Fair Game is a science fiction short story written by Philip K. Dick

Philip K. Dick

Philip Kindred Dick was an American novelist, short story writer and essayist whose published work is almost entirely in the science fiction genre. Dick explored sociological, political and metaphysical themes in novels dominated by monopolistic corporations, authoritarian governments and altered...

 in 1953 and first published in 1959 in If Magazine

If (magazine)

If was an American science fiction magazine launched in March 1952 by Quinn Publications, owned by James L. Quinn. Quinn hired Paul W. Fairman to be the first editor, but early circulation figures were disappointing, and Quinn fired Fairman after only three issues. Quinn then took over the...

. The story was re-published in the third collected volume of Dick's short stories, The Father-thing

The Father-thing

The Father-Thing is a 1954 science fiction short story by Philip K. Dick. The story, written from a child's point of view, concerns the replacement of a boy's father by a replicated version. Only the child sees the difference and has to recruit other children to help him reveal the truth...

in 1987.

Plot

Fair Game centers on a man who believes he is being watched by something "god-like". Ultimately, the reader learns that the man is nothing more than game for malevolent creatures using Earth as a hunting ground.