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Greatest Hits
How to summarize the psychedelic, witty, helter-skelter mind of Harlan Ellison?
A mind that refused to be contained by something as rudimentary as genre, form, or even a particular label. A mind that created some of the most outrageous short stories and novellas of the science fiction, fantasy, and speculative genres – including “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream,” with its unhinged artificial intelligence bent on torturing what is left of humanity, and “Jeffty Is Five,” featuring a young boy’s mysterious, time-bending powers. A mind that passionately identified with the underdog, sometimes with disastrous results. A mind incandescent with fury, that saw storytelling as “a holy chore.”
Assembled by the Harlan and Susan Ellison Foundation, Greatest Hits is an overview of Ellison’s award-winning and highly acclaimed short stories – as well as the stories that Ellison himself most treasured. Featuring a preface by Ellison’s executor and friend J. Michael Straczynski, a foreword by award-winning and bestselling author Neil Gaiman, and an introduction by bestselling author Cassandra Khaw, this collection of short stories and novellas serves as a guide to a writer who left his mark on the twentieth century – and whose legacy is in your hands.
A mind that refused to be contained by something as rudimentary as genre, form, or even a particular label. A mind that created some of the most outrageous short stories and novellas of the science fiction, fantasy, and speculative genres – including “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream,” with its unhinged artificial intelligence bent on torturing what is left of humanity, and “Jeffty Is Five,” featuring a young boy’s mysterious, time-bending powers. A mind that passionately identified with the underdog, sometimes with disastrous results. A mind incandescent with fury, that saw storytelling as “a holy chore.”
Assembled by the Harlan and Susan Ellison Foundation, Greatest Hits is an overview of Ellison’s award-winning and highly acclaimed short stories – as well as the stories that Ellison himself most treasured. Featuring a preface by Ellison’s executor and friend J. Michael Straczynski, a foreword by award-winning and bestselling author Neil Gaiman, and an introduction by bestselling author Cassandra Khaw, this collection of short stories and novellas serves as a guide to a writer who left his mark on the twentieth century – and whose legacy is in your hands.
468 pages, Paperback
First published March 26, 2024
1615 people are currently reading
9500 people want to read
About the author
Harlan Ellison
1,075 books2,789 followersHarlan 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".
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".
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 295 reviews
July 18, 2025
Even though I've read most of these short stories across the years, it's an utter no-brainer to pick up these stories and enjoy them again.
It's Harlan Ellison, ya'll. Always acerbic, a force for energetic good, and yet, litigious as hell -- and above all, a loud-mouth, brilliant storyteller.
Instead of commenting on every single story here, I will just mention my now-favorites. A few will slip and slide, but some will always remain.
Repent, Harlequin, said the Ticktock Man -- the ultimate SF that thumbs its nose at time-punchers, is sad and it makes me angry and while I APPRECIATE the damn point, I deal with people who can't not be late for their very lives -- so I guess I have to become the Ticktocck Man. GGahaaaaahhhhhhh. Anyway.
I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream -- Alas, I've read this 5 times, and so, I decided to use ChatGPT to give me it's REAL opinion on AM, and oh, my, it's a slippery one.
Deathbird -- I always thought of this as a little philosophical stroll down good/evil redemption lane, but HOW it was written was pretty awesome. A little cosmic horror and schoolwork together never hurts.
Chatting with Anubis -- Short, sharp afterlife. Secrets kill. :)
The Whimper of Whipped Dogs -- Wicked, wicked, wicked story. I mean, I get where Harlan goes with this, and it seems utterly logical, if cultishly demonic, but I don't *WANT* to believe this is the only available outcome -- with or without the supernatural element. *sigh*
Jeffty is Five -- This one always got under my skin. All the implications, the SF reasons, the fantasy reasons, but in the end, it was the simple, obvious reason that freaked me out the most. The cost of aging. Only, because this is Ellison, he aims for your heart by way of under your ribcage, not through.
Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes -- I don't know. Maybe this one will never be my favorite. The whole sex and gambling twist might be fine on the surface, but I've never been a gambler, and this was merely an okay story for me. Fortunately, Harlan's track record is still awesome.
Shatterday -- Self-hate, paranormal style. Got to find an old 80s twilight zone ep with a young Bruce Willis doing justice to this story. :)
Mefisto in Onyx -- Beautiful story. Hits hard on so many levels, not just racism or the ugliness or people's minds, but a glorious story of power and responsibility. Oh, and it's also great fun.
On the Downhill Side -- It's hard for me to treat this as an afterlife fantasy because it's just too raw. To love too much or too little, to be maintained, at the very last, by innocence, only to consume it... I honestly couldn't help but feel like it was older people trying to move past their youthful indiscretions, to find peace and happiness now, when all seemed lost. Beautiful story.
Paladin of the Lost Hour -- What comes off as a pretty damn cool humans being human to each other story, a kind of mentor-type story, with memory and care at the forefront, becomes rather mystical and neat by the end.
The Beast that Shouted Love at the Heart of the World -- This one is a pretty wildly imaginative story that might as well be a subtle Mystery Tale that straddles the sweet spot between madness, murder, and love to find a perfect stillness. Rather cool, all told.
I'm Looking for Kadak -- Wild Jewish Aliens hitting that sweet spot of Waiting for Godot.
How Interesting: A Tiny Man -- Short, and startlingly accurate. We definitely would behave this way.
Djinn, No Chaser -- I love how much I came to like this newlywed couple after disliking them so much. It ALMOST reads like a JOB story in blindingly-fast fashion.
How's the Night Life in Cissalda? -- Truly, this one is for anyone on the prowl for an apocalypse story that answers the question: What would it be like to fuck ourselves to extinction?
From A to Z, in the Chocolate Alphabet -- Funny glossary, a-la devil's dictionary, but Ellison-style.
Eidolons -- Again returning to the fine line between murder and transcendence, this one is a little less creepy than previous stories, but the solid transcendence theme was damn fine.
All The Lies That Are My Life -- I think, although I haven't done any of the research to prove it either way, that this is a very personal tale, even autobiographical, or at least extremely revealing, take on Ellison, himself. Friendship, art, what he wanted to pass on after death, etc.
Here's the fact, however: no matter how contentious Harlan was in real life, he has a charisma, like his own characters, that live on long after his death.
To me, I think he's one of the finest storytellers we've ever had. Full stop. I've read many of these multiple times, often read by the author, himself, and I'll just say that they're true works of art, just like the damn man himself.
Personal note:
If anyone reading my reviews is be interested in reading my SF (Very hard SF, mind you), I'm open to requests.
Just direct message me in goodreads or email me on my site. I'd love to get some eyes on my novels.
Arctunn.com
It's Harlan Ellison, ya'll. Always acerbic, a force for energetic good, and yet, litigious as hell -- and above all, a loud-mouth, brilliant storyteller.
Instead of commenting on every single story here, I will just mention my now-favorites. A few will slip and slide, but some will always remain.
Repent, Harlequin, said the Ticktock Man -- the ultimate SF that thumbs its nose at time-punchers, is sad and it makes me angry and while I APPRECIATE the damn point, I deal with people who can't not be late for their very lives -- so I guess I have to become the Ticktocck Man. GGahaaaaahhhhhhh. Anyway.
I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream -- Alas, I've read this 5 times, and so, I decided to use ChatGPT to give me it's REAL opinion on AM, and oh, my, it's a slippery one.
Deathbird -- I always thought of this as a little philosophical stroll down good/evil redemption lane, but HOW it was written was pretty awesome. A little cosmic horror and schoolwork together never hurts.
Chatting with Anubis -- Short, sharp afterlife. Secrets kill. :)
The Whimper of Whipped Dogs -- Wicked, wicked, wicked story. I mean, I get where Harlan goes with this, and it seems utterly logical, if cultishly demonic, but I don't *WANT* to believe this is the only available outcome -- with or without the supernatural element. *sigh*
Jeffty is Five -- This one always got under my skin. All the implications, the SF reasons, the fantasy reasons, but in the end, it was the simple, obvious reason that freaked me out the most. The cost of aging. Only, because this is Ellison, he aims for your heart by way of under your ribcage, not through.
Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes -- I don't know. Maybe this one will never be my favorite. The whole sex and gambling twist might be fine on the surface, but I've never been a gambler, and this was merely an okay story for me. Fortunately, Harlan's track record is still awesome.
Shatterday -- Self-hate, paranormal style. Got to find an old 80s twilight zone ep with a young Bruce Willis doing justice to this story. :)
Mefisto in Onyx -- Beautiful story. Hits hard on so many levels, not just racism or the ugliness or people's minds, but a glorious story of power and responsibility. Oh, and it's also great fun.
On the Downhill Side -- It's hard for me to treat this as an afterlife fantasy because it's just too raw. To love too much or too little, to be maintained, at the very last, by innocence, only to consume it... I honestly couldn't help but feel like it was older people trying to move past their youthful indiscretions, to find peace and happiness now, when all seemed lost. Beautiful story.
Paladin of the Lost Hour -- What comes off as a pretty damn cool humans being human to each other story, a kind of mentor-type story, with memory and care at the forefront, becomes rather mystical and neat by the end.
The Beast that Shouted Love at the Heart of the World -- This one is a pretty wildly imaginative story that might as well be a subtle Mystery Tale that straddles the sweet spot between madness, murder, and love to find a perfect stillness. Rather cool, all told.
I'm Looking for Kadak -- Wild Jewish Aliens hitting that sweet spot of Waiting for Godot.
How Interesting: A Tiny Man -- Short, and startlingly accurate. We definitely would behave this way.
Djinn, No Chaser -- I love how much I came to like this newlywed couple after disliking them so much. It ALMOST reads like a JOB story in blindingly-fast fashion.
How's the Night Life in Cissalda? -- Truly, this one is for anyone on the prowl for an apocalypse story that answers the question: What would it be like to fuck ourselves to extinction?
From A to Z, in the Chocolate Alphabet -- Funny glossary, a-la devil's dictionary, but Ellison-style.
Eidolons -- Again returning to the fine line between murder and transcendence, this one is a little less creepy than previous stories, but the solid transcendence theme was damn fine.
All The Lies That Are My Life -- I think, although I haven't done any of the research to prove it either way, that this is a very personal tale, even autobiographical, or at least extremely revealing, take on Ellison, himself. Friendship, art, what he wanted to pass on after death, etc.
Here's the fact, however: no matter how contentious Harlan was in real life, he has a charisma, like his own characters, that live on long after his death.
To me, I think he's one of the finest storytellers we've ever had. Full stop. I've read many of these multiple times, often read by the author, himself, and I'll just say that they're true works of art, just like the damn man himself.
Personal note:
If anyone reading my reviews is be interested in reading my SF (Very hard SF, mind you), I'm open to requests.
Just direct message me in goodreads or email me on my site. I'd love to get some eyes on my novels.
Arctunn.com
March 4, 2025
An amazing collection of short stories by a master of the form!
If you've never read Harlan Ellison before, you're in for a treat. Over the course of his career, he accumulated enough awards to stuff a piñata, and many of the stories that earned him those awards are in this book. Sure, there are others that I wish were also in here. Any Ellison fan could give you a similar list. But I certainly can't fault any of the ones in this book. They do a fine job of conveying the depth and breadth of his talents.
It feels … off to me to be reading an Ellison book with no introductions and/or afterwords for each story. Harlan talking *about* his work can be at least as entertaining as the work itself. Obviously, there are good and sufficient reasons why there are no new introductions for this book. But surely at least some of the older ones could have been reprinted? Yes, we get introductory essays by three different writers–all definitely worth reading, I should point out--but it's just not … it just feels incomplete without the full force of Harlan's personality framing his work.
It also would have been nice to have some of his essays from An Edge In My Voice, The Harlan Ellison Hornbook, Harlan Ellison's Watching, or the Glass Teat books. He was at least as fine an essayist as he was a writer of fiction. I suppose that would have made the book too long? Maybe it's time for a new edition of–or companion volume to–Sleepless Nights In the Procrustean Bed …
Also, if you're an Ellison fan, especially one of long standing, you've probably read at least most of these stories already. Of course, by the same token, if you're a fan, this is a new Ellison book that you possibly don't already have …
Overall, this is an excellent book, particularly if you're new to Ellison's work. From my experience, his books are difficult to find on the secondary market, particularly the older ones, and they tend to be expensive when you do find them. Reading this book will give you an idea of just why that's so. Highly recommended!
If you've never read Harlan Ellison before, you're in for a treat. Over the course of his career, he accumulated enough awards to stuff a piñata, and many of the stories that earned him those awards are in this book. Sure, there are others that I wish were also in here. Any Ellison fan could give you a similar list. But I certainly can't fault any of the ones in this book. They do a fine job of conveying the depth and breadth of his talents.
It feels … off to me to be reading an Ellison book with no introductions and/or afterwords for each story. Harlan talking *about* his work can be at least as entertaining as the work itself. Obviously, there are good and sufficient reasons why there are no new introductions for this book. But surely at least some of the older ones could have been reprinted? Yes, we get introductory essays by three different writers–all definitely worth reading, I should point out--but it's just not … it just feels incomplete without the full force of Harlan's personality framing his work.
It also would have been nice to have some of his essays from An Edge In My Voice, The Harlan Ellison Hornbook, Harlan Ellison's Watching, or the Glass Teat books. He was at least as fine an essayist as he was a writer of fiction. I suppose that would have made the book too long? Maybe it's time for a new edition of–or companion volume to–Sleepless Nights In the Procrustean Bed …
Also, if you're an Ellison fan, especially one of long standing, you've probably read at least most of these stories already. Of course, by the same token, if you're a fan, this is a new Ellison book that you possibly don't already have …
Overall, this is an excellent book, particularly if you're new to Ellison's work. From my experience, his books are difficult to find on the secondary market, particularly the older ones, and they tend to be expensive when you do find them. Reading this book will give you an idea of just why that's so. Highly recommended!
Currently reading
January 8, 2025My notes so far:
The writing style is a little outdated, cumbersome, filled with long and winding sentences, metaphors, invented words, but the tackled themes and the messages that the author transmits are very interesting.
"Repent, Harlequin, said the Ticktock Man" • 3★ • about conformity and individuality; about blind obedience to systems; about the fact that we shouldn't be the slaves of time, but time a tool for us.
"I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" • 3★ • a harrowing singularity story, about the horror of eternal torment, the helplessness one feels when trapped in such a nightmarish situation, but also about the courage and self sacrifice that one's capable of to help others.
"The Deathbird" • 4+★ • deals with myth and religion, coming up with a different and unique perspective about the creation story, the end of the world and the possibility of rebirth. Made me think of the tramcar dilemma (or trolley problem) because of the difficult choice it imposes on the main character, and the required responsibility and moral weight to choose something for the greater good.
"Chatting with Anubis" • 2.5★ • about the meaning of life and death, and the human fascination with death and afterlife.
"The Whimper of Whipped Dogs" • 3.5★ • a story about societal indifference and moral decay in a society that accepts violence.
"Jeffty Is Five" • 3★ • nice story about nostalgia for past times (although it has so many references to old shows that are most likely specific to America, so double miss for me).
"Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes" • 4+★ • a story with 2 PoVs and supernatural influences, about luck, obsession and desperation; the characters are morally ambiguous.
"Shatterday" • 5★ • about self-awareness and the concept of identity, the consequences of our actions, about how we can change in better-selves if only we analyze and figure what we could do better.
"Mefisto in Onyx" • x★ •
"On the Downhill Side" • x★ •
"The Passage of Time" • x★ •
"The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World" • x★ •
"I'm Looking for Kadak" • x★ •
"How Interesting: A Tiny Man" • x★ •
"Djinn, No Chaser" • x★ •
"How's the Night Life on Cissalda?" • x★ •
"From A to Z, in the Chocolate Alphabet" • x★ •
"Eidolons" • x★ •
"All the Lies That Are My Life" • x★ •
The writing style is a little outdated, cumbersome, filled with long and winding sentences, metaphors, invented words, but the tackled themes and the messages that the author transmits are very interesting.
"Repent, Harlequin, said the Ticktock Man" • 3★ • about conformity and individuality; about blind obedience to systems; about the fact that we shouldn't be the slaves of time, but time a tool for us.
"I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" • 3★ • a harrowing singularity story, about the horror of eternal torment, the helplessness one feels when trapped in such a nightmarish situation, but also about the courage and self sacrifice that one's capable of to help others.
"The Deathbird" • 4+★ • deals with myth and religion, coming up with a different and unique perspective about the creation story, the end of the world and the possibility of rebirth. Made me think of the tramcar dilemma (or trolley problem) because of the difficult choice it imposes on the main character, and the required responsibility and moral weight to choose something for the greater good.
"Chatting with Anubis" • 2.5★ • about the meaning of life and death, and the human fascination with death and afterlife.
"The Whimper of Whipped Dogs" • 3.5★ • a story about societal indifference and moral decay in a society that accepts violence.
"Jeffty Is Five" • 3★ • nice story about nostalgia for past times (although it has so many references to old shows that are most likely specific to America, so double miss for me).
"Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes" • 4+★ • a story with 2 PoVs and supernatural influences, about luck, obsession and desperation; the characters are morally ambiguous.
"Shatterday" • 5★ • about self-awareness and the concept of identity, the consequences of our actions, about how we can change in better-selves if only we analyze and figure what we could do better.
"Mefisto in Onyx" • x★ •
"On the Downhill Side" • x★ •
"The Passage of Time" • x★ •
"The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World" • x★ •
"I'm Looking for Kadak" • x★ •
"How Interesting: A Tiny Man" • x★ •
"Djinn, No Chaser" • x★ •
"How's the Night Life on Cissalda?" • x★ •
"From A to Z, in the Chocolate Alphabet" • x★ •
"Eidolons" • x★ •
"All the Lies That Are My Life" • x★ •
April 6, 2024
GREATEST HITS by Harlan Ellison
Published: March 26,2024 by Union Square & Co
Page Count: 496
The title says it all. Collected into one volume are hand-picked short story gems over the course of Harlan Ellison’s prolific career. If not Award Winners ( like Hugo, Nebula, Bram Stoker) they have been nominated for these awards. Presented by an insightful foreword by Neil Gaiman, these hand picked stories are culled from his prestigious output by his friend and executor of his estate, the wonderful writer, J Michael Straczynski. Horror writer, Casandra Khaw provides a wonderful introduction. This collection is an excellent starting point for new readers, as well as old fans, who want to revel once again in his amazing oeuvre. There are no stinkers here … all are great to amazing.
The following few are some of my personal favorites:
“I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream” (1966) …. An amazing prediction and discussion of current thoughts and disputes regarding artificial intelligence
“Mefisto In Onyx” (1993) … a mind reader applies his skill to a mass murderer”
“Jeffty Is Five” (1977) …. He never grows old and has the ability to access on his radio current
episodes of programs cancelled a long time ago
“Paladin of the Last Hour” (19896) …. the story source of a great episode of The Twilight Zone
“Repent Harlequin, Said TheTicktockman” (1966) …. In a dystopian world “wasting time” is a capital offense
Ellison was a prolific writer of speculative fiction, who carefully chose his words … often to express his opinions regarding both social and political issues. He frequently veered into many controversial and current issues; censorship, misogyny, racism, corporate greed, exploitation of artists, and even political corruption. His words were sometimes whimsical, but always vibrant and thought provoking. This is an excellent primer to explore his genius.
Thanks to NetGalley and Union Square & Co for providing an Uncorrected Proof in exchange for an honest review. Harlan is sorely missed for his many insightful stories.
Published: March 26,2024 by Union Square & Co
Page Count: 496
The title says it all. Collected into one volume are hand-picked short story gems over the course of Harlan Ellison’s prolific career. If not Award Winners ( like Hugo, Nebula, Bram Stoker) they have been nominated for these awards. Presented by an insightful foreword by Neil Gaiman, these hand picked stories are culled from his prestigious output by his friend and executor of his estate, the wonderful writer, J Michael Straczynski. Horror writer, Casandra Khaw provides a wonderful introduction. This collection is an excellent starting point for new readers, as well as old fans, who want to revel once again in his amazing oeuvre. There are no stinkers here … all are great to amazing.
The following few are some of my personal favorites:
“I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream” (1966) …. An amazing prediction and discussion of current thoughts and disputes regarding artificial intelligence
“Mefisto In Onyx” (1993) … a mind reader applies his skill to a mass murderer”
“Jeffty Is Five” (1977) …. He never grows old and has the ability to access on his radio current
episodes of programs cancelled a long time ago
“Paladin of the Last Hour” (19896) …. the story source of a great episode of The Twilight Zone
“Repent Harlequin, Said TheTicktockman” (1966) …. In a dystopian world “wasting time” is a capital offense
Ellison was a prolific writer of speculative fiction, who carefully chose his words … often to express his opinions regarding both social and political issues. He frequently veered into many controversial and current issues; censorship, misogyny, racism, corporate greed, exploitation of artists, and even political corruption. His words were sometimes whimsical, but always vibrant and thought provoking. This is an excellent primer to explore his genius.
Thanks to NetGalley and Union Square & Co for providing an Uncorrected Proof in exchange for an honest review. Harlan is sorely missed for his many insightful stories.
September 9, 2025
I knew about this author from TV productions and other authors who kept referring to his work. Therefore, it was only natural that I had to read some of his works and this new collection promised to have the best of the best.
The book was divided into five themes:
1) Angry Gods
2) Lost Souls
3) The Passage of Time
4) The Lighter Side
5) The Last Word
Each of the sections / chapters - whatever you wanna call them - had four or five stories, except for the last. For a quick summary / impression of the individual stories, please see my status updates (I posted one for each story).
This collection started incredibly strong, then plateaued, but still had some gems. It wasn't awesome, but always weird and/or interesting, and the writing very good most of the time.
And no, that is not why it took me so long to finish this book (I had started it with the plan of reading one story a month but that proved to be too much of a commitment while it was also too much of a drag, if that makes sense?).
However, it's that ambiguity that puts me in a tough spot. Technically, it's somewhere between a 3 and a 4 star rating - do I round up for the sometimes unusual ideas or down because some were definitely overrated (and in those, so was the writing itself)? For now, I think, I'll round up.
The book was divided into five themes:
1) Angry Gods
2) Lost Souls
3) The Passage of Time
4) The Lighter Side
5) The Last Word
Each of the sections / chapters - whatever you wanna call them - had four or five stories, except for the last. For a quick summary / impression of the individual stories, please see my status updates (I posted one for each story).
This collection started incredibly strong, then plateaued, but still had some gems. It wasn't awesome, but always weird and/or interesting, and the writing very good most of the time.
And no, that is not why it took me so long to finish this book (I had started it with the plan of reading one story a month but that proved to be too much of a commitment while it was also too much of a drag, if that makes sense?).
However, it's that ambiguity that puts me in a tough spot. Technically, it's somewhere between a 3 and a 4 star rating - do I round up for the sometimes unusual ideas or down because some were definitely overrated (and in those, so was the writing itself)? For now, I think, I'll round up.
May 11, 2024
A collection of short stories, many of them award winning by Harlan Ellison. A found some of these absolutely brilliant (‘Shatterday’, ‘Mephisto in Onyx’ and ‘Passage of Time’) and others just were mildly amusing or I didn’t understand. The stories range from humour to hard science fiction, to time travel and aliens. It’s an entertaining read and probably a good cross section of his work.
November 26, 2024
Classic Ellison, now in a special snowflake edition!
I was so happy to see new Ellison editions on the shelves at Barnes & Noble. And not like those cheap reprints we had some years back that all had the same picture of Harlan on the cover - properly packaged and designed books. Real cover art (evocative of the surreal 60s & 70s), matte finish and French flaps. Lovely. Even though I had read all but one of the stories within, I was happy to purchase it. Got to show the bookstores and publishers that there is interest (it's not the first time I've done it), and anyway I was due for a re-read.
Then I flipped through it, and the Deathbird closed its wings over my joy until all that remained was a dead cinder.
The book has trigger warnings. Or content warnings, if you prefer. And not just one at the beginning, but another before a particular story. The second one is, perhaps, worse, as it suggests Ellison was a clueless, out-of-touch old man who didn't know what he was doing. He knew what he was doing. Editor J. Michael Straczynski has defended this choice in a number of ways. He said that it was the only way to get the book published and into school libraries. Was that really the goal? Years ago there was another Ellison collection called Troublemakers which was tailored specifically to that purpose. It contained stories that were "tamer" as far as language went. I don't know if that book made it into any school libraries, but I don't think that should have been the aim of this collection. J. also said that Ellison himself included warnings in his books. The only I can think of is the one at the front of Deathbird Stories, which cautions the reader not to consume too much in one sitting, due to the strong emotional content. I don't think this was the same thing at all. Ellison would never have talked down to his readers this way. He expected them to meet him at his level, and if they couldn't, well, that was on them.
The book has three introductory pieces, for some reason. Neil Gaiman's, which is partially reprinted from one he wrote in the early 90s, is perfect and all the book needed. J.M.S. adds a preface which embarrassingly tries to ape Ellison's manic style. He assumes most folks picking up this volume will have never heard of Ellison before. I'm not sure that's true. Worse is the piece by Cassandra Khaw, in which she inexplicably misremembers details about a couple stories and uses the space to castigate the deceased author for his treatment of women both in his stories and in real life. When Ms. Khaw is 80, I'd like to see a transcript of her life showing that she never made any mistakes with anyone.
Finally, the text has been subtly altered. Here's an egregious example, from "Paladin of the Lost Hour":
One of these men was Black. The other was white.
Do you see? The word "black" is capitalized (as it is throughout the volume), while "white," describing the same aspect of a person, is not. I wonder what the intent is here? Harlan was notoriously particular about his text. I don't think he would have been happy about this.
At this point, I can imagine Harlan's ashes whipping themselves up into an ominous dust-devil...
The stories themselves? Well, as any music lover knows, an artist's greatest works are often not the popular hits. But the idea here was to present the award winners, so I can understand the selection (although there are a few included that did not win an award.) But it does mean the stories are hit and miss (for me, at least.)
I still think "The Deathbird" is his magnum opus. A cosmic saga the spans from the time before man to its absolute end, interspersed with metafictional asides, it is nothing short of mind-blowing. The story about Ahbhu always makes me cry.
Other favorites include:
"I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream," in which the last handful of humans are endlessly tortured by a mad, nearly omnipotent supercomputer.
"Shatterday," in which a man accidentally dials his own home phone number to find it answered by... himself. A perfect story to be adapted for the premier episode of the revived 1980s Twilight Zone television series.
"Paladin of the Lost Hour": An old man is the guardian of a very special timepiece - but his own time is coming to an end. This was also done as a TZ episode.
"From A to Z, in the Chocolate Alphabet": 26 micro-stories, one for each letter. And as with a box of chocolates you can't eat just one. This is a brilliant, underrated (at least, I never seem to see anyone talk about it) work and one of my all-time favorites. It did not win an award, but I was happy to see it here.
Some stories, on the other hand, did not hold up for me on this re-read. "I'm Looking for Kadak" is unreadable to me now. But the biggest disappointment was "Mefisto in Onyx," because I remember thinking it was amazing when I read it in a previous collection. Mainly, I remembered it had a wicked twist (which it turned out I was actually misremembering.) It is about a black man who has the ability to enter others' minds. He is asked by an old friend to save a death row inmate who she is certain is innocent by psychically uncovering the truth. The main character is a victim complex who blames his life's failure on a "racist country." It's ironic that the warning before this story says that it wouldn't be written this way today, when in fact it sounds exactly as if had been written today, probably by someone named Kendi, or Coates, or Peele. The guy is so race-obsessed he never stops banging on about it. For this reason, and also that the twist just didn't work for me this time round, I found it did not age well for me.
The one new (to me) story, "How Interesting: A Tiny Man" did nothing for me. It seems to be an allegory for the public's mistrust or disdain for science. But not everything science gives us is wonderful; it has also created much horror. And we've seen in the last few years what "trusting the science" can do. So unless I'm missing the point, it just doesn't work.
I won't be keeping this volume in my collection. For one thing, most of it is redundant. It's such a shame that an opportunity to bring a great but neglected writer back into the public view was fumbled so badly. J.M.S., you have failed your friend.
I was so happy to see new Ellison editions on the shelves at Barnes & Noble. And not like those cheap reprints we had some years back that all had the same picture of Harlan on the cover - properly packaged and designed books. Real cover art (evocative of the surreal 60s & 70s), matte finish and French flaps. Lovely. Even though I had read all but one of the stories within, I was happy to purchase it. Got to show the bookstores and publishers that there is interest (it's not the first time I've done it), and anyway I was due for a re-read.
Then I flipped through it, and the Deathbird closed its wings over my joy until all that remained was a dead cinder.
The book has trigger warnings. Or content warnings, if you prefer. And not just one at the beginning, but another before a particular story. The second one is, perhaps, worse, as it suggests Ellison was a clueless, out-of-touch old man who didn't know what he was doing. He knew what he was doing. Editor J. Michael Straczynski has defended this choice in a number of ways. He said that it was the only way to get the book published and into school libraries. Was that really the goal? Years ago there was another Ellison collection called Troublemakers which was tailored specifically to that purpose. It contained stories that were "tamer" as far as language went. I don't know if that book made it into any school libraries, but I don't think that should have been the aim of this collection. J. also said that Ellison himself included warnings in his books. The only I can think of is the one at the front of Deathbird Stories, which cautions the reader not to consume too much in one sitting, due to the strong emotional content. I don't think this was the same thing at all. Ellison would never have talked down to his readers this way. He expected them to meet him at his level, and if they couldn't, well, that was on them.
The book has three introductory pieces, for some reason. Neil Gaiman's, which is partially reprinted from one he wrote in the early 90s, is perfect and all the book needed. J.M.S. adds a preface which embarrassingly tries to ape Ellison's manic style. He assumes most folks picking up this volume will have never heard of Ellison before. I'm not sure that's true. Worse is the piece by Cassandra Khaw, in which she inexplicably misremembers details about a couple stories and uses the space to castigate the deceased author for his treatment of women both in his stories and in real life. When Ms. Khaw is 80, I'd like to see a transcript of her life showing that she never made any mistakes with anyone.
Finally, the text has been subtly altered. Here's an egregious example, from "Paladin of the Lost Hour":
One of these men was Black. The other was white.
Do you see? The word "black" is capitalized (as it is throughout the volume), while "white," describing the same aspect of a person, is not. I wonder what the intent is here? Harlan was notoriously particular about his text. I don't think he would have been happy about this.
At this point, I can imagine Harlan's ashes whipping themselves up into an ominous dust-devil...
The stories themselves? Well, as any music lover knows, an artist's greatest works are often not the popular hits. But the idea here was to present the award winners, so I can understand the selection (although there are a few included that did not win an award.) But it does mean the stories are hit and miss (for me, at least.)
I still think "The Deathbird" is his magnum opus. A cosmic saga the spans from the time before man to its absolute end, interspersed with metafictional asides, it is nothing short of mind-blowing. The story about Ahbhu always makes me cry.
Other favorites include:
"I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream," in which the last handful of humans are endlessly tortured by a mad, nearly omnipotent supercomputer.
"Shatterday," in which a man accidentally dials his own home phone number to find it answered by... himself. A perfect story to be adapted for the premier episode of the revived 1980s Twilight Zone television series.
"Paladin of the Lost Hour": An old man is the guardian of a very special timepiece - but his own time is coming to an end. This was also done as a TZ episode.
"From A to Z, in the Chocolate Alphabet": 26 micro-stories, one for each letter. And as with a box of chocolates you can't eat just one. This is a brilliant, underrated (at least, I never seem to see anyone talk about it) work and one of my all-time favorites. It did not win an award, but I was happy to see it here.
Some stories, on the other hand, did not hold up for me on this re-read. "I'm Looking for Kadak" is unreadable to me now. But the biggest disappointment was "Mefisto in Onyx," because I remember thinking it was amazing when I read it in a previous collection. Mainly, I remembered it had a wicked twist (which it turned out I was actually misremembering.) It is about a black man who has the ability to enter others' minds. He is asked by an old friend to save a death row inmate who she is certain is innocent by psychically uncovering the truth. The main character is a victim complex who blames his life's failure on a "racist country." It's ironic that the warning before this story says that it wouldn't be written this way today, when in fact it sounds exactly as if had been written today, probably by someone named Kendi, or Coates, or Peele. The guy is so race-obsessed he never stops banging on about it. For this reason, and also that the twist just didn't work for me this time round, I found it did not age well for me.
The one new (to me) story, "How Interesting: A Tiny Man" did nothing for me. It seems to be an allegory for the public's mistrust or disdain for science. But not everything science gives us is wonderful; it has also created much horror. And we've seen in the last few years what "trusting the science" can do. So unless I'm missing the point, it just doesn't work.
I won't be keeping this volume in my collection. For one thing, most of it is redundant. It's such a shame that an opportunity to bring a great but neglected writer back into the public view was fumbled so badly. J.M.S., you have failed your friend.
March 21, 2024
3.5 rounded up.
I've heard of, but never read Harlan Ellison before, so I figured a collection called Greatest Hits would be a great place to start. The book is broken up into four sections each containing stories with that theme. I liked this, as it gave me a chance to read a few stories that showed different ways in which he wrote books under that theme. As with all short story collections, some of these were hits, some were misses, and some were just ok. I don't believe anyone is going to like every story in a collection like this.
For me, it took a little bit to get used to Ellison's writing style, and when I did, I liked many of the stories better. There were a few I didn't like and a couple I lived, but overall, many of these were just ok. It's not that they were poorly written, because they aren't, I just didn't connect with them, or I wanted more. The few I didn't like, I felt were all over the place and I wasn't sure what was happening and I had to look them up to see what exactly I just read. My favorites were Mefisto in Onyx and Paladin of the Lost Hour. I also enjoyed the Introduction and Foreward that paid tribute to Mr. Ellison.
My thanks to Union Square & Co. and NetGalley for gifting me a digital copy of this book. My opinions are my own.
I've heard of, but never read Harlan Ellison before, so I figured a collection called Greatest Hits would be a great place to start. The book is broken up into four sections each containing stories with that theme. I liked this, as it gave me a chance to read a few stories that showed different ways in which he wrote books under that theme. As with all short story collections, some of these were hits, some were misses, and some were just ok. I don't believe anyone is going to like every story in a collection like this.
For me, it took a little bit to get used to Ellison's writing style, and when I did, I liked many of the stories better. There were a few I didn't like and a couple I lived, but overall, many of these were just ok. It's not that they were poorly written, because they aren't, I just didn't connect with them, or I wanted more. The few I didn't like, I felt were all over the place and I wasn't sure what was happening and I had to look them up to see what exactly I just read. My favorites were Mefisto in Onyx and Paladin of the Lost Hour. I also enjoyed the Introduction and Foreward that paid tribute to Mr. Ellison.
My thanks to Union Square & Co. and NetGalley for gifting me a digital copy of this book. My opinions are my own.
January 9, 2025
DNF. The writing is technically good. The narratives haven't grabbed me. I might not be in the right mood for this one.
December 10, 2025
I only read the short story I HAVE NO MOUTH AND I MUST SCREAM. It kept popping up on lists with titles such as "most disturbing, dark, or strange," and I've always wanted to read it. It was certainly a bleak story, but there wasn't enough there - it wasn't long enough - for me to actually feel disturbed. I wish I saw more of the ways AM hurt Ted and his companions. I was especially interested in the way it mentally manipulated them and communicated with them. I also wish I knew more about them individually and what their life was like before they were captured. We only got information on Benny and a little on Gorrister, but it wasn't enough.
What I was truly fascinated by was the entity known as AM. To be all-knowing and all-powerful; almost, but not quite, godlike in its ability to seemingly manipulate space, matter, and time... and nothing to do with said knowledge and power except come up with creative ways to torment 5 humans? No wonder he (or it) was so angry. What's the point in existing? That's where the bleakness comes in. What's the point in ANY of it? 4 stars for the food for thought.
*I absolutely plan on reading the other stories and will update this review once I do.
What I was truly fascinated by was the entity known as AM. To be all-knowing and all-powerful; almost, but not quite, godlike in its ability to seemingly manipulate space, matter, and time... and nothing to do with said knowledge and power except come up with creative ways to torment 5 humans? No wonder he (or it) was so angry. What's the point in existing? That's where the bleakness comes in. What's the point in ANY of it? 4 stars for the food for thought.
*I absolutely plan on reading the other stories and will update this review once I do.
May 22, 2024
I struggle to think of what to say about this collection. I was sad to reach the end. It was my first foray into Ellison's writing, but it will not be the last.
Not every story was a banger, but every single one of them had something special. Overall, just an incredible spectrum of a lifetime's work from a unique individual.
Not every story was a banger, but every single one of them had something special. Overall, just an incredible spectrum of a lifetime's work from a unique individual.
Want to read
January 29, 2024Harlan Ellison was a genius. I first heard of him through Star Trek, which I love to this day. Just now, I read trivia on him on IMDB and found out yet more hilarious stories about him. He was quite an unusual man, and it shows in his stories. This stuff is OUT THERE. I’d love to be able to get outside his mind and find out what made him tick.
You can’t ever accuse Ellison of being boring. I guarantee you will come away from this book smarter and more introspective. It’s well-worth a read.
I do want to mention that I immensely disliked the story based on Kitty Genovese. Growing up, my mom encouraged us to say we “disliked [something] immensely” because “hate” was a strong word. Mom, I intensely and immensely disliked that short story. En gran manera, even.
However, my worldviews have been expanded, and my mind is flooded with ideas after reading this collection. It’s phenomenal. I would say that I wish I had met the man, the myth, the legend himself, but after reading about him, I think I’ll avoid the vitriol I would have received had I visited or called him. 😉😂
My thanks to NetGalley and Union Square & Co. for an eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
You can’t ever accuse Ellison of being boring. I guarantee you will come away from this book smarter and more introspective. It’s well-worth a read.
I do want to mention that I immensely disliked the story based on Kitty Genovese. Growing up, my mom encouraged us to say we “disliked [something] immensely” because “hate” was a strong word. Mom, I intensely and immensely disliked that short story. En gran manera, even.
However, my worldviews have been expanded, and my mind is flooded with ideas after reading this collection. It’s phenomenal. I would say that I wish I had met the man, the myth, the legend himself, but after reading about him, I think I’ll avoid the vitriol I would have received had I visited or called him. 😉😂
My thanks to NetGalley and Union Square & Co. for an eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
May 15, 2024
I could never objectively rate this, or any other book Harlan wrote. He is my best friend that I’ll never meet. Someone else will have to point out the flaws. I couldn’t do it if I tried.
April 10, 2025
I have been wanting to read Ellison for decades, always kept putting it off for something else. I found this collection of his most notable stories recently in a bookstore, and decided to finally give it a go. Beginning with one of his stories so famous I already had heard about it from a bunch of people who read it (“I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream”), and extending throughout my reading experience, what I felt was a slight disappointment. I say slight because that and most of the other stories are very solid, well-written, imaginative and interesting. Part of it could be how he has been presented to me all of my life by those who have read him, mostly in the form of gushing recommendations and adjectives such as “revelatory.”
What I found was something quite a bit less than revelatory. Still good, just not what I had expected. With the notable exceptions of “The Deathbird” and “The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World,” both of which I loved.
What I found was something quite a bit less than revelatory. Still good, just not what I had expected. With the notable exceptions of “The Deathbird” and “The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World,” both of which I loved.
January 27, 2024
AS sson as I saw that the foreword was by Neil Gaiman, I knew I needed to read this book and I am so glad I did. I had not heard of Harlan Ellison before, and I am so glad to have been introduced to such a profilific figure in the world of speculative fiction and screenwriting.
Not only does the book begin with a foreword from Gaiman, but praise from a litany of the greatest writers of our time
Favourite short stories in this anthology are "Djinn, No Chaser" and "How Interesting: A Tiny Man". It did take a while to get into Ellisons writing style, which is very much screenplay style, but once you do, the stories are absolutely unputdownable
I am inspired to get more of Ellisons work as this compendium was fantastic
Thank you to NetGalley for the fantastic eARC. The review is left voluntarily
Not only does the book begin with a foreword from Gaiman, but praise from a litany of the greatest writers of our time
Favourite short stories in this anthology are "Djinn, No Chaser" and "How Interesting: A Tiny Man". It did take a while to get into Ellisons writing style, which is very much screenplay style, but once you do, the stories are absolutely unputdownable
I am inspired to get more of Ellisons work as this compendium was fantastic
Thank you to NetGalley for the fantastic eARC. The review is left voluntarily
August 12, 2024
Can’t believe I’ve been out in the wild recommending short story collections NOT by Harlan Ellison for so long!! Obviously his most popular ones (I Have No Mouth, Repent Harlequin, Mefisto in Onyx etc) are the most banger, but overall the whole collection did a great job of emphasizing both his disdain of being forced into a genre and love of the weird and otherworldly. Very Stephen King, if he was still snorting the same stuff he wrote It on (minus the child orgy). Favorite you ask? Paladin of the Lost Hour, simple and heartbreaking. LEAST favorite? On the Downhill Side, I read it twice and still couldn’t find the point 😐
June 17, 2025
I’ll put this simply and bluntly: that was an effing good book.
I wish I was introduced to Harlan Ellison sooner.
I wish I was introduced to Harlan Ellison sooner.
July 29, 2024
4.5 ⭐ Some of the stories here are one of the best short stories I've ever read. The imagination and style are just excellent 👌
Read
March 14, 2024The preface, by Ellison's executor J. Michael Straczynski, is aimed at the reader unfamiliar with his work; the foreword, by Neil Gaiman, a little less so. Both are still worth reading - they have anecdotes I didn't know about someone who seems to be the star of a limitless fund of them. But I am not that curious newcomer, meaning I didn't read everything here this time around. I got to I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream and "Repent, Harlequin," Said The Ticktockman early enough that I don't need to inhale them again, though I'm sure they'd still fizz if I did; I made it through Deathbird Stories a year or two back, so with those it was more that I couldn't bear to revisit. As such, I can't tell you what it would be like to read Greatest Hits right through - and isn't that at once an ingenious and a slightly outdated name for a book? - let alone to do so as its intended audience. But from the stories I did read, some of them not for the first time, what struck me as much as anything were the times Ellison wasn't being Ellison, the spiky bastard Star Trek immortalised as the deranged McCoy when it mangled his script and still made its one great episode, the poet-incendiary whose language splinters on impact for maximum penetration. Because that was a thing he could do, brilliantly, but he wasn't just that thing. Jeffty Is Five, say, with its childhood friend who stays a child while the narrator is weighed down by all the disillusions of adulthood, feels like something Ray Bradbury might have dreamed, and its resentful awareness of how fiercely the Present begrudges the Past even carries a whisper or Dunsany. Not that these chameleon moments always come off, admittedly - On The Downhill Side is one of the more puzzling inclusions, feeling like a story Peter Beagle could have pulled off but which really doesn't play to Ellison's strengths.
Elsewhere, though, there's plenty of core Ellison. The Beast That Shouted Love At The Heart Of The World is one I did reread, with the difference this time that Omelas has a much bigger cultural footprint now than whenever the last time was, which feels unfair when this did the central dilemma four years earlier, and with a much closer parallel to real world injustice, but also - silly Harlan! - much more pyrotechnically, and gleefully, and without that desperate earnestness which always improves SF's odds of crossing over. How’s the Night Life on Cissalda? can't claim prescience in the same way, coming five years after Tiptree's And I Awoke And Found Me Here On The Cold Hill's Side, and playing a similar concept for laughs. But its opening sentence is impressive: "When they unscrewed the time capsule, preparatory to helping temponaut Enoch Mirren to disembark, they found him doing a disgusting thing with a disgusting thing." So is the fact that it hasn't been suppressed either then or now for its enthusiastic catalogue of hypothetical libels, at least one of whose subjects is a byword for vigorous reputation management attempts. At the other extreme, How Interesting: A Tiny Man reminds us that Ellison made it closer to now than one necessarily recalls, not just through its mention of "handheld repugnancies" and fable of resurgent mob mentality, but by referencing Kanye West (though bracketing him with Black Sabbath, now quite rightly suing the arsehole, reminds us that it has been a few years still).
So is this really the greatest? Don't ask me; sure, I've read Ellison before, but nothing like everything, and in particular I have no grasp at all of the more recent work so couldn't begin to tell you whether better choices were available there. But as a survey and introduction, containing a decent quantity of the unimpeachable classics, at the very least it's sound. Although I do think the attempt at organisation by theme was a fool's errand; the categories Angry Gods, Lost Souls and The Passage Of Time inevitably overlap, and what kind of illustration of The Lighter Side is a story where a toymaker has captured everyone who ever died in vain on every battlefield in history? But one choice which comes off perfectly is ending with The Last Word, which contains only one tale, the longest here, All The Lies That Are My Life. A farewell to a remarkable, infuriating writer, it couldn't be a more apt conclusion, and somehow brought home to me both that Ellison's gone, and that he'll be hanging around for a good while yet.
(Netgalley ARC)
Elsewhere, though, there's plenty of core Ellison. The Beast That Shouted Love At The Heart Of The World is one I did reread, with the difference this time that Omelas has a much bigger cultural footprint now than whenever the last time was, which feels unfair when this did the central dilemma four years earlier, and with a much closer parallel to real world injustice, but also - silly Harlan! - much more pyrotechnically, and gleefully, and without that desperate earnestness which always improves SF's odds of crossing over. How’s the Night Life on Cissalda? can't claim prescience in the same way, coming five years after Tiptree's And I Awoke And Found Me Here On The Cold Hill's Side, and playing a similar concept for laughs. But its opening sentence is impressive: "When they unscrewed the time capsule, preparatory to helping temponaut Enoch Mirren to disembark, they found him doing a disgusting thing with a disgusting thing." So is the fact that it hasn't been suppressed either then or now for its enthusiastic catalogue of hypothetical libels, at least one of whose subjects is a byword for vigorous reputation management attempts. At the other extreme, How Interesting: A Tiny Man reminds us that Ellison made it closer to now than one necessarily recalls, not just through its mention of "handheld repugnancies" and fable of resurgent mob mentality, but by referencing Kanye West (though bracketing him with Black Sabbath, now quite rightly suing the arsehole, reminds us that it has been a few years still).
So is this really the greatest? Don't ask me; sure, I've read Ellison before, but nothing like everything, and in particular I have no grasp at all of the more recent work so couldn't begin to tell you whether better choices were available there. But as a survey and introduction, containing a decent quantity of the unimpeachable classics, at the very least it's sound. Although I do think the attempt at organisation by theme was a fool's errand; the categories Angry Gods, Lost Souls and The Passage Of Time inevitably overlap, and what kind of illustration of The Lighter Side is a story where a toymaker has captured everyone who ever died in vain on every battlefield in history? But one choice which comes off perfectly is ending with The Last Word, which contains only one tale, the longest here, All The Lies That Are My Life. A farewell to a remarkable, infuriating writer, it couldn't be a more apt conclusion, and somehow brought home to me both that Ellison's gone, and that he'll be hanging around for a good while yet.
(Netgalley ARC)
November 25, 2024
When you have a book with a title like “Greatest Hits” that promise better deliver. It’s a bold proclamation to make, regardless of who the author is. It’s a hubris that makes it almost impossible to live up to, forcing more contrarian readers (a.k.a. cynics) to drill through the text with their swords unsheathed, ready to rip apart the prose and bring shame to the title. “Greatest Hits” indeed. I (we, the cynics) will be the judge of that, good sir!
Yes, cynics love a book with a title that doesn’t live up to the name. The past time of tearing down the greats is an old one, and a favorite amongst the internet sages. Unfortunately for them (us) in this case, the title is earned.
“Greatest Hits” by Harlan Ellison truly lives up to the name. It’s a feast of literary treasures edited by Ellison’s longtime friend J. Michael Straczynski. It’s a collection of stories lovingly chosen to represent the very best Harlan Ellison was capable of as a writer. A giant amongst his peers, Ellison was a grumpy old bastard who was the antithesis of his work; not a lot of fun to be around and would probably piss you off at any given moment. But his work was where his humanity shined the brightest, with a creativity for speculative fiction that was unparalleled even to this day. The man was, for all intents and purposes, a genius in his field.
This collection has all of Ellison’s works that gained him literary acclaim broken into five parts. The first section called Angry Gods has some of his most notable short stories. “’Repent, Harlequin,’ Said the Ticktockman”, “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream”, and “The Deathbird” are all here, but so are some stories I’ve never heard of, like “Chatting with Anubis” and “The Whimper of Whipped Dogs”. The Lost Souls section has the classics “Jeffty Is Five”, “Shatterday”, and “Mefisto in Onyx” (a story so compelling I read it three times before moving on). The Passage of Time section has the masterpieces “Paladin of the Lost Hour”, and “The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World” but also have some wilder stories about Jewish space aliens (“I’m Looking for Kadak”) and a story about creating life and the world rejecting it (“How Interesting: A Tiny Man”).
It's akin to the Beatles: One album. It’s just banger after banger of quality sci-fi short story mastery. There’s even room for humor, with a story about space aliens that invade our planet by fucking every living creature on Earth to death (“How’s the Night Life on Cissalda?”). I mean, how can you not be intrigued by that? I read every story in this collection more than once before I finally shelved it. That’s how engrossing Ellison’s work can be when you dive in and let it consume you.
At this point you’re probably thinking thoughts akin to “I have no idea who this guy is” or “I’ve never heard of any of these stories.” Well, there’s a reason for all of that, which is why this collection is so important.
In the Preface Straczynski goes to great lengths to let the reader know what they’re about to get into, because most if not all of Ellison’s work has been out of print for some time. Ellison was very particular about how his stories were to be published and demanded that his work be treated with integrity, which clashed with publishers who really only cared about the bottom line. Because of this, Ellison put most of his work out in limited editions that gave him full control of the publishing but shortened their lifespan within the cultural zeitgeist.
This collection stands as a perfect introduction to who Harlan Ellison was as an artist, a thinker, and a person. A man of deep principles that put him at odds with pretty much everyone, Ellison didn’t shy away from a fight and his morals bleed through into his work. Highly recommend for every bookshelf that demands to be taken as a serious mantelpiece for literary excellence, or even a nice bathroom reader for when you need a good story in the best thinking place imaginable. Harlan Ellison should be more well known by this and future generations, and with this book in print, hopefully he will be again.
Yes, cynics love a book with a title that doesn’t live up to the name. The past time of tearing down the greats is an old one, and a favorite amongst the internet sages. Unfortunately for them (us) in this case, the title is earned.
“Greatest Hits” by Harlan Ellison truly lives up to the name. It’s a feast of literary treasures edited by Ellison’s longtime friend J. Michael Straczynski. It’s a collection of stories lovingly chosen to represent the very best Harlan Ellison was capable of as a writer. A giant amongst his peers, Ellison was a grumpy old bastard who was the antithesis of his work; not a lot of fun to be around and would probably piss you off at any given moment. But his work was where his humanity shined the brightest, with a creativity for speculative fiction that was unparalleled even to this day. The man was, for all intents and purposes, a genius in his field.
This collection has all of Ellison’s works that gained him literary acclaim broken into five parts. The first section called Angry Gods has some of his most notable short stories. “’Repent, Harlequin,’ Said the Ticktockman”, “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream”, and “The Deathbird” are all here, but so are some stories I’ve never heard of, like “Chatting with Anubis” and “The Whimper of Whipped Dogs”. The Lost Souls section has the classics “Jeffty Is Five”, “Shatterday”, and “Mefisto in Onyx” (a story so compelling I read it three times before moving on). The Passage of Time section has the masterpieces “Paladin of the Lost Hour”, and “The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World” but also have some wilder stories about Jewish space aliens (“I’m Looking for Kadak”) and a story about creating life and the world rejecting it (“How Interesting: A Tiny Man”).
It's akin to the Beatles: One album. It’s just banger after banger of quality sci-fi short story mastery. There’s even room for humor, with a story about space aliens that invade our planet by fucking every living creature on Earth to death (“How’s the Night Life on Cissalda?”). I mean, how can you not be intrigued by that? I read every story in this collection more than once before I finally shelved it. That’s how engrossing Ellison’s work can be when you dive in and let it consume you.
At this point you’re probably thinking thoughts akin to “I have no idea who this guy is” or “I’ve never heard of any of these stories.” Well, there’s a reason for all of that, which is why this collection is so important.
In the Preface Straczynski goes to great lengths to let the reader know what they’re about to get into, because most if not all of Ellison’s work has been out of print for some time. Ellison was very particular about how his stories were to be published and demanded that his work be treated with integrity, which clashed with publishers who really only cared about the bottom line. Because of this, Ellison put most of his work out in limited editions that gave him full control of the publishing but shortened their lifespan within the cultural zeitgeist.
This collection stands as a perfect introduction to who Harlan Ellison was as an artist, a thinker, and a person. A man of deep principles that put him at odds with pretty much everyone, Ellison didn’t shy away from a fight and his morals bleed through into his work. Highly recommend for every bookshelf that demands to be taken as a serious mantelpiece for literary excellence, or even a nice bathroom reader for when you need a good story in the best thinking place imaginable. Harlan Ellison should be more well known by this and future generations, and with this book in print, hopefully he will be again.
May 9, 2025
I would not read this again? I am glad I read it but some of it was hard to follow and even too weird for my taste?
July 10, 2025
Amazing short story collection. Great writing and very interesting and complex stories. Some of the stories are such a wild mind-fuck, that I immediately had to re-read them.
Although, I love short stories, I usually tend to forget the plots of them after a couple of days. Ellison's stories, however, still keep me thinking even after weeks and months after I read them for the first time.
Although, I love short stories, I usually tend to forget the plots of them after a couple of days. Ellison's stories, however, still keep me thinking even after weeks and months after I read them for the first time.
January 8, 2025
I grew up discovering Harlan Ellison somewhere around 1970; I was too young to appreciate him or his work, but I devoured it anyway. When Pyramid released some two dozen volumes of his work, I bought and read them all. I continued to read his works and watch movies and television shows he was involved in, and I eventually got to befriend him.
I mourn his passing and the loss of such a singular voice. So, when I saw that J. Michael Straczynski was bringing back Ellison's oeuvre to print, I was delighted. When this volume was released, I snatched it up and read it in dollops over the last few months, revisiting stories I hadn't read in years and encountering new ones.
It was a lovely experience, and I laughed and was moved and occasionally baffled by some of his vocabulary or digressions, but remained rapt.
If you do not know the man and his work, this is a great starting point.
I mourn his passing and the loss of such a singular voice. So, when I saw that J. Michael Straczynski was bringing back Ellison's oeuvre to print, I was delighted. When this volume was released, I snatched it up and read it in dollops over the last few months, revisiting stories I hadn't read in years and encountering new ones.
It was a lovely experience, and I laughed and was moved and occasionally baffled by some of his vocabulary or digressions, but remained rapt.
If you do not know the man and his work, this is a great starting point.
May 10, 2024
On balance I maintain this is one of the most important reprint projects of the year. Ellison’s work has been out of print for a number of years now (and even then it was only really available in cheap print on demand editions over the past decade or so) and given how quickly publishing moves that’s an easy way to totally vanish from the canon.
This is a wonderful intro to his work, what’s always been sold to me as the most seminal genre short story writer since Bradbury. The majority of the stories collected here really knocked my socks off, a couple of them (On the Downhill Side, The Beast that Shouted Love at the Heart of the World) haunted me for weeks, and one (The Deathbird) was maybe the best short story I’ve ever read. This stuff is that good.
I think there’s some stabs at comedy that don’t quite work and the material hasn’t aged as well socially as I might like. But art is just a snapshot of a time after all. Also I really wish it included A Boy and His Dog, maybe his most famous story. Still, a vital book. Very glad it exists.
This is a wonderful intro to his work, what’s always been sold to me as the most seminal genre short story writer since Bradbury. The majority of the stories collected here really knocked my socks off, a couple of them (On the Downhill Side, The Beast that Shouted Love at the Heart of the World) haunted me for weeks, and one (The Deathbird) was maybe the best short story I’ve ever read. This stuff is that good.
I think there’s some stabs at comedy that don’t quite work and the material hasn’t aged as well socially as I might like. But art is just a snapshot of a time after all. Also I really wish it included A Boy and His Dog, maybe his most famous story. Still, a vital book. Very glad it exists.
July 12, 2024
B+/A-
“Repent, Harlequin,” said the Ticktockman - A/A+ - Absurd and angsty, vaguely reminiscent of anti-capitalist art such as the movie They Live.
I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream - A/A+ - A haunting and supremely fucked up story, nightmarish, hellish, painful to read and envision. Does this take place in a simulation? Probably in the top ten of short stories I’ve read, top five for sci-fi.
The Deathbird - A/A+ - Another top ten all time for me, probably top three for sci-fi. I kept envisioning the story as being animated in the way that, say, Adventure Time is. Hallucinatory yet strangely straightforward.
Chatting with Anubis - B/B+ - Interesting and propulsive although ultimately not incredibly memorable.
The Whimper of Whipped Dogs - A-/A - Visceral and surreal. Almost a prose poem or a tone poem. The news wants you to think that we are all fucked up inside, that the world is a vile, dangerous place… and it is, it is, my friend.
Jeffty Is Five - A-/A - While enjoyable, this one wasn’t absolutely fantastic… surprising, given how beloved and acclaimed it is. Very nostalgic and kinda weirdly conservative.
Pretty Maggy Moneyeyes - B/B+ - Least favorite so far, but still pretty damn good. The execution of the story is far more interesting than the idea for the story.
Shatterday - D+/C- - Rather inconsequential and low-stakes. The idea for the story is far more interesting than the story itself.
Mefisto in Onyx - A-/A - Twisty and surprising at times, though not super believable. Pretty much just Dying Inside by Silverberg mixed with the Doro character from Butler’s Patternist series.
On the Downhill Side - F - Extremely purple prose. I was never really sure what exactly was going on or why I was supposed to care.
Paladin of the Lost Hour - B+/A- - I enjoyed this one, thought it was a solid story, but I also found it confusing.
The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World - A/A+ - I had to read this twice to feel like I was treading water rather than drowning. A very interesting and original idea for a story that’s mostly executed quite well.
I’m Looking For Kadak - A-/A - This story is disgusting at times and a bit like… twee or cutesy, but it’s a fun romp that self-consciously doesn’t take itself seriously.
How Interesting: A Tiny Man - C/C+ - I didn’t love this one but also didn’t hate it, though it is a bit dumb and inconsequential. The dual endings was an odd maneuver that I wasn’t a major fan of.
Djinn No Chaser - B/B+ - A cool take on the magic lamp trope. The beginning and middle of the story are better than the ending, which was a bit meh.
How’s the Night Life on Cissalda? - C-/C - Starts off really well and then just kinda goes nowhere. I really don’t want to know what the genesis of this story was tbh.
From A to Z, in the Chocolate Alphabet - B/B+ - Unsure how chocolate plays into the story tbh. Pretty much a mostly disconnected series of flash fiction pieces.
Eidolons - B-/B - I am totally unsure what to make of this one, also totally unsure if I understood it at all. The imagery is top notch though and the experimental nature of the story interested me a good amount.
All the Lies That Are My Life - B+/A- - Definitely meta to put this story at the end… but the story is basically literary fiction, not sci-fi, and doesn’t seem to really jive with the rest of the stories collected here. It did entertain me even if it was a bit too long.
Overall thoughts: I’m pretty sure I could tell a story was written by Ellison even if I read it without a byline. There are certain phrases and concepts he returns to over and over. His vocabulary and phrasing is also fairly consistent. He can be a bit too horny (or misogynistic and male gaze-y) for me, also a bit too curmudgeonly at times.
As with the only other Ellison book I’ve read (Ellison Wonderland), this book contains some of the best and some of the worst short stories I’ve ever come across. Ellison was definitely a genius when he was on… he just wasn’t consistent, notable given that it’s supposedly a greatest hits collection.
“Repent, Harlequin,” said the Ticktockman - A/A+ - Absurd and angsty, vaguely reminiscent of anti-capitalist art such as the movie They Live.
I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream - A/A+ - A haunting and supremely fucked up story, nightmarish, hellish, painful to read and envision. Does this take place in a simulation? Probably in the top ten of short stories I’ve read, top five for sci-fi.
The Deathbird - A/A+ - Another top ten all time for me, probably top three for sci-fi. I kept envisioning the story as being animated in the way that, say, Adventure Time is. Hallucinatory yet strangely straightforward.
Chatting with Anubis - B/B+ - Interesting and propulsive although ultimately not incredibly memorable.
The Whimper of Whipped Dogs - A-/A - Visceral and surreal. Almost a prose poem or a tone poem. The news wants you to think that we are all fucked up inside, that the world is a vile, dangerous place… and it is, it is, my friend.
Jeffty Is Five - A-/A - While enjoyable, this one wasn’t absolutely fantastic… surprising, given how beloved and acclaimed it is. Very nostalgic and kinda weirdly conservative.
Pretty Maggy Moneyeyes - B/B+ - Least favorite so far, but still pretty damn good. The execution of the story is far more interesting than the idea for the story.
Shatterday - D+/C- - Rather inconsequential and low-stakes. The idea for the story is far more interesting than the story itself.
Mefisto in Onyx - A-/A - Twisty and surprising at times, though not super believable. Pretty much just Dying Inside by Silverberg mixed with the Doro character from Butler’s Patternist series.
On the Downhill Side - F - Extremely purple prose. I was never really sure what exactly was going on or why I was supposed to care.
Paladin of the Lost Hour - B+/A- - I enjoyed this one, thought it was a solid story, but I also found it confusing.
The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World - A/A+ - I had to read this twice to feel like I was treading water rather than drowning. A very interesting and original idea for a story that’s mostly executed quite well.
I’m Looking For Kadak - A-/A - This story is disgusting at times and a bit like… twee or cutesy, but it’s a fun romp that self-consciously doesn’t take itself seriously.
How Interesting: A Tiny Man - C/C+ - I didn’t love this one but also didn’t hate it, though it is a bit dumb and inconsequential. The dual endings was an odd maneuver that I wasn’t a major fan of.
Djinn No Chaser - B/B+ - A cool take on the magic lamp trope. The beginning and middle of the story are better than the ending, which was a bit meh.
How’s the Night Life on Cissalda? - C-/C - Starts off really well and then just kinda goes nowhere. I really don’t want to know what the genesis of this story was tbh.
From A to Z, in the Chocolate Alphabet - B/B+ - Unsure how chocolate plays into the story tbh. Pretty much a mostly disconnected series of flash fiction pieces.
Eidolons - B-/B - I am totally unsure what to make of this one, also totally unsure if I understood it at all. The imagery is top notch though and the experimental nature of the story interested me a good amount.
All the Lies That Are My Life - B+/A- - Definitely meta to put this story at the end… but the story is basically literary fiction, not sci-fi, and doesn’t seem to really jive with the rest of the stories collected here. It did entertain me even if it was a bit too long.
Overall thoughts: I’m pretty sure I could tell a story was written by Ellison even if I read it without a byline. There are certain phrases and concepts he returns to over and over. His vocabulary and phrasing is also fairly consistent. He can be a bit too horny (or misogynistic and male gaze-y) for me, also a bit too curmudgeonly at times.
As with the only other Ellison book I’ve read (Ellison Wonderland), this book contains some of the best and some of the worst short stories I’ve ever come across. Ellison was definitely a genius when he was on… he just wasn’t consistent, notable given that it’s supposedly a greatest hits collection.
November 11, 2025
This is a collection of short stories, mainly from the 60s and 70s, though a couple are more recent. The collection is divided into five parts (Angry Gods, Lost Souls, the Passage of Time, The Lighter Side, and The Final Word.) The editor was clearly attempting to pull together a variety of Ellison's different styles, which leaves us with a somewhat mixed selection of stories (IMO.)
When Ellison writes science fiction or fantasy with a horror edge, the result is often very strong and potentially disturbing. However, toward the back half of this collection we start to get into stories that are meant to be more humorous and they largely didn't work for me.
My favourite stories in the collection were:
I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream -a classic. 1967's I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream is arguably the Harlan Ellison short story. Imagine being trapped inside the world of an artificial intelligence gone mad with power and seething in its hatred for humanity. The imagery is grotesque and chilling.
Somewhat ironically, this was released as a computer game in 1995.
The Deathbird is fascinating in terms of both subject matter, the subversion of Christian mythology, and experimental format. The narrative is told in sharp, brief snippets, interspersed with essays, questionaries and seemingly unrelated vignettes (what we would call "mixed media" today.)
Also, contains this banger of a line:
"Was Adam being a gentleman when he placed blame on Eve?"
The Whimper of Whipped Dogs is a story about apathy and cruelty. This was written in response to the real-life murder of a woman named Kitty Genovese, but the fictional story gradually develops its own (supernatural) angle, one that is deeply sinister and, I found, surprising.
Jeffty Is Five - You will think you know where this one is going, but if you're like me, you'll be wrong!
A powerful meditation on the push/pull between nostalgia and progress. While the nostalgia is a specifically calling upon details of 1940s America, the feelings evoked are probably pretty universal. The protagonist's childhood isn't my childhood, but I could certainly relate to and sympathize with his emotions throughout the story.
1980's Shatterday is another classic, and of course I'll always think of the Twilight Zone episode based on it, starring Bruce Willis. This is a story of dawning self-awareness and character growth, heightened by the dramatic paranormal frame of having a man literally split in two.
Finally, The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World deserves a shout-out for being so damn confusing, and also because Hideki Anno named an episode of Neon Genesis Evangelion after it. I fully admit that I don't understand what Ellison was trying to say with this one - all human evil is the result of magic alien goo? No, I think it's probably more along the lines of: people who love their own communities are damned to harm others . .. (I mean, maybe?)
Ellison's not an easy read, but he's always interesting and if you can read this with another person, or for a book club, at least you'll have a lot to talk about.
When Ellison writes science fiction or fantasy with a horror edge, the result is often very strong and potentially disturbing. However, toward the back half of this collection we start to get into stories that are meant to be more humorous and they largely didn't work for me.
My favourite stories in the collection were:
I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream -a classic. 1967's I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream is arguably the Harlan Ellison short story. Imagine being trapped inside the world of an artificial intelligence gone mad with power and seething in its hatred for humanity. The imagery is grotesque and chilling.
Somewhat ironically, this was released as a computer game in 1995.
The Deathbird is fascinating in terms of both subject matter, the subversion of Christian mythology, and experimental format. The narrative is told in sharp, brief snippets, interspersed with essays, questionaries and seemingly unrelated vignettes (what we would call "mixed media" today.)
Also, contains this banger of a line:
"Was Adam being a gentleman when he placed blame on Eve?"
The Whimper of Whipped Dogs is a story about apathy and cruelty. This was written in response to the real-life murder of a woman named Kitty Genovese, but the fictional story gradually develops its own (supernatural) angle, one that is deeply sinister and, I found, surprising.
Jeffty Is Five - You will think you know where this one is going, but if you're like me, you'll be wrong!
A powerful meditation on the push/pull between nostalgia and progress. While the nostalgia is a specifically calling upon details of 1940s America, the feelings evoked are probably pretty universal. The protagonist's childhood isn't my childhood, but I could certainly relate to and sympathize with his emotions throughout the story.
1980's Shatterday is another classic, and of course I'll always think of the Twilight Zone episode based on it, starring Bruce Willis. This is a story of dawning self-awareness and character growth, heightened by the dramatic paranormal frame of having a man literally split in two.
Finally, The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World deserves a shout-out for being so damn confusing, and also because Hideki Anno named an episode of Neon Genesis Evangelion after it. I fully admit that I don't understand what Ellison was trying to say with this one - all human evil is the result of magic alien goo? No, I think it's probably more along the lines of: people who love their own communities are damned to harm others . .. (I mean, maybe?)
Ellison's not an easy read, but he's always interesting and if you can read this with another person, or for a book club, at least you'll have a lot to talk about.
April 9, 2024
First and foremost, the copy I have is the Barnes & Noble Exclusive Edition with the 40 or so extra pages of HE's hand-written edit of his story, On The Downhill Side. Greatest Hits, edited by J. Michael Straczynski, Ellison's close friend AND Executor of The Harlan and Susan Ellison Estate is also the man behind bringing Harlan's The Last Dangerous Visions anthology to fruition in October of this year! (The B & N edition's cover has blue and green coloring instead of the red of the shown design.)
ALSO, Straczynski is trying to get Ellison's house in compliance to allow visitors.
That's on my bucket list!
Straczynski mentions within these pages that Film & TV people are sniffing around Ellison properties for development. While this is allowing me excitement and hope, at the same time I am filled with dread and trepidation over possible poor execution.
Greatest Hits has the best of the essential Ellison stories, all previously published, including my favorite HE story, The Deathbird.
Harlan Ellison is my favorite writer and my 2nd favorite atheist.
As I am quick to say:
"If you haven't read Harlan Ellison, you haven't read."
ALSO, Straczynski is trying to get Ellison's house in compliance to allow visitors.
That's on my bucket list!
Straczynski mentions within these pages that Film & TV people are sniffing around Ellison properties for development. While this is allowing me excitement and hope, at the same time I am filled with dread and trepidation over possible poor execution.
Greatest Hits has the best of the essential Ellison stories, all previously published, including my favorite HE story, The Deathbird.
Harlan Ellison is my favorite writer and my 2nd favorite atheist.
As I am quick to say:
"If you haven't read Harlan Ellison, you haven't read."
July 20, 2024
This collection is a rollercoaster fun house that goes up and down and in many different directions. The stories range from terrifying to hilarious, from out there beyond Pluto to down to Earth. The collection displays Ellison's incredible imagination and use of language. He was a unique voice that flows through each tale.
I thought the main highlight was the twisted sci-fi/horror story "I Have No Mouth But I Must Scream". This story was brilliantly written and absolutely disturbing. An AI system, called "AM", developed by military intelligence, goes rogue and destroys all of humanity except for a small handful of survivors who face a fate worse than death. They are held captive by AM, kept alive and tormented. The story is top tier in creating a feeling of doom and entrapment, better than any other sci-fi story I have read, and probably better than any horror story I have read. The story fuses sci-fi and horror together seamlessly.
After reading the text of this story, I listened to an audiobook version of the story read/yelled by Ellison himself. His narration exponentiates the insanity of the story. His reading voice so far outpaces my own inner reading monologue that I subconsciously started hearing his voice while reading the other stories in this collection. I also listened to some of his interviews to augment my inner Ellison voice. By the end of this collection, I even occasionally heard Ellison's voice in my head even when I wasn't reading.
" 'Repent Harlequin!' Said The Ticktock Man' " was another major highlight. I'd read this story before, it was my first introduction to Ellison in another anthology. The story is a bizarre dystopian tale where society is engineered to function as a whole like a giant machine and individual humans are expected to function mechanically as parts of the machine. Punctuality is regarded as the highest virtue and enforced by the Master Timekeeper, aka "The Ticktock Man". The "Harlequin" is a rebel who plays pranks to disrupt the soul sucking process of mechanization. It was great to re-read this story after having recently read "We" Yevgeny Zamyatin, another dystopian tale. There are some parallels between the two in that both describe a world designed to mechanize humans and stamp out individuality. "Harlequin" is unique in the dystopian cannon in that it adds a zany , almost cartoonish, flavor to it's tale of human subjugation.
"The Deathbird" was a story unlike any other I have read. In less that 40 pages, it's a story that spans eons. It weaves through ancient history, modern history, and a post-apocalyptic future thousands of years ahead . The story mixes in mythological themes related to a Manichean Gnostic view, in which the Earth was created not by the true creator of the universe by a lesser god who is insane, "The Mad One". The timeline involves a modern man with modern struggles, but ties his history to the distant past and also to a future where the modern world as we know it has been reduced to dust. It's a story I will have to revisit, it was a fascinating read but with a lot I didn't understand.
"Mefisto in Onyx" was another brilliant story in the collection, a legal thriller involving telepathic powers. It's like John Grisham with a third eye. A man with telepathy is friends with a prosecutor who has just closed the biggest case of her career against a serial killer who makes Hannibal Lecter look like a petty shoplifter. The prosecutor develops doubts over the alleged killer's guilt and wants her friend to use his mind-reading powers to get into the imprisoned man's head to find out the truth. This is an unforgettable story that takes some surprising twists and turns.
"The Beast Who Shouted Love at The Heart of The World" was perplexing and thought provoking. I had to re-read it and then go back and listen to an audio version (unfortunately not read by Ellison) , and I'm still confused as to what it was supposed to be about. As elusive as the overall meaning of the story is, assuming there is one, it's one that kept popping up in my head in the weeks following the time I read/re-read/listened to it. It starts with the story of a mass murderer who somehow ends up commemorated by a statue on a distant plant thousands of years in the future, millions of miles away. Then the story shifts to a dragon beast with dog heads being studied in a laboratory on another planet. This story is one of a kind, showing how far out the genre of sci-fi is capable of going.
"How's The Nightlife on Cissalda?" was a disgusting and hilarious farce with cameo appearances by celebrities. I'm surprised Ellison didn't get sued over this one. Without giving away too much, I'll say it's a story about a space traveler who returns with an alien guest with a unique talent.
"All The Lies That Are My Life" is the closing number, a story that is not sci-fi at all but about friendship between sci-fi authors. The tone of the story reminded by of a Vonnegut satire, similar to "Bluebeard", revolving around the lives of authors and others who make a living through creativity. Though there are no alien worlds, or telepathy, or demi-god beasts in this tale, it's still an engaging human story.
Overall, there is not a bad story in this collection, just some that went over my head, but in a good way. I previously had not seen any other Ellison books at any new or used bookstores besides this one, and a lot of his stuff is out of print and can only be ordered online at a hefty cost. Before getting this book, I'd only read a scattering of his stories in various anthologies, so this collection was a great way to explore a range of his work.
I thought the main highlight was the twisted sci-fi/horror story "I Have No Mouth But I Must Scream". This story was brilliantly written and absolutely disturbing. An AI system, called "AM", developed by military intelligence, goes rogue and destroys all of humanity except for a small handful of survivors who face a fate worse than death. They are held captive by AM, kept alive and tormented. The story is top tier in creating a feeling of doom and entrapment, better than any other sci-fi story I have read, and probably better than any horror story I have read. The story fuses sci-fi and horror together seamlessly.
After reading the text of this story, I listened to an audiobook version of the story read/yelled by Ellison himself. His narration exponentiates the insanity of the story. His reading voice so far outpaces my own inner reading monologue that I subconsciously started hearing his voice while reading the other stories in this collection. I also listened to some of his interviews to augment my inner Ellison voice. By the end of this collection, I even occasionally heard Ellison's voice in my head even when I wasn't reading.
" 'Repent Harlequin!' Said The Ticktock Man' " was another major highlight. I'd read this story before, it was my first introduction to Ellison in another anthology. The story is a bizarre dystopian tale where society is engineered to function as a whole like a giant machine and individual humans are expected to function mechanically as parts of the machine. Punctuality is regarded as the highest virtue and enforced by the Master Timekeeper, aka "The Ticktock Man". The "Harlequin" is a rebel who plays pranks to disrupt the soul sucking process of mechanization. It was great to re-read this story after having recently read "We" Yevgeny Zamyatin, another dystopian tale. There are some parallels between the two in that both describe a world designed to mechanize humans and stamp out individuality. "Harlequin" is unique in the dystopian cannon in that it adds a zany , almost cartoonish, flavor to it's tale of human subjugation.
"The Deathbird" was a story unlike any other I have read. In less that 40 pages, it's a story that spans eons. It weaves through ancient history, modern history, and a post-apocalyptic future thousands of years ahead . The story mixes in mythological themes related to a Manichean Gnostic view, in which the Earth was created not by the true creator of the universe by a lesser god who is insane, "The Mad One". The timeline involves a modern man with modern struggles, but ties his history to the distant past and also to a future where the modern world as we know it has been reduced to dust. It's a story I will have to revisit, it was a fascinating read but with a lot I didn't understand.
"Mefisto in Onyx" was another brilliant story in the collection, a legal thriller involving telepathic powers. It's like John Grisham with a third eye. A man with telepathy is friends with a prosecutor who has just closed the biggest case of her career against a serial killer who makes Hannibal Lecter look like a petty shoplifter. The prosecutor develops doubts over the alleged killer's guilt and wants her friend to use his mind-reading powers to get into the imprisoned man's head to find out the truth. This is an unforgettable story that takes some surprising twists and turns.
"The Beast Who Shouted Love at The Heart of The World" was perplexing and thought provoking. I had to re-read it and then go back and listen to an audio version (unfortunately not read by Ellison) , and I'm still confused as to what it was supposed to be about. As elusive as the overall meaning of the story is, assuming there is one, it's one that kept popping up in my head in the weeks following the time I read/re-read/listened to it. It starts with the story of a mass murderer who somehow ends up commemorated by a statue on a distant plant thousands of years in the future, millions of miles away. Then the story shifts to a dragon beast with dog heads being studied in a laboratory on another planet. This story is one of a kind, showing how far out the genre of sci-fi is capable of going.
"How's The Nightlife on Cissalda?" was a disgusting and hilarious farce with cameo appearances by celebrities. I'm surprised Ellison didn't get sued over this one. Without giving away too much, I'll say it's a story about a space traveler who returns with an alien guest with a unique talent.
"All The Lies That Are My Life" is the closing number, a story that is not sci-fi at all but about friendship between sci-fi authors. The tone of the story reminded by of a Vonnegut satire, similar to "Bluebeard", revolving around the lives of authors and others who make a living through creativity. Though there are no alien worlds, or telepathy, or demi-god beasts in this tale, it's still an engaging human story.
Overall, there is not a bad story in this collection, just some that went over my head, but in a good way. I previously had not seen any other Ellison books at any new or used bookstores besides this one, and a lot of his stuff is out of print and can only be ordered online at a hefty cost. Before getting this book, I'd only read a scattering of his stories in various anthologies, so this collection was a great way to explore a range of his work.
July 14, 2025
I did not like all of Ellison's stories and confess that I did skip one or two, but the ones I did like more than made up for that. I was prepared to read I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream (thanks, Hunter!), but I wasn't prepared for Jeffty Is Five or Shatterday, and I very much was not prepared for Mefisto in Onyx, which led to some pretty intense dreams. Wow.
June 20, 2024
Because of reading this book I found my favorite short story (Mefisto in Onyx). Out of the many stories I only was uninterested in one of them. I was unaware of the genius that is Harlan Ellison and am glad to have read him.
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