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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Truly Dangerous Visions,
By Phrodoe "Child Of The Kindly Midwest" (Another day older and deeper in debt...) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Essential Ellison: A 35-Year Retrospective (Hardcover)
When Harlan Ellison published Dangerous Visions and Again, Dangerous Visions way back in the mists of the previous century, the speculative fiction community was turned on its ear, not just once but several times. Awards and accolades were heaped upon the participants -- none more so than Harlan himself, who brought the whole thing together. When the promised final volume, The Last Dangerous Visions, failed to materialize for thirty years, accolades turned to puzzlement, accusation, invective, and anger -- almost all of it directed at Harlan, who may or may not be the proper target. I won't enter into that debate (much of it is pointless and silly, not to mention frequently absurd and childish). The only reason I bring up the whole DV mess at all is because, in rereading Essential Ellison, I find that while other writers may have produced stories worthy of inclusion in those volumes, it is Harlan himself who, for all these years, had had the truly dangerous visions. Consider the following stories, all included in this eye-opening retrospective:* "Lonelyache" -- a dark, mysterious tale of a man at the end of his emotional rope, which wallops you like a chunk of slate; * Punky and the Yale Men" -- wherein a man tries to relive the violent days of his youth; one of Harlan's most underrated stories; * "A Prayer For No One's Enemy" -- one of Harlan's most controversial tales, which puts not just anti-Semitism but all racism in its proper perspective; * "Neither Your Jenny Nor Mine" -- a harrowing story of the days of illegal abortions, absolutely riveting; * "The Resurgence of Miss Ankle-Strap Wedgie" -- Harlan's best-ever parable about the cannibalistic world of Hollywood; * "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman" -- Harlan's delightful, delicious ode to nonconformity; * "Jeffty Is Five" -- wistful, haunting, and scary all at once, this story (like Bradbury's "The Playground") shows that eternal youth is not all it's cracked up to be; * "Mom" --Harlan could've talked Oedipus into leaving home; * "Alive and Well On a Friendless Voyage" -- existential despair as only Harlan can render it; * "A Boy and His Dog" -- I usually hate the post-apocalypse genre, but Harlan gets it right on this one; * "The Deathbird" -- my all-time favorite Ellison story, bar none, a beautifully-constructed parable about God, the Devil, and Man's true place in the universe... ...and this list just barely scratches the surface! I haven't touched upon half of the great work in this retrospective -- such as Harlan's heartfelt, sometimes touching, oftimes scathing nonfiction and essays, or the samples of his wicked sense of humor, his brilliant screenwriting, and his absolute fearlessness and honesty in the face of every sort of mendacity and double-dealing one could imagine. That said, there are some things missing from this book as well; my short list would include such gems as the brilliant "The Beast Who Shouted Love At the Heart of the World," the chilling "Croatoan," the hysterical "From A to Z, In the Chocolate Alphabet" and "How's the Night Life On Cissalda?" (my nominee for Harlan's funniest-ever story), the thought-provoking "Hitler Painted Roses" and "Lonely Women Are the Vessels of Time", and one of my favorites, the haunting "Demon With a Glass Hand". I understand an updated version of Essential Ellison s coming out soon (soon being relative when talking about Harlan and anthologies, natch), and that it will include some new things, like the stunning "Mefisto In Onyx". I can only hope some of the above stories are included as well -- and while they're at it, here's hoping Harlan and Terry Dowling decide to drop "The Man Who Was Heavily Into Revenge," which is my least-favorite of Harlan's works. It's full of the purple overwriting (some of it bordering on self-parody) which has marred so much of Ray Bradbury's latter-day stories. (Sorry, fellow Harlan fans, but I call 'em like I see 'em!) Harlan has said of Stephen King that King needs a good editor; reading "Revenge" makes me wonder if Unca Harlan shouldn't attend the mote in his own eye first. That, however, is another subject for another time. (And it's a good thing Harlan eschews computers and the Internet, or I'd be getting one hell of an e-mail from him right about now!) The Essential Ellison is what I'm talking about here, and not only is it a great introduction to Harlan's immense body of classic work, it is also one of the finest collections of writing that any American author, living or dead, has ever produced. Only Mark Twain has written as well, as volubly, and on as many topics as Harlan, and only Twain was better...and I have a feeling that only Harlan will be missed as much, and celebrated as much, over the course of the next century as Twain was over the last. Enjoy him while you can, folks -- because writers like Harlan Ellison come along about once every hundred years, and their dangerous visions are not to be taken lightly.
19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wow!,
This review is from: The Essential Ellison: A 35 Year Retrospective (Paperback)
Like anyone interested in science-fiction I had heard of Harlan Ellison but could never find any sort of book that would fairly summerize his talents and save me the trouble of tracking down his best stories among the many volumes available. Unfortunately this is not that book, a lot of his best stuff is in here but a lot more is still left out, notably (for me) "The Beast That Shouted Love At the Heart of the World", however if you want one volume to serve as a sort of introduction to as many sides of the author as they could cram in, this is probably your best bet. A thousand pages and not a wasted page among them, sure you get some early stuff that is just amateurish or just plain normal genre fiction, but then it's a "retrospective" and not a greatest hits package (though that would be nice too), most of the stories are good and some, like "Deathbird" or "Repent Harlequin, Said the Ticktockman" are simply mindblowing and well worth any effort made to get a hold of them. And I'm leaving out a lot more, this guy has more "awesome" stories that most people should be allowed. Even the essays and other articles are revelatory, showing the passion and fire that courses behind all his stories without the fictional settings hiding them. He's at his best when speaking plainly but he can weave a darn good yarn at the same time. Get this if you have any passing interest in the man and while it shouldn't be your only Ellison purchase, it's a good a place to start as any
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
There's none better,
By Gavin Mack "Entertainment Junkie" (Carlsbad, NM) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Essential Ellison: A 35 Year Retrospective (Paperback)
I was introduced to Harlan Ellison by a high school English/Literature teacher almost 25 years ago and have thanked her in my mind many times. There is no author who has challenged me, entertained me, and frightened me as much and as often as Mr. Ellison. This collection should be owned by anyone who is interested in science fiction, imaginative fiction (Ellison's term), or contemporary literature. Ellison is to the modern short story what Vincent Van Gogh was to Impressionist visual art (disturbing, yet real). Buy this volume and help make this man the star he should have been years ago when he published "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream" or "Deathbird".
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