Just reading Phil Dick's THE DARK-HAIRED GIRL very belatedly. The final item in this mix of letters, speeches and dreams is a soi-disant short story Paul Williams has abstracted from a letter to his brief-affair-girl-friend Linda, a depressive but beautiful `foxy chick' (ugh) doll collector (ugh), about an encounter with a man on the road who has one of those beautfil haunting Linda dolls that speaks to Phil, addressing him, however, as Vincent (van Gogh via the 70s song). The book came out in 1988, so can't have influenced THERE ARE DOORS, also '88, unless Gene happened to be yarning with Phil at some point, or got one of his demented and frequently cross-posted letters back in the early '70s. Anyone have any thoughts on this kinda coincidence?
Damien Broderick