Waterspider

{{Short description|1964 short story by Philip K. Dick}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}

"Waterspider" is a science fiction novelette by American writer Philip K. Dick, first published in the January 1964 edition of If magazine.{{cite web |title=Waterspider |url=http://www.philipkdickfans.com/mirror/websites/pkdweb/short_stories/Waterspider.htm |website=philipkdickfans.com |access-date=July 4, 2018}}

Dick's story "Waterspider" features Poul Anderson as one of the main characters.{{cite book |last1=Dozois |first1=Gardner R. |title=The Year's Best Science Fiction: Fourth Annual Collection |date=1993 |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=9780312094232 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N3o0gRun80sC&pg=PR28 |access-date=July 4, 2018 |language=en}} The author refers to himself and his stories "The Variable Man" and "The Defenders"; he also mentions several other science fiction writers of the period, including Murray Leinster, A. E. van Vogt,{{cite book |last1=Rossi |first1=Umberto |title=The Twisted Worlds of Philip K. Dick: A Reading of Twenty Ontologically Uncertain Novels |date=2011 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=9780786448838 |page=16 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0lA8DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA16 |access-date=July 4, 2018 |language=en}} Margaret St. Clair, Jack Vance, and Isaac Asimov.