The Cosmic Puppets

Philip K. Dick's The Cosmic Puppets is not really science fiction. If anything, it's more fantasy with overtones of Zoroastrian dualism. Ahriman and Ormazd's cosmic battle is centered in Millgate, where the former has successfully isolated and created an illusion town for the last 18 years. Former resident Ted Barton returns, with the help of Ormazd's daughter, and they eventually restore the former city (although the cosmic battle between the God of Light and Evil continues). Since this novel explores the question of what is reality, and the narrator is unsure of his existence, I couldn't help but think of Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said, but there's no totalitarian government or threat (besides the manifestation of Ahriman). Instead, we get a short novel that perhaps takes too long to establish the mythological/cosmic forces at play. Indeed, Cosmic Puppets may be one Dick's novels one could easily skip, although it does resemble some of his later mystical novels (Divine Invasion, for example) where religious forces and the question of idealism versus materialism make it difficult to establish with certainty what is truth or permanent. However, the 'true' town of Millgate reappears, even after Ted Barton stops remembering it (wishing for it)...And one your symbolic representation of something resembles the actual object, perhaps the distinction is lost? Either way, this is an enjoyable albeit uneven adventure into the mind of PKD.