[.ca] Solar Lottery: A Novel (ISBN 1400030137)

It's all about power:
Dick's first published novel, Solar Lottery (1955) is impressive and original. It was much influenced by several famous sf novels--A. E. van Vogt's complexly plotted World of Null-A, Kurt Vonnegut's dystopian black comedy Player Piano, and Alfred Bester's pyrotechnic novel of telepathic police The Demolished Man. Solar Lottery is not unworthy of being mentioned in their company. It is not quite a typical Dick novel: it lacks the humor of the later works, as well as the theme of reality breakdown, but it is quite effective on its own terms. Dick foresaw a world where all power is concentrated in the hands of the government and private corporations. A great quiz game which decides the leader, but it is rigged against the powerless. Furthermore, the system, with its built-in structure of killing its own leaders, decrees that nothing lasts or should last. In its dark, complex picture of power relationships, this novel is totally relevant today.