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Stalking the Nightmare
Contents
Foreword • by Stephen King
Introduction: Quiet Lies the Locust Tells (1982) • essay
Grail (1981)
The Outpost Undiscovered by Tourists (1982)
Blank ... (1957)
The 3 Most Important Things in Life (Scenes from the Real World #1) (1978) • essay
Visionary (1959) / Harlan Ellison and Joe L. Hensley
Djinn, No Chaser (1982)
Invasion Footnote (1957)
Saturn, November 11th (Scenes from the Real World #2) (1981) • essay
Night of Black Glass (1981)
Final Trophy (1957)
!!!The!!Teddy!Crazy!!Show!!! (1968)
The Cheese Stands Alone (1982)
Somehow, I Don't Think We're in Kansas, Toto (Scenes from the Real World #3) (1974) • essay
Transcending Destiny (1957)
The Hour That Stretches (1982)
The Day I Died (1973) • essay
Tracking Level (1956)
Tiny Ally (1957)
The Goddess in the Ice (1967)
Gopher in the Gilly (Scenes from the Real World #4) (1982) • essay
Foreword • by Stephen King
Introduction: Quiet Lies the Locust Tells (1982) • essay
Grail (1981)
The Outpost Undiscovered by Tourists (1982)
Blank ... (1957)
The 3 Most Important Things in Life (Scenes from the Real World #1) (1978) • essay
Visionary (1959) / Harlan Ellison and Joe L. Hensley
Djinn, No Chaser (1982)
Invasion Footnote (1957)
Saturn, November 11th (Scenes from the Real World #2) (1981) • essay
Night of Black Glass (1981)
Final Trophy (1957)
!!!The!!Teddy!Crazy!!Show!!! (1968)
The Cheese Stands Alone (1982)
Somehow, I Don't Think We're in Kansas, Toto (Scenes from the Real World #3) (1974) • essay
Transcending Destiny (1957)
The Hour That Stretches (1982)
The Day I Died (1973) • essay
Tracking Level (1956)
Tiny Ally (1957)
The Goddess in the Ice (1967)
Gopher in the Gilly (Scenes from the Real World #4) (1982) • essay
299 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 1982
About the author
Harlan Ellison
1,015 books2,356 followersHarlan Jay Ellison was a prolific American writer of short stories, novellas, teleplays, essays, and criticism.
His literary and television work has received many awards. He wrote for the original series of both The Outer Limits and Star Trek as well as The Alfred Hitchcock Hour; edited the multiple-award-winning short story anthology series Dangerous Visions; and served as creative consultant/writer to the science fiction TV series The New Twilight Zone and Babylon 5.
Several of his short fiction pieces have been made into movies, such as the classic "The Boy and His Dog".
webmaster@harlanellison.com
His literary and television work has received many awards. He wrote for the original series of both The Outer Limits and Star Trek as well as The Alfred Hitchcock Hour; edited the multiple-award-winning short story anthology series Dangerous Visions; and served as creative consultant/writer to the science fiction TV series The New Twilight Zone and Babylon 5.
Several of his short fiction pieces have been made into movies, such as the classic "The Boy and His Dog".
webmaster@harlanellison.com
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews
January 30, 2014
I found this collection of stories buried in a mound of books at a flea market back in 2004. There were so many books piled on multiple tables that I had a hell of a time sorting through all of them. The place was busy and packed and each book was being sold for fifty cents or less. I found I didn't have the space or time to read through books before deciding to purchase, so I dove in and bought a bunch of random titles.
It wasn't until I brought the books home and looked through that I realized Stalking the Nightmare has a foreword by Stephen King. I knew nothing about the stories or the author. I had never heard of the author before. And so I bought a book with some of the must fluid and chilling prose for fifty cents.
Best fifty cents I ever spent. Now go stalk your own nightmare.
It wasn't until I brought the books home and looked through that I realized Stalking the Nightmare has a foreword by Stephen King. I knew nothing about the stories or the author. I had never heard of the author before. And so I bought a book with some of the must fluid and chilling prose for fifty cents.
Best fifty cents I ever spent. Now go stalk your own nightmare.
August 31, 2009
I found this one on my bookshelf by accident the other day. Hubby and I had just had our millionth arguement about how I need more bookshelves and he telling me to get rid of some books (shudder). Ok...so I find only 6 out of 300 or so that I'm willing to part with (all 6 of them his...heh, heh) but I lucked out by finding several books I'd forgotten I had and wanted to read. This was one of them.
If you've never read Ellison, this one might be a good place to start. There's a little bit of everything here and you will get a good feel for him. At the very least you'll love the introduction by Stephen King! Ellison denies being a SF writer but he is (among several other genres). There are also some very funny NF essays in here about the craft, dealing with Hollywood and a poignant piece about running away to join a traveling carnival when he was a kid. I won't say this is his best work, but it's very good and if you come across it you will be glad you did.
If you've never read Ellison, this one might be a good place to start. There's a little bit of everything here and you will get a good feel for him. At the very least you'll love the introduction by Stephen King! Ellison denies being a SF writer but he is (among several other genres). There are also some very funny NF essays in here about the craft, dealing with Hollywood and a poignant piece about running away to join a traveling carnival when he was a kid. I won't say this is his best work, but it's very good and if you come across it you will be glad you did.
July 6, 2013
Found most of the stories just so-so, felt as though I was treading water waiting for a really good one. Was rewarded with The Grail, which was a stand-out. Djinn, No Chaser was decent, too. The collection of shorties is interspersed with a handful of Ellison's essays. The 3 Most Important Things in Life was amusing, telling of how the author started a job with Disney, and lost it within a matter of hours. He messed with The Mouse. He probably had it coming.
November 2, 2017
This is one of Ellison's better collections, with a fine selection of some good stories from the '70s and '80s such as Grail, several of his very better early efforts, and three very captivating nonfiction pieces. None of his award winders are included, but it's a very good collection of lesser-known works. There's a nice introduction by Stephen King, particularly noteworthy as amusing because he singles out a story for praise which Ellison subsequently decided not to include.
September 23, 2015
The Basics
As is the case with most of Ellison’s work, it’s a short story collection. Interestingly, this one contains a few personal stories of his, some true and some… exaggerated. I’m looking at you “The Hour That Stretches”.
My Thoughts
My personal quest to read everything by Harlan Ellison continues. He’s a wonderful writer who stands the test of time, and this was a very strong series of stories. The thing that will always strike me about him is his very unique ideas. Cliches are hard to find in his work, and if they are present, they’re usually twisted upside-down and backwards.
Let’s talk about the strongest contenders for me. “Blank…” was truly inspired. I won’t give it away, but it has to be one of the most grisly fates for a character in all of speculative fiction. “The Cheese Stands Alone” had me very intrigued throughout, and I loved the way the protagonist dealt with existential horror. “Djinn, No Chaser” and “!!!The!Teddy!Crazy!!Show!!!” were both great for a laugh. And “Visionary” (co-written with Joe L. Hensley) is one of the most beautifully written stories I’ve ever read.
But what really makes this collection shine is the fact that Ellison threw in a few personal notes. “The 3 Most Important Things in Life” should be read by everyone, everywhere. It’s hilarious, then terrifying, then hilarious again. And real. “Somehow, I Don’t Think We’re In Kansas Anymore, Toto” recounts his awful turn with Hollywood in trying to make the show The Starlost. If you’re a fan of Ellison’s, you’ll have heard of this as a complete disaster. I had, but I didn’t know the full lowdown. Well, here it is, and it’s ugly. And so, so funny. It shouldn’t be funny, but in typical form, his rage is so eloquent that it’s hilarious.
This is a great read for anyone who is even halfway interested in this author, especially for those non-fiction elements.
Final Rating
5/5
As is the case with most of Ellison’s work, it’s a short story collection. Interestingly, this one contains a few personal stories of his, some true and some… exaggerated. I’m looking at you “The Hour That Stretches”.
My Thoughts
My personal quest to read everything by Harlan Ellison continues. He’s a wonderful writer who stands the test of time, and this was a very strong series of stories. The thing that will always strike me about him is his very unique ideas. Cliches are hard to find in his work, and if they are present, they’re usually twisted upside-down and backwards.
Let’s talk about the strongest contenders for me. “Blank…” was truly inspired. I won’t give it away, but it has to be one of the most grisly fates for a character in all of speculative fiction. “The Cheese Stands Alone” had me very intrigued throughout, and I loved the way the protagonist dealt with existential horror. “Djinn, No Chaser” and “!!!The!Teddy!Crazy!!Show!!!” were both great for a laugh. And “Visionary” (co-written with Joe L. Hensley) is one of the most beautifully written stories I’ve ever read.
But what really makes this collection shine is the fact that Ellison threw in a few personal notes. “The 3 Most Important Things in Life” should be read by everyone, everywhere. It’s hilarious, then terrifying, then hilarious again. And real. “Somehow, I Don’t Think We’re In Kansas Anymore, Toto” recounts his awful turn with Hollywood in trying to make the show The Starlost. If you’re a fan of Ellison’s, you’ll have heard of this as a complete disaster. I had, but I didn’t know the full lowdown. Well, here it is, and it’s ugly. And so, so funny. It shouldn’t be funny, but in typical form, his rage is so eloquent that it’s hilarious.
This is a great read for anyone who is even halfway interested in this author, especially for those non-fiction elements.
Final Rating
5/5
Read
December 26, 2018Ellison pleaded that this was his best story and it is one of the best stories.
January 10, 2013
With an introduction by Stephen King and an amalgam of short stories and essays, Stalking the Nightmare is an entertaining read. As with any collection of tales from a single writer, some stand out more than others. In this case, the most memorable ones include:
"Grail" - in which a man spends his life searching for true love only to learn that it's an artifact that has been traded around the world.
"The Outpost Undiscovered by Tourists" - A parody of the three wise men in modern times after searching 2000 years for Christ. They now drive a Rolls Royce and sleep on air mattresses while fighting the "forces of chaos". Eventually, they find the savior in The Manger, a hotel by Hyatt, and surrounded by various folks including accountants, pet-store owners, and hairdressers.
"Night of Black Glass" - this one interested me mostly as it was written in 5 hours in a B. Dalton bookstore window after news anchor Tom Brokaw challenged Harlan to write a story based on one line: "August afternoon a person walking along a rocky beach in Maine picks up a pair of broken sunglasses.”
"Djinn, No Chaser" - a young couple walks into a mysterious antique shop that materializes from thin air. They purchase a cheap lamp before the owner kicks them out just as the shop vanishes once more. Later, the couple finds that the lamp contains a sadistic genie who turns their lives into a living hell, sending the husband into an asylum. Later, his wife discovers a way to turn their situation completely around...
"Invasion Footnote" - another farce about a megalomaniacal robot hell-bent on world domination, until his own kind turn on him. Predictable but funny.
"The Hour That Stretches" - Harlan fills in for Jerry Pournelle as a guest on a radio show and decides to allow callers to phone in one-line prompts to which Harlan will conjure up a story premise on the spot. After awhile, it becomes an exhausting exercise for Harlan, until the final caller...
"The Day I Died" - not so much a story, but a series of possible ways in which Harlan will die, with exact descriptions and dates ranging from 1973 to 2010.
In my opinion, the first three essays are actually more interesting than the stories.
"The 3 Most Important Things in Life" offers moments from Harlan's life that deal with sex, violence, and labor relations. The latter of which is an incident that occurred when he was hired to write for Disney...and fired within hours of arrival.
"Saturn, November 11th" details Harlan's visit to JPL as a guest of Jerry Pournelle when the Voyager satellite begins sending pictures back of Saturn and its moons.
"Somehow, I Don't Think We're In Kansas, Toto" is a recount of Harlan's ludicrous experiences with Hollywood when The Starlost TV series went into production based on his story, “Phoenix Without Ashes".
All told, Stalking the Nightmare is an enjoyable read and further evidence of Harlan's vivid imagination and reputation for fearless, and even experimental, storytelling.
"Grail" - in which a man spends his life searching for true love only to learn that it's an artifact that has been traded around the world.
"The Outpost Undiscovered by Tourists" - A parody of the three wise men in modern times after searching 2000 years for Christ. They now drive a Rolls Royce and sleep on air mattresses while fighting the "forces of chaos". Eventually, they find the savior in The Manger, a hotel by Hyatt, and surrounded by various folks including accountants, pet-store owners, and hairdressers.
"Night of Black Glass" - this one interested me mostly as it was written in 5 hours in a B. Dalton bookstore window after news anchor Tom Brokaw challenged Harlan to write a story based on one line: "August afternoon a person walking along a rocky beach in Maine picks up a pair of broken sunglasses.”
"Djinn, No Chaser" - a young couple walks into a mysterious antique shop that materializes from thin air. They purchase a cheap lamp before the owner kicks them out just as the shop vanishes once more. Later, the couple finds that the lamp contains a sadistic genie who turns their lives into a living hell, sending the husband into an asylum. Later, his wife discovers a way to turn their situation completely around...
"Invasion Footnote" - another farce about a megalomaniacal robot hell-bent on world domination, until his own kind turn on him. Predictable but funny.
"The Hour That Stretches" - Harlan fills in for Jerry Pournelle as a guest on a radio show and decides to allow callers to phone in one-line prompts to which Harlan will conjure up a story premise on the spot. After awhile, it becomes an exhausting exercise for Harlan, until the final caller...
"The Day I Died" - not so much a story, but a series of possible ways in which Harlan will die, with exact descriptions and dates ranging from 1973 to 2010.
In my opinion, the first three essays are actually more interesting than the stories.
"The 3 Most Important Things in Life" offers moments from Harlan's life that deal with sex, violence, and labor relations. The latter of which is an incident that occurred when he was hired to write for Disney...and fired within hours of arrival.
"Saturn, November 11th" details Harlan's visit to JPL as a guest of Jerry Pournelle when the Voyager satellite begins sending pictures back of Saturn and its moons.
"Somehow, I Don't Think We're In Kansas, Toto" is a recount of Harlan's ludicrous experiences with Hollywood when The Starlost TV series went into production based on his story, “Phoenix Without Ashes".
All told, Stalking the Nightmare is an enjoyable read and further evidence of Harlan's vivid imagination and reputation for fearless, and even experimental, storytelling.
May 24, 2017
Having read Ellison since the mid Eighties and collected many of his books over the years, I wanted to refresh myself with his work. I plan to keep by my bedside a book of his short stories throughout the remainder of the year to fill in the melas between novels or just to occupy my mind in 20 minute increments. This particular group of stories was always a favorite from my high school days and still holds it own with me, although not as strongly as it once did. Harlan Ellison holds a special place in my heart and mind.
February 6, 2023
Never really heard of the guy before this was given to me as a recommendation. And I’ve come away thoroughly enjoying every short story and personal tale crafted as simple entertainment and deep personal soliloquy. I found the Scenes From The Real World 1-4 to be among my favorite of the dozens of other stories laid out here with Saturn, November 11th being my favorite short of the lot. Just from this concoction of fantasy and sci-fi shorts I find myself wanting to dive deeper into the mans works.
January 6, 2010
I need to read some of this out loud to my students. I've read Repent Harlequin said the Tick Tock Man to them in the past.
January 9, 2018
I mentioned the introduction to this collection of stories and essays when I reviewed The Benedict Option. Of course, that planted the seed to pull this one off the shelf to read again. When I first read it, back in the 1980s, I thought Harlan Ellison was one of the greatest writers ever. Thirty years later, I still think he's good, but I've read much more great literature. The stories didn't quite measure up to my memory of them. To be honest, my tastes have also changed. I still love reading along as Mr. Ellison plays with words, but I no longer find the themes enjoyable. He paints a good picture of the dark side of humanity. He doesn't seem to find much light, however, either within or from above.
Well, that was introspective. For those of you aren't as interested in my internal musings, just go ahead and read it. It's not uplifting, but it's honest, witty, and gut-felt. Worth your time and musings.
Well, that was introspective. For those of you aren't as interested in my internal musings, just go ahead and read it. It's not uplifting, but it's honest, witty, and gut-felt. Worth your time and musings.
February 8, 2023
The essays steal the show in this collection. Most of this stuff wouldn't fly today, but if you're not too buttoned up, you're in for a treat. Ellison's essay on sex, violence and labor relations is both hilarious and terrifying. He meets a girl who's obsessed with keeping her shag carpet clean, he witnesses a man getting pitched to his death off the balcony of a NYC movie theater, and he says the absolute worst things at the worst possible time in the Disney commissary. In another essay, he visits the JPL in Pasadena as the Voyager I gives us our first closeup of Saturn and its rings. Then he recounts a pretty typical episode of writer vs Hollywood production mill, which offers some pretty sage advice if you ever want to enter into that arena. Finally, he closes out this collection with a very anti-Ray Bradbury overview of his experiences working in the circus as a young teenage runaway. I'll never be able to forget that smell, and I didn't even smell that smell.
August 22, 2022
Ellison schooling us on hard boiled prose and how to not suck. The audio volume has nearly 20 hours of readings, various essays, several stories read by the author, and the infamous "Xenogenesis" essay, where Harlan reads a stack of letters from the top people in the industry at that time talking about their worse experiences at the hands of the fans.
Haha, if you write and want to know if your stuff passes muster, you could do a lot worse than get people to listen to it in a moving vehicle. I can't tell you how many mushier authors get lost every time someone tries to kill me, cut me off, jump four lanes, or I get passed by a series of dump trucks through an underpass, making sure I just missed a solid ten seconds of narration. Harlan does not have this problem, because even when he's being emotional or tender, he doesn't overcook it into unrecognizable porridge.
Haha, if you write and want to know if your stuff passes muster, you could do a lot worse than get people to listen to it in a moving vehicle. I can't tell you how many mushier authors get lost every time someone tries to kill me, cut me off, jump four lanes, or I get passed by a series of dump trucks through an underpass, making sure I just missed a solid ten seconds of narration. Harlan does not have this problem, because even when he's being emotional or tender, he doesn't overcook it into unrecognizable porridge.
March 7, 2022
It was good. It was Harlan.
He chews on the gristle of life and makes something of it.
That's how I found this volume. Insightful. Chewy.
Whatever he was trying to escape at 13, he was willing to sit in jail with a freak show addict, soaked in feces, who beat/chewed his own face in and died around the third day, rather than give the authorities his name, and be placed back in something he obviously considered worse.
I don't know what they put him through...
But all respect for this amazing man.
He took the abuse, and made it anyways.
He was never untrue to himself.
He only created some of the best speculative and science fiction ever written.
The man was a genius.
Enough said.
He chews on the gristle of life and makes something of it.
That's how I found this volume. Insightful. Chewy.
Whatever he was trying to escape at 13, he was willing to sit in jail with a freak show addict, soaked in feces, who beat/chewed his own face in and died around the third day, rather than give the authorities his name, and be placed back in something he obviously considered worse.
I don't know what they put him through...
But all respect for this amazing man.
He took the abuse, and made it anyways.
He was never untrue to himself.
He only created some of the best speculative and science fiction ever written.
The man was a genius.
Enough said.
December 30, 2023
“The ability to dream is all I have to give. That is my responsibility; that is my burden. And even I grow tired”
Definitely hit and miss but the ones that hit fucking HIT. Harlan Ellison was such a mean writer that he doesn’t care how you feel reading it. The best stories were about people who have hit the dead end of pleasure seeking and have no where left to go. I imagine Harlan considered himself one of those people and tried to write himself out. The dreams he writes about show little cracks of light through the brick wall of our treat addicted world. I will admit I only knew about this book because of the trailer for blowback season 4. Sue me
Definitely hit and miss but the ones that hit fucking HIT. Harlan Ellison was such a mean writer that he doesn’t care how you feel reading it. The best stories were about people who have hit the dead end of pleasure seeking and have no where left to go. I imagine Harlan considered himself one of those people and tried to write himself out. The dreams he writes about show little cracks of light through the brick wall of our treat addicted world. I will admit I only knew about this book because of the trailer for blowback season 4. Sue me
July 12, 2018
I think "Djinn, No Chaser", "The Cheese Stands Alone", and "The Hour That Stretches" were my favorites of the fiction (though I at the very least *liked* everything in here) and either "The Three Most Important Things in Life" or "Gopher in the Gilly" were best among the essays (again, though, all were great). While I'm still gutted to have lost one of my heroes, his words will live forever and that is good.
November 26, 2018
This is one of the best Harlan Ellison collection of short stories I've read. It starts in the realm of fantastic realism and ends up deep in science fiction. It also has a few (fictional) non-fiction essays by the author.
Great prose. Love his style.
Great prose. Love his style.
October 16, 2023
It’s easy to be smart, in the end. I loved this collection. Harlan Ellison books are so hard to come by, at least to my experience. I cherish them as much as possible when I find them. Reading this collection lifted my mood. I know he claimed to hate his readers, but I can’t help loving his stories, particularly the ones that were him just recounting real-life experiences. If I was to meet him (maybe in an afterlife, if there is one) I would just tell him, “Thanks, man.”
June 3, 2017
Not my favorite collection of HE stories and essays. OK. Not great. The last time I read this I was still in high school and I remember it as being better. A lot of the stories seem kind of... simplistic... now.
August 16, 2018
All of Harlan Ellison's collections are worth reading but each may have a story or two that will leave you cold.
April 6, 2023
A heady, exhilarating selection. Great fun!
November 21, 2023
Always amazing, his stories always take you to places you didn't know you wanted to go to.
July 4, 2014
This collection is highlighted by four nonfiction essays that really showcase Harlan Ellison's versatility and range:
"The 3 Most Important Things in Life" - features some very funny anecdotes about sex, violence, and labor relations. Includes the now-infamous story of how the author got fired from Disney after less than a day on the job.
"Saturn, November 11" - an uplifting piece of inspired science writing
"Somehow, I Don't Think We're in Kansas, Toto" - the story of Harlan's failed attempt to develop a primetime science fiction drama for CBS in the early 1970's. This is a longer, funnier, and more insightful version of the essay that introduces the novel Phoenix Without Ashes.
"Gopher in the Gilly" - a brief examination of the time Harlan ran away from home at the age of 13 and joined a traveling carnival.
Together with a great introduction essay by Stephen King, these are certainly worth your time.
Unfortunately, the 16 fiction stories also included here are mostly forgettable. They seem to be a grab-bag of lesser-known stories written anywhere from the late 1950's through the early 1980's. "Night of Black Glass" was notable only in that Harlan wrote it in five hours while sitting in a bookstore (apparently on a dare or a challenge). "Grail" had a great premise but petered out into a somewhat bloated and confusing ending. "The Outpost Discovered by Tourists" was essentially a shaggy dog story, pointless except to set up a punch line.
"Blank...", "Final Trophy", "Visionary" and "Invasion Footnote" were some early traditional science fiction stories.
I probably enjoyed "Djinn, No Chaser" and "The Hour that Stretches" the most, but they were hardly up to Ellison's best work.
"The 3 Most Important Things in Life" - features some very funny anecdotes about sex, violence, and labor relations. Includes the now-infamous story of how the author got fired from Disney after less than a day on the job.
"Saturn, November 11" - an uplifting piece of inspired science writing
"Somehow, I Don't Think We're in Kansas, Toto" - the story of Harlan's failed attempt to develop a primetime science fiction drama for CBS in the early 1970's. This is a longer, funnier, and more insightful version of the essay that introduces the novel Phoenix Without Ashes.
"Gopher in the Gilly" - a brief examination of the time Harlan ran away from home at the age of 13 and joined a traveling carnival.
Together with a great introduction essay by Stephen King, these are certainly worth your time.
Unfortunately, the 16 fiction stories also included here are mostly forgettable. They seem to be a grab-bag of lesser-known stories written anywhere from the late 1950's through the early 1980's. "Night of Black Glass" was notable only in that Harlan wrote it in five hours while sitting in a bookstore (apparently on a dare or a challenge). "Grail" had a great premise but petered out into a somewhat bloated and confusing ending. "The Outpost Discovered by Tourists" was essentially a shaggy dog story, pointless except to set up a punch line.
"Blank...", "Final Trophy", "Visionary" and "Invasion Footnote" were some early traditional science fiction stories.
I probably enjoyed "Djinn, No Chaser" and "The Hour that Stretches" the most, but they were hardly up to Ellison's best work.
August 11, 2011
Harlan Ellison is one of my favorite authors. He's a master storyteller and he's hard to classify as he is adept at writing in many genres. This book is a collection of his short stories including Djinn, No Chaser. I highly recommend it.
* Foreword by Stephen King
* Introduction: Quiet Lies the Locust Tells
* Grail
* The Outpost Undiscovered By Tourists
* Blank...
* Scenes From the Real World: I - The 3 Most Important Things In Life
* Visionary (written with Joe L. Hensley)
* Djinn, No Chaser
* Invasion Footnote
* Scenes From the Real World: II - Saturn, November 11th
* Night of Black Glass
* Final Trophy
* !!!The!!Teddy!Crazy!!Show!!!
* The Cheese Stands Alone
* Scenes From The Real World: III - Somehow, I Don't Think We're In Kansas, Toto
* Transcending Destiny
* The Hour That Stretches
* The Day I Died
* 3 Tales From the Mountains of Madness: Tracking Level, Tiny Ally, The Goddess In The Ice
* Scenes From The Real World: IV - Gopher In the Gilly
* Foreword by Stephen King
* Introduction: Quiet Lies the Locust Tells
* Grail
* The Outpost Undiscovered By Tourists
* Blank...
* Scenes From the Real World: I - The 3 Most Important Things In Life
* Visionary (written with Joe L. Hensley)
* Djinn, No Chaser
* Invasion Footnote
* Scenes From the Real World: II - Saturn, November 11th
* Night of Black Glass
* Final Trophy
* !!!The!!Teddy!Crazy!!Show!!!
* The Cheese Stands Alone
* Scenes From The Real World: III - Somehow, I Don't Think We're In Kansas, Toto
* Transcending Destiny
* The Hour That Stretches
* The Day I Died
* 3 Tales From the Mountains of Madness: Tracking Level, Tiny Ally, The Goddess In The Ice
* Scenes From The Real World: IV - Gopher In the Gilly
July 5, 2009
This might not be the strongest collection of Ellison stories, but it is essential Ellison for a few reasons.
One is the entertaining introduction by Stephen King, which King attempts to write in Ellison's style.
It features a few of Ellison's most memorable essays, including his detailed account of the debacle with The Starlost, a mini-series he conceived, which was bungled by television executives.
Some of the stories are more memorable than others. Eerily prescient was "!!The!Teddy!!Crazy!!Show!!!," in which a muckraking tv talk show host very much in the vein of Bill O'Reilly confronts a surprise guest.
Some are science-fiction vignettes he wrote in younger days, some were more recent and invigorating. Some are wildly funny, especially "Djinn, No Chaser."
One is the entertaining introduction by Stephen King, which King attempts to write in Ellison's style.
It features a few of Ellison's most memorable essays, including his detailed account of the debacle with The Starlost, a mini-series he conceived, which was bungled by television executives.
Some of the stories are more memorable than others. Eerily prescient was "!!The!Teddy!!Crazy!!Show!!!," in which a muckraking tv talk show host very much in the vein of Bill O'Reilly confronts a surprise guest.
Some are science-fiction vignettes he wrote in younger days, some were more recent and invigorating. Some are wildly funny, especially "Djinn, No Chaser."
December 10, 2009
Even the intro by S. King is dreadful. Reading this was like watching an angel crawl through Gehenna on its wings, like watching a snail ooze along the edge of a serrated, salted knife blade. Why, Ellison, why did you pompously preface and package and publish this pickled pig puke? Intuition tells me he was burnt out and broke and therefore cobbled these stories and essays together, with baling wire, bag ties, duct tape, Super Glue and dental floss, for a fast buck. Ellison is the author of some of my favorite short stories, but this abortion should never have been Mason-jarred for public viewing.
September 7, 2008
This was my introduction to Ellison (except for the old "Star Trek" episode), and I enjoyed every story and essay in it, particularly about the "Starlost" and his one day working at Disney. This particular collection is out of print but worth seeking out. There are usually used copies floating around on Amazon.
January 21, 2017
A nice collection of interesting stories. This is only my second Ellison book, but I'm sure there will be more. Some of my favorites from this collection are, "Blank" "Visionary" "Djinn, No Chaser, "Final Trophy" and "Transcending Destiny". Most of them are sci-fi, but there is a mix of his personal stories in there as well, which makes for something different.
April 15, 2010
A collection of essays and short stories. The stories are a hodgepodge of the early or unreleased, the best being "Grail". But the prize is the essay titled "The 3 Most Important Things in Life" which chronicles Ellison's very brief career with Disney.
April 28, 2011
Some of these stories were incredibly thought-provoking, such as I Am The Locust, his story about the Voyager II Saturn flyby, and the story about hunting the semi-sentient god, and two were hilarious - "Phuque Mickey Mouse!" I say. Well worth a read.
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