The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick, Vol. 5: The Eye of the Sibyl is the fifth and final volume in the five-volume Underwood-Miller series published in 1987, representing the definitive collection of Dick's short fiction. The volume features an introduction by Thomas M. Disch, himself a distinguished science fiction author and critic.
Disch's introduction addresses Dick's unusual position in the literary landscape, arguing that he transcends the conventional distinction between writers' writers and readers' writers. Disch observes that writers' writers earn critical praise for style and depth but fail to attract broad readerships, while readers' writers achieve commercial success without necessarily satisfying literary critics. Dick, Disch suggests, occupied a unique space that combined genuine literary achievement with an ability to connect with readers on a visceral level.
This final volume collects Dick's later short fiction, completing a comprehensive survey of his prolific short story career that spanned primarily from the early 1950s through the mid-1960s. The Underwood-Miller Collected Stories remains a foundational reference for Dick scholars and the standard scholarly edition of his complete shorter works.