Alone Against Tomorrow: Stories of Alienation in Speculative Fiction [Mass Market Paperback]

Harlan Ellison (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1976

Third printing (1976) paperback. This is a 1971 collection of stories from this winner of more awards for imaginative literature than any other living author - including multiple Hugos, Nebulas and Edgars. CONTENTS: Introduction: The Song of the Soul (1970); I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream (1967); The Discarded (1959); Deeper Than the Darkness (1957); Blind Lightning (1956); All the Sounds of Fear (1962); The Silver Corridor (1956); "Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman (1965); Bright Eyes (1965); Are You Listening? (1958); Try a Dull Knife (1968); In Lonely Lands (1959); Eyes of Dust (1959); Nothing for My Noon Meal (1958); O Ye of Little Faith (1968); The Time of the Eye (1959); Life Hutch (1956); The Very Last Day of a Good Woman (1958); Night Vigil (1957); Lonelyache (1964); Pennies, Off a Dead Man's Eyes (1969).

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 312 pages
• Publisher: Collier (1976)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0020197802
• ISBN-13: 978-0020197805
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,648,064 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ten Years In the Making..., July 21, 2000

By 

A Customer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Alone Against Tomorrow: Stories of Alienation in Speculative Fiction (Mass Market Paperback)

This was, originally, a ten-year retrospective into HE's work, and contains many of his classics. "Repent, Harlequin, Said the Ticktockman!", "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream", "Lonelyache" and others combine to bring forth a comment on loneliness and isolation; that whether it is caused by the individual, or by forces beyond their control, it can have horrible, and damning consequences.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Generally good, sometimes classic, May 21, 2006

By 

General Zombie (the West) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Alone Against Tomorrow: Stories of Alienation in Speculative Fiction (Mass Market Paperback)

Harlan Ellison isn't a writer who is always 100% to my taste, as he's sometimes a little too mopey and apocalyptic in a whiny way. (I still like the stories that lean this way too much, just not as well as the others.) Still, he can write and when he's on he can be really amazing.

This collection is arguably a bit monontonous thematically, as it is subtitled something like 'Tales of Alienation in Speculative Fiction', and alienation is indeed almost inevitably the central theme. Honestly, thinking back on this collection I can't quite recall the details for most of the stories, but I did enjoy them all, and it certainly deserves particular recommendation due to it's two real standout stories, 'I Have No Mouth, And I Must Scream' and 'Repent, Harlequin!', Said the Ticktockman.' The former is the archetypal, evil, omnipotent computer story, and it's definitely one of my favorite short stories of all time. It's about AM, a massive, intelligent computer which helped bring about the apocalypse, saving only 6 individuals, for the purpose of torturing them endlessly. It's simply one of the darkest stories ever, creating an atmosphere of sheer hopelessness far beyond anything else I can think of. Truly brilliant. 'Repent...' is almost as good, but a lighter, more satirical tale about a future society where such an emphasis is put on efficiency that one has their life deducted every time they're late, focusing on the conflict between the Harlequin, who wishes to disrupt the system, and the Master Time Keeper. (The Ticktockman, natch.) That sounds pretty stupid, I'm sure, but it works in the story. A very influential story too, I remember Moore or maybe whathisname crediting it as a major inspiration for 'V For Vendetta', and you can totally see that.

Again, those are the standouts, but it's all worth a read. I also particularly like 'Nothing For My Noon Meal', 'The Discarded', 'Blind Lightning' and 'The Silver Corridor'. (which has a really great ending.)

Yeah, check it out.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A universal theme, December 9, 2002

By 

bonsai chicken (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Alone Against Tomorrow: Stories of Alienation in Speculative Fiction (Mass Market Paperback)

Published in 1971, ALONE AGAINST TOMORROW is a retrospective anthology of stories based around the theme of alienation, set against futuristic backgrounds. It contains two of Ellison's most famous works: "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream," a story of a small group of humans trapped in a virtual hell and tormented by a malevolent virtual god, and "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman," in which a relentless prankster causes bits of chaos in a rigidly structured society, and the final message of which appears to be "You can make a difference; you can put a dent in the machine."

Earth's discarded freaks roam the spaceways; a method actor takes his art to the limit; a man is trapped in a room with a robot programmed to obliterate anything that moves; another man finds he has slipped through perception's cracks.

If there is one weakness to the collection it is that some of the stories seem too similar. The theme of a man stranded alone on an alien planet appears a number of times. The details vary, but not enough to make them distinct.

Still, while this material may not be as powerful as that in Ellison's other collections (to be fair, it is very early work), it is a book worth picking up should you come across it. At least, until the rest of those Edgeworks come out.