«Second Variety» by Philip Dick

Second Variety is a science fiction novella by Philip K. Dick, first published in 1953.

"The claws were bad enough in the first place—nasty, crawling little death-robots. But when they began to imitate their creators, it was time for the human race to make peace—if it could!"

When future war becomes so horrific that humans turn to machines and computers to design ways to kill each other strange things may happen. And DO in this classic Philip K. Dick story!

Early victories by the USSR in a global nuclear war cause the United Nations government to retreat to the moon leaving behind troops and fierce autonomous robots called “Claws”, which reproduce and redesign themselves in unmanned subterranean factories.

After six bloody years of conflict the Soviets call for an urgent conference and UN Major Joseph Hendricks sets out to meet them. Along the way he will discover what the Claws have been up to, and it isn’t good…

Second Variety was first published in the May 1953 edition of Space Science Fiction Magazine.

Total Running Time (TRT): 1 hour, 54 min. Reading by Phil Chenevert.

Philip Kendrick Dick (1928-1982) was an American science fiction author. Dick explored sociological, political and metaphysical themes in novels dominated by monopolistic corporations, authoritarian governments, and altered states.

In addition to 44 published novels, Dick wrote approximately 121 short stories, most of which appeared in science fiction magazines during his lifetime.

Although Dick spent most of his career as a writer in near-poverty, ten popular films based on his works have been produced, including Blade Runner, Total Recall, A Scanner Darkly, Minority Report, Paycheck, Next, Screamers, and The Adjustment Bureau.

In 2005, Time magazine named Dick one of the one hundred greatest English-language novels published since 1923. In 2007, Dick became the first science fiction writer to be included in The Library of America series.