Back to this world enough and time — assuming we have world enough and time, let alone what “our little fragile world … this puny society” has become. Dr. Bloodmoney; or How We Got Along After the Bomb (1965) reads like a black-humored Dr. Strangelove sequel crossed with a post-apocalyptic Flannery O'Connor Gothic tale transplanted to Dick’s San Francisco Bay stomping grounds — and in those regards it may be among the least sci-fi of Dick’s sci-fi. The title character, who is actually referred to by the Germanic "Bluthgeld," is a god-like scientist who believes himself capable of bringing down atomic destruction simply by willing it. But the strength of the book lies in the kaleidoscopic character shuffle — comprising as it does a testament to the endurance and ongoing spirit of humanity — as we focus in on the coping skills of such figures as Hoppy Harrington, a deformed mutant with telekinetic powers; Walt Dangerfield, stranded in an endless orbit around the earth, broadcasting daily radio shows to lift the spirits of his devoted listeners in the war's aftermath; Bonny Keller, who seeks consolation for her troubles with a series of unsatisfying affairs; and Stuart McConchie, an African-American salesman who exemplifies the power of fortitude and optimism.

At least the survivors of a nuclear holocaust who eke out a subsistence in Dr. Bloodmoney can claim, at least, the dignity of existence. This is more than can be said for the protagonist of Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said (1973), a famous television personality who awakens one day in his totalitarian state setting inexplicably unknown and unrecognized, with no identification and all proof of existence ostensibly revoked.

Not that he’d be more content in the every-which-way-but-lucid society of Now Wait for Last Year (1966), or the paranoia-noir A Scanner Darkly (1977), both centered around the wide-scale dilemmas of drug addiction, at least in part. The initially fascinating Now Wait bursts at the seams with countless intricacies and ideas as it launches from its 2055 San Diego-Tijuana setting to where Dr. Eric Sweetscent’s home planet is caught up in an unwinnable war and his wife is addicted to a drug that tosses its users helplessly back and forth across time. Furthermore, Sweetscent's newest patient is not only the most important man on Earth but quite possibly the sickest. As political intrigue, shifting loyalties, and hallucinogenic insidiousness abound, Now Wait — before it starts straining too much for convoluted ill-effect toward the end — subtly conveys the nuanced elements of human relationships.