Although he died destitute, Philip K. Dick is responsible for some of the most inventive -- and iconic -- science fiction stories of all time. Among such stories include Blade Runner, The Man in the High Castle, Minority Report, and A Scanner Darkly. Published in 1977, A Scanner Darkly tells the story Bob Arctor, an undercover cop who works to uncover the source of a drug called Substance D. However, Arctor soon becomes addicted to the drug -- a drug which causes a split personality in him. A Scanner Darkly was semi-autobiographical. , "Everything in A Scanner Darkly I actually saw," Dick once remarked.
At release, A Scanner Darkly received mostly warm reviews. Writes Publisher's Weekly of the book: " Originally published in 1977, the out-of-print novel comes frighteningly close to capturing the U.S. in 1991, in terms of the drug crisis and the relationships between the sexes. But the unrelenting scenes among the addicts make it a grueling read." Damien Walter of The Guardian echoed Publisher's Weekly's sentiments, saying that "In A Scanner Darkly [Dick] drives us down into our deepest fears and leaves us there, in the darkness."
A Scanner Darkly was adapted into a film of the same name by acclaimed director Richard Linklater. An animated film, Scanner was released in 2006 and achieved critical success -- although it was a box office failure.
