Gather Yourselves Together by Philip K. Dick Subject: Contemporary Literature Publisher: WCS Books (USA) Edition Our Price inc. p&p Status first edition hardback, 292pp, ISBN 1878914057, 1994 N/A out of print

By 1952, a young Philip K. Dick had been successful with numerous SF short stories; he decided to attempt a serious mainstream novel.

Set in 1949 amongst the evacuation of American businesses from mainland China, Gather Yourselves Together is a steamy, claustrophic tale of two men and a woman, isolated by circumstance and alienated from each other by their pasts – or lack thereof. Middle-aged Verne Tildon and half-his-age Barbara Mahler are forced to put aside the lingering resentments and frustrations of a stateside love affair in order to do the job they've been assigned: preparing a factory compound for transfer to the approaching Communists. Carl Fitter is the unsuspecting young man who finds himself embroiled in their tensions, and around whose sexual awakening the novel is structured.

Never before published, this early novel reveals Philip K. Dick's obvious talent and skill in a manner quite unlike any other book he was ever to produce.