Our Friends from Frolix 8

Name: Our Friends from Frolix 8
Brand: Recorded Books
Availability: InStock
Rating: 3 (3 reviews)
Author: Philip K. Dick
ISBN: 9798894864501

Author: Philip K. Dick

Narrator: Edoardo Ballerini

Unabridged: 6 hr 55 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 09/11/2025

Categories: Fiction, Science Fiction

Synopsis

This satirical adventure from Philip K. Dick deals with issues of power, class, and politics, set in a world ruled by big-brained elites. In Our Friends from Frolix 8, the world is run by an elite few. And what determines whether one is part of the elite isn’t wealth or privilege, but brains. As children, every citizen of Earth is tested; some are found to be super-smart New Men and some are Unusuals, with various psychic powers. The vast majority are Undermen, performing menial jobs in an overpopulated world. Nick Appleton is an Underman, content to go with the flow and eke out an existence as a tire regroover. But after his son is classified as an Underman, Appleton begins to question the hierarchy. Strengthening his resolve, and energizing the resistance movement, is news that the great resistance leader Thors Provoni is returning from a trip to the furthest reaches of space. And he’s brought help: a giant, indestructible alien.

About Philip K. Dick

Over a writing career that spanned three decades, PHILIP K. DICK (1928–1982) published 36 science fiction novels and 121 short stories in which he explored the essence of what makes man human and the dangers of centralized power. Toward the end of his life, his work turned to deeply personal, metaphysical questions concerning the nature of God. Eleven novels and short stories have been adapted to film, notably Blade Runner (based on Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?), Total Recall, Minority Report, and A Scanner Darkly, as well as television's The Man in the High Castle. The recipient of critical acclaim and numerous awards throughout his career, including the Hugo and John W. Campbell awards, Dick was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2005, and between 2007 and 2009, the Library of America published a selection of his novels in three volumes. His work has been translated into more than twenty-five languages.

Reviews

Goodreads review by mark on November 29, 2023

what’s good, squad? the latest mutations from Dicktopia were straight up insane! Dick was on conceptual fire, dishing out two sick new evolutionary dead ends: the psychic Unusuals and the brainiac New Men. they rule a brave new world full of Undermen like you and me, all of us with nothing to do exc......more

Goodreads review by Sandy on August 18, 2011

Unlike Philip K. Dick's previous two novels, 1969's "Ubik" and 1970's "A Maze of Death," his 27th full-length sci-fi book, "Our Friends From Frolix 8," was not released in a hardcover first edition. Rather, it first saw the light of day, later in 1970, as a 60-cent Ace paperback (no. 64400, for all......more

Goodreads review by [ J o ] on November 17, 2017

Most of the sci-fi elements were pretty cool and very interesting, but not much explored to the extent I would have liked. The characters were all annoying and boring and kind of stereotypical and I didn't much care for what happened to them, but thought Thors Provoni and his friend from Frolix 8 we......more

Goodreads review by David on August 12, 2023

My 29th PKD novel. In the 5-year period (1964-1969) that precedes the final, bold 11-year thrust of his writing career, quality can fluctuate some. The mid- to late-60s, of course, is where we find a few of the magnificent works that helped cement Dick's solid, mind-altering reputation (i.e., 'Do An......more

Goodreads review by Jim on June 10, 2011

Whenever I read Philip K. Dick, I react in exactly the same way. The first few pages, I tell myself that, after all, he isn't very good. And then the jagged paranoiac genius of the man kicks in, takes hold, and carries me along. And what a ride it is! Some 200 years in the future, the earth is under......more