Customer Reviews

Stalking the Nightmare

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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 November 3) or showing us that it is still possible to live your life by your own rules 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 a wonderful truth about what the real meaning of marriage is in "Djinn, no chaser" that plucks away the romantic crap and common perceptions and leaves us with "..You are strong when I can't be and I am strong when you can't be. Nobody gets it right all the time" He also tells a heartrending and chilling tale about the nature of love in "Grail" I won't ruin the end of it, but it tells of the strength of 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 and guaranteed to make you think

I love Harlan Ellison's writing. Haven't read him for years and wanted to reread some of his stuff. It seems as though the publisher simply cut and pasted the contents into a new format without regard to pagination and footnotes. At least one footnote (there may be more as I am still reading) appears in the middle of the page following the reference. It's just very sloppy publishing. And why isn't Harlan bitching about this?

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.