''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 Unpublished at the time, it was released on January 23, 2007, by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. History Tor was founded by Tom Doherty, ...

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 (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

, but rather

literary fiction Literary fiction, serious fiction, high literature, or artistic literature, and sometimes just literature, encompasses fiction books and writings that are more character-driven rather than plot-driven, that examine the human condition, or that are ...

. The original

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand or typewritten, as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has ...

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 recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

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's 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'' as well as in '' Humpty Dumpty in Oakland'', 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 diffe ...

of a

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

and

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

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

post-apocalyptic Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction are genres 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; astronom ...

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). 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''. The character of Betty, the proprietress of the nearby health food 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 character from ''Voices from the Street'', and again in Dick's science fiction novel '' The Crack in Space''. 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