Amazon.com Review
Third in a projected 20-volume series (with two books per volume) fromWhite Wolf publishers, Edgeworks 3 contains the definitive editionsof The Harlan Ellison Hornbook and Harlan Ellison's Movie.The award-winning Ellison is the most acclaimed writer in the history ofscience fiction and fantasy. The Harlan Ellison Hornbook is acollection of essays, most of which were originally published in the LosAngeles Free Press in the early 1970s. A more recent essay on thenostalgia of reading comic books, "Did Your Mother Throw YoursOut?" is by itself worth the price of admission. The modestly titledHarlan Ellison's Movie is just that: the original screenplay for amotion picture the author was commissioned to write in the 1980s. It's amazing,bold, and masterful, as only Ellison can deliver. --Stanley Wiater ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

One of the best Essayists ever...
My father had been a fan of Ellison's ever since I can remember and so I've always had his writing around. Alas, many of his books are out-of-print. I must have taken Harlan Ellison's Hornbook out of the library countless times, re-reading it cover to cover again and again. It's that good.

Most people, if they know of Ellison's work, know mostly of his short stories but this book collects essays he wrote in the 1970s about whatever struck his fancy... a great restaurant, some publisher who ripped him off once, the death of his beloved dog, a woman who double-crossed him, lamenting Lenny Bruce's death... Ellison writes with such authority and with such style--pithy yet degenerate is the best description I can think of. This book hums with intensity as the last greatest angry young man lets loose on all kinds of topics (to read his rant on why he hates Christmas is incredibly funny, even if you don't agree with his sentiments). This is one helluva read.

Even though I've read this book countless times, I keep coming back to it because Ellison's style of writing is endlessly entertaining and thought-provoking. It really gets under you skin and stays there.

Do yourself a favor and track down this book. It is definitely worth it.

Brutally honest
Harlan Ellison has made quite a reputation for himself as an "angry man" of sorts, with his infamous attacks against amateurs in the numerous writing classes that he has taught, or his essays, which are collected herein. Some people claim that he has no emotions, and is unable to sympathize with so-called "normal" people because of this; but he is, in fact, the exact opposite, a man of such fierce emotion and opinion that he may come off as being caustic, or angry. Others claim that he has no "soft" side; if you believe this, read his essay, Ahbhu. These essays display his great intelligence, and tremendous "cultural warehouse of a mind," (The New York Times) and Ellison calls the shots as he sees them - by simply stating his opinion. In doing this, he has created a highly refreshing book, one that I highly recommend to anyone and everyone.

Outspoken Ellison cuts loose, again
Anyone who has ever read Harlan Ellison knows he throws a lot of personnel information and views into his writing.This book is all that. In this collection of essays from the 70s, repackaged nicely, Ellison is angry, funny and sick at the same time.Reading these somewhat tall tales, I was taken back to the days of my childhood.Back to when one of my more crazy "uncles" used to tell me stories of his youth on hot summer days. Ellison is a better writer now than he was then, but the essays still hold up.They hold up even though references to Nixon and Lenny Bruce may leave some younger readers feeling a little unattached to the stories at times. I promise by the time you finish reading this one, you'll find it hard to forget some of the tales told by crazy Uncle Harlan. ... Read more

Product Description
Harlan Ellison's stories and essays have been at the cutting edge of contemporary American literature for 40 years, but he stubbornly refuses to abandon the use of a manual typewriter. This original compilation contains hard to acquire, out of print material. "Intoxicating stuff." says The San Diego Tribune.Amazon.com Review
The Edgeworks are a 20-volume projected series containingclassic works ofthe world's most honored fantasist. Under the author's direct supervision,each book now contains the revised, sometimes expanded versions of thepreviously published work, as well as lengthy new introductions. The seriesbegins with Over the Edge (1970), a collection of short stories, andAn Edge in My Voice (1985), a collection ofessays. Both thestories and the essays are standard Ellison. In a word: brilliant. Ellisonis one of the few writers on the planet whose own life is often moreamazing than most of his fiction. Even though several of the stories arefrom the very beginning of the author's career, they are still quiteeffective. The essays (which first appeared in such diversepublications as Future Life, the L.A. Weekly and the Comics Journal in the early 1980s) speak of truths and lies asrelevant today as they were then. --Stanley Wiater ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Good place to start with Ellison
This book is a great place to start with Ellison.You get two shining examples of each type of the writing he's known for: short-stories and essays.Collecting re-vamped versions of two of his classic books, you're treated to solid stories (though better stories eixst, these are fine to dabble in) and probably his best collection of non-fiction essays/editorials in one place.Some of the references may seem a little dated, but the ideas...ah, the ideas.

Incredible, smart collection for the open-minded.

Great Collection
So far there have been four volumes of Harlan Ellison's series of booksEDGEWORKS books.Which is an attempt at a complete collection of Ellison'swork, I believe.So far it is very good.I have greatly enjoyed each ofthe four volumes that have been released.I am looking forward to theother 16 volumes as well. Right now, they appear to be on-hold due topublisher concerns or some such.As soon as Ellison and a publisher getthis all squared away, the better for all us folks who want to read themwill be.

This first volume includes a lot of non-fiction essay's Ellisonwrote over the years.In them, Ellison leans into everything he considerswrong with modern society.Because of this, if you are new to Ellison, youmay be easily offended.But don't worry, he isn't doing it on purpuse, hejust doesn't care if he offends you.He would rather tell the truth as hesees it than worry about hurting somebody's feelings.

Ellison is a veryrefreshing take in modern America, where Republicans and Democrats havedecided that the only difference worth noting between the partys is who isin power at that moment.

Of course, it doesn't hurt that Ellison is alsoone of the great writers in the modern United States.

This book is great.
Harlan Ellison is a credit to his species.This book contains a number of his short stories and essays were he attacks all that is evil in society.But beware this book will probably also offend many people.If you thinkgun control is simply a matter of using two hands or if believe that Jesuswould not have wanted us to give up the Panama Canal then this book islikely to bother you.But that is what is so wonderful about Ellison, hemakes you think.He invigorates the brain cells that atrophied fromwatching too many episodes of the Brady Bunch or Star search.Order thisbook immediately."God reads Harlan Ellison and so should you."

Masterful rants from the angriest man in science fiction.
Edgeworks 1 is a hybrid of Ellison's terse, punchy short stories and even punchier essays. While I'm a fan of science-fiction literature, I'll confess that I'm not terribly enamoured of most of Ellison's fiction; mymain interest in this (and other volumes of his work) is the essays. Ellison's rants are scintillating and blindingly caustic-- theysimultaneously make me convulse with laughter and fill me with righteousindignation at the world."Xenogenesis", his extensive analysisof the very worst of science fiction fandom, is worth the price of thevolume by itself.Ignore the typos, this one's pure gold.

An Edge on My Mind
Woah. I must be denser than concrete because all I noticed was the great writing Ellison puts on the page. The articles I found to be thought provoking in the extreme. If Ellison is a "crazy uncle" than he's one who's fought the good fight against the evils of society so long he needs throwing in the booby hatch. "Xenogensis" is the scariest essay on the issue of Sci-Fi (and I use the term cynically. I hate that phrase) fandom I've ever come across in twenty years of reading.Now thats not to say all of the essays are grand and stimulating. Rereading the book I often find myself skipping his more dated pieces. But despite what you may think of the man, you have to admit this: he's passionate about the work, and he'll dare anything SAY anything to make you feel SOMETHING about issues you'd rather just slink away from. He's got guts, and his articles show it. I'm a bit new to Ellison (I've only the first 4 edgeworks books) but from what I've read the man has passion. Reccomended.END ... Read more

Product Description
The republication of Harlan Ellison's Movie, the full-length feature film he created when a producer at 20th Century-Fox said to him, "If we gave you the money, and no interference, what sort of movie would you write?" Well, that producer is no longer at 20th, he left the whole entire venue of moviemaking after Harlan Ellison's Movie was seen by the Suits at the studio. There's no use even trying to describe what the film is about, except to confirm the long-standing rumor that it contaims a scene in which a 70-foot-tall boll weevil chews and swallows an entire farmhouse and silo on-camera. (It's Scene 33C.) ... Read more

Product Description
Originally published in 1962 and re-issued in 1974 and in 1983, Ellison Wonderland contains sixteen stories with copyrights ranging from 1956 to 1961. This edition contains an Introduction written for the 1974 edition and updated for the 1983 edition. This collection was among Ellison's first and it shows a writer with a wide-ranging imagination, ferocious creative energy, devastating wit and an eye for the wonderful and terrifying and tragic. Among the gems are "All The Sounds of Fear", "The Sky is Burning", "The Very Last Day of a Good Woman" and "In Lonely Lands". Though they stand tall on their own merits they also point the way to the sublime stories that followed soon after and continue to come even now, more than forty years later. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Mushrooms and Centaurs and Crocodile Women
I first read _Ellison Wonderland_ (1962) when I was in high school and was sick abed with the flu. I had never heard of Harlan Ellison before, but the collection made an impression on me. I didn't like all of the stories equally well, and none of them struck me as clear classics. But they freqently displayed a kind of manic inventiveness, and occasionally they packed an emotional punch. Most of the yarns were a bit on the grim side, but there were a few with a touch of whimsy. And then there was that cover-- the author sitting on top of a giant mushroom and surrounded by a silvery android, a beatnik devil, a teenage centaur, a naked woman with an alligator head, and other strange creatures.

A rereading of this collection has convinced me that my original impressions were essentially sound, though not all of the tales are as entertaining to me today as they were back in those golden years. Some stories that still hold up fairly well for me are "In Lonely Lands," a low-key, bittersweet portrait of an alien friendship; "Commuter's Problem," a _Twilight Zone_ type of story with a wry twist at the end; "Gnomebody," a piece of amiable silliness; "Mealtime," a story that reminded me of A. Bertram Chandler's "The Key"; and "All the Sounds of Fear," a bizarre portrait of a method actor who takes things to extremes.

In later years, Ellison learned a thing or three about writing (especially of short stories and movie scripts). But this collection of early tales from the fifties is still worth a look. Their structure is a bit conventional and cliched, but there was nevertheless an original voice that was breaking through.

A QUICK NOTE
This book is also known as "Earthman Go Home."Just in case you think you should buy both titles.

Early Ellison
This is a collection of stories from the 50's and early 60's, most of them fantasy or "hard" science-fiction, Ellison at this time writing very much in the mode of Richard Matheson, et al. The stories are clever,amusing, sometimes very good.It is not, however, his most timeless work.

In which we trace our hero back to gentler times,...
It's a dastardly shame that so many titles on Harlan Ellison's backlist are so wretchedly hard to find (that is, find and KEEP -- some titles may be wrested from the library, but they have an awful habit of wandering away, so the books are kept as reference materials; curses and swear words, I say!But I digress,...)

I didn't actually run into a collection of Mr. Ellison's work until I was in the middle of the brain-drain that was my 20's.I couldn't catch them as they appeared, but I made it my business to seek them wherever possible.SHATTERDAY and ANGRY CANDY completely overtook me, and I started writing myself, and took every opportunity to find Ellison's work.Elsewhere, I've written a review of his latest, SLIPPAGE.That went so well (even Mr. Ellison seemed pleased with it) I made it my business to look further.

And what I found, at last, was the collection that really, but really, set it all rolling:ELLISON WONDERLAND.

Oh, I know there were novels before that, a collection or two -- MEMOS FROM PURGATORY, I think, and GENTELMAN JUNKIE.But this was where Ellison took off and never looked back.

In the 1974 and 1984 editions, you'll find an introductory essay by the author, titled "The Man On the Mushroom," and, in that essay, he tells anyone who's interested about his push West, the Fiend in Human Form for whom he worked, and all the circumstances that led to and occurred during his move to Hollywood, with his soon-to-be-ex-wife and her terrific son; that he was toiling like mad to take care of the various rents and daily necessities; how things were really begining to look sort of grim-ish, when a package arrived from his publisher, and he opened it, and there was ELLISON WONDERLAND, and a nice royalty check, and at that moment, his luck, his life and his future changed.Everything was bright and shiney and bursting with promise, and by damn it shows in the work.

Those readers familiar only with Mr. Ellison's more recent offerings, splendid though those books are, may have only had the experience of the author addressing Social Issues, possessed of a certain amount of justified ill-temper and venom, and generally making few if any bones about the state of the species and the fate of the planet because of it.And it is true that, say, about 1965, Mr. Ellison did indeed apply himself with greater vigor to the task of Making Us Aware.But these are older stories, before things got quite so hateful and nutty in the world at large.When asked about them, Mr. Ellison speaks as fondly of them as any father of any of his children; but he remembers writing them so long ago, thinks of them now, and cringes the least bit.

And I cannot understand why.If one judges them against his more recent work, there are certainly differences; there has been a maturation of his style, naturally.But those are comparisons of the author with himself.The stories in ELLISON WONDERLAND stand the test of time easily, I think and reading them leaves one in no doubt as to why Ellison was referred to in his early career as, alternately, the "wunderkind" and "enfant terrible" of science fiction.

Because, you see, even then he was writing about people.Science, rocket-ships, space warriors, all that stuff -- all that was and remains just "furniture," props for the real focus of the tale

Which is, still, invariably, us.

ELLISON WONDERLAND is a delight, a lighter book that still has weight; before the weight was a burden; and before the burden settled so heavily on Ellison's and our shoulders.

Read it and know wonder again. ... Read more

Product Description
First published in 1967 and re-issued in 1983, I HAVE NO MOUTH & I MUST SCREAM contains seven stories with copyrights ranging from 1958 through 1967. This edition contains the original introduction by Theodore Sturgeon and the original foreword by Harlan Ellison, along with a brief update comment by Ellison that was added in the 1983 edition.Among Ellison’s more famous stories, two consistently noted as among his very best ever are the title story and the volume’s concluding one, “Pretty Maggie Mone ... Read more

Product Description
Harlan Ellison is surely one of the most creative thinkers of our time -- his stories of the fantastic have captured the imaginations of millions of people over the last four decades. In this trade paperback, some of the comics industry's wildest and most original talents adapt Ellison's greatest stories to the comic-book format. Such renowned writers and illustrators as Len Wein, Pat Broderick, Doug Wildey, Phil Foglio, Gary Gianni, Teddy Kristiansen, Max Allan Collins, Tom Sutton, Skip Williamson, Peter David, Mike Deodato, and David Lapham bring to life such award-winning stories as "The End of the Time of Leinard," "Rat Hater," "Knox," "The Rough Boys," and "Catman," as well as nine others. Ellison's interstitial pages -- introducing and commenting on the adaptations -- transmogrified into art by famed OZ artist Eric Shanower -- are included in this 192-page collection, as are the five short stories Ellison wrote especially for the Dream Corridor series (one of which, "Chatting with Anubis," recently won both the Deathrealm Award and the Horror Writers Association's Bram Stoker Award as best short story of 1995). Includes an art gallery by Michael Whelan, Stephen Hickman, and Overton Loyd, and features a cover by Leo and Diane Dillon. If you've ever wondered what preoccupies the mind of a creative genius, just take a walk down Harlan Ellison's Dream Corridor.Amazon.com Review
Unlike authors who agree to have their work adapted to comicsyet remain distant from the finished product, Harlan Ellison lovescomics and loves that he has his own comic book. Dream Corridoris essential for die-hard Ellison fans, not only because of the 14adaptations of his short stories, but also because it contains 5all-new prose pieces. One of the prose pieces, "Chatting withAnubis," won the Deathrealm Award and the Horror WritersAssociation's Bram Stoker Award for best short story of 1995. Ifyou're not familiar with Ellison's work, Dream Corridor is agreat sampler, and it's loaded with a diversity of art styles withillustrations by top-notch artists, including Doug Wildey, MichaelT. Gilbert, Gary Gianni, Teddy Kristiansen, and DavidLapham. "The End Time of Leinard," "On the Slab,""Knox," "The Rough Boys," and "ColdFriend" are just a few of the stories adapted. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Quite a treat
One of my favorite comic books. I read it weekly. Anything by Ellison is worth buying and this collection is definily worth it. The best story is probably Rat Hater.

Not good, not bad ...
What we have here is Harlan Ellison having some of his short stories (of which he has written over two thousand) adapted into being graphic stories.

An illustrated character (Ellison himself) takes the reader into his "corridor of dreams" where all the stories he ever wrote are stored in departments. He guides us through the humungous building and opens a department every now and then. Everytime he does the tour is interrupted and we get to read a selected short story ( a window-tale if you will), adapted into comicdom by different people (Len Wein, Michael T. Gilbert and others).
In this particular book are five of those short-stories which vary in quality. I definately want to point out "Rat-hater", a story about a guy taking revenge in the most gruesome way he can think of on a guy who is responsible for his sisters death. To my taste this is the best story in the book (both the story as the painted art are not to be missed). Some of the others are nice (The Len Wein story and something called "On the Slab") but there's also a story done by Phil Foglio about which you'll probably feel sorry you took the time for it afterwards.
Between the several short stories, in the sequences where Ellison takes the reader from one department to another, Ellison uses some pages to take some personal shots at people who in his eyes wrongfully criticezed his work, in a pretty chauvinistic way.
The last two pages contain part of a new never-printed-before piece of proze by Ellison.

All in all the conclussion I must come to is that this is not a spectacularly good book. There are some nice (not great) stories in here and there are some lesser ones.... As it is it's quite enjoyable but only worth the money for true Harlan Ellison fans who can't get enough of him.

Could be much better
This collection has so many problems - mainly, the selection of stories.These tales are by no means his best, or even his better ones.They seem like second-hand-twilight-zone stories: extremely predictable, and might Isay... amateurish?Also, the artists chosen for these adaptations couldhave used some reconsideration."Knox" has someinteresting(?), abstract work, and "On the Slab" is beautiful, but the restcan go. Plus, several prose pieces are included, and if I wanted that, I'dbuy one of his novels!Finally, "I Have No Mouth, and I MustScream", part of the original comic series, and probably the mostwell-done, is not included.Boo, hiss.

This book is borring dribble
If the reader wants a series of borring, unimaginative, and childish "stories" this is the book for you.Harlan has a way of boldly stating facts and ideas in this book as though they are his own when inreality, they are the same tired old stories, ideas, and viewpoints youhave heard from many many other people over the years.In the end you kindof feel sorry for the guy.Doesn't Harlan know what this makes him looklike?

"...a jolt to the brain and a feast for the eyes!"
Ellison once wrote that there are "five native American art forms that we've givento the world: Jazz, of course.Musical comedy as we know it today.The detective story as crafted by Poe.The banjo.And comic books."On display between these covers are some of the finest examples of comic book art and writing."Dream Corridor" sprang to life after Showtime and HBO (having solicited him for an ongoing series) balked at paying Ellison for typing up proposals for a cable TV show.Still intrigued with the thought of having his tales transformed into the visual medium, Ellison came up with the idea for this ongoing series of quarterly comic books.Then he had them adapted by some of the finestwriters and artists working in the medium (Faye Perozich, Peter David, Max Alan Collins,Doug Wildey, John K, Snyder, Mike Deodato, etc.).And to make the package twice as enticing, each issue of "Dream Corridor" included an original piece of cover artwork (beautifully drawn by the likes of Leo and Diane Dillon, Stephen Hickman or Sam Raffa)around which Ellison would write a brand new story.Not a few of those stories arealready considered some of Ellison's best work in recent years:"Pulling Hard Time" is ahard-hitting, futuristic tale which begs a closer examination of our penal system and theoften lopsided scales of justice."Chatting With Anubis," a recent winner of the BramStoker Award from the Horror Writers of America, is a sly rumination on gods and whathappens when the believers stop believing.And "Midnight In the Sunken Cathedral" is ahaunting story about a son who transcends time and space to confront the father he neverknew.This collection of the first year's output from "Harlan Ellison's Dream Corridor" isa jolt to the brain and a feast for the eyes!It's sure to attract new fans to a much malignedform of art. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great as either a historical document or a modern criticism
Written in 1971 when television was even worse than it is now (mostly because there were less channels so that one good show out of a thousand was even harder to find) Harlan Ellison's columns for the Free Press were some of the most dead-on impressions of televions - the business, the message, the medium - ever. From political commentaries to the muted lives of television executives and their "helpful suggestions" to youth-oriented programming, Ellison took no prisoners and never let up on his criticism of an industry that made him prosperous. For anyone whose ever seen him on Politically Incorrect telling a conservative radio host to shove it and cheered this is one of those books that you just need to read.

This is the second book of columns and the only one that I read. Highlights include a discussion on a new fuel additive that was supposed to save the environment but didn't really do much, a disgusted commentary of children's beauty pagents (which were televised at the time), criticism of the new television series (dismissal of The Mod Squad as an overreaching appeal to youth market, praise of All in the Family, praise of a bunch of shows that never lasted, attacks on more shows that also died out), vivisection of the treatment for a case worker show, and discussion of The Young Lawyers complete with a full screenplay and a couple of columns about getting it on the air and then hating the final product. The most hilarious one would have to be his story of being a contestant on the Dating Game and promising the poor woman that as bachelor # 3 his perfect date would be to go to the landfill and shoot rats.

Sometimes the criticism gets to be too much and you wonder if there is anything that Harlan Ellison likes. Sometimes he's a little too blinded by his own sense of right and wrong to give anyone else a chance. But at heart this is a man who still has a capacity to be disappointed in the human race and what the human race puts up as entertainment. While reading Ellison gives you the feeling of reading a Pit Bull's memoirs, you can't dismiss him.

The only caveat is that his script sucks. Maybe it was just the time and the restrictions that he worked in, but this is the man who did the quintessential Star Trek and whose original script still surpassed the television version. But it's one of those lawyer having trouble adjusting to his ex-girlfriend's drug habit and user-ways. It seemed to be a waste of pages, and even though the televised version was much worse, the stuff that he was upset about being cut - wasn't that great. It was better than most television scripts but that's not saying much.

And if upon reading this book you want to shoot your television, Mr. Ellison has succeeded. However, remember that there is the happy ending of Ellison being the consultant for Babylon 5 - a show that never compromised to the networks and became the greatest science fiction series of all time (unless of course you note that it's spinoff Crusade also never compromised and got cancelled by TNT and is still in Limbo). After reading this book you might want to read J. Michael Straczynski's book on screenwriting which gives a slightly less disgusted view of television. ... Read more

Product Description
The classic companion to the most essential science fiction anthology ever published. 46 original stories edited with introductions by Harlan Ellison. Featuring: John Heidenry • Ross Rocklynne • Ursula K. Le Guin • Andrew J. Offutt • Gene Wolfe • Ray Nelson • Ray Bradbury • Chad Oliver • Edward Bryant • Kate Wilhelm • James B. Hemesath • Joanna Russ • Kurt Vonnegut •T. L. Sherred • K. M. O'Donnell (Barry N. Malzberg) • H. H. Hollis • Bernard Wolfe • David Gerrold •Piers Anthony • Lee Hoffman • Gahan Wil ... Read more

Product Description
Pure, 100-proof distillation of Ellison. A righteous verbal high! Here you’ll find twenty of his very best stories and essays (including the four-part “Scenes from the Real World), an anecdotal history of the doomed TV series, The Starlost, he created for NBC; Tales from the Mountains of Madness; and his hilariously brutal reportage on the three most important things in life: sex, violence, and labor relations. With a knockout, an absoloutely killer, Foreword by Stephen King. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

The Best of Harlan
I bought this book for my uncle and hope he is enjoying it as much as I do. It's one of Harlan Ellison's best collections and I recommend it anyone who appreciates a master wordsmith and storyteller.The foreword by Stephen King is hilarious, and the introduction by Harlan is worth the price of the book alone.A great potpourri of stories and essays -- Harlan at his best.

An honest, savage, thought provoking view of life.
Ellison captures the fleeting emotions of life and shares them with us all.Whether it is the absurdity of just getting by (The three most important things in life) sharing the wonder of discovery (Saturn November3) or showing us that it is still possible to live your life by your ownrules and still succeed.Harlan's view of the world is honest, savage,vicious at times but never intentionally mean for mean's sake.He shares awonderful truth about what the real meaning of marriage is in "Djinn,no chaser" that plucks away the romantic crap and common perceptionsand leaves us with "..You are strong when I can't be and I am strongwhen you can't be.Nobody gets it right all the time" He also tells aheartrending and chilling tale about the nature of love in"Grail" I won't ruin the end of it, but it tells of the strengthof the human spirit even when the love story does not have a happy ending.All in all, this runs the full gambit of emotions, smartly written andguaranteed to make you think ... Read more

Product Description
Harlan Ellison, one of the Grand Masters of science fiction and a multiple Hugo-, Nebula-, and Edgar Award-winner, returns to his roots with the graphic novel, Phoenix Without Ashes.The year is 2785, and Devon, a farmer banished for challenging his community's Elders, discovers a secret that changes everything he knew about the world, leading him on a quest to solve a mystery beyond his understanding before his entire world is destroyed in a cataclysm. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Junk
The book looked like it had been picked from the bottom of a trash can. It should have thrown away.

What Starlost should have been
There was this TV show in the 1970's, shot on crappy video tape, on a crappy sets, that told the sci-fi story of a ship carrying biospheres of the last survivors from earth, seeking a new home in a distant star system. The story centered on a Devon, an outcast in one of the biospheres based on Amish society, who discovers the truth of the situation: Their world is not the whole world, they are in a great spaceship, some accident has occurred and killed the crew of that ship, and it is off course, doomed to slam into a star in about five years if the course is not corrected. It was called Starlost, created by some guy named Codrwainer Bird, and though it was sloppy and slow, there was such a great idea in it that you still watched it, wondering what the genesis of the story was, and how it came to be this disaster.

Well, it turns out Harlen Ellison was "Cordwain Bird", that his script for the Starlost was mangled and ruined by executives on the show to the point where he would not let them put his name on the screen. Yet his original script won some major awards in 1974.Back in 1978 sci-fi author Edward Bryant wanted to get that original story out to fans of Ellison who wondered after Starlost, and Phoenix Without Ashes was the result. Now hard to find, this book - blessed by Ellison and containing a lengthy and fascinating treaty from Harlen on the business of making Starlost - is that award winning story we never saw.

It is a great read, dealing more with Devon and his love, Rachel, fighting against a closed society to see the truth. In the book, Devon finds the hatch to the ship accidentally, must go through greater tribulations than the series allowed to discover the truth of the Ark, and generally creates characters of actual depth (where the TV series seemed to use cookie-cutter good-guy bad-guy stereotypes). This would have been a great TV show. Perhaps an HBO mini-series in the original eight two-hour part idea Ellison wanted to create. It is a revealing read for followers of Starlost, and a fun read for sci-fi fans in general.

For Christmas season 2010, a graphic novel of this story will finally be created, authored by Ellison himself. I have to say, I have already pre-ordered it with excitement!

What star lost could have been
If you were a child in the early 1970's you might remember a short lived show called star lost. We'll this is the original idea for the pilot, and it really shows what the show could have been had it been taken seriously by the network.

Orphans of the Sky Retread anyone???
This is obviously, to put it politely, "inspired by" a Heinlein novel called Orphans of the Sky... a good short novel, by the way.Ellison has essentially lifted the idea and expanded upon it, but really shouldn't get a lot of credit for the idea.Not original at all.

i normally don't like collaborations, BUT . . .!
Read this book, and see why Harlan Ellison, the best short story writer ever, also got an award for best screenplay. The book is the screenplay in novel format, but I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT! The basic storyline is this (I got to tell you something because only one other person has commented on this book, which is really sad.): In outer space there is a spaceship consisting of tons of biospheres. Each biosphere contains a culture, but these cultures have no contact amongst themselves. In fact, they've been in space so long that they don't even know they're in space! They think that the biosphere is the world! Anyway, in this one biosphere, an exiled man is driven away for his heretical preachings. A large man-hunt takes place . . . and that's when things REALLY get interesting and you finish this book in one sitting. The writing is excellently done. The chapters end with bangs, the characters act and do things that actually bring out all sorts of emotions in you. When you finish this book, all you can say is WOW! I've read it once, but I KNOW I'm going to read it again . . . and again, etc. This book deserves more than four stars, even more than five. All Harlan fans must read this. ... Read more

Product Description
Now in paperback! Cloth edition previously published in 1979. Volume 3, From Heinlein to Here, covers the period from 1940 to 1975, beginning in the Golden Age of Science Fiction and ending at a time when SF book publication was just beginning to explode and SF films (2001: A Space Odyssey; Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Star Wars, E.T.) would soon dominate box offices.Amazon.com Review
James Gunn is one of the preeminent science fiction scholarsworking in the field today, and his Road to Science Fictionhistorical anthology series has been called "as definitive an SFanthology as one can obtain," by Publishers Weekly.This thirdvolume in the series collects the best work published between 1940 and1977, showcasing such notable authors as Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, ArthurC. Clarke and Ursula K. LeGuin.This is a must-have primer for both veteran SF fans andnewcomers alike. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Oustanding classics
Collection of arguably the most significant short science fiction stories of the period 1941 to 1972.
Contents:
1 * On the Road to Science Fiction: From Heinlein to Here * (1979) * essay by James E. Gunn
25 * "All You Zombies . . ." * (1959) * shortstory by Robert A. Heinlein (Nominated, 1980 Balrog Award)
40 * Reason * [Mike Donovan (Robot)] * (1941) * shortstory by Isaac Asimov
59 * Desertion * [City] * (1944) * shortstory by Clifford D. Simak
73 * Mimsy Were the Borogoves * (1943) * novelette by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore [as by Lewis Padgett ] (Basis of film, The Last Mimzy; Science Fiction Hall of Fame story)
107 * October 2026--The Million-Year Picnic * (1946) * shortstory by Ray Bradbury
119 * Thunder and Roses * (1947) * novelette by Theodore Sturgeon
143 * That Only a Mother * (1948) * shortstory by Judith Merril (Science Fiction Hall of Fame story)
155 * Brooklyn Project * (1948) * shortstory by William Tenn
168 * Coming Attraction * (1950) * shortstory by Fritz Leiber (Nominated, 2001 Retro Hugo Award, Best Short Story of 1950; Science Fiction Hall of Fame story)
181 * The Sentinel * (1951) * shortstory by Arthur C. Clarke (Partial basis for 2001: A Space Odyssey)
195 * Sail On! Sail On! * (1952) * shortstory by Philip José Farmer
207 * Critical Factor * (1953) * shortstory by Hal Clement
224 * Fondly Fahrenheit * (1954) * novelette by Alfred Bester (Science Fiction Hall of Fame story)
246 * The Cold Equations * (1954) * novelette by Tom Godwin (Science Fiction Hall of Fame story)
273 * The Game of Rat and Dragon * [The Instrumentality of Mankind] * (1955) * shortstory by Cordwainer Smith
290 * Pilgrimage to Earth * (1956) * shortstory by Robert Sheckley
304 * Who Can Replace a Man? * (1958) * shortstory by Brian W. Aldiss
316 * Harrison Bergeron * (1961) * shortstory by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
326 * The Streets of Ashkelon * (1962) * shortstory by Harry Harrison
343 * The Terminal Beach * (1964) * novelette by J. G. Ballard
367 * Dolphin's Way * (1964) * shortstory by Gordon R. Dickson
387 * Slow Tuesday Night * (1965) * shortstory by R. A. Lafferty
398 * Day Million * (1966) * shortstory by Frederik Pohl
407 * We Can Remember It for You Wholesale * (1966) * novelette by Philip K. Dick (Basis of film, Total Recall)
431 * I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream * (1967) * shortstory by Harlan Ellison (Winner, 1968 Hugo Award)
449 * Aye, and Gomorrah. . . * (1967) * shortstory by Samuel R. Delany (Winner, 1967 Nebula Award. Nominated, 1968 Hugo Award)
462 * The Jigsaw Man * [Known Space] * (1967) * shortstory by Larry Niven (Nominated, 1968 Hugo Award)
476 * Kyrie * (1968) * shortstory by Poul Anderson (Nominated, 1968 Nebula Award)
490 * Masks * (1968) * shortstory by Damon Knight (Nominated, 1968 Nebula Award, 1969 Hugo Award)
503 * Stand on Zanzibar (Excerpt) * (1968) * short fiction by John Brunner (Excerpt from novel; novel won 1969 British Science Fiction Award, 1969 Hugo Award, 1973 Prix Apollo.)
519 * The Big Flash * (1969) * novelette by Norman Spinrad (nominated, 1969 Nebula Award)
543 * Sundance * (1969) * shortstory by Robert Silverberg
560 * The Left Hand of Darkness (Excerpt) * (1979) * short fiction by Ursula K. Le Guin (excerpt from novel; novel won 1969 Nebula Award, 1970 Hugo Award, 1995 James Tiptree, Jr. Award)
577 * When It Changed * (1972) * shortstory by Joanna Russ (Winner, 1972 Nebula Award, 1995 James Tiptree, Jr. Award)
588 * The Engine at Heartspring's Center * (1974) * shortstory by Roger Zelazny (Nominated, 1974 Nebula Award)
600 * Tricentennial * (1976) * shortstory by Joe Haldeman (Winner, 1977 Hugo Award, 1977 Locus Poll Award)
620 * Index * (1979)

Not Free SF Reader
Gunn's second volume in this series is concerned with the early twentieth century writers like Wells and Burroughs and the birth of the science fiction magazines from Amazing to Astounding.

There is a reasonable length introduction and each story has a piece placing the work and the author in time, with an overview and some biography.This is all very readable, and probably more directed to include the general reader.

There are some excerpts from novels, too, which will annoy some.Some good tales in these early stories, bit nothing outstanding.

Road To Science Fiction 2 : The New Accelerator - H. G. Wells
Road To Science Fiction 2 : The Machine Stops - E. M. Forster
Road To Science Fiction 2 : The Chessmen of Mars [short story] - Edgar Rice Burroughs
Road To Science Fiction 2 : The People of the Pit - A. Merritt
Road To Science Fiction 2 : The Red One - Jack London
Road To Science Fiction 2 : Dagon - H. P. Lovecraft
Road To Science Fiction 2 : The Tissue-Culture King - Julian Huxley
Road To Science Fiction 2 : The Revolt of the Pedestrians - David H. Keller
Road To Science Fiction 2 : Last and First Men [short story] - Olaf Stapledon
Road To Science Fiction 2 : Brave New World [short story]) - Aldous Huxley
Road To Science Fiction 2 : A Martian Odyssey [short story] - Stanley G. Weinbaum
Road To Science Fiction 2 : Twilight - John W. Campbell, Jr.
Road To Science Fiction 2 : Proxima Centauri - Murray Leinster
Road To Science Fiction 2 : What's It Like Out There? - Edmond Hamilton
Road To Science Fiction 2 : With Folded Hands - Jack Williamson
Road To Science Fiction 2 : Hyperpilosity - L. Sprague de Camp
Road To Science Fiction 2 : The Faithful - Lester del Rey
Road To Science Fiction 2 : Black Destroyer - A. E. van Vogt
Road To Science Fiction 2 : Nightfall [short story] - Isaac Asimov
Road To Science Fiction 2 : Requiem - Robert A. Heinlein


Flash tonic.

3.5 out of 5


Can't do anything ourselves.

3 out of 5


""You deserted us, Tara of Helium," said John Carter. "It is not what the guests of John Carter should expect.""

3 out of 5


Explorer gets horribly lost.

3.5 out of 5


"Possessed of more than a cursory knowledge of astronomy, he took a sick mans pleasure in speculating as to the dwellers on the unseen worlds of those incredibly remote suns, to haunt whose houses of light, life came forth, a shy visitant, from the rayless crypts of matter. He could no more apprehend limits to time than bounds to space. No subversive radium speculations had shaken his steady scientific faith in the conservation of energy and the indestructibility of matter. Always and forever must there have been stars. And surely, in that cosmic ferment, all must be comparatively alike, comparatively of the same substance, or substances, save for the freaks of the ferment. All must obey, or compose, the same laws that ran without infraction through the entire experience of man. Therefore, he argued and agreed, must worlds and life be appanages to all the suns as they were appanages to the particular of his own solar system.

Even as he lay here, under the breadfruit tree, an intelligence that stared across the starry gulfs, so must all the universe be exposed to the ceaseless scrutiny of innumerable eyes, like his, though grantedly different, with behind them, by the same token, intelligences that questioned and sought the meaning and the construction of the whole. So reasoning, he felt his soul go forth in kinship with that august company, that multitude whose gaze was forever upon the arras of infinity."

...

"Once, O Ngurn, Bassett repeated, let the Red One speak so that I may see it speak as well as hear it. Then strike, thus, when I raise my hand; for, when I raise my hand, I shall drop my head forward and make place for the stroke at the base of my neck. But, O Ngurn, I, who am about to pass out of the light of day for ever, would like to pass with the wonder-voice of the Red One singing greatly in my ears.

And I promise you that never will a head be so well cured as yours, Ngurn assured him, at the same time signalling the tribesmen to man the propelling ropes suspended from the king-post striker. Your head shall be my greatest piece of work in the curing of heads."

3.5 out of 5


Marine monstrosity.

4 out of 5


Slave breeding for type, now how about some telepathy?

3 out of 5


If our boots were mad efor shooting, how about we just turn off your machines you crawling, legless freaks?

3.5 out of 5


"For another branch of the degenerated fifth species had retained a more terrestrial habit and the ancient human form. Sadly reduced in stature and in brain, these abject beings were so unlike the original invaders that they are rightly considered a new species, and may therefore be called the Sixth Men. Age after age they gained a precarious livelihood by grubbing roots upon the forest-clad islands, trapping the innumerable birds, and catching fish in the tidal inlets with ground bait. Not infrequently they devoured, or were devoured by, their seal-like relatives. So restricted and constant was the environment of these human remnants, that they remained biologically and culturally stagnant for some millions of years.

At length, however, geological events afforded man's nature once more the opportunity of change. A mighty warping of the planet's crust produced an island almost as large as Australia. In time this was peopled, and from the clash of tribes a new and versatile race emerged. Once more there was methodical tillage, craftsmanship, complex social organization, and adventure in the realm of thought.

During the next two hundred million years all the main phases of man's life on earth were many times repeated on Venus with characteristic differences. Theocratic empires; free and intellectualistic island cities; insecure overlordship of feudal archipelagos; rivalries of high priest and emperor; religious feuds over the interpretation of sacred scriptures; recurrent fluctuations of thought from naïve animism, through polytheism, conflicting monotheisms, and all the desperate "isms" by which mind seeks to blur the severe outline of truth; recurrent fashions of comfort-seeking fantasy and cold intelligence; social disorders through the misuse of volcanic or wind power in industry; business empires and pseudo-communistic empires--all these forms flitted over the changing substance of mankind again and again, as in an enduring hearth fire there appear and vanish the infinitely diverse forms of flame and smoke. But all the while the brief spirits, in whose massed configurations these forms inhered, were intent chiefly on the primitive needs of food, shelter, companionship, crowd-lust, love-making, the two-edged relationship of parent and child, the exercise of muscle and intelligence in facile sport. Very seldom, only in rare moments of clarity, only after ages of misapprehension, did a few of them, here and there, now and again, begin to have the deeper insight into the world's nature and man's. And no sooner had this precious insight begun to propagate itself, than it would be blotted out by some small or great disaster, by epidemic disease, by the spontaneous disruption of society, by an access of racial imbecility, by a prolonged bombardment of meteorites, or by the mere cowardice and vertigo that dared not look down the precipice of fact."

3.5 out of 5


Alpha delta stability.

3 out of 5


Interplanetary interpersonal communication.

4 out of 5


Future science dwindling.

3.5 out of 5


Vegie men seek animal matter gold.

3.5 out of 5


Mars crackup shootout coverup.

4 out of 5


Robot home help useless.

2.5 out of 5


Hairy virus cure, no thanks.

3.5 out of 5


Dogs still happy to see us.

3.5 out of 5


A ship's crew lands on a planet and meets an alien with extraordinarily dangerous abilities.

3.5 out of 5


Media and religion struggle with science. Still.

4 out of 5


Any ship will do if you can get me there.

3.5 out of 5

Essential
An essential anthology that cover the "golden age" of SF (1940-1975). Every true SF fans needs this.

Road to Science Fiction: From Heinlein to Here
After reading this as a text for a college course, I lost my copy. Then found one again and was amazed how still fresh and interesting these short stories are. I recommend this volume as a good start to reading Sci-Fi as the stories are some of the best ever and will only leave the reader hungry for more. The British Writer's version is a good one, too.

A Good Sci-Fi Collection
I bought this book after reading the Ray Bradbury story, and haven't regretted it. I recently started reading it again and discovered even more greats. Get this if you like Science Fiction at all. ... Read more

Product Description
A major collection of Harlan Ellison’s incomparable, troublemaking, uncompromising, confrontational essays plus a foreward by award-winning author Robert Crais.Table of Contents:Author’s NoteForeword: The Cricket beneath The Hammer, By Robert CraisIntroduction: The Lost Secrets of East AtlantisInstallment 1: Everything I Know About My Father2: Valerie, Part One3: Valerie, Part Two4: Valerie, Part Three5: Getting Stiffed6: The Tyranny of The Weak, And Some Foreshadowing7: With Bloch And Bormann In Br ... Read more

Product Description
Alice has become one of the great characters of imaginative literature, as immortal as Don Quixote, Huckleberry Finn, or Dorothy Gale. Her adventures appeal to adults as well as children because they can be read on many levels: a satire on language, a political allegory, or a parody of Victorian children's literature. The short film "The Delivery" on DVD is a journey into the fantastical world of auditory imagination. Reader: Michael York is a well-known actor who has starred in numerous films, including The Three Musketeers and the Austin Powers box-office hits. Reader: Harlan Ellison is an Audie® Award-winning narrator and a multiple award-winning author of speculative fiction. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Horrible!!
I enjoyed Alice's Adventures in Wonderland read by Michael York otherwise I would have given this 1 star. But The actor who read "Through the Looking Glass" was HORRIBLE! He poorly imitated actors like Peter Lorre and WC Fields and I found it VERY irritating. It was so annoying I couldn't finish listening

There's a movie here, too!
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R17SJXSSJ0M1M7 This is a great gift set.
It includes the unabridged audiobooks of Alice (read by velvet toned Michael York) and Through the Looking Glass (read by the electric Science Fiction author Harlan Ellison.) But bonus material includes a short 30 minute film about a young girl whose adventures take her in Alice-like fashion through the world of an audiobook recording studio. The film's message is one of literacy which might be of great interest to schools and libraries; it's a family film and a nice bonus to the audios. There are some funny performances and the film won First Place in Fantasy at the Dragon*Con Film Festival last Fall. It also was an official entry in the Los Angeles Internation Children's Festival and ReelWomen International Film Festival. This is the first time I know of that an audiobook has been paired with a short film. Bravo, Blackstone Audio, for your innovation! Cast includes Michael York, John Rubinstein, Scott Brick, Stephanie and Efrem Zimbalist, Harlan Ellison, Orson Scott Card and Emily Card. It runs 30 minutes. ... Read more

Product Description
A group of merry immortals request the help of the Cherokee physicist, Dr. Sequoya Guess to gain control of Extro, the Supercomputer that controls mechanical activity on Earth. With Extro's help they plan to rid the Earth of political repression and produce supermen out of ordinary human beings. But, Extro turns malevolent and the experiment soon turns into a deadly fight for Earth's future.

SUMMARY:
Alfred Bester's first science fiction novel since The Stars My Destination was a major event-a fast-moving adventure story set in Earth's future. A band of immortal-as charming a bunch of eccentrics as you'll ever come across-recruit a new member, the brilliant Cherokee physicist Sequoya Guess.Dr. Guess, with group's help, gain control of Extro, the supercomputer that controls all mechanical activity on Earth.They plan to rid Earth of political repression and to further Guess's researches-which may lead to a great leap in human evolution to produce a race of supermen.But Extro takes over Guess instead and turns malevolent.The task of the merry band suddenly becomes a fight in deadly earnest for the future of Earth. .Sequoya Guess, whom they love, must be killed.And how do you kill an immortal? www.BrickTowerPress.com ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

A hot mess of sheer intoxication
"I tore down the Continental Shelf off the Bogue Bank while the pogo made periscope hops trying to track me.Endless plains of salt flats (music by Borodin here); mounds of salt where the new breed of prospector was sieving for rare earths; towers of venomous vapors on the eastern horizon where the pumping stations were sucking up more of the Atlantic and extracting deuterium for energy transfer.Most of the fossil fuels were gone; the sea level had been lowered by two feet; progress."

That's just the first paragraph of this completely insane book: breathless, delirious, practically collapsing from lack of oxygen in its rush to fill your head with its wild ideas.Before the first page is over, we've dove down to a secret hideaway under the salt flats to meet a time machine builder who goes by Herb Wells.Before the chapter's out, we'll have learned of Herb's doomed efforts to avert the tragic early deaths of Van Gogh, Mozart and poet Thomas Chatterton, but all that's strictly incidental to the plot.Our hero, such that he is, is Guig, the Grand Guignol, who murders men in failed attempts to make them immortal.The cast also includes Jacy, who you may better know as Christ, Jesus; and Hic-Haec-Hoc, a Neanderthal who's still kicking several millennia past his prime.

The reckless, wild, intoxicating prose, drunk on its own sheer invention, is peppered with obscure cultural references, chemical formulas, snatches of poetry and computer programming, bars of music, and letters to the editor.Any damn thing to get the point across: Bester was post-modern before anyone had a name for it.

And Bester isn't really writing science-fiction here: he's writing free-form experimental futuristic jazz, drenched in psychedelic insanity, bizarre factoids kiting on sheer imagination, riffing on his typewriter to a wild, weird beat that no one else on Earth can hear.

A lot of people dismiss this book saying it's a faint shadow of Bester's more famous novels, THE DEMOLISHED MAN and THE STARS MY DESTINATION.And frankly, they've got a point: those earlier works are more contained and controlled.This thing, frankly?It's kind of a mess.But it's a hot mess, dancing on table tops naked and ignoring all bounds of decent restraint.Later on, the lack of control would overtake the books in the shambling Frankenstein novels like GOLEM100 and THE DECEIVERS, the seams showing in the short stories and fragments Bester was stitching together, unable to maintain the jags of caffeinated energy characterizing his best books.Those later books still have moments of brilliance, but they are less than the sum of their parts.In this book, Bester is still on top of his game -- but maybe just barely.

Time has caught up to Bester's first book, the Hugo-winning THE DEMOLISHED MAN; its wild ideas have been nicked by mass market entertainment and its psychic cops have few surprises for readers. THE STARS MY DESTINATION is still ahead of the curve, and will always represent the peak of Bester's particular brand of magic.But THE COMPUTER CONNECTION is, arguably, his most wild, restless and joyous book.A lot of readers didn't know what to make of it 30+ years ago, and most won't now.

What it is isn't a novel at all, but a drug in ink form meant to be injected directly to the pineal gland.

The Computer Disconnection
Some quick facts:

This is not a "neglected, underrated gem".

This is not Alfred Bester at his best.

This is not a novel. In the technical sense of the word it is, but actually this one craves to be a comic storyline, KA-BOOM! and SPLORSH! waving to the poor reader from every page, every paragraph.

The last review on Amazon for the Computer Connection being more than 2 1/2 years ago clearly indicates this book is heading into oblivion. Let it rest there forever and if you really want to read something by Alfred Bester, try "The Stars My Destination", written in the 1950's but feeling much fresher and less dated.

How I Stopped Wanting to be a Writer.
After reading this book, I threw in the towel as far as dreaming about becoming a SF writer.This book is Perfect, there is no way it can be beaten or even approached by any other SF writing (except, perhaps, TSMD and TDM). (Well, TSMD)
I loved mostly the cultural bits, the language, the in your face advertising (we are halfway there now) the drugs, firewater and all the inevitable extrapolations of 20th century lifestyles.
I can not really say much more without spoiling a bit.I'm going to get a copy and rerereread it now.
Oh, by the way, there IS an immortal caveman, a nicety I think few authors of 'immortal people' tales would have thought of.

Psychedelic Screwball Comedy
Though the always over-the-top Harlan Ellison does a fantastic job in the introduction of convincing you that this boook is the equal of Bester's greats, 'The Demolished Man' and 'The Stars My Destination', it isn't quite in that class.

Don't let that put you off, however. The Computer Connection packs in more wacky offbeat ideas in a single book than most writers have in a lifetime, and it is all done at a breakneck velocity fast enough to pass the likes of Michael Marshall Smith in the slow lane (and that's no insult to Smith).

The plot revolves around a small and select group of people made immortal through a particularly traumatic death - the narrator was roasted in a volcano, for example. The immortals take identities based on historical figures, which reflect their abilities and interests - there is a Christ, an Indian rajah and so on. Bester's depiction of immortals has only been bettered by Michael Moorcock in 'Dancers at the End of Time'. In seeking to expand their number, they accidently enable a powerful computer, Extro, to take over the candidate, the brilliant Cherokee physicist, Sequoya Guess. Extro then proceeds to use Guess to carry out its plans to rid the world of humans. Not only that, but there appear to be a traitor amongst the immortals themselves.

This review can hardly do any sort of justice to the utterly bizarre world that Bester has created, a world where giant pogo-sticks appear to be a major form of transport. As Ellison says, it's like a classic Hollywood screwball commedy (only forced through a giant psychedelic sieve). The only problem with this kind of commedy is that it is difficult to sustain over novel length, and Bester doesn't quite manage it; the book runs out of steam some time before the end. Still a must-read for any fan of New Wave (or any other) SF.

Pure SF, Pure Action, Pure Fun!
It's a wonder nobody ever thought of filming Bester's books, for they have an effect much similar to that of a good movie - they rock you in your chair. Decades before anyone thought of the term "Cyberpunk", Bester already had his own view of the future, which happens to be very similar to the present - our present, the future present, even Bester's present. That is, of course, no accident, for Bester never forgets he's dealing with people, not machines - a fact which doesn't prevent the book from being filled with action, fun, (weird) technology, immortal people (among them an original neanderthal), an eccentric alien, and even some more conventional SF elements, such as The Mad Professor and a Time Machine.
Brilliant dialogues, thrilling action, unforgettable characters... In short - don't forget to get your hands on that one as soon as possible. I'm sure you won't forget to thank me for that advice... ... Read more

Product Description
Remember Charles Bronson stalking the streets of New York blowing holes in muggers in Death Wish? Remember Glenn Ford standing off the vicious juvenile delinquents in Blackboard Jungle? Well, it's more than fifty years and two different worlds from 1955 to now. And something the author of these stories knows, that you're scared to admit, is that reality and fantasy have flip-flopped. They have switched places. The stories that scare you today are the ones about rapists and thugs, psychos who'll carve you for a dollar and hypes who'll bust your head to get fixed. Glenn Ford's world was yesterday, and Bronson's is today. And in the stalking midnight of this book, one of America's top writers, Harlan Ellison, invades he shadows of both! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Deadly Streets - 1983
This book contains: "Rat Hater," "We Take Care of Our Dead," "The Man With the Golden Tongue," "I'll Bet You A Death," "Johnny Slice's Stoolie," "Joy Ride," "Buy Me That Blade," "Kid Killer," "With A Knife In Her Hand," "Sob Story." "Look Me in the Eye, Boy!." "The Dead Shoe," "Ship-shape Pay-Off," "Made in Heaven," and "Students of the Assassin."5 of the stories are collected in the edition for the first time. ... Read more

Product Description
Blackstone Audio presents: Volume 3 of THE VOICE FROM THE EDGE: PRETTY MAGGIE MONEYEYES The Imaginative Fiction of Harlan Ellison ® performed, with new commentaries, by the Author
For the third time, down that multi-colored rabbit hole to the unpredictable, singular, frequently disturbing Ellison Wonderland of the writer the New York Times summed up thus: 'Harlan Ellison has the spellbinding quality of a great nonstop talker with a cultural warehouse for a mind.' And this third expedition comes not a moment too soon. . . at exactly the moment a brilliant new film documentary, Dreams with Sharp Teeth, a film of the life and work of Harlan Ellison is beginning it s premieres across America.
Here, in eleven stories, a true memoir, five brand-new commentaries, and a linked horror story of Jack the Ripper by Ellison s great friend, the late Robert Bloch, the mesmerizing audio performance by the Author provides full measure of reason why Ellison has won Listen Up, Audio, and a shelf full of other awards including investiture as one of the few Grand Masters of the literature of the fantastic. This one is the best yet. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Classic TV criticism
A collection of reviews and criticism's written in the mid 70's. The shows are long dead but the criticisms of the industry hold up well. If more critics shared his trenchant views, and put them down; TV would have a chance of not being a vast wasteland. Read this and "The Other Glass Teat" if you want to understand what is happening in TV, or just to have fun.

A nostalgic peek at Harlan's days as a TV critic & socio-political activist
What a fabulous read ... a great opportunity for new fans to see Harlan back in his rabid TV critic, socio-political activist, and college campus rabble-rousing prime.

It's all in there, complete with a generous serving of his laser sharp insights, verbal kung-fu, and utterly fearless take-no-prisoners attitude.See him go toe to toe with censorship-minded political archconservatives, and their lists of the disloyal.He him rail against cowardly, and hopelessly out-of-touch TV network and studio executives.See him drag under-educated middle-American moral-majority `scuttle bugs' by their repressionist scruff of the neck out into the open, and thump them resoundingly with their own ignorance, and watch as their own kids cheer Harlan on.See him take the fight to all those who've been successfully brainwashed by "The Establishment" into unwittingly championing the causes of style-over-substance, and blind obedience to authority, while sucking placidly at that establishment's proverbial "Glass Teat" of unreality (re: an anatomical metaphor for the television medium as a whole).

As a reader, I couldn't have asked for a better as-it-happened spectator's view of the crazy days of 1968-1970 (during which I was in elementary school) than re-reading reprints of Harlan's weekly column for the LA Free Press (aka "The Freep").

I didn't always agree with Harlan's viewpoints on various topics, or with his tactics, and I found myself repeatedly wondering if (or how) his opinions would change given how both our society and the TV medium as a whole have changed in the 35+ years since then ... but none the less, I found myself feeling wide-eyed admiration at times for his utter fearlessness, his creativity, and his determination to fight for what he believed in (regardless of whether I agreed or not), and to challenge those who either misused, or were overly bemused by, the unreal phosphorescent mirage that is TV.

Would that more of us were as keen, and as bold, as he.

Highly recommended.

p.s.Before now, I've only seen Harlan work the Scifi convention scene, but now, at last, I can see where that tireless multi-generational journey truly began in ernest.Having sat/stood across the table from Harlan on several occasions myself, I could instantly empathize with those were in a similar position 35+ years ago, as he hammered at THEIR grasp on (un)reality, like a jeweler looking for "AH HA !" chinks of weakness in our mental carapaces of surety and/or ignorance.

Ellison at teh top of his game
I bought this book in, of all places, Cambridge England, and stayed up past 3 AM reading it. It was hysterically laugh-out-loud funny as it pushed my memory back to early childhood (I was born in January 1965 so 69-70 are at the edge of recollection); yet, shows like "My Wolrd, and Welcome To It" which Ellison rightly loved still fired a few joyous neurons buried in the back of my skull. I've given it four stars because much of the commentary simply cannot mean anything to those born after, say, 1980. They didn't see the shows, know the mood, grow up with the actors, or watch the re-runs. But for those over forty (or who can remember who The Banana Splits were), I would recommend it unhesitatingly.

Television =""ChewingGum For The Brain"
This is an excellent book describing how American Culture was influenced and depicted by televison in the 1960's and 70's. Mr. Ellison goes to a great lengths in this very well written book to describe the History Of Televsion and why we are so captivated by it. TV shows may come and go but Mr. Ellison's book is here to stay. You will never see televison again in the same light (no pun intended) after reading this very good book.

The best book about tee vee that I have ever read
I have read a good many books about television and its history, but thisis, far and away, the best of the lot.I do not always agree with Mr.Ellison's opinions, but this man can write with the best of them andeverything in here is worth reading andmulling over.I am a little youngto have been a part of the civil rights/anti-Viet Nam era, but everythinghere coincides with my recollections of this time as a youthful bystander. You might not remember many of the shows about which he wrote.Most ofthem are forgotten, and with good reason. Here, it doesn't matter at all. Ellison writes about so much more just tee vee that, ultimately, America'sportrait is reduced to a 21" tee vee screen.Scary, enlightening,entertaining and often roll around on the floor rolling your head offfunny.He wrote a companion volume called "The Other GlassTeat," which consisted of later columns from the Los Angeles Freep anda few from the paper that picked up the column after the Freep dropped him. Not as good as this, but still excellent writing.Perhaps the beststories are those of when he went to speak at a high school in the ghettoand had a kid tell him off and the other of when he was a tryout contestanton the pilot of "The Dating Game."The first tells us more aboutAmerica at that time than all the self-righteous academic nonsense everpublished; the second is uproariously funny and also tells us a great dealabout how vacuous we can be.What can I say?Get it.Read it. Thinkabout it. I have recommended this book to friends many times with theguarantee that if they did not like it, I would buy it from them at coverprice.I still have only my original copy of this gem. ... Read more

Product Description
The original 50 cent paperback edition of this book now goes for $100 in rare book auctions. Why? Because it contains 25 of the best, hardest-to-find stories of the writer the Washington Post calls “one of the great living American short story writers,” the unpredictable Harlan Ellison.Gentleman Junkie Table of ContentsForeword: by Frank M. RobinsonIntroduction: The Children of NightsFinal ShtickGentleman JunkieMay We Also Speak?Four Statements from the Hung-Up GenerationDaniel White for the ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Classic Harlan Ellison street stories from the early Sixties
"Gentleman Junkie and Other Stories of the Hung-Up Generation" is the short story collection that got Harlan Ellison to Hollywood, which, in retrospect, may not have been a good move, but it was certainly an important move.The key factor is all of this was a book review in "Esquire" by the legendary Dorothy Parker whose description of "Daniel White for the Greater God," far and away the best story in this collection, deserves repeating: "It is without exception the best presentation I have ever seen of present racial conditions in the South and of those who try to alleviate them."When I was teaching "To Kill a Mockingbird" I had my students read Ellison's story, to give them some idea of what things were like in the South before they were born.It is, simply put, a short story that makes the purchase of this entire volume well worth the money.

For the record, or more specifically for those of you trying to find Ellison stories you have not read in other collections, here are the short stories you will find within these pages: "Final Shtick," "Gentleman Junkie," "May We Also Speak?", "Daniel White for the Greater Good," Lady Bug, Lady Bug," "Free With This Box!" (a personal favorite), "There's One on Every Campus," "At the Mountains of Blindness," "This is Jackie Spining," "No Game for Children," "The Late, Great Arnie Draper," "High Dice," "Enter the Fanatic, Stage Center," "Someone is Hungrier," "Memory of a Muted Trumpet," "Turnpike," "Sally in Our Alley," "The Silence of Infidelity," "Have Coolth," "RFD #2," "No Fourth Commandment," and "The Night of Delicate Terrors."

Since we are talking Harlan Ellison there is really no reason to engage in any further advocacy.I am either preaching to the converted or spitting into the wind.There is no middle ground with Ellison.Consequently the point here is to be informative."Gentleman Junkie" is a collection of dark stories dealing more with the real world than you usually find in Ellison's more famous works of speculative fiction.These are stories about racial prejudice, drug addiction, juvenile delinquency, anti-Semitism, alienation, violence and other fun topics.Consequently, these are tales best consumed one at a time, because to sit down and read this book cover to cover would be a bit much for most souls.

The Book That Brought Ellison to the Mainstream
I haven't read this book in two years, maybe more, but it still stands out in my mind. First, it is the book that got Ellison reviewed in Esquire by Dorothy Parker, quite something for a paperback original at the time of its original release. And second, it contains the story "Daniel White, For the Greater Good," which still stands out in my mind, after years, as one of Ellison's most powerful (and neglected, given its power) pieces of short fiction. ... Read more

Product Description
Ever wonder what it would be like to walk into someone else's mind and have a look around? Well, what if that person happened to be a brilliant storyteller whose imagination has captivated millions of readers over the past five decades? In the award-winning anthology Harlan Ellison's Dream Corridor, we have had both the privilege and peril of rooting around in the eponymous fellow's noggin to see what makes him tick - and what engrossing stories have been hidden away in the cracks and crevices of his gray matter.The words of world-renowned science-fiction author Harlan Ellison are once again translated onto the page by top comics creators, including Paul Chadwick, Neal Adams, Steve Rude, Gene Colan, Steve Niles, Gerard Jones, Richard Corben and the legendary Oz illustrator Eric Shanower. Most of these stories have never before seen print! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Not the best of adaptations
I'm a big fan of quite a bit of Ellison's works, his short stories in particular.Why it took me so long to discover him, seeing as how he was really in his prime before I was old enough to read is beyond me.However, now that I've discovered what a fantastic writer he was/is I've been doing my best to catch up with those bits that may be scattered here and there that I haven't read.

...which is what made my reading of 'Deam Corridor 2' somewhat of a letdown, as - with two exceptions - I had read all the stories in their original Ellison prose.The translation of just about all the stories into a more visual form felt quite forced, and many of the stories suffered greatly for this.Had I not read them in the first place the stories wouldn't have come across as quite so inept, but with the comparison to the original available it became obvious that many of the translations weren't up to snuff.

The remaining two stories - the ones that were based on illustrations and which Ellison wrote especially for the 'Dream Corridor' publication - weren't very memorable.

While I don't think that the works presented in any way tarnished my impression of the original stories, I do wish that the adaptation into a different milieu had worked a little better.

I Don't Know Why No One Knows About This Book...
Dream Corridor Vol 2 is a collection of Harlan Ellison's short stories in comic format.This is a real gem!Each story is drawn, inked and interpreted by different superstars of the comic scene.The interstitials with Harlan Ellison introducing each story are also entertaining and very well-drawn.

Harlan Ellison is a fan of the comics medium, and it shows here in his painstaking effort to create quality versions of his stories. Some of the short stories are more interesting than others, but all of them challenge your mind.The artwork from story to story is totally different, yet uniformly good.

This is one part "The Twilight Zone" one part classic sci-fi short story, and one part great artwork.Comics fans, take a break from the masked heroes and get this book.Serious sci-fi readers, open your mind and read some great short stories in a graphic novel format.Neither reader will be disappointed. ... Read more

Product Description
In 1965 Harlan Ellison introduced an unsuspecting world to The Harlequin, a non-conformist (and perpetually late) rebel in a future society where conformity and punctuality are the gods of a totalitarian world. Taking time to stop and smell the roses, The Harlequin becomes a disruptive diversion to an otherwise well-ordered, suppressed populace. And that's something their leader, The Ticktockman, can't allow.Honored with the Nebula Award for Best Short Story, "Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman has become one of the most reprinted stories in the English language, with the numerous foreign translations. (Color illus.)Amazon.com Review
"My soul would be an outlaw," begins the storytellerin this short tale of the timeless war between Conformity andRebellion, in the guise of the Master Timekeeper (a.k.a. theTicktockman) and the renegade Harlequin. In a completely regulatedsociety, where being a minute late here and there shortens your lifeaccordingly, the Ticktockman is king; Harlequin is the jellybean jokerwho wants to knock him from his perch. Rick Berry's dark, lushillustrations magnify the force of a story that reminds readers of thebest parts of George Orwell's 1984 or TerryGilliam's Brazil. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (20)

One of the SF Greats
For those of you who didn't know, this is one of the most reprinted stories in the English language, of any genre, and vintage Ellison at his best.I'm honored to say I once celebrated my birthday with a gift from my friends of my weight in jelly beans after having them read the book...mrmeee, mrmeee, mrmeee.....It's truly one of the classics of literature, and not just Sci Fi; it's a short read, but you'll think about this story for a long time after you read it....

Author with a Bad Attitude
This book is a fantastic printing of what is unquestionably one of Ellison's best stories. Many a young rebel of the '60s was probably influenced by it. And the TickTockMan's description seems like a precursor to Darth Vader. Anyone who hasn't read it yet should.

The signed book, though a rarity because of Ellison's signature, may be a bit overpriced. As much as I like a lot of his work, he has an arrogant attitude based on the overestimation of his self-worth. One would think he'd have an adjustment at his age, rather than becoming a cranky old poop.

For those unfamiliar with his history, it might be good to look up some of his seminal work, such as his writings on the street gang he infiltrated in the 1950s. That, his experiences with TV via Star Trek, the Starlost, and Babylon 5, all demonstrate his devotion to hard work. No one can take that sort of success for granted.

Still, his boorishness puts him at odds sometimes with his own readers.

Hey, Harlan! Buy yourself some time with Dale Carnegie!

Free SF Reader
Joker fan not keen on digital watches, but does quite like a jelly bean.


3.5 out of 5

Repent, Harlequin said the Ticktockman
In a world where time is the most essential resource and tardiness is penalized by law.More, it's penalized by shortening one's life by the amount of time "wasted" according to the ruling authority, the Ticktockman.In this dystopia no dissent is tolerated.Then there's the Harlequin, a man who dresses up like the fabled trickster and taunts the authorities, encouraging people to take their time, smell the flowers and whatnot.Harlequin knows that mass revolt is the only way to enact a change against a totalitarian regime.But is Harlequin the man to trigger a revolt?

Harlan Ellison has written so many great stories, but this one in particular resonates with me and with our time obsessed society.It's the small voice of defiance that I wish more people had.This edition of the storyu is good, if a little overpriced.The artwork is good, but I think the story is better suited as a short, not an illustrated graphic.As a short in the 60's, this story won the Hugo and the Nebula.

In whatever form or edition, I think this is a great story for people to read.It's a wonderful introduction to the imaginative world of Harlan Ellison.

- CV Rick, March 2008

There Are Always Those Who Need To Ask
"not everyone can be sold into slavery quite so easily."

This coffee table edition of Ellison's anti-establishment classic will please fans {who will enjoy Harlan's new intro, "Stealing Tomorrow"} as well as making a wonderful children's book that serves to connote something crucial, yet, from what I've found, is sorely lacking in many children's stories: that is, "Repent, Harlequin! Said the Ticktockman," with its mischievous, jelly-bean-bombardier anti-hero, is an insightful, modern parable of individual rights and freedom of expression.

As the dark stains of totalitarianism spread across the land, as the people are deceived into believing that relinquishing their civil liberties will result in greater safety and "security," as they are further lulled into obedience through deceptive, technological, dual-purpose conveniences, there need be now more than ever, young minds and spirits raised in full awareness of the illusory "reality" in which they exist. The hero of this parable is alive with the spirit of critical thought and non-conformity; this resonates quite well with my daughter, who understands his position of telling fascist bogeymen to "get stuffed." Ha, indeed.

In this particular version, the thematic 'Orwellian' "1984" substance of the story is presented in a way your child will understand. As I tell my daughter {who is learning to read and has an immense appetite for words} when she grumbles over school: "there are some fine things there to learn, and friends to find, but a school is an institution, and an institution, in some ways, is inherently repressive." Which is why, even at a tender age, many children instinctively don't care for being herded this way and that, or told when to stand or sit, or required to tow those many lines which deeply ingrain irrational attitudes of mindless submission to authority and conformity.

Harlan's timeless tale will also introduce your child to Henry David Thoreau: "He serves the state best who opposes the state most." ... Read more