Bill Kerwin's Reviews > The Turning Wheel

First published in Science Fiction Stories (1954), “The Turning Wheel” depicts a post-apocalyptic society, where America is controlled by the “Holy Arm”—a pseudo-Asian religion that disbelieves in progress, disdains invention, and is dominated by reverence for nature, fear of karma, and belief in retributive reincarnation. We follow Su Wu, a member of the high caste “bard” class, as he travels to Detroit to investigate a “Tinker” cult emerging among among the lowest most primitive caste, the Caucasoid “Technos.”

This story is notable for its efficient presentation of a detailed, believable world, but it is particularly amusing because of Dick’s treatment of the founding spirit of the “Holy Arm”: the prophet and messiah “Bard Elron Hu”--a references to L. Ron Hubbard, the SF author and founder of Scientology who had published his book Dianetics two years before.

The ending is too abrupt, and too gimmicky for my taste, but the rest of the story is fine.