Project Gutenberg 2009-10-14 Public domain in the USA. 8184 Dick, Philip K. 1928 1982 Dick, Philip Kindred The Skull Produced from If Worlds of Science Fiction September 1952. Wikipedia page about this book: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Skull_(short_story) Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net "The Skull" by Philip K. Dick is a science fiction novella written in the early 1950s. The story delves into the complexities of time travel and the philosophical implications of altering the past, focusing on the themes of identity, mortality, and the consequences of one's actions. It presents a speculative narrative in which a man named Conger is hired to assassinate a figure known as the Founder, who has been dead for centuries, using nothing but the deceased's skull as a means of identification. In the novella, Omar Conger, a hunter and a rogue, is approached while in prison by a council speaker who offers him a chance at redemption: he must travel back in time to eliminate the Founder before he can influence society with his doctrine of non-violence. Conger is equipped with a futuristic weapon and the skull of the Founder, which is purported to be the only way he can identify his target. As he navigates the past, Conger encounters various townspeople and begins to unravel the implications of his mission, grappling with existential questions about fate and purpose. Ultimately, he realizes that he himself is the Founder and that his predetermined death and subsequent resurrection will have profound consequences on future generations. The story culminates in a paradoxical acceptance of his fate, showcasing Dick's talent for weaving complex philosophical dilemmas within engaging narratives. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 88.2 (6th grade). Easy to read. en Science fiction Short stories Time travel -- Fiction PS Text Science Fiction Browsing: Literature Browsing: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Browsing: Fiction Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy 74217 2025-06-12T12:28:27.612502 text/html 51086 2024-10-24T20:27:16 text/html 186958 2025-06-12T12:28:32.282976 application/epub+zip 185859 2025-06-12T12:28:29.466021 application/epub+zip 85744 2025-06-12T12:28:28.264083 application/epub+zip 261760 2025-06-12T12:28:34.307970 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 253072 2025-06-12T12:28:31.564984 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 126912 2022-09-14T05:18:35.124547 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 65515 2025-06-12T12:28:27.260498 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 45807 2024-10-24T20:27:16 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 65518 2021-01-05T18:38:47 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 20425 2025-06-12T12:28:34.451939 application/rdf+xml 9980 2025-06-12T12:28:28.848988 image/jpeg 2882 2025-06-12T12:28:28.554971 image/jpeg 126319 2021-01-05T18:38:47 application/octet-stream application/zip 24934 2021-01-05T18:38:47 application/octet-stream application/zip 183419 2025-06-12T12:28:27.634555 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia