Rating: 
Summary: Ellison At His Most Mind-Boggling
Review: I've read several Ellison collections and this one has the best survey of his most thought-provoking and gut-wrenching work. Ellison is often misrepresented as a straight sci-fi writer, but any cursory glance at his diverse offerings will immediately disprove this stereotype. However, Ellison occasionally does tackle sci-fi. When he does, he's one of the best, as in this book's centerpiece: the mind-shattering and intellectually overwhelming tale "The Region Between", which is one of the best short stories I have ever come across.The diversity of Ellison's work can be seen in the next story, the hysterical "Laugh Track" (I read this story on a plane and made the person next to me think I was mental, trying desperately not to laugh out loud). Ellison tackles many topics with a keen eye on social observation and a deadly sharp tongue, like race relations in "Paladin of the Lost Hour" and fraud and deception in "On the Slab." Of special note in this book is the introduction, in which Ellison laments the deaths of 44 of his friends within a two-year period, and gives one of the most unique interpretations of life and death you're likely to ever see.
Rating:
Summary: Release your souls wounds, Harlan has taken them away.
Review: If you have ever suffered a loss that left a mark on your heart, or soul, read this book. Harlan Ellison can take your loss and make it real (beyond your void), give it substance (beyond your imagination), and give you the ability to live on beyond your losses. He has seen pains you will never know, and can teach you how to express your losses, and aid you in elevation above the others around you that have never learned how to live with pain. Let Harlan help you escape from your pain
Rating:
Summary: Essential
Review: Not just essential to fans of Harlan Ellison, this book is mind-altering, beginning with the first line of the opener, "Paladin of the Lost Hour". I can't recommend this book enough. I kept it checked out of the library when I was younger and much broker; I got older and less broke; and now, much like another reviewer, I keep buying new copies after I loan them out and they never return. Combine this with "the Essential Ellison" and you will understand why people are so rabid about the works of Harlan Ellison.
Rating:
Summary: Essential
Review: Not just essential to fans of Harlan Ellison, this book is mind-altering, beginning with the first line of the opener, "Paladin of the Lost Hour". I can't recommend this book enough. I kept it checked out of the library when I was younger and much broker; I got older and less broke; and now, much like another reviewer, I keep buying new copies after I loan them out and they never return. Combine this with "the Essential Ellison" and you will understand why people are so rabid about the works of Harlan Ellison.
Rating: 
Summary: Dark, Sad, Angry, Brillant
Review: There are only a few authors who I'll seek out and read short story collections, my preference being full novels. Theodore Sturgeon is one. Harlan Ellison is another. After whetting my appetite with The Essential Ellison, I moved on to this and was kept just as pleased, though not pleased in a happy sense, pleased in a sense that each story picked at some part of my brain, making me confront my ideas about death and life and living and souls, made me look at it from my perspective and his perspective to see why we thought the way we did. These stories seemed to be written in anger, helpless flailing anger, as Ellison writes in the introduction (and hints at emotionally in the haunting closing story "The Function of Dream Sleep"), at the time these were written people who were close to him in his life were dying almost every month (there's a list going down the side of the intro detailing who died when . . . morbid), and that intro is almost worth the price of the book itself, for it sets the tone for all the other stories, heartfelt and emotional, unflinching and passionate. To go by names would be unnecessary, to name favorites would be useless. You have to read them all, experience them and wonder yourself as Ellison dances from genre to genre, from mystery to science fiction, effortlessly, stamping his print on each story, marking it with anger and sadness. He bared his soul in these stories and while it makes for a gripping and sometimes harrowing read, it doesn't make the reading any less necessary. He didn't turn away from his fears and sorrows and you shouldn't turn away from them either.
Rating:
Summary: Dark yet poignant
Review: There are only a few authors who I'll seek out and read short story collections, my preference being full novels. Theodore Sturgeon is one. Harlan Ellison is another. After whetting my appetite with The Essential Ellison, I moved on to this and was kept just as pleased, though not pleased in a happy sense, pleased in a sense that each story picked at some part of my brain, making me confront my ideas about death and life and living and souls, made me look at it from my perspective and his perspective to see why we thought the way we did. These stories seemed to be written in anger, helpless flailing anger, as Ellison writes in the introduction (and hints at emotionally in the haunting closing story "The Function of Dream Sleep"), at the time these were written people who were close to him in his life were dying almost every month (there's a list going down the side of the intro detailing who died when . . . morbid), and that intro is almost worth the price of the book itself, for it sets the tone for all the other stories, heartfelt and emotional, unflinching and passionate. To go by names would be unnecessary, to name favorites would be useless. You have to read them all, experience them and wonder yourself as Ellison dances from genre to genre, from mystery to science fiction, effortlessly, stamping his print on each story, marking it with anger and sadness. He bared his soul in these stories and while it makes for a gripping and sometimes harrowing read, it doesn't make the reading any less necessary. He didn't turn away from his fears and sorrows and you shouldn't turn away from them either.
Rating:
Summary: Dark, Sad, Angry, Brillant
Review: This is an expression of anger at the universe. It maybe utterly futile to be angry at the universe, but who the hell cares. These stories in the true sense "bittersweet". They are tragic yet (not always) berefit of hope. They are beautifully written and all around well-crafted. Which is a given for Ellison. A superb collection from one of America's greatest short story writers.
Rating:
Summary: Truly amazing.
Review: This is one of the greatest books I have ever read. Ellison truly is a fantastic wordsmith, as well as immensely entertaining. The theme of death does not necessarily make this tome dark, or depressing. On the contrary, Ellison tends to simply make the reader reevaluate their take on what may happen. This is the first book by Ellison I have ever read, but if any or all of his work is as intriguing and engaging as this, I will definately become among his most dedicated fans. I urge you to read this. It is, if nothing else, a fascinating journey through one man's different perspective on death.
Rating:
Summary: Ellison and Death
Review: This macabre amalgamation of tales written by one of the greatest short fiction writers of our time deals with a topic that is familiar to all - death. In 17 tales Ellison bears his sorrow and pain at the loss of loved ones, what happens to a soul after death, reincarnation, and many other fantastical topics, brought to earth in a sorrowful and imaginative fashion that Ellison is known for
Rating:
Summary: The mighty little man in fine form
Review: Wonderful example of a great writer's work. Check out some of his essays in the Edgeworks series.
|
