The Eyes Have It by Philip K. Dick Episode #11

Philip K. Dick | April 5, 2022

The Eyes Have It by Philip K. Dick Episode #11
Philip K. Dick

THE EYES HAVE IT

Episode #11 · Written by Philip K. Dick · Narrated by Scott Miller

A man stumbles upon what he believes is proof of a silent alien invasion—hidden in plain sight within the pages of an ordinary paperback. His frantic “discovery” reveals more about human imagination than any extraterrestrial plot.

Sometimes the strangest discoveries come from the smallest misunderstandings. While idly paging through a forgotten paperback, a man notices something peculiar—phrases that seem to describe people whose eyes, arms, and even hearts move about on their own. In these seemingly innocent lines, he perceives undeniable evidence that Earth has already been invaded by a race of shape-shifting aliens living among us.

His imagination runs wild as he decodes each new clue: “his eyes moved from person to person,” “she gave him her hand,” “they split up.” What ordinary readers take as harmless figures of speech, he interprets as shocking revelations. The result is a hilarious, tongue-in-cheek descent into linguistic madness—a masterful parody of paranoia and the literal-minded reading of fiction itself.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Originally published in the early 1950s, The Eyes Have It showcases Philip K. Dick’s gift for finding the extraordinary in the ordinary. Long before his darker explorations of reality and illusion, Dick proved he could twist humor, wordplay, and science-fiction imagination into a perfect short story gem.

Philip K. Dick remains one of the most influential authors in twentieth-century literature. His work inspired countless films (Blade Runner, Total Recall, A Scanner Darkly, Minority Report) and continues to shape modern discussions of consciousness, technology, and truth. In The Eyes Have It, he reminds us that even paranoia can be funny—and that words themselves might hide entire universes.

LISTEN TO THE STORY

Listen to The Eyes Have It by Philip K. Dick — a witty vintage sci-fi tale that turns simple phrases into signs of alien life hiding in plain sight

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PHILIP K. DICK SHORT STORIES

No writer has shaped The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast more profoundly than Philip K. Dick.

From the very beginning, Dick’s uneasy visions have pulsed at the heart of this show. Episode 1 featured The Hanging Stranger, a chilling tale of a corpse swaying in a public square while ordinary citizens hurry past as if nothing is wrong. That opening story set the tone for everything that followed — paranoia in broad daylight, reality bending at the edges, and the quiet suspicion that the world you trust has already been replaced.

Dick’s genius was not in rockets or distant galaxies alone. He brought the strange into living rooms, offices, schoolyards, and suburban streets. In The Father Thing, a young boy becomes convinced his father has been replaced by something wearing his face. Human Is asks whether a man who returns from space truly is the same person — or whether “better” might mean something far more unsettling. Adjustment Team reveals unseen bureaucrats pausing and resetting reality itself while one man accidentally slips between the cracks.

Some stories strike with dark humor. The Eyes Have It turns casual figures of speech into proof of alien invasion. Sales Pitch unleashes a relentless robotic salesman that refuses to take no for an answer. Others cut deeper. Foster, You’re Dead! exposes the fear-driven consumerism of the Cold War era. Breakfast at Twilight drops an unsuspecting family into the aftermath of atomic catastrophe.

Across more than thirty narrated stories, we’ve traveled through Dick’s shifting realities: the eerie colonization of Mars in Tony and the Beetles, the strange evolutionary leap in The Golden Man, the quiet dread of Beyond the Door, the aching nostalgia of Exhibit Piece, and the philosophical unease of The Turning Wheel. Whether he’s writing about android prejudice in James P. Crow, divine intrusion in Upon the Dull Earth, or time paradoxes in The Skull, Dick always returns to one question: what does it mean to be real?

No other author appears more often in our catalog. No other writer has unsettled us so consistently. Explore the stories below and step into the shifting, unstable, unforgettable worlds of Philip K. Dick — the writer who launched this podcast and continues to haunt it.

ABOUT THE LOST SCI-FI PODCAST

The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast is the most listened-to vintage science fiction podcast in the world. Ranked the #1 Science Fiction Podcast in 43 countries and heard in more than 190 countries, the show has surpassed 4.2 million listens.

Each episode features carefully selected stories from the Golden Age of science fiction, professionally narrated. Timeless storytelling the way it was meant to be heard.

What listeners are saying:

★★★★★ “Best of all Worlds. No Sci-Fi podcast content or context compares to LSF and no one does it like Scott Miller. He doesn’t just read the stories. He tells them.”
— JCMargerison

★★★★★ “A legitimate Top Tier Pod. I can’t do justice to how good this podcast is, truly. The host has an affect and vocal style that’s just perfect. The stories are buried gems, sure, there’s problematic vocabulary but you have to enjoy it in the spirit it’s offered. I LOVE seeing how creative people from 40-50 years ago, imagined how the world would exist. It’s just glorious and I love it.”
— bwdesmo

Vintage science fiction. Professionally narrated. Carefully curated.