Born on this day – Robert Stack:

Robert Stack

Actor

January 13, 1919 – May 14, 2003

Born on this day – Herbert L. Strock:

Herbert L. Strock

Producer

Director

January 13, 1918 – November 30, 2005

Born on this day – Kay Francis:

Kay Francis

Actress

January 13, 1905 – August 26, 1968

Credits:

Lux Video Theatre (1951); The Prudential Family Playhouse (1950); Wife Wanted (1946); Allotment Wives (1945); Divorce (1945); Four Jills in a Jeep (1944); Between Us Girls (1942); Always in My Heart (1942); The Feminine Touch (1941); Charley's Aunt (1941); The Man Who Lost Himself (1941); Play Girl (1941); Little Men (1940); When the Daltons Rode (1940); It's a Date (1940); In Name Only (1939); Women in the Wind (1939); King of the Underworld (1939); Comet Over Broadway (1938); Secrets of an Actress (1938); My Bill (1938); Women Are Like That (1938); First Lady (1937); Confession (1937); Another Dawn (1937); Stolen Holiday (1937); Give Me Your Heart (1936); The White Angel (1936); I Found Stella Parish (1935); The Goose and the Gander (1935); Stranded (1935); Living on Velvet (1935); British Agent (1934); Dr. Monica (1934); Wonder Bar (1934); Mandalay (1934); The House on 56th Street (1933); I Loved a Woman (1933); Mary Stevens, M.D. (1933); Storm at Daybreak (1933); The Keyhole (1933); Cynara (1932); Trouble in Paradise (1932); One Way Passage (1932); Jewel Robbery (1932); Street of Women (1932); Man Wanted (1932); Strangers in Love (1932); The False Madonna (1931); Girls About Town (1931); 24 Hours (1931); Guilty Hands (1931); Transgression (1931); The Vice Squad (1931); Ladies' Man (1931); Scandal Sheet (1931); Passion Flower (1930); The Virtuous Sin (1930); Let's Go Native (1930); For the Defense (1930); Raffles (1930); A Notorious Affair (1930); Paramount on Parade (1930); Street of Chance (1930); Behind the Make-Up (1930); The Marriage Playground (1929); Illusion (1929); Dangerous Curves (1929); The Cocoanuts (1929); Gentlemen of the Press (1929).

Born on this day – A. B. Guthrie Jr.:

A. B. Guthrie Jr.

Writer

Historian

January 13, 1901 – April 26, 1991

Credits:

Wild Pitch (1973); The Genuine Article (1977); No Second Wind (1980); Playing Catch-Up (1985); Murder in the Cotswolds (1989); The Big Sky (1947); The Way West (1949); Fair Land, Fair Land (1982); Murders at Moon Dance (1943); Twenty-Six Years After (1949); Kentucky (1951); These Thousand Hills (1956); The West Is Our Great Adventure of the Spirit (1959); Arfive (1970); Once Upon a Pond (1973); The Last Valley (1975); Four Miles From Ear Mountain (1987); The Big It and Other Stories (1972); The Blue Hen's Chick (1965); Big Sky, Fair Land (1974); Images from the Great West (1990); A Field Guide to Writing Fiction (1991).

Stephen King, on writing:

Find a subject you care about and which you in your heart feel others should care about.

It is this genuine caring,

not your games with language,

which will be the most compelling and seductive element in your style.

- Stephen King.

James Ellroy, on writing:

Cats gotta scratch.

Dogs gotta bite.

I gotta write.

- James Ellroy.

On this day in television history - Electric Dreams (2017 TV series & book):

Electric Dreams

Anthology series based on short stories by Philip K. Dick.

All 10 episodes released January 12, 2018.

Previously shown on Channel 4 from September 17, 2017 – March 19, 2018.

Theme music by Harry Gregson-Williams.

Season 1. Episode 1.

Episode entitled: The Hood Maker.

Directed by Julian Jarrold.

Written by Matthew Graham.

Music by Ólafur Arnalds.

Cast: Richard Madden, Holliday Grainger, Noma Dumezweni, Richard McCabe, Anneika Rose, Chris Mayo, Remmie Milner, Tom Mothersdale, Ian Pink, Richard Rowe-McGhie, Paul Ritter, Sarah Vevers, Darcey Brown, Hilary Agostini, Raj Awasti, Tom Blount, Janine Catterall, Nick Davison, Laraine Dix, Shawnah Donley, Jade Francine, Ricardo Freitas, Charlotte Jo Hanbury, Juke Hardy, Lana Ish-Muhametova, Danielle Kingston, Nina Mangold, Stephanie Moore, Joshua Neil, Elsa Nori, Axel Nu, Tom Ogg, Jacqueline Ramnarine, Sarah Sharman, Tony Way, Latesha Wilson.

Season 1. Episode 2.

Episode entitled: Impossible Planet.

Directed by David Farr.

Written by David Farr.

Music by Bear McCreary.

Cast: Geraldine Chaplin, Benedict Wong, Jack Reynor, Bekka Bowling, Justin Butcher, Georgina Campbell, Annes Elwy, Malik Ibheis, Christopher Staines, Steven Dutton, Nicholle Hembra.

Season 1. Episode 3.

Episode entitled: The Commuter.

Directed by Tom Harper.

Written by Jack Thorne.

Music by Harry Gregson-Williams.

Cast: Timothy Spall, Anthony Boyle, Rudi Dharmalingam, Rebecca Manley, Tuppence Middleton, Anne Reid, Hayley Squires, Nicole Agada, Ann Akinjirin / Ann Akin, Rebecca Birch, Tom Brooke, Lauren Carse, Brodie Jouxson, Matthew Jure, Naveed Khan, Marko Leht, Matthew Raymond, Roy Beck, Justin Cosh, Karl Farrer, Michael Haydon, Gilbert White.

Season 1. Episode 4.

Episode entitled: Crazy Diamond.

Directed by Marc Munden.

Written by Tony Grisoni.

Music by Cristobal Tapia de Veer.

Cast: Steve Buscemi, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Julia Davis, Lucian Msamati, Joanna Scanlan, Michael Socha, Isis Davis, Sophia Del Pizzo, Gina Gangar, Lauren Hobbs, Scott Karim, Kerri McLean, Abraham Popoola, Adam Riches, Ross Carter, Olga Docheva, James Henri-Thomas, Hyo Won Kim.

Season 1. Episode 5.

Episode entitled: Real Life.

Directed by Jeffrey Reiner.

Written by Ronald D. Moore.

Music by Bear McCreary.

Cast: Terrence Howard, Anna Paquin, Rachelle Lefevre, Lara Pulver, Guy Burnet, Jacob Vargas, Sam Witwer, Christian Isely, Anton Bassey, Anu Bhatt, J. Salome Martinez, Karin Anglin, Dominic Capone III, Jason Singer, Lisa Greene, Chris Nolte, Jonathan Posthuma, Rekkhan.

Season 1. Episode 6.

Episode entitled: Human Is.

Directed by Francesca Gregorini.

Written by Jessica Mecklenburg.

Music by Cristobal Tapia de Veer.

Cast: Bryan Cranston, Essie Davis, Liam Cunningham, Khalid Abdalla, Ruth Bradley, William Gaminara, Nathalie Armin, Ronan Vibert, Jamie Wilkes, Marc Danbury, Fode Simbo, Dean Ashton, Jessica D'Arcy, Ntiarna Xavier Knight, Lee Admassie, Gintare Beinoraviciute, Dilyana Bouklieva, Debbie Cameron, Alan Cassidy, Bern Collaço, Rene Costa, Vaslov Goom, Juke Hardy, Adam King, Adam King-Sekera, Sarah Sayuri Leung, James Pepper, Darren Tassell, Penni Tovey, Michael Yates.

Season 1. Episode 7.

Episode entitled: The Father Thing.

Directed by Michael Dinner.

Written by Michael Dinner.

Music by Harry Gregson-Williams.

Cast: Greg Kinnear, Jack Gore, Shannon Brown, Alana Arenas, Terry Kinney, Marc Grapey, Jack Lewis, Zakk Paradise, Mireille Enos, Cole Keriazakos, Philip Ghantous, Brian Boland, Ryan Evans, Andrew Rothenberg, Eric C. Lynch, Steve Johnson, Tyler Evans, Vaslov Goom, Sarah Sayuri Leung, David Lowenthal, Paul A Munday, Russ Panzarella, Devito Parker Jr., Delphine Pontvieux, Corinne van den Heuvel.

Season 1. Episode 8.

Episode entitled: Autofac.

Directed by Peter Horton.

Written by Travis Beacham.

Music by Ólafur Arnalds, BT.

Cast: Juno Temple, Janelle Monáe, David Lyons, Nick Eversman, Jay Paulson, Maximiliano Hernández, Rebecca Jordan, Roberto Mantica, Desmond Laurent, Jeff Dlugolecki, Pretty Rickey PR.

Season 1. Episode 9.

Episode entitled: Safe and Sound.

Directed by Alan Taylor.

Written by Kalen Egan, Travis Sentell.

Music by Mark Isham.

Cast: Annalise Basso, Maura Tierney, Connor Paolo, Alice Lee, Algee Smith, Martin Donovan, Emily Rudd, Mari Marroquin, Emma González, Jordan Vintryst, Randall McDonald, Mike Geraghty, Terence Sims, Sam Straley, Matthew Chappelle, Aidan Traynor, Lindsay Stock, Pamela Jones, Aurora Adachi-Winter, Sarah Lo, Jeremiah Garcia, Andy Stout, Erica Geiger, Matthias Kocur, Deano Bugatti Mitchison, Lily Paige, Dylan Rogers, Ashland Thomas.

Season 1. Episode 10.

Episode entitled: Kill All Others.

Directed by Dee Rees.

Written by Dee Rees.

Music by Bear McCreary.

Cast: Mel Rodriguez, Sarah Baker, Jason Mitchell, Glenn Morshower, Louis Herthum, DuShon Monique Brown, Vera Farmiga, Kathy Scambiatterra, Kylan Conroy, Dale Rivera, Bassam Abdelfattah, Joe Caballero, Joe Yau, Gabriel Ruiz, Tim Heurlin, Terry Berner, Richard Perez, Cindy Chang, Desiree Ballesteros, Lia D. Mortensen, Shaz Campbell, Marsha Estell, Karissa Murrell Myers, Bryan Christopher, Michelle Bester, Brian Bianchi, Joette Waters, Daniel Craig Baker, Michael Corsale, Clarence E. Davis, Vaslov Goom, Peter S. Kim, Freddy Moyano, Rafaela Ochoa, Bryan C. Ordman, Russ Panzarella, Darren Sheehan.

Recommended reading:

Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams

By Philip K. Dick.

Published by Gollancz.

Published 2017.

ISBN-10: 1473223288

ISBN-13: 9781473223288

Description:

The stories that inspired the original dramatic series. Though perhaps most famous as a novelist, Philip K. Dick wrote more than one hundred short stories over the course of his career, each as mind-bending and genre-defining as his longer works. Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams collects ten of the best. In “Autofac,” Dick shows us one of the earliest examples (and warnings) in science fiction of self-replicating machines. “Exhibit Piece” and “The Commuter” feature Dick exploring one of his favorite themes: the shifting nature of reality and whether it is even possible to perceive the world as it truly exists. And “The Hanging Stranger” provides a thrilling, dark political allegory as relevant today as it was when Dick wrote it at the height of the Cold War. Strange, funny, and powerful, the stories in this collection highlight a master at work, encapsulating his boundless imagination and deep understanding of the human condition.