Long before Ridley Scott transformed Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968) into Blade Runner (Warner Bros., 1982), Philip K. Dick was banging away at his typewriter in relative obscurity, ostracised by the literary establishment. Today he is widely considered one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. These interviews reveal a man plagued by bouts of manic paranoia and failed suicide attempts; a career fuelled by alcohol, amphetamines and mystical inspiration - and, above all, a magnificent and generous imagination at work.