VALIS, if you don't know, stands for 'Vast Active Living Intelligence System'. In his extremely unpopular novel, Radio Free Albemuth, the great science fiction writer told of Nicholas Brady, the record-store employee who was contacted by this amazing, other-worldly but benevolent intelligence. In the novel, Brady becomes a martyr to his beliefs, but not before telling his good friend, science fiction writer Philip K Dick, all about it.

The film of Radio Free Albemuth is out now. The story is as popular as ever. It earned a little over $5000. But it's on Netflix, these days, and on Youtube if you understand Russian or are willing to pay $3.99, and personally, I thoroughly enjoyed this film. Elektra fell asleep, however. PKD sometimes has that effect on her.

What readers of Radio Free Albemuth may not realise, however, is that Dick's strange scifi novel was actually autobiographical. Only he was two characters: Dick the writer and Brady the visionary record-store man. According to Dick, everything in that novel actually happened, except of course for the President's being named Fremont. But hey, poetic licence.

The Penultimate Truth About Philip K Dick, a full-length documentary which is available on Youtube as well as through Open Culture, tells the background story to Radio Free Albemuth. It also gives you a glimpse into PK Dick's life, as seen through the eyes of his wives – well, four of them – and his friends. Two of the friends you may recognise: scifi writers KW Jeter and Tim Powers. They offer quite different takes on the veracity of Dick's claims, by the way. There's also footage of the infamous Metz talk Dick gave. Imagine a science fiction writer telling a roomful of French intellectuals, 'Well, actually, it's all true…'

I found The Penultimate Truth deeply satisfying, but then, I wrote the Guide Entry on the Vesica Piscis, the fish symbol that played such a large role in Dick's alien contact story.

So, for what it's worth, this is my recommendation for today.