Second Variety: A Short Science Fiction Novel by Philip K. Dick

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Science fiction enthusiasts, especially the fans of one of the best writers of the genre ever, Philip K. Dick, will surely love this delightful and action-packed short story by the master. The story provides a very grim perspective about the future of mankind. Humanity has been decimated by a devastating nuclear war between the West and the Soviet Union. There are very few humans left alive and the surface of the Earth has become unsuitable for being lived on, but the conflict is not resolved, even though the losses are huge on both sides. The West, that is, the United Nations, start using self-replicating robots called claws to help continue the war. The robots are continuously improved and updated, serving as much more than only weapons in the war - some of them have been developed into androids that look and behave very much like humans and are used for infiltration and espionage purposes. Robot warfare has broken the enemy's lines and a group of Soviet officers approaches the U.N. with a proposal to start negotiations. However, some of the autonomous robots (called the Second Variety in the story and giving it the title, too) get out of control, leading to further destruction and human deaths and eventually turning against each other. Considered to be one of the most intriguing and most compelling writings by K. Dick, Second Variety was first published in 1953 in the magazine entitled Space Science Fiction, before most of the author's important work came out.It is, therefore, considered to be the first writing foreshadowing the Dick's preoccupations with the dystopian future of mankind. The short story has been re-published in numerous collections of Dick's work and in science fiction anthologies as well. It has also been adapted to film many times and the barren, dangerous, post-nuclear war world of the story has been a major inspiration for the Terminator series as well.