Rating: 
Summary: Submission to Temptation
Review: "There is no memory with less satisfaction in it than the memory of some temptation we resisted."This quote by James Cabell begins a disjointed journey through the mind of Harlan Ellison. I got my copy signed by him in 1988 at Cody's in Berkeley, and I remember thinking that I couldn't afford it and buying it anyway. The quote above reminds me of looking into the future and the logic involved in conniving myself into making the purchase. I've found a pattern to many of the books I love. They tie together some combination of associations of specific places, people, states of mind, etc... This book falls neatly into that category. I enjoy Harlan Ellison immensely, and associate him with my "formative years" however scary that is.... Anyway, Angry Candy doesn't have the rawness of Shatterday but another good performance by the master of speculative fiction.
Rating: 
Summary: A master working at the peak of his powers
Review: "Angry Candy" is possibly Ellison's strongest collection of stories to date. Virtually every entry in the table of contents is a gem. For myself, highlights include "Paladin Of The Lost Hour" (a beautiful tale of friendship, time lost, and time found), "Laugh Track" (an uproarious parody of the television industry), "With Virgil Oddum At The East Pole" (a meditation on art and redemption) and Eidolons (a series of related koan-like vignettes which will require very thoughtful reading). The whole book resounds with Ellison's characteristic mix of horror and beauty, humor, anger, and wonder, along with a generous dash of spleen. Whether he makes you laugh, or weep, or just pisses you off (or all three!), you will not remain unmoved.
Rating:
Summary: Submission to Temptation
Review: "There is no memory with less satisfaction in it than the memory of some temptation we resisted." This quote by James Cabell begins a disjointed journey through the mind of Harlan Ellison. I got my copy signed by him in 1988 at Cody's in Berkeley, and I remember thinking that I couldn't afford it and buying it anyway. The quote above reminds me of looking into the future and the logic involved in conniving myself into making the purchase. I've found a pattern to many of the books I love. They tie together some combination of associations of specific places, people, states of mind, etc... This book falls neatly into that category. I enjoy Harlan Ellison immensely, and associate him with my "formative years" however scary that is.... Anyway, Angry Candy doesn't have the rawness of Shatterday but another good performance by the master of speculative fiction.
Rating:
Summary: A profound venture into the musings of a haunted genius.
Review: An inspiring structure of Soul-Agony and Hope, Angry Candy is the road through Purgatory. It is a world of spiritual pain, where a beam of hope pierces the silvery-grey, and leads you through
Rating:
Summary: Ellison: Once Again, Sui Generis.
Review: Angry Candy has at least three certified classics
from a man who has written many over his prolific
career. Paladin, Soft Monkey and Eidolons are
amazing, moving works, and the other stories will
move and entertain you as well. Let Ellison guide
you through his often pained (but never hopeless) inner landscape into a world where magic, reality and the moral fable intersect. A unique reading experience from a writer like no other I have come across.
Rating:
Summary: Death pervads this masterpiece
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Death pervads this masterpiece
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: One of His Best
Review: Angry Candy was written out of pure anguish over the death of friends, and his anger over their loss seeps out on every page. Often, Ellison's story collections run along a theme, but never so vividly. Ellison has always been the master of exploring the darker emotions in life. Anyone who has had to grieve for friends will cherish this book. My two personal favorites were the original Palidin of the Lost Hour (which became a Twilight Zone episode) and On the Slab, about a man who can't find his place in life. Pick up this book and you won't be sorry. You will probably also follow Ellison's advice and become a Theodore Sturgeon fan, like I did. Ellison's eulogy for Sturgeon is featured in the introduction.
Rating:
Summary: Read this NOW!
Review: By far the best book of short stories on this planet. Not one story is worth puting down for a well done steak at a back yard bar-b-q. You'll want to read more even when your finished, and then even read it backwards to look at it in a new light. I've read so many Ellison books; along with this, I highly recommend Deathbird stories and Approaching Oblivion...I may be just a stranger to you, but for the love of BOOKS-read this one NOW!
Rating:
Summary: Ellison's anger is sweet to the tooth.
Review: Ellison's brilliance is unmatched. Period. Anyone who tries to tell you differently should be doubted and/or excommunicated. He lives for The Truth, and whether he has found it or not, he pursues it relentlessly. The stories in Angry Candy are a philosophical as they are touching, and they are guaranteed to deliver the pure fire of Ellison's work. The Region Between is an excellent example of Ellison in top form, as is The Paladin of the Lost Hour. These two stories alone are worth the price of the book, but the others are no slouch either. Read it and be amazed
| 
