Don
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- May 15, 2020
- Messages
- 317
Synopsis
An official known as the Speaker is at odds with an institution known as the First Church. The Speaker desires to eliminate the First Church by sending an assassin back into time to kill the founder of the First Church.
To carry out his plan, the Speaker enlists the help of a formerly wealthy prisoner named Conger. The Speaker promises Conger that his prison sentence will be commuted if Conger goes back into time to assassinate the founder of the First Church.
The founder's early life is sketchy. So the Speaker insists that Conger take the founder's skull back with him to use as a metric to ensure that the correct man is assassinated. It's the eponymous skull.
Conger travels back in time to the Front Range of Colorado. Time travel's a hit and miss proposition due to the sketchy early life of the founder.
Review
This is one of Philip K Dick's earlier stories. It lacks the rich texture of masterful stories published later in his career. It's fun despite its lack of "heft" because reveals Dick as a mere mortal wordsmith.
"The Skull"'s plot twist is obvious. An obvious plot twist is a double edged sword. Although it makes readers feel omniscient and therefore superior it also can feel trite.
An official known as the Speaker is at odds with an institution known as the First Church. The Speaker desires to eliminate the First Church by sending an assassin back into time to kill the founder of the First Church.
To carry out his plan, the Speaker enlists the help of a formerly wealthy prisoner named Conger. The Speaker promises Conger that his prison sentence will be commuted if Conger goes back into time to assassinate the founder of the First Church.
The founder's early life is sketchy. So the Speaker insists that Conger take the founder's skull back with him to use as a metric to ensure that the correct man is assassinated. It's the eponymous skull.
Conger travels back in time to the Front Range of Colorado. Time travel's a hit and miss proposition due to the sketchy early life of the founder.
Review
This is one of Philip K Dick's earlier stories. It lacks the rich texture of masterful stories published later in his career. It's fun despite its lack of "heft" because reveals Dick as a mere mortal wordsmith.
"The Skull"'s plot twist is obvious. An obvious plot twist is a double edged sword. Although it makes readers feel omniscient and therefore superior it also can feel trite.
