ...

). Hadley’s coworker Olsen, the in-house television repairman, as well as Fergessen’s store Modern TV Sales & Service reappear in ''

Puttering About in a Small Land ''Puttering About in a Small Land'' is an early non-science fiction novel by American science fiction author Philip K. Dick. It was written sometime in 1957, but remained unpublished until it was released posthumously in 1985. Plot summary In 19 ...

''. The character of Betty, the proprietress of the nearby

health food A healthy diet is a diet that maintains or improves overall health. A healthy diet provides the body with essential nutrition: fluid, macronutrients such as protein, micronutrients such as vitamins, and adequate fibre and food energy. A health ...

store is reused in ''Humpty Dumpty in Oakland''. The character of Stuart Hadley returns in ''Dr. Bloodmoney'' as a black man by the name of Stuart McConchie, as opposed to the

Caucasian Caucasian may refer to: Anthropology *Anything from the Caucasus region ** ** ** ''Caucasian Exarchate'' (1917–1920), an ecclesiastical exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Caucasus region * * * Languages * Northwest Caucasian l ...

character from ''Voices from the Street'', and again in Dick's science fiction novel ''

The Crack in Space ''The Crack in Space'' is a 1966 science fiction novel by American writer Philip K. Dick. In the United Kingdom, it has been published under the title of the original novella, ''Cantata 140'', published in the July 1964 issue of'' The Magazin ...

''. In this novel Hadley is once again Caucasian and works for a character named Darius Pethel, who is essentially the same as Fergesson. The character of Al Miller performs a similar role as Hadley to the Fergessen of ''Humpty Dumpty in Oakland'', though he is less overtly-antagonistic to other characters as the Hadley from ''Voices from the Street''. Additionally while Miller operates a business that is independent of Fergesson’s repair shop (no longer making Miller/Hadley Fergesson’s employee) he leases space from him for his used-car lot and relies heavily on Fergesson’s expertise to rehabilitate his vehicles. Fergesson’s decision to close his shop drives much of the events in that novel. Despite the multiple appearances and interrelations of these characters the respective worlds are all mutually exclusive and the characters make no reference to incidents that occur in either earlier or later work.

Bibliography

* Bibliography of Philip K. Dick

References

*Lawrence Sutin: ''Divine Invasions: A Life of Philip K Dick'':London: Gollancz: 2006: *Emmanuel Carrère ''I am Alive and You are Dead: A Journey into the Mind of Philip K Dick'': London: Bloomsbury: 2006: {{Philip K. Dick 2007 American novels Fiction set in the 1950s Novels by Philip K. Dick Novels published posthumously Novels set in California Tor Books books