Mammoth Books Presents the Region Between

by Harlan Ellison

"The Region Between" first appeared in "Galaxy" back in 1970. It had originally been commissioned as one of a set of stories by different authors who all used a common starting point as set out in the story's prologue, written by Keith Laumer. Ellison's contribution was a longer work than one usually expects from him, but it nevertheless sustains its bombardment of ideas and feelings throughout. What's more, Ellison created a story that demanded a different format to allow for full expression. The result was a typesetter's nightmare but, as you will see, the experience now only makes this story all the more fascinating, it actually takes you into the story itself. Mike Ashley

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories

43 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 1, 1970

About the author

Harlan Jay Ellison (1934-2018) 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".

Reviews

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like much of Ellison's work, a very clever and chilling concept, frenetic high intensity prose and a story that's quite often inscrutable to some extent.

[Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Damn. I've always been a huge fan of stories like this. It's just icing on the cake that Harlan Ellison wrote this particular one.

Hard-SF with an entity that "rewarded" humanity with something like, but not exactly, reincarnation, being a puppet master, and we follow one such that is caught in this web, one reincarnation-liberation at a time.

Great imagination, worldbuilding, and one hell of a cool story to complete it.

This one hits one hell of a sweet-spot for me.

[Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely brilliant story showcasing Ellison's fertile imagination. A hapless human has his "soul" or mind stolen, and ends up inside the body of an alien soldier on the front line of a planetary war, an alien hunting cat, and others, before the surprising resolution. Would give it more than five stars if I could.

[Scott Kinkade · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bizarre but interesting story about an alien soul merchant and the human soul who decides to rebel against him. Lots of experimental stuff happens here, and for the most part it works, though it may be too surreal and busy for some.

[rhodeswarrior · Rating 4 out of 5]

weird. diffferent. lots of imagination

[Aalok Wyckid · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've always found Ellison challenging to read, but The Region Between grabbed me from the beginning. Poetic and haunting. Beautiful and horrifying. Well worth the read.

[Andrew Brooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just wow!
This story covers so much I'm at a loss. Mind-blown. One of the must read books of both 20th AND 21st centuries.

[Nicholas Whyte · Rating 2 out of 5]

https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3071533.html

I found this a fairly indigestible and self-indulgent piece. It is one of five stories by different authors which all started with the main character’s death; we cycle through confusing and disjointed fonts and prose to discover the meaning of God. Not the New Wave at its best.

[Shhhhh Ahhhhh · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a surprise ending. Reminds me of a book I read about a character that finds out something very similar but is tricked at the end, rather than the beginning. Maybe that book was inspired by this short. Anyway, as with everything else Ellison writes, it seems, I want more of this story and its themes and truths. Ugh.

[Molly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked it but I didnt. Just wasnt for me.

[Lore. V. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ho bisogno di un attimo per elaborare ciò che ho appena letto...

[R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want to go on record as saying that this was a pretty great story, but that's to be expected from Harlan Ellison. The man hasn't written anything yet that I haven't liked. That said, I feel a little like I got hosed on this purchase. This particular story and ebook file was $2.99 on Barnes and Noble. It's not worth that, it's just not long enough. It's worth about $0.99 and that's it simply because of the length of the story. It clocks in at just over 40 pages on the Nook. Had I known that, I wouldn't have paid the extra two bucks for it no matter who wrote it.

[BBFlyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Twisted.