The Little Movement


Written in March 1952

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Expendable   Chronology The Preserving Machine

(1952 Nov): F & SF
(1955): A HANDFUL OF DARKNESS
(1982): THE EUREKA YEARS {Ed.: McComas} Bantam
(1984:): ROBOTS, ANDROIDS AND MECHANICAL ODDITIES
(1987): BEYOND LIES THE WUB/BROWN OXFORD

SL:38    21

Dear Mr. Boucher,                                                        

    Here is a new page 11 for "He Who Waits." I hope it does. {...}
    As to the title: how about "Protection." Or: "The Protectors." Or: "Protection Agency." etc., etc. I like the last. We seem to have plenty of time to decide, if the first "Dick" is coming out in August. I wonder if perhaps this yarn wouldn't be the best "first." "Roog" is more ordinary; its kind is common. This one (and "Little Movement") is more my own kind of story. I'll leave it to you.

{...}

{PKD>Tony Boucher, Mar 5, 1952}


SL:38 22

Dear Sirs,                                                                       

{...}

"The Little Movement" -- a brand new pretty typed-up version with a few minor changes only, all for the good, I think. It's much smoother.

{...}

(If "Little Movement" comes back with a rejection slip, I'll have a stroke)

{PKD>The Editors of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Mar 19, 1952}


SL:38 42

Dear Tony,                                                                        

    It occurs to me that if you're looking for a story of mine to include in the treasury of s-f, in my opinion my story FOSTER, YOU'RE DEAD is about my best. It appeared in the Star S-F Anthology Number Three.
    By the way -- the above mentioned story was picked up by Ogonek, the largest circulation Soviet weekly (1,500,00). They even drew a number of archaic, foul illustrations for it ... so I have more readers in the USSR than in this country. An odd situation. I never got a cent for the reprint; I wrote to Ogonek, asking for a copy of the magazine, but they didn't answer the letter.
    What about some of those short fantasies that you printed of mine? Or is this a strictly s-f collection? If I live to be 100 I'll never write anything as good as those, again. Especially LITTLE MOVEMENT. When I read that, I marvel that I could have written it. Ah, the inspiration of youth ...

    Cordially, PKD

PS. How about "Beyond Lies The Wub?" Planet Stories, July 1952. Never been reprinted, & virtually unknown. Not a half-bad story.

{PKD>Tony Boucher, Oct 29, 1958}





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