Specious Species No. 5
Various
Authors
Edited
and Published by Joe Donahoe
San
Francisco, CA
$8.00
I’ve always been of town minds of Northern California
local hero Phillip K. Dick. Was he a visionary of a crackpot? Was he a genius
or merely a highly functioning
psychotic who was able to
convince a legion of fans that he was on to something? This spring I ended up
teaching a five-week seminar t the Noisbridge Hacker Collective on Phillip K.
Dick for the Free University of San Francisco. This was in response to Alan
Kaufman’s suggestion that I teach a class, despite my own reservations
concerning my qualifications to do so. I did a Facebook survey as to what Bay
Area author, a field I have some limited knowledge in, did people want to hear
about. The result was unanimous: Phillip K. Dick. SO I went ahead and put
together a syllabus for the pataphysical auteur the French regard as the
greatest American author of his generation.
This is issue number five of Specious Species, a magazine
that is rapidly becoming one of the most sought after in the field of small
press publications. Editor and publisher Joe Donahue has brought into being an
intense contribution to twenty first century American literature (well, at least
in San Francisco). Issue number five is the best to date, featuring such
writers as Alan Kaufman, Brett Easton Ellis, worldwide acclaimed musical act
and performance group The Residents. Plus, I must add, a remarkable article on
the works of Berkeley writer Philip K. Dick, author of such novels as Valis and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. This issue of Specious
Species has found a permanent home in my backpack, because I just keep reading
and rereading sections of it. So I highly recommend that you get off your ass
and secure yourself a copy. And for those of you who happen to live in the
Sacramento area; you’ll be able to engage with Joe Donahue, for he will give a
feature reading at Luna’s Café in September.
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