Harlan Ellison Books

Not just essential to fans of Harlan Ellison, this book is mind-altering, beginning with the first line of the opener, "Paladin of the Lost Hour". I can't recommend this book enough. I kept it checked out of the library when I was younger and much broker; I got older and less broke; and now, much like another reviewer, I keep buying new copies after I loan them out and they never return. Combine this with "the Essential Ellison" and you will understand why people are so rabid about the works of Harlan Ellison.

Harlan Ellison is one the world's great short story writers. Forget about labels, SF, fantasy, etc. He is just one of the better practitioners of this art form. He also can be one of the most infuriating, writing experimental stories that take many pages to say nothing. ANGRY CANDY is bit of both with the good outweighing the incomprehensible.
"Paladin of the Lost Hour," "Prince Myshkin," "Laugh Track," and especially "Soft Monkey" ( an incredible tale of survival in the heartless city) are all fine examples of Ellison's ability to create a variety of stories that can grip you with suspense or put a mile on your face ( a rare talent in any writer). It is the few occasions where Ellison drifts off into the bizarre; with stories like "The Region Between" or "Eidolons" where the point is...well I'm not sure where the point is; this being the problem. It is these types of stories that keep me from giving this collection the highest rating, but one thing about Ellison's writing it is never boring and it will always challenge the reader's emotions and intellect. ANGRY CANDY is another example of Ellison's ability to do both of these things magnificently.

This World Fantasy Award-winning collection was the first taste of Harlan Ellison that I had, and boy, was it a good introduction. I have since read a great deal more of Ellison's work, and, while I find that pretty much all of it affects me deeply, the stories in _Angry Candy_ are the ones I find myself coming back to the most.

Death is the theme tying together the stories in _Angry Candy_--death, and our difficulty accepting it as an inevitable part of life. The book is saturated with anger and loss, yes, but also with dark humor and a sense that life is something worth fighting for.

Other reviewers have talked about the standout stories in this collection, including "Paladin of the Lost Hour," which picked up a Hugo Award, "Soft Monkey," and "The Importance of Dream Sleep." No one has mentioned "Stuffing," which is not generally considered one of Ellison's strongest stories, but which affected me deeply when I first read it and which remains one of my favorites. I read it while struggling through a profound depression, and the sense of futility and powerlessness it conveyed struck a chord in me. I think that typifies _Angry Candy_: while every story in this collection is admirable, there is almost certain to be at least one that resonates particularly strongly for you. And if that doesn't make you want to read this book, I don't know what will.

Angry Candy is considered by some to be Harlan Ellison's best collection of short stories. I think Slippage is a tiny bit better, but Angry Candy is powerful. The collection starts with an essay Ellison wrote after the deaths of many friends in a short time period (A list is provided; organized by month of death; human mortality is truely freightening). The common thread throughout these stories is death. Death shows up everywhere: from the Titanic to werewolves in Paris to an Aunt trapped for eternity on a "Laugh Track". The stars of the collection are "The Paladin of the Lost Hour," which was an episode of the New Twilight Zone. "Paladin" is a beautiful tale of race relations and human emotions. "Soft Monkey" is a tale of a New York bag-woman who chooses the wrong place to sleep one night and the relationship she has with a doll. "The Function of Dream Sleep" was written last and deals with Ellison's loss of friends. It seems it was written as a release from the pain of loss. All of the other stories in this collection are sound and most importantly entertaining. Ellison knows how to tell the story.

I couldn't get through much of this garbage, and I recommend anyone thinking of reading it do some browsing of the pages at a library or even via Amazon's nifty feature that lets you read a few pages, before you make a terrible mistake. This overblown windbag (Ellison) is so full of himself that his masturbatory writing style oozes filthy wetness right off the page. I had to look this guy up after reading some stuff, and it turns out he's a real jerk in person too, which explains a lot actually. I recommend doing some research on the author even more than even his books. You will be sickened by the thought of reading anything puked up from that mind. Just remember, you're reading a book written by someone who thinks he's better than you and wants everyone to know it.

This book is amazing! Every single story is a joy to read! I'm largely a fan of her "Hainish" work, and the stories set in that universe are a real treat. Le Guin applies her usual intelligence to all of these stories, but she also succeeds in giving voice to some of these characters. She develops theme without sacrificing character. This is evident in "Mountain Ways" and "Solitude", where she gives us glimpses of these societies and their customs, yet she also gives us access to the characters and what motivates them. At Le Guin's current age, some writers have reached their peak and slowed down (or even have stopped altogether). However, Le Guin's still going very strong, even stronger, as this collection of novellas shows considerable growth in her writing since those important novels from decades ago. Also, she's been quite prolific over the past few years, also a very good sign.

Sci-fi book covers can be problematic at times. Some of them are downright cheesy. However, the design of this cover is brilliant! A human face with the eyes obscured doesn't allude to any particular character in any story. Plus, it is difficult to tell if the face is male or female, black or white. The face is simply human, and it emphasizes the humanity of the characters, which is very present in all the stories.

Overall, a must read! You won't be sorry!

This book is brilliant, a perfect combination of revisits to old worlds (Gethen, Werel and O) and introductions to completely new ones. "Unchosen Love" was just beautiful, as was "Paradises Lost", and the tales from Seggri were fascinating, if slightly disturbing. Although "Old Music..." (actually Werel in general) didn't do much for me, I've read all the others over and over. Highly recommended - I think this is easily on par with "The Left Hand of Darkness" and "The Dispossessed".

Le Guin is a fantastic writer who deftly weaves a beautiful story of characters, plot, and setting with wholesome, open-minded moral messages. You feel like she's exploring the moral issues alongside you. Her explorations of gender, sexuality and diverse sexual relationships strike a chord with me as a gay man. Le Guin approaches diverse arrangements with an open mind, repeatedly bringing us to the point that love in any form is a wonderful thing.

Her story about a generation ship, Paradises Lost, turns the sc-fi cliche on its head. Living in such different conditions than we do today would certainly change a people in much the fashion that Le Guin imagines.

A highly evocative read, I don't just suggest you read this, I feel it should be required reading for everyone. It would certainly open many minds.

I tend to prefer novels to short story collections. I find short stories to largely be less satisfying and engrossing than novels. However, as a great fan of Ursula K. Le Guin, I could not help but pick up this collection. I recommend this book for fans of Le Guin's novels set in the Hainish universe. 6 of the 8 stories are set in different planets of the universe, some of which have been visted in previous works. If you haven't read Le Guin before, I recommend you pick up some of her earlier works, particularly The Left Hand of Darkness, before reading this one, to familarize yourself with the concepts, because she doesn't fully explain them here.

I like to term Le Guin's work as "creative anthropology." Ever since I read some of her nonfiction works about her life, particulary growing up with an anthropologist father, her fiction has made more and more sense to me. Instead of writing about actual societies, she invents societies and gets us inside of them, exposes to us essentialities of human nature via the alienness of different cultures. The stories are not plot-focused; instead you spend a great deal of time just getting to know these different places and people.

"Coming of Age in Karhide"
This story is a perfect complement to fans of The Left Hand of Darkness, as it takes place on the same planet of Gethen, where no one is either male or female; instead they take on male or female characteristics during "kemmer," 3 days of the month during which they mate. The rest of the time they are genderless and do not have sex. The story concerns the first kemmer of a young child on Gethen. The story is mainly a lighthearted look into Gethenian society, a somewhat different perspective than The Left Hand of Darkness.

"The Matter of Seggri"
This takes place on a world in which females vastly outnumber males. The sexes are strictly segregated and "men have all the privilege while women have all the power." It comes together in snippets from different Ekumen visits to Seggri and some inhabitents of the planet themselves, exposing the situation from several different angles. To me this story exemplifies the cruelty of trying to fit people into gender-based boxes, preventing them from growing into who they really are.

"Unchosen Love" and "Mountain Ways"
Both of these stories take place on the planet of O, in which marriages consist of four people (2 women, 2 men). Le Guin masterfully untangles the world of people for whom marriage is intertwining love triangles, exposing the core of emotion within.

"Solitude"
Le Guin terms this story a tribute to introverts. The people on this planet gain their energy from being alone rather than being together. For the Hainish mother of two children who comes to study this strange society, it is stifling, but her younger daughter manages to find the meaning in the solitude.

"Old Music and the Slave Women"
For me the most difficult to get into of the collection, this story takes place on Werel, which Le Guin previously wrote about in her collection Four Ways to Forgiveness. I think had I read that, I would have enjoyed this story more. It takes place on a world broken by civil war, a civil war focused on (you guessed it) slavery.

"The Birthday of the World"
Le Guin flips her usual trend of looking at other societies from the aliens' point of view, and instead looks at the aliens from the native's point of view in this story.

"Paradises Lost"
Although not at all similar to the other stories in a number of ways, this novella-length story is the gem of this collection. A group of colonists from earth is seeking a new planet to live on hundreds of light years away. But instead of putting themselves in deep freeze during the flight like in so many movies, Le Guin questions what if actually lived out their lives on the ship--bore children, died, then their children bore children and died, and by the time the ship reaches its destination, none of the people on board remember anything about life outside of the ship. A fascinating premise, this story is written in a totally different style than the rest of the collection and could probably stand on its own.

"Birthday of the World" isn't up to the usual standard of Ms. LeGuin's writing -- not in its present form, at any rate.

So, you might be asking: why do I feel this way?

Simple. It's too graphic in spots, and it's way too violent, and finally, the "f-word" is used repeatedly in a jarring manner for no apparent reason other than to shock.

Ms. LeGuin is above this sort of thing; she doesn't _need_ to make her points this way, and further, it wasn't at all what I expected when I opened this collection.

I'm a big fan of her work; I love "Lathe of Heaven" and "The Left Hand of Darkness" and "The Dispossessed" and "The Wizard of Earthsea," and enjoyed everything else she's ever written.

And I suspect that if I had encountered these stories one on one, I would have liked them very much, and would have considered them thought-provoking and interesting (and probably wouldn't have been as put off by the graphic violence and swearing, either).

However, only three of these stories _work_ in this collection; the one about the kemmerhouse and the two about the folks living on O (the ones who make four-sided marriages). The other five all need expansion, in my opinion, and four of the five look like they could and should have been made into novels. The fifth, the final story (a novella, "Paradises Lost"), also needed at least 5,000 more words to explain various things left unfinished in the story, such as why the woman in it made the marriage she did and the like.

Those five stories, if I'd read them separately, might have evoked some of the same responses -- after all, I'm not _used_ to graphic violence in Ms. LeGuin's work, and I don't like the unnecessary bad language, either. But all five of 'em put together made me viscerally dislike and despise this book far more than I have disliked anything in the past ten years, mostly because there's just _too much_ going on.

Also, there's an odd juxtaposition of "message stories" going on. Simply put: I do not need to be bludgeoned about the head and shoulders to get the point, and so many "message stories" and stuff being _told_ to me rather than being _shown_ to me was distracting and displeasing.

And finally, between all the swearing (really, why did Ms. LeGuin have to use the term "f***ery" anyway? Why not just say "male brothel?" It's the same thing!) and the unnecessary uses of the term "be aware" in the last four stories (in one story, fine, but all the rest of 'em? Please!) which threw me right out of the reader's trance every time I saw it, I absolutely cannot recommend this work.

If you want to read it anyway, be aware that there is graphic violence in at least three of the stories, bad language in most of 'em, and that it is absolutely _not_ recommended for children under age 16 without parental supervision.

And if you're still insistent on reading it, my advice is to take these stories separately, and read 'em one at a time. Preferably one every few days to a week; that way you won't be _as_ upset when you're done reading this book.

Two stars.

Barb Caffrey

Thank you Harlan!

I read "I, Robot" when I was about 11. It made me an Asimov fan and a science fiction fan. I was terribly disappointed when I heard about That Movie With The Same Title and refuse to see it.

This, however, really is the "greatest science fiction movie never made".

Harlan has fleshed out Susan Calvin so much, it nearly makes me weep. Here the only competent woman I read about as a kid, who was mostly a framing device in the book, is a living, breathing character I can believe in and feel for. The favorite stories of my childhood have been rendered beautifully, reminding me how much Isaac's writing effected my life and taking me right back to the emotional connection Isaac always managed to make for me to "soulless machines".

Harlan, it would have made a helluva good movie. Thanks.

While there seems to be a lot of potential in Harlan Ellison's treatment of the classic Isaac Asimov Robot stories, I think a few more drafts would be in order, if not a complete rethinking of the concept, before it would be ready for production. In his interesting and informative introductory essay, Ellison states that he constructed the framing device of reporter Robert Bratenahl's search for robot guru Susan Calvin as a means of avoiding an episodic structure, but since this story frame itself is rather episodic, he compounds the problem rather than defeating it. I haven't read the original stories yet, so I don't know whether this is a viable alternative, but I found myself wondering whether some of them could have been combined or opened up to provide a more organic, smoother story arc.

Having said this, I also want to acknowledge that this is a script for a true SCIENCE FICTION film, not one of the the horror films and action films dressed up with androids and aliens that we usually get from Hollywood. That alone is this script's greatest stength.

I've enjoyed reading many screenplays before, but this is one of my all time favorites. The favorite when it comes to Sci-Fi (although Harlan Ellison would most likely perfer Speculative fiction). The Screenplay is many things:

An adult Speculative Fiction tale.

A merging of Issac Asimov's i,robot stories.

A story that touches you on an emotional level.

Here's what it's not:

An action thriller.

A movie with a hip actor who will explain to us that black people don't like cats.

A long commercial for Converse and Audi.

This is a mature tale in the vain of sci-fi classics. It's the ten percent of "Sci-fi" Sturgeon wanted people to point to when they point to the genre. After seeing how much the produced version was dumbed down, it's doubtful this film could be made. It would be a great film, at least critical acclaim wise, but with the belief that movie patrons are idots who need an explosion ever five minutes, it's doubtful.

I Robot: The Illustrated Screenplay will appeal to fans of both Ellison and Asimov. Ellison does a masterful job, using Asimov's stories as a springboard for his script. That script is a thing of beauty, a synthesis of the two authors--Ellison preserves and celebrates Asimov's work even as he puts his own distinct mark on the material. The result stands as a tribute to Asimov's overwhelming contribution to science fiction, and to Ellison's skill and professionalism as a scriptwriter. Kudos are also in order for the the outstanding illustrations provided by the talented Mark Zug, which compliment and enhance the text.

This screenplay should be said to be "inspired" by the book _I, Robot_, since it takes the world described in Asimov's short story collection and extends it in all manner of ways. Four of Asimov's short stories appear in this book in one form or another, usually as flashbacks. The story, though, is of one reporter's quest to find robopsychologist Susan Calvin, who, in her later years, has isolated herself almost completely from the outside world. The reporter tries every avenue possible to learn more about his subject as he pursues the goal of actually interviewing her.

This is a screenplay, not a novel. Reading it takes some getting used to; it uses abbreviations freely ("CU" for close-up, etc.) and is formatted as the movie script that it is. There are color plates of illustrations based on the screenplay (perhaps from a storyboard for the proposed film?). They are numbered by scene so that the reader can find the part of the action the picture is depicting. There are also occasional black and white drawings in the main text. The illustrations are quite evocative and set the scene well.

The story is a fun read, but near the end it gets a little weird (a metaphysical contest is a little hard to decipher). But overall, I liked this take on the book and wonder how it would have looked as a movie.

Ellison as Ellison again. As usual you can't miss with his insight on man and the world today and tomorrow.

Harlan Ellison is one of; if not the most award winner writers alive today, in any language. I think the Noble Prize is the only thing he has not won. Ellison is STRONG stuff though, and not to be taken lightly. He is an author with very strong convictions that not only cover the page, they bleed through. But along with this, you get a wordsmith unlike any other. Too many authors today can be compared to someone else, which is not true with Ellison.

As for this collection, it is indeed a "Strange Wine". The stories within are a heady brew for the reader. The works here range from uber-short tales, "A - Z in the Chocolate Alphabet", to the essay on media - "Revealed at Last! What Killed the Dinosaurs! And You Don't Look So Terrific Yourself". There is also some pretty dark stories- "Croatoan" and "Hitler Painted Roses". Heck, there is even a semi-comedy superhero story - "The New York Review of Bird". As you read through this, I really suggest you treat it like a fine wine, sip it, read these stories and allow them to sink in. Before you know it, you're finished with this book, and like with all other Ellison collections, you will be wanting more.

[...]

Harlan Ellison may be the only contemporary American writer I know of whose work contains the well-crafted irrelevance of Mark Twain's best, the brooding, foreboding tones of Edgar Poe's best, and the lyrical, often youthful optimism of Ray Bradbury's finest. He may be, along with Bradbury, our best writer of short fiction in any genre, but especially, in the realm of science fiction and fantasy. "Strange Wine" is the long overdue reprinting of a short story collection comprised of terse, and quite peculiar, tales published originally back in 1978, but reprinted finally only a few years ago. It remains memorable because of Ellison's hilarious, extensive introduction that's nearly twice as long as many of the short stories included in this collection, and, of course, for the stories too. These often intriguing tales range from very good to great, and do demonstrate Ellison's extensive range from horror to tragedy and comedy (and sometimes all three). My personal favorites include "Mom" (His science fictional Mother's Day "valentine"), "Killing Bernstein" (An odd, hilarious take on cloning and psychotic behavior which only Ellison could write,) and "The Boulevard of Broken Dreams" (On a congested Manhattan street, the protagonist witnesses the ghosts of Nazis he had executed, years after the end of World War II.). Anyone interested in Ellison's work will certainly wish to add "Strange Wine" to his or hers own private library; without question, it will be a most welcomed addition too.

I.ve heard many people look down on Harlan Ellison's work because of how he is as a person. In my opinion that is an unfit way to judge an author's book. It may be true, in fact, I know it is. A friend of mine saw him at a book signing and yes, it's true, he did get infuriated when someone didn't know who he was, but still, it doesn't mean I'm going to look down upon the way he writes. There is no denying, no matter how big of a donkey's rear he may be, that he is an intelligent and unique writer that can not be imitated.

Give Strange Wine, along with any of his other books, a try.

I recommend anyone new to Harlon Ellison to learn about the author as a person before reading his work. He's a pompous, overbearing, egotistical little man (literally) who thinks he is better than everyone else in the world, and if you don't worship him then he hates you. Read a few pages of his work to see this attitude reflected completely in his bloated writing style. You can do this with Amazon's "first page" feature or just google him to see his stuff before buying it. You'll save yourself some money.

The day I stumbled on this book, I was merely looking for a fantasy art collection with pretty pictures. As I plunged into the book, realizing what it was really about, I couldn't and, to date, haven't put it down. That was five years ago. Never has a collection such as this forced me to continually look into and out of each picture in order to find something new. Both Ellison's and Yerka's imagination form a synergy unrivaled in this genre. While I have since collected another collection of Yerka's art, I have snatched everyhthing I can find from Ellison. While I am often drawn into each of his stories with a similar intensity, ("The Beast that Shouted. . . " is my current favorite) none of his work affects me as much as "To Each His Own", "Foraging in the Fields", "Amok Harvest", "Darkness Falls. . ." and most others in this collection. For a quick jaunt into the minds of these two artists, I thoroughly recommend this book. For those new to Ellison, his author notes at the end of the book give a brief view of some of his opinions of the Real World.

I admire Yerka's paintings, but I agree with some of the reviewers here that those stories by Ellison may distort or ruin what Yerka wanted to say. Those stories just don't go well with the paintings.

Ellison completely misses that warm Eastern-European feel that one can get from Yerka's paintings. That actually why some people from the western world may find it hard to get a feel of what Yerka tried to show. Just visit Yerka's official page on the internet!

As a comment to an earlier review by some reader (from December 16, 1997) I have to say that the car transformed to a lizard on the cover of the book is not Volkswagen beetle. The make of the car is "Pobeda", it was made in the 50s in USSR and Poland. Only people with high status in society could afford to have such a car then.

my last name is yerka so i think its cool:)...b/c not that many people have the last name of yerka.

I am a big fan of surrealism and fantastiqueism, and I love some science fiction (Stanislaw Lem, early Robert Heinlein, etc.). I've always liked Yerka. In this case, however, I liked every single painting less after reading the Ellison story inspired by it. Ellison's style is similar in both content and smartass writing style to the early works of Heinlein, but they destroy the mysterious, inexplicable, and most importantly, AMBIGUOUS quality of all of Yerka's paintings.

Yerka's paintings capture many things. In the most literal sense, one (e.g. Afternoon with the Grimm brothers) might include a cat, antique block planes, what looks like an old tube TV, a workbench-turning-piano, and possibly the monster under the bed. The detail goes on, and many of his paintings present the same collections of oddities, neatly arrayed like words on a page. Others (including Please Don't Slam the Door, Foraging in the Field, and Eruption) suggest an uneasy truce between the things of man and the forces of nature. Yet others (Susan, for example) imply intimacy between people, and with the world.

In too many cases, though, I see the catalog of Yerka's personal icons arrayed across the page, and feel as if the picture's meaning is not meant for me. Perhaps his personal language is too personal. For whatever reason, the imagery says very little to me.

Harlan Ellison, on the other hand, says far too much. Most of this book alternates pages, Ellison's writing on the left and Yerka's painting on the right, plus commentary by Ellison at the end of the book. Long ago, Ellison's favortie topic became Ellison, and I was no longer able to enjoy his writing. I would have liked the book better with Ellison's part missing.

Yerka's work is competent; some people may find it legible. Ellison has a following, and those readers are sure to find something here to like. Unfortunately, I am not in either group.

//wiredweird

Harlan Ellison, of course. Mefisto is a beautifully made small press book with cover art and an introduction by Frank Miller of Sin City, an insult to Tor Book's refusal to publish this story, as well as two pages listing the autor's other works, and an opening blurb that says "What is this book about? Well, it's Bester's The Demolished Man as if it had been written by Jim Thompson or James M. Cain...Go ahead. Try for one potato chip. This sucker is relentlessly readable."

You put yourself with some fine company there, Mr. Ellison. And of course, it's readable. It's not a book. It's a short story. It took less than an hour to read. There were paragraphs one just wanted to quote to friends, but there were also painfully uneven characterizations. It was also a predictable story with a truly enjoyable ending. However, Mr. Ellison, you have always been a pony with one good trick.

And it's not to say that your one trick isn't very good, Pony Boy: you can describe characters in a way that makes them individuals, but also ties them into the rest of all humanity. This doesn't count your hostile self promotion techniques or your goofy titles (which reminds me, now I have to read Faust, `cuz I didn't get the reference).

But there are many writers who are equal or better. Including Alfred Bester.

This story is as punchy and disturbing as Harlan Ellison gets without becoming (as he sometimes is) completely incoherent. (Would anyone care to explain to me "The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World"?)

For those of you not familiar with Ellison's writing, think Chuck Pahluniak, with slightly better manners.

Ellison creates a compelling voice with Rudy Pairis, a black man blessed with the ability to read minds. Well, in a slightly saner world he would be blessed. As it is, he has yet to find one person whose mindscape doesn't make him want to vomit.

When Rudy's truest friend asks him to take a look inside the mind of a convicted mass murderer, the worst he fears is not half as bad as what he actually gets.

It kept me up till two AM the second time I read it. Most definitely worth your time.

Exceptionally well-written by one of our generation's best science-fiction authors, this book is both disturbing and thought-provoking. Though it is short, I cannot remember being so affected by a science-fiction story for years.

The premise is simple. A black man named Rudy has the ability to read minds. A dear female friend of his, a lawyer, asks him to read the mind of a murderer she has recently sent to Death Row, to find out if he's really guilty. Rudy goes to see this murderer, and is astonished by some information he learns. There are many twists and turns to this tale.

The actual tale isn't what makes this story, however. As barebone plots go, this one isn't the most original I've ever seen. It has to be the actual storytelling. Ellison has a way of writing that reads almost like the breathless banter of a conman. It is engaging, engrossing, and, dangit, fun to read. Every page has some new gem to discover on it. Ellison is right: This is one of his finest works, perhaps even the best he CAN write. Don't miss it. (Don't miss his acknowledgments page, either. It's one of the funniest ones I've ever seen.)

Harlan Ellison, "Mefisto in Onyx"
[OMNI, sometime 1993]

It's nice to see Ellison returning to stories with plot and character, after the indefinable "Eidolon" and "The Man Who Rowed Christopher Columbus Ashore." Ellison states that this story took ten years to write, and it shows an affinity with that Ellison of ten years ago--passionate, filled with rightous anger, and burning up the pages with his rage. "Mefisto" is the story of a serial killer, who may or may not be the person we think he is, and of the District Attorney who prosecuted him, then fell in love with him and believes him to be innocent now, and, most importantly, with Rudy, who can jaunt (shades of Alfie Bester) into people's minds (i.e., read them). A love triangle made in hell, made even more unholy by the amount of killing gone before, and the possible miscarriage of justice. Hey, let's face it, this story has everything--so why aren't I wild about it? Can it be that Ellison's jocular, biting, ironic style has staled? Maybe it's just dated, more a product of the radical sixties than the disturbed '90s. Ellison has updated his references, but the manner is still the same as can be found in "The Whimper of Whipped Dogs." And he's damned clever, but unsurprising, since we expect something of a twist from him. With Ellison, I have so many expectations, and am easily critical. Under the by-line of any other author, I might be raving; from Ellison, I expect so much more.

This novella relates the story of two men, Rudy Pairis and Henry Lake Spanning. Rudy is a classic underachiever, even in spite of his astounding talent for reading minds; Spanning is a serial killer. Rudy is manipulated by an old lover into entering Spanning's mind (it seems the woman has fallen in love with the killer and wants Rudy to prove his innocence). What Rudy finds there is just the beginning of the plentiful surprises Ellison has in store for his lucky readers.

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.

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 think gun control is simply a matter of using two hands or if believe that Jesus would not have wanted us to give up the Panama Canal then this book is likely to bother you. But that is what is so wonderful about Ellison, he makes you think. He invigorates the brain cells that atrophied from watching too many episodes of the Brady Bunch or Star search. Order this book immediately. "God reads Harlan Ellison and so should you."

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; my main interest in this (and other volumes of his work) is the essays. Ellison's rants are scintillating and blindingly caustic-- they simultaneously make me convulse with laughter and fill me with righteous indignation at the world. "Xenogenesis", his extensive analysis of the very worst of science fiction fandom, is worth the price of the volume by itself. Ignore the typos, this one's pure gold.

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

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

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

Ellison is a very refreshing take in modern America, where Republicans and Democrats have decided that the only difference worth noting between the partys is who is in power at that moment.

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

This is just fun reading, folks--oddball SF/horror/weird tales w/ a Jewish twist. The book in in second printing, now (after years of being sold out!) And the sequel, STRANGER KADDISH (with Harlan Ellison, Neil Gaiman, and Peter David) is available, too. For more info, visit the Aardwolf Publishing website.

I bought this book for the drawings by Dave Cockrum, Nelson, and Gray Morrow. Never thought I'd like the stories as much as I did. This is a real eclectic, funny collection. Quality throughout

This is one of those rare little gems where almost all of the stories are excellent and you really don't mind the ones that are kind of boring. The Ellison piece is a time travel Chanukkah story, while Clifford Meth's anti-Lubavitcher story is depressing but not entirely inaccurate either. Neil Gaiman's reversed Eden story seems like it was taken out of some of his earlier work and other stories lean just a little too much towards the borsht-belt humor (do we really think that someone 200 years in the future will be throwing Yiddish into every other sentence or that eating kosher will save him from an intergalactic plague?) and there's one dud where a guy is explaining to a large-headed bigot in a bar that not all Jews are alike

But the real star of the book is the Messner-Loeb story that casts Dr. Frankenstein as a Jew that decides to hide his fellow Jews and gets thrown into jail by the Bavarian authorities for that one act of solidarity. Won't say much more about it, but it is definitely a story that I really wish I had read when I was reading that awful The Ultimate Frankenstein book with a couple dozen stories abotu Frankenstein being sad. I would say that the Messner Loebs story is worth the cover price alone, but it is a steep cover price for an extremely thin book.

These are all great stories, or at least most of them are great stories and it's unlikely that you'll see them in other anthologies. Still for 9.95 it would be nice if the book was more than 100 pages instead of less, and none of the stories are great enough to warrent such a high price tag.

So if you have the money, buy this book. It is an excellent and strange book. I would also recommed Jewish Tales of Fantasy and Occult by Neurosgal (sic) which has some great turn of the century Jewish fantasy stories including the Golem and selected works by Ansky (who wrote The Dybbuk)

Strange Kaddish was suggested to me by a colleague. Although not Jewish, I thoroughly enjoyed the anthology. The collection of authors was exquisitely comprised, although surprising. It's not everyday you get to read Gaiman, Ellison and Messner-Loeb bound together. Nice work and congratulations to the editors. I also liked CL Meth's story, I Gezheh. Great storyline. He's coming into his own as a sci-fi/horror writer. I can't wait to read his latest...Perverts, Pedophiles and Other Theologians. Count me as another addition to his growing list of readers! I highly recommend Strange Kaddish. I hear a sequel is to follow. I can't wait

This story, plain and simply, is about the lubavitch hasidic sect two thousand years in the future, how it has changed for the better and for the worse. For me the story I Geza really hit close to home.In addition to knowing the Lubavitch, Yeshiva system first hand, I also have attended the Rabinical College of America in Morrisstown N.J for 2 years and so I was able to understand many of the subtle jokes and charachters thrown into the story by Meth(many which relate with the Chabad residents of Morrisstown), who is himself a morrisstown resident.

I understood and related very much to the charachter of Pheobus a young BT yeshiva bochur who is starting to grow doubtful about the Lubavitch way of doing things as he grows more mature and starts taking things less for granted. However, I would not use this story to try and illistrate things that are wrong with the chabad movement, because it is totally innacurate of it's portrayal of the chabad Hasidic movement. Although i will admit Meth does bring home some very good points about some things, it doesn't mean that it is all true. I feel that he wrote it in a [bad] mood and didn't mean half of the things he said in the story. Still in all it is a good entertaining story (more so if you understand the puns). To end off, il leave you all with a word to the wise, "Dont take this story to seriously, it will only aggravate you if you do." So...whether you are a lubavitcher, misnaged, a plain yid or a goy =) . just sit back, relax and enjoy the ride.

I adore Ellison's works. However, I have most of them (more than the Columbus Metropolitan Library system) and do not like the fact that they are being reprinted 2 per volume. I would recommend this to anyone who already likes Ellison, but am unsure that it is good for a 1st intor to him.

This book is really two books in one (high-quality) volume.

SPIDER KISS (original title, "Rockabilly")is a very good novel about the rise and fall of the fictional rock star Stag Preston -a fictionalization of Jerry Lee Louis. It is a very well-written novel, lightyears away from the cookie-cutter sensational "where are they now" biographies of rock stars (fictional, real, or fictionalized.)

The second book, STALKING THE NIGHTMARE, is a collection of science fiction stories interlaced with Ellison's typical "me against the world" essays (titled "scenes from the real world", parts I-IV.) The stories are good, varying from religious satire ("The outpost undicovered by tourists"), to dark science fiction("Transcending Destiny"), to adventure stories ("The Goddess of the ice"). The problem is, one cannot really say too much about them without ruining the enjoyment of reading them. I will only say that the stories are VERY different, for good and bad, from "regular" science fiction and fantasy, despite often using the same tropes (other worlds, space travel, djinni in a bottle, etc.) used in those genres.

The three stars are given not because the stories, essays, or novel are average, but because the reader will either enjoy Ellison's work tremendeously or stop reading in the middle. Ellison is the kind of writer you either love or hate, but are never indifferent to. I cannot therefore reccomend it without reservation; you have been warned! But if you know Ellison or suspect you would like his work,

The jacket flap sums up this book perfectly, 'Here are two big books in one volume. Each has the word "love" in the title. But don't let that get your hopes up. Yeah, these are stories that sing... but they also draw blood.' That's the core of this book, real love, not the pampered and idealistic stuff that preaches "love will conquer all." This is about love that hurts.

This volume is divided into two books, I prefer the second, with all stories on the different kinds of love. My favorites are the two bookend stories that open and close this book. "The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World" is beautifully crafted and shows how good a short story can be. The last story in the collection, "A Boy and His Dog," is a great way to end the book and the collection. The first book in this volume, although not my favorite, is still very good, and contains stories that reach into different faucets of life, and show the love between people and their different lives.

When Shakespeare saw love, he saw the kind that ends in a double suicide, Harlan Ellison hits pretty close to the same nail with this collection. Even though not every story in here is top notch, I still highly recomend this volume for a great look on real love, and for containing some of the best short stories Ellison has written.

Not much to say. Harlan Ellison at his best. Hell, he's ALWAYS at his best. This book contain two Ellison classics that make you feel all gooey inside after reading 'em: "Spider Kiss" and "Stalking the Nightmare". " Spider Kiss" mainly concentrates on the career of a rock star from his beginnings to his horrible finish. "Stalking the Nightmare" is the not-so-average collection of killer short fiction and biting commentary. To all who have not read Ellison: Buy this book. Buy any book by Ellison. It'll change your life for the better. For those who have read him: obviously nothing here to be said.

This fourth volume in White Wolf's reprint series includes two of Ellison's finest collections. The first, "Love Aint Nothing But Sex Misspelled," contains stories reflecting the angst and turmoil of the sixties. "The Resurgence of Miss Ankle-strap Wedgie," "Neither Your Jenny Nor Mine," "A Prayer For No Ones Enemy," and "Punky & the Yale Men" deal variously with icons, abortion, politics and racism. The second collection examines love and the various forms it takes: from the experimental title tale, "The Beast that Shouted Love at the Heart of the World," which won Ellison his fourth Hugo, "Along the Scenic Route," which dealt with "road rage" long before the term was coined, and "Try a Dull Knife," a story about emotional vampirism, to the cult classic, Nebula-winning novella, "A Boy and His Dog," in which a futuristic society is turned upside down and a canine companion educates a boy while teaching him the true meaning of love. Dressed up in a provocative dust-jacket by John K. Snyder, this big, beautiful omnibus edition will capture the heart of longtime fans and dazzle the uninitiated with Ellison's white-hot writing. (from "Des Moines Register" Copyright 1998)

When I read a particularly good short story I look back and try to imprint the author's name on my memory (nowadays with mixed results). As far as science fiction & fantasy goes, the first time this happened was with a story by Avram Davidson, many years ago. As time went by I would notice his name on several memorable works. To say he had a style all his own is not quite right, since he actually had several styles, all fascinating. What I didn't know until fairly recently was that AD was surprisingly obscure, considering his amazing talent and prolificacy (try searching for his work on Amazon).

This collection brings together much of his finest short stories. Each one is chosen and introduced by another writer - Avram was evidently an author's author. While I probably would have made a few different choices, I was grateful to be able to experience many excellent works that I had never seen before. Chances are, even if you're an old Davidson fan, you'll find a few stories that are new to you as well. You would have to search far and wide - and at great expense - to replicate this compilation.

The collection is too long and varied to elaborate on the individual pieces, but suffice it to say, reading Davidson is a real joy. The quality of the story and the effortless technique are something you will see very rarely. The downside of reading a collection like this (are there any like this?) is that it spoils you. Afterwards, most other writers seem flat and uninspired by comparison.

As a long-term reader of science fiction and an admirer of the writings of Avram Davidson the publication of this particular book was, for me, a noteworthy event. I was able to renew my acquaintance with some of the delightful stories I had first read ten to twenty-five years ago. Each story is preceded by a thoughtful introduction by author friends of the late Mr. Davidson. I found these short essays generally very helpful since most of the writers maintained a correspondence with AD and could provide personal insights and biographical data related to the stories. The 38 stories are grouped chronologically by the decade in which they were published; Fifties to Nineties. I noticed that the excellent Ray Bradbury afterward had been used as an introduction to another out-of-print AD collection, Strange Seas and Shores, Doubleday, 1971. My only grouse is that I wish the editors had included a listing of the titles of AD books, novels and short story collections. Thank you editors Silverberg and Davis, a beautiful book and a fitting tribute to "one of the finest short story writers ever to use the English language"...Robert Silverberg.

I hate some of the stories in this book; the remainder leave me gibbering with awestruck, overwhelmed delight. The specific stories a reader might revile or adore (or both) will vary. It's a huge, manifold collection of shorts by one of the best writers in English from...

OK, I'm hesitant to say, "the last century" or "the century recently passed", partly because that's awfully goofy, and partly because I'm not near well-read enough to make such claims with authority. I'm gonna say it anyway. I stumbled upon a copy of a long out of print and svelter collection of Davidson's work (Or All The Seas With Oysters...) at fourteen and I've never been quite the same. He's not the writer whose works I wish I could have written: he is the writer whose works I would have wished I could have written had I been the writer I wished I could have been.

(we see why a writer I am not, Yoda knowingly says)

Davidson had a dear whimsy, a weariness, and a bite that was, dare I say it, very Jewish. When I (re)read his stories I feel as if I (an agnostic Gentile) have magically been allowed to understand & overhear the Yiddish folk yarns the kindly, crusty grandfather spins for the kids while the middle generation shouts in the background.

Davidson wrote as well as Singer. Perhaps better, at his best. No small praise; I know what I am claiming. Do not allow my muddy writing dissuade any reader from buying and luxuriating in this important collection.

Still targets a squarely middle brow audience. Also, seems very dated, rooted in the '50's.

Most of the stories are of the "Twilight Zone"/"Alfred Hitchcock Presents" form and structure. I.e., creepy setting, followed by twist ending. And this is more of a fantasy and supernatural book than science fiction.

There is a lot of erudition on display here, but it is the fussy, showy kind often displayed by the autodidact. The pace and economy of some of the stories suffer because unnecessary erudition is packed in with everything else.

Avram Davidson died in 1993. He was, as so often said, one of the great originals. His writing was elegant and complex: always adapted to the voices of his narrators and characters, always at some level humorous even when telling a dark story. He was one of those writers whose stories were always enjoyable just for wallowing in the prose: for its sprung rhythms and fine, out of the way, images. And his stories were enjoyable for wallowing in the atmosphere: for its evocation of exotic place-times, whether it be late '50s New York City or early '70s Belize or turn of the century Scythia-Pannonia-Transbalkania or far future Barnum's Planet, and for its evocation of exotic world-views, and the packing and repacking of wondrous, seemingly inconsequential (though rarely truly so) tidbits of history and unhistory into the backgrounds. And his best stories took these characteristics and harnessed them in the service of well-honed themes or (sometimes) clever plots.

This collection is organized as a retrospective, with the selections placed in order of first appearance. This is, I think, an excellent choice for any collection of this magnitude in that it allows the interested reader to try to track evolutions in the writer's style and thematic concerns over time. (I would suggest, perhaps, that the older Davidson was more prone to explorations of esoterica than the younger, and less often openly angry. Throughout his career he was ready with the comic touch, even in the midst of a darker context. His style was always special, but perhaps grew more involved as he grew older.)

Another feature of this collection is the introductions, by many of Davidson's friends: mostly fellow authors and editors, but also his bibliographer, Henry Wessels, and his son. This represent a significant chunk of "value added": they include some personal reminiscences, some analyses of the work, some elegiac passages. I'll add that the book is nicely and elegantly put together, and that editors Robert Silverberg and Grania Davis (as well as Tor in-house editor Teresa Nielsen Hayden) deserve thanks and applause for working to bring us this book.

But, of course, there is no Avram Davidson Treasury without the stories Avram Davidson wrote, of which 38 are assembled here. And the stories are the only real reason to buy and exult in this book. I'm a big Davidson fan, make no mistake: I come to this review not at all objective, and having reading all but a few of the stories already, many of them several times. At least one, "The Sources of the Nile", is firmly on my personal list of the best SF stories of all time.

There is not space to discuss the delightful stories herein contained. Suffice it to say that this collection is big enough, and varied enough, to whet the appetite of any reader whose ear can be tuned to catch the strains of Davidson's voice. And even this large collection inevitably leaves out many fine stories (the other Eszterhazy and Limekiller stories, "The Lord of Central Park", many more), to say nothing of his engaging collection of essays, Adventures in Unhistory, in which he discusses at length many obscure legends, and their possible bases in fact. So buy it and read it, and very likely you will find yourself searching out the out of print and small press books which house the rest of his work (for now), and very likely too you will be hoping with the rest of us Davidson lovers for a few more treasures to be dug from his papers.