Now Wait For Last Year
Philip K. Dick 1966
May 1974 2nd Printing Cover Art Unknown

Continuing to fill in the gaps of PDK novels I have read. This edition by Manor books proclaims on the cover their policy of refunding your money completely if not satisfied with the story. I don't think they're still in business but even if they were, I'd pass on the offer. Its a good book

Its 2055 Earth has allied itself with the humanoid Lilistar empire against the insect-like Reegs.
Gino "The Mole" Molinari is president of Earth during this war and he's come to the conclusion we picked the wrong side. To combat the pressure of his office between conducting the war and dealing with Lilistar's increasing demands of it's Earth allies, Gino keeps having heart attacks,seizures and aneurisms bringing him to the brink of death
Meanwhile Eric Sweetscent, a top transplant surgeon recently hired for the Presidential medical staff trying to keep The Mole alive, is in the midst of a crumbling marriage and the devistating effects of the secret drug JJ-180.  One dose of the drug can cause your conciousness to travel to the past or future. However you will also be instantly addicted and dead within months
For a 1966 tale, Dick was certainly commenting on the then-current Vietnam war and the rise of hallucinogenic drugs of that time. After the 2 chapters setting up the story, I found the rest of the novel a very compelling read. The denouement was very downbeat with the hero spending much time contemplating suicide
Still, a very thought provoking talewhich only encourages me to further read PDK's novels, especially in this middle period

Early in his career--his first dozen novels or so--Francis was most concerned with suspense. We got a lot of: Man strung from a barn’s rafter, stripped naked and splashed with cold water; man handcuffed to a steering wheel of a dead car abandoned in the jungle; man hunted through an empty building by a gang of thugs while a boiler is set to “accidentally” blow up. And, in this case, man trying to land a plane at night without navigation and while running out of fuel. It was called Flying Finish, after all. Only later in his career did the emphasis shift more to who and how “dunit”

Like you, I felt the ending a little lacking. Francis snuck in some thought within the hero’s relief, something about how he “knew” Gabriella would be okay and they would live happy ever after. Luckily, by then I was familiar enough with Francis’ work that it didn’t ruin things for me.

I like Gardner writing the Cool & Lam books as A. A. Fair. I've never been a Perry Mason fan.

Anyone a fan of Joseph Campbell? Or even just conversant with some of his prominent works?

Now Wait for Last Year is a novel that, I think, most PKD fans probably place in the second (or maybe 1.5th?) tier of his work, but I rank it in his top 10. (The same goes for We Can Build You & The Simulacra, & probably Clans of the Alphane Moon, maybe The Game-Players of Titan & possibly The World Jones Made  as well. Which I guess means my top 10 actually numbers 15 at the very least, but that's sort of quintessentially PKDian, really.)

And speaking of PKDian, Last Year vexed me the first time I read it by disappearing for a few days when I was maybe one-third of the way into it, back in the summer of '77. I hunted all over the house for it before giving up & moving on to the (excellent, of course) Ubik instead ... after which, of course, it resurfaced. 

That’s kind of funny. The only reason I went back to Gardner after some fifteen, twenty years is that The D.A. Draws a Circle is the basis of a 1971 TV movie I like a lot. A low-budget movie of the week, They Call It Murder could hardly be considered great, but some talented actors fashioned some very good performances out of these limited characters. It starred Jim Hutton as D.A Doug Selby, and also featured Leslie Nielsen, Jessica Walter, Lloyd Bochner, Vic Tayback and Nita Talbot. Only Ed Asner, saddled with the role of blowhard Otto Larkin, threw his hands up played it loud and over-the-top. Nothing earthshaking, like I said, but it succeeded at what it set out to be: a lighthearted whodunit. I wanted to compare it to the Gardner novel.

The Power of Myth is an easy-to-read primer on Campbell and his concepts of the mono-myth and the hero's journey. He tells stories to illustrate his points, befitting the conversational style of the book as well as his field, which is essentially the study of stories. I do find that sometimes his interpretations of various myths and legends are less than helpful; what he sees as obvious and general sometimes strike me as subjective. 

The only other book of Campbell's that I found moderately readable and interesting was the section of his Masks of God series that dealt with the Odyssey. Oh and parts of The Hero with a Thousand Faces, too.

At his worst, Campbell tends to sound more like a New Age "Improve Your Life" type than a scholar.  
At his best, he gives great insights into the patterns and archetypes of literature.