Clans Of The Alphane Moon
Philip K. Dick
Carroll & Graf 1988
PB 269pgs
ISBN# 0-88184-436-5

CIA scriptwriter Chuck Rittersdorf's life, has come crashing down.  His wife, tired of his lack of drive professionally, first leaves him and then forces him to take a job writing comedy scripts for Bunny Hentman, the great television comic.  Unbeknown to Chuck though, both his jobs are related through the webs of deceit and politics, and either will use his desire to kill his wife, to their own ends.

On an Alphane moon, the former residents of an Earth operated insane asylum, have set up government and function in an odd but viable way.  Clans, based on dysfunction i.e. manic, paranoid etc..., live in isolated communities, yet still manage synergism for the collective good.  But this tense harmony is to be short lived, as Earth has landed a ship on the moon and this "re-conquering invasion", as the locals see it...and as led by Chuck's wife and a CIA simulacrum (who is controlled part-time by Chuck)...must be exterminated.

This is a typical P.K. Dick story, not as polished as some, but infused with many great characterizations resplendent with some sort of despair, phobia, or mental illness (in fact Chuck Rittersdorf is very much the author himself).  As usual, it is littered with Dick's wry humour (as exampled by cliques of mental patients, who as a society are as functional as Earth) and his ability to paint grim, realistic scenes.

Not one of his classics, but still a fine read.  Recommended!