The following speculations are the author’s piecing together of the evidence found in the relevant material and is not meant to be taken as an official history but rather something for the reader to consider for themselves.
The meaning of the title One Summer Day
The potential meaning for the title One Summer Day could signify one or a multitude of things. It could be referring to the day the book was created, when Glimmung acquired it, when he landed on Plowman’s Planet, when Nick would defeat him, when he pursued his undertaking in Galactic Pot-Healer, or something else entirely.
The reasons for the War Between Glimmung and the Printers
As to why the eons long conflict between Glimmung and the printers broke out, one possible reason could have been a fundamental difference in philosophy on whether one should put oneself before others or to put others before oneself. Maybe on their home planet, while the printers could have viewed Glimmung as selfish, Glimmung saw their charitable trait of making prints for others as inevitably turning them into nothing more than slaves, being taken advantage of and eventually being worked to death, as can be seen in both Pay for the Printer and Nick and the Glimmung.1 2 This is assuming that Glimmung’s possession of One Summer Day was not the initial cause.
It is also a possibility that Glimmung and the printers had been in conflict for some other, long forgotten reason, and Glimmung used his mental projection abilities to seek an exit strategy to another planet.3 Maybe one of the planets he came across was the one the kalends resided on. Maybe it was there that Glimmung discovered One Summer Day and somehow, one way or another, took the book for himself and was able to lose the kalends if they ever tried pursuing him.
Regardless of whether or not the book had been the source of the war, or that it was owned by or created by someone or something else before Glimmung had it, the printers would most likely have seen this great source of knowledge as a direct threat to the balance of what had been before, whatever that was, accelerating tensions further to outright hostilities.
Another reason could be similar to the previously mentioned Neanderthal-Homo Sapiens scenario mentioned in the notes for chapter fifteen; Glimmung was one of a small group of glimmungs gradually being outnumbered by the printers and that Glimmung’s possession of the book was an act of self-defense. If that was what happened, this would make Glimmung more sympathetic or at least understandable in his actions against the printers.
If the one spiddle from chapter eight of Nick and the Glimmung is to be believed, that Glimmung was “‘seeking out the printers,’” then Glimmung must have been winning against the printers and with the eventual end of their planet, decided to flee from Glimmung by heading off to multiple star-systems to increase their chances of survival.4 That might be another explanation as to why Glimmung had, as he claimed in Galactic Pot-Healer, to split his consciousness across many worlds.5 Maybe the stronghold of printers on Plowman’s Planet were either the most significant or most vulnerable group to target and chose to head there.
History of Plowman’s Planet leading up to Nick and the Glimmung
Consider the following concerning Plowman’s Planet’s history from that point up until Nick and the Glimmung.
When the printers arrive on Plowman’s Planet, they met the creatures who already lived there; the nunks, the spiddles, the werjes, the klakes, the father-things, the trobes, and most important of all, the fog-things. Due to the similarity in names, there is a chance that the father-things, assuming they were native to the planet, had a tendency to mimic and replace the father of fog-thing families.6
Upon meeting with the fog-things, the printers warned them of Glimmung and the already ages long conflict between them. When they spoke of One Summer Day the fog-things either did not take Glimmung seriously or at least doubted the validity of the printers’s claims of a book that could foretell future events and give out details on anyone or anything. Either way, they must have believed they could handle Glimmung if not defeat him outright.
That was until Glimmung began to exert his presence and will upon the planet, concentrating himself in the area he planned to land upon.7 This, along with his advantage of knowledge, the fog-things discovered too late that they were no match for this powerful being. Eventually, sometime either before or after Glimmung fully arrived, the fog-things “‘passed away’”/“‘vanished’”, with whatever remained of their essence and their civilization going to the depths of Mare Nostrum.8 In Mare Nostrum, beside the fog-things who lay dormant until one day reawakened, shadow versions of all who will reside on Plowman’s Planet, past or future, dead or living, lurk in the dark depths.9
With the book’s word that Glimmung would never end, he is ultimately confident that the day and victory would be his.10
As the centuries pass, Glimmung conquered territory, battling the nunks who joined with the printers in attacks against him.11 Though the spiddles remain neutral and the klakes are hostile to all, it is the werjes, trobes, and father-things who side, for one reason or another, with Glimmung, counter-attacking wherever and whenever he commanded.12 With no clear advantage or a decisive battle of consequence, the war on Plowman’s Planet turns in neither side's favor.
One day, on what was at the same time on Earth’s calendar as August 1936, possibly due to impatience with no seeming end in sight, Glimmung attempted to enter Mare Nostrum only to be attacked by the Black Glimmung who resided beneath.13 Narrowly escaping this incident, he is convinced, for the time being, of the impossibility of using the ocean to any purpose.
Placing The Father-Thing
The following scenario is how The Father-Thing could fit into the overall continuity.
Someday in the years, possibly centuries, leading up to the 20th century on Earth, Glimmung read One Summer Day to discover a passage he had never read before. In it was written that a race of aliens called humans from a faraway planet called Earth would one day be able to reach Plowman’s Planet and ultimately join forces with the printers and the nunks, and cajole the spiddles, against him, and form The Grand Four.14
If the failed attempt to enter Mare Nostrum was not his first response to this proclamation, then the possible attempt to slow-down, if not outright eliminate, the threat humans posed to his prospects of victory in the war, might have been. Somehow, Glimmung was able to send father-things across the stars toward Earth. Maybe he sent an army of them but, for one reason or another, the legions dwindled: on the trip through space, burning up in Earth’s atmosphere, landing in oceans, deserts, tundra, or any other type of uninhabitable environment.
Whether the incident that occurred in The Father-Thing was one of several similar contacts on Earth or was the only time a father-thing reached a target, it appeared that the attempt(s) did little, if anything, to inhibit humanity’s technological progress.15 Glimmung, if he projected his consciousness to look upon their failure, he did nothing more to intervene.
With the rise of the superpower nations of the USA and the USSR and their ensuing nuclear and space races, the end of the century and millennium saw humanity mastering faster-than-light travel and the search for intelligent life outside of their solar system. Whether the superpowers called a truce or not, the United Nations established a program for those interested in emigrating from the increasingly over-crowded cities of Earth for parts barely known.16 Either sometime just before or at the dawn of the 21st century, the first expeditions and subsequent settlements reached Plowman’s Planet and began their process of transplanting human civilization upon the natives.
In the lead up before the humans landed, Glimmung and his allies began another line of defense to deter the humans from joining the printers and nunks by composing The Last and Final War.17 It is likely that the copies produced from the original manuscript were created by using One Summer Day as a basis while one or more printers, captured while young and forced to, mass-produced them, and altered accordingly when opportunistically appropriate.
If this was his greatest appeal to get the humans to join his cause, it must have been the printers’s willingness to replicate much needed materials and objects that won the humans over to their side instead.18 Maintaining the hopes of changing minds, Glimmung made sure that attacks on human settlers did not turn lethal whenever it could be helped. He continued the distribution of new copies of his account of the war, all the while doing what he could to slow humanity as it continued to exert its influence on Plowman’s Planet, deterring any hopeful prospects from getting further into his territory and closer towards his headquarters.19
Meanwhile, as Earth’s population continues to rise, more and more people start their lives anew by taking to distant stars. From here, the events of Nick and the Glimmung are set into motion.
The Peace Treaty
Sometime after Nick and the Glimmung, The Grand Four are informed, one way or another, that Glimmung was willing to confer with them on terms for peace. How it is planned or where the meeting took place, more than likely it was not far from Glimmung’s layer due to his great injury.
The printers would be adamant that Glimmung must be imprisoned and/or severely punished for the crimes he committed against them over the millennia long fight. The nunks and spiddles would want their territories back and maybe even confiscate some from the werjes and trobes as war prizes. But it would be the humans who would mediate and finalize the peace treaty.
It is ultimately proposed to Glimmung that he is to, as a price for the removal of the spear from, and treatment of, his wound by doctors, fulfill three major conditions.
The first: that he surrenders his forces to the emerging government on the planet and thus cease future hostilities with anyone on or off Plowman’s Planet and to peaceably co-exist with the inhabitants.
The second: that he uses his abilities in any way he can to assist with the growth of the civilization and the planet’s well-being.
And the third: that he hands over the book titled One Summer Day so that he can no longer use it for ill intent.
In the end Glimmung conceded to all of these conditions. He is treated and cared for and, even if not as powerful as he was before, strong enough to continue his new life as an indentured servant of Plowman’s Planet. From then on if Glimmung needed assistance from those on or off the planet he would never order them to do so but always request.20 Though Glimmung will maintain a short temper, he will do his best to control it.21
Whether before or after the fall of the U.N., the government on Plowman’s Planet declared independence from any attached to Earth. As the years rolled on, life forms from distant galaxies traveled to the planet to visit and do business, with some becoming citizens themselves.22
The werjes and spiddles, and most likely the wubs and the trobes, are given jobs such as taxi drivers and tour guides to the newcomers.23
Despite these newly opened opportunities, two species fail to partake in the new fledgling society. The klakes, still being the enemy of all on the planet, are left to inhabit their own separate territories and, as they remained neutral during the war, left alone.24
The other, the father-things, receive a more tragic fate. Whether it was because a significant amount of them decided to rebel or if the mere prospect of beings who could mimic and stealthily replace any species, pressure built upon authorities from concerned and fearful citizens which left them no choice but to control, and ultimately exterminate, all father-things.
It is possible that a few tried to survive undetected in remote parts of the planet, but they inevitably lived on borrowed time as the planet became more populated. At some point, probably in an attempt to assure those weary of emigrating to or doing business with the planet, all references to them are scrubbed from all future information about life on Plowman’s Planet.
In an attempt to explain the absence of the presence or mentioning of the father-things in Galactic Pot-Healer, there is one unidentified entity that gives away a vital clue.
Down in the depths of Mare Nostrum during Fernwright’s dive, where he discovered the Black Glimmung and the pot that predicted both he and Glimmung’s fate, he saw himself, albeit in an ancient, decayed, eyeless, corpse-like form.25 When this corrupted duplicate of himself is asked how it died it merely replied “‘ Glimmung had us killed.’”26 If this seemingly cyptic answer is interpreted with Nick and the Glimmung connected directly to Galactic Pot-Healer, it becomes quite clear who was directly responsible for the extinction of the father-things.
If one refers back to Questobar’s quote about nothing on Plowman’s Planet ever truly dying, it is within the Aquatic Sub-World where the last vestige of the unwanted species of the father-things ever after remained.27
Turning to the book One Summer Day, knowing the danger of anyone who might seek the book for themselves, a major effort was made by the government in conjunction with Glimmung to convince all that the book was indeed a myth and all documentation on the planet reflected that assertion. If the book was ever considered for destruction, it must have been declared too valuable to the future of Plowman’s Planet for that to be done.
How the kalends came into the picture is a bit hazy. One possibility is that sometime after the above-mentioned events, they finally located their long-lost book and descended upon Plowman’s Planet to retrieve it.
The authorities of Plowman’s Planet who’ve maintained the secret of the near-omniscient book, reached an agreement with them. One Summer Day would be given back to its rightful owners, but the planet would be permitted, and helped provide with by the kalends, new daily editions to be created from it. This thus began the life of the untitled book that became known as The Book of the Kalends, all the while the false story of One Summer Day being a more than likely non-existent book was perpetuated.28
The events leading up to Galactic-Pot Healer
Years and decades passed, Glimmung kept true to his word and did all he could to ensure the safety and prosperity of all the Plabkians, both the natives and the new arrivals. More humans as well as aliens from other star systems arrived to do business with or live on the planet. The city of Diamond Head is founded, if it was not founded before the end of the war, and grows to become a major metropolitan hub.
One day, around the 2030s, some kind of issue/crisis arises. What exactly the nature of the issue/crisis was it is not known. It may have had something to do with the rapid urbanization of the planet or a recent series of discoveries on the ocean floor of Mare Nostrum. Whatever the cause, an archaeological undertaking was put into motion, with Glimmung at the helm of organizing the party to partake in this herculean endeavor.
The undertaking concerned a sunken cathedral at the bottom of Mare Nostrum, Heldscalla, the fabled place of worship that was lost along with the fog-things during the “Catastrophe” which may or may not have been in relation to Glimmung’s gradual arrival on Plowman’s Planet.29
Heldscalla was constructed as a way of paying homage to the god of the fog-things, Amalita, who was dragged down by his creation/sister/lover Borel into the depths of Mare Nostrum where she reigned supreme.30
It was concluded that if Glimmung could successfully raise Heldscalla back to the surface, he could call upon Amalita, setting him free from Borel’s clutches, and further purify Plowman’s Planet of any future maladies (as a brief aside, it is unclear if the klake(s) has/have already made war with the rest of Plowman’s Planet, with werjes joining them, or if it has yet to happen.)31
From that conclusion, Glimmung, after he requested “‘for an orbiting weather-station satellite’” in 2036, used his powers of telepathic travel and projected himself once more across the stars, looking for those qualified to become members of the undertaking crew. Among the planets he surveyed is one he was already well familiar with; Earth.32
How the then totalitarian governments of Earth seemed to fail to apprehend him may be because he went undetected by all their technology.33 By 2039, under the human alias of Dwight L. Glimmung, he found and purchased a base of operations on Earth. Seven years later he set his sights on a humble war veteran whose family’s business had been that of healing broken pots: Joe Fernwright.34 From here the main action of Galactic Pot-Healer takes it from there.
Placing Pay for the Printer
If the events of Pay for the Printer were to fit into the theoretical history related thus far, it would have to take place sometime, at the minimum, over a century and a half after the end of Galactic Pot-Healer.35 It would go something like this:
Back on Earth, over the course of the ensuing decades after 2046, political unrest under the oppressive totalitarian systems eventually erupted into one or multiple civil wars across one or multiple nations. Governments are toppled and new ones are born in their wreckage. Eventually alliances are formed until at least two collections of nations diametrically, and radically, opposed emerge, resulting in the Second Cold War. However long, or brief this era was, it eventually turned hot. As this worldwide conflict came near to its end, the losing side deployed all of their nuclear warhead reserves. In retaliation, the opposing side(s) also pulled the trigger. All was bathed in nuclear fire.36
Those who survived, in underground shelters, remained there till the atmosphere outside was habitable again. When they came back up all was a landscape of ashes.37 But something else had also appeared, aliens from a distant star who saw the flashing of the bombs and came to help the survivors aid their civilization. They called themselves the biltong.38 For a while, human civilization on Earth was able to hobble on but the demand for reproductions of desired objects as they wore down generation after generation took its toll on the constantly giving biltong.39
It became apparent that a complete collapse of what remained of the old civilization was inevitable and humanity had to begin civilization anew, aspiring to replicate their own complex objects in some long distant future.40
Closing thoughts
If any other theorists have different proposals for explanations as to any of the above events, or if there is another work by Philip K. Dick left out that may fit somewhere in this proposed continuity, they are encouraged to leave a comment detailing their observations and thoughts.
1) The Philip K. Dick Reader (Citadel Press, 1997) pg. 252
2) Nick and the Glimmung (Victor Gollancz Ltd., 1988) pgs. 119, 121-122, and 128
3) Galactic Pot-Healer (Vintage Books, 1994) pg. 89
4) Nick and the Glimmung (Victor Gollancz Ltd., 198) pg. 77
5) Galactic Pot-Healer (Vintage Books, 1994) pgs. 44 and 49
6) Nick and the Glimmung (Victor Gollancz Ltd., 1988) pg. 82
7) Ibid pgs. 76-77
8) Galactic Pot-Healer (Vintage Books, 1994) pgs. 26 and 76-77
9) Ibid pgs. 100-101, 112-113, 114, 138, and 171
10) Nick and the Glimmung (Victor Gollancz Ltd., 1988) pg. 127
11) Ibid pg. 57
12) Ibid
13) Galactic Pot-Healer (Vintage Books, 1994) pg. 131
14) Nick and the Glimmung (Victor Gollancz Ltd., 1988) pgs. 57 and 76-77
15) The Philip K. Dick Reader (Citadel Press, 1997) pgs. 101-110
16) Nick and the Glimmung (Victor Gollancz Ltd., 1988) pg. 44
17) Ibid pgs. 56 and 74
18) Ibid pg. 119
19) Ibid pgs. 114-116 and 136-138
20) Galactic Pot-Healer (Vintage Books, 1994) pgs. 43-44 and 99-100
21) Ibid pgs. 44-45 and 127-129
22) Ibid pgs. 31, 73, 75, 79, 80, 87, 88, 89-90, 92, 148 and 175
23) Ibid pgs. 71-72, 88, and 149-151
24) Nick and the Glimmung (Victor Gollancz Ltd., 1988) pgs. 31 and 63
25) Galactic Pot-Healer (Vintage Books, 1994) pgs. 113-116
26) Ibid pg. 115
27) Ibid pg. 171
28) Ibid pg. 26
29) Ibid pg. 103
30) Ibid pgs. 104-105
31) Nick and the Glimmung (Victor Gollancz Ltd., 1988) pg. 63
32) Galactic Pot-Healer (Vintage Books, 1994) pg. 44
33) Ibid pg. 49
34) Ibid pgs. 3, 39-40, and 41
35) The Philip K. Dick Reader (Citadel Press, 1997) pg. 240
36) Ibid pg. 241
37) Ibid pg. 240
38) Ibid pg. 241
39) Ibid pg. 252
40) Ibid
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