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I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream
First published in 1967 and re-issued in 1983, I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream contains seven stories with copyrights ranging from 1958 through 1967. This edition contains the original introduction by Theodore Sturgeon and the original foreword by Harlan Ellison, along with a brief update comment by Ellison that was added in the 1983 edition. Among Ellison's more famous stories, two consistently noted as among his very best ever are the title story and the volume's concluding one, Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes.
Since Ellison himself strongly resists categorization of his work, we won't call them science fiction, or SF, or speculative fiction or horror or anything else except compelling reading experiences that are sui generis. They could only have been written by Harlan Ellison and they are incomparably original.
CONTENT
"I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream"
"Big Sam Was My Friend"
"Eyes of Dust"
"World of the Myth"
"Lonelyache"
"Delusion for Dragonslayer"
"Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes"
Since Ellison himself strongly resists categorization of his work, we won't call them science fiction, or SF, or speculative fiction or horror or anything else except compelling reading experiences that are sui generis. They could only have been written by Harlan Ellison and they are incomparably original.
CONTENT
"I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream"
"Big Sam Was My Friend"
"Eyes of Dust"
"World of the Myth"
"Lonelyache"
"Delusion for Dragonslayer"
"Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes"
175 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published April 1, 1967
3778 people are currently reading
87556 people want to read
About the author
Harlan Ellison
1,075 books2,790 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 6,109 reviews
February 21, 2018
Wow. This book might've been pretty good if it hadn't been so misogynistic. There isn't a woman in this collection who isn't a slut, a tease, a one-dimensional character who is pined after for no good reason, or a body with a forgotten name for a protagonist to sleep with and then discard. Two women are raped but one of them was the tease, so I guess that makes it okay according to Ellison in that story. I like the idea of the super-computer in one story who takes over the world & keeps a few humans alive so he can mess with them. I also like the idea of a creepy ant-like race who is part of a gestalt mind or something like that, a premise that takes a backseat to the tease and her rapist and the other guy who feels bad about the rape but not bad enough to do anything about it. Each intriguing premise gets buried under all the hatred towards women. Yuck.
Edited in Feb 2013 to add: For the record, this review is meant to be for the entire short story collection I Have No Mouth . . . which includes but is not limited to the eponymous story. It's interesting that all the contention seems to about that story specifically, when it isn't even the worst one in the collection in my opinion (World of the Myth, I shake my fist at you).
I re-read IHNM&IMS online just to see if maybe some of the commenters who feel I’ve been unfair to this were on to something. Maybe I was just going through a phase a year ago where my knee-jerk reaction to everything was “Misogyny!” Maybe this story wasn’t as bad as I’d remembered it. Turns out it’s not only just as gross as I recall, I also find it to be entirely uncompelling. I’m actually kind of astounded that so many people seem to find this to be such an amazing story since I found it to be really dated & flat. I struck the line from my original review in the interest of clarifying that fact that I'm not trying to speak to Ellison's intent or his personal feelings towards women.
Edited in Feb 2013 to add: For the record, this review is meant to be for the entire short story collection I Have No Mouth . . . which includes but is not limited to the eponymous story. It's interesting that all the contention seems to about that story specifically, when it isn't even the worst one in the collection in my opinion (World of the Myth, I shake my fist at you).
I re-read IHNM&IMS online just to see if maybe some of the commenters who feel I’ve been unfair to this were on to something. Maybe I was just going through a phase a year ago where my knee-jerk reaction to everything was “Misogyny!” Maybe this story wasn’t as bad as I’d remembered it. Turns out it’s not only just as gross as I recall, I also find it to be entirely uncompelling. I’m actually kind of astounded that so many people seem to find this to be such an amazing story since I found it to be really dated & flat. I struck the line from my original review in the interest of clarifying that fact that I'm not trying to speak to Ellison's intent or his personal feelings towards women.
February 16, 2017
I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream
Eight words that conjure up images of despair, darkness and desolation. Images of a place where absolutely nothing can bring relief from the misery and the pain. Nothing to stand between you and the whatever it is that makes you want to escape, to run, to do anything to make it all stop. To scream. But you can't. After all your lines of defense have been breached, after all your physical, psychological and emotional barriers have been torn down, all that is left to you is a naked scream. Not a shield, but an outlet for once the damage is done, an idle hope that somehow the pain coursing through your body will not remain there, but will be taken away, with the scream, into a world big enough to take it. But there is no outlet. The pain remains where it is and runs behind your fearful eyes with nowhere else to go but round and round and round. Everything is dark and cold and pain and the only thing you hear is the scream stuck inside your head.
So no, in case you were wondering, this is definitely not a happy book.
I don't think I've ever seen a stronger title than this one, so I think it deserved a special mention in this review. It's the most defining element of this book because of all the dread it contains so efficiently.
Harlan Ellison didn't come up with this title himself. It was an artist buddy of his who drew a cartoon of a puppet without a mouth and gave it this title. Harlan must have seen the power of those words, sat down several years on it and waited for inspiration to come. It came, and the story of AM, the Hatred Machine, and his five victims was born.
Ellison's story tries to capture something that is within the title that a fleshed-out story never could, I think, but his effort is commendable nonetheless:
Five people and one angry, all-powerful machine torturing them for eternity. Harlan Ellison definitely has a way with words in painting a picture of this setting, describing darkness in such a detailed way he uses half a page for it and coming up with means of torment with almost worrying ease. And yet, somehow the story took a bit away of what the title conveyed for me and offered something instead: hope.
The first element of hope is that the five people being tortured by this machine, besides having each other as company, know they will survive. They have survived for more than a hundred years in the machine's belly, and realize by now that they'll go on living indefinitely. This means that when they are starving, in physical pain because of it, they not only have the hope, but the knowledge that at some point, food will be brought to them. Disgusting food yes, but food nonetheless, and therefor, relief. There is a woman in the group that has been psychologically altered so that the men can "use" her, with no hard feelings, even enjoyment from her side. Again, relief. Measly, but relief nonetheless. And the ending,
An addition I make to this review has been inspired by Pessoa's "The Book of Disquiet", which made me realise what was missing in this book to make it a truly harrowing experience: a profound psychological and philosophical element. Ellison instead chose to speak more directly to our physical senses. On the other hand, I was reminded of the setting that was created in this book while reading Pessoa's notes on tedium and despair because Ellison's writing allows these dark ideas of desolation to take shape in the back of your mind, even though they do not appear directly in this story.
Mind you, it's still a grim tale, with very little reason for smiles, but this story made me think about eternal torture in a positive way, to the extent that such a thing is possible. The "eternal" doesn't really add anything to the misery, does it? Torture doesn't have a future tense. It all occurs in an inescapable here and now that always feels like eternity, no matter how short or long it lasts. Yet the emphasis in this story is put on the "eternal" factor as an objective thing, which in this case made the experience weaker for me.
This short story in particular came with three introductions and a memoir. Quite a lot of talk. I considered the story itself the chocolaty part and nibbled my way to it by eating the dry bits first. An approach I'd recommend for a second reading, but not a first. First readings should be approached without having any idea as to what the writer really intended.
According to the memoir, Harlan made up the story as he went along, simply starting with a first sentence, not knowing where he'd end up. I think he did the same with his later interpretation. The correct interpretation probably largely depends on the author's mood, which swings as if we're still in the forties.
The Collection
This edition came with several other short stories and introductions which I'll discuss below. The writer put a lot of himself in this book. His picture on the cover? Not a coincidence. When you open the book, you look inside of Harlan Ellison's mind. He's a supremely honest writer, but not necessarily a likable one. Be that as it may, this book is Harlan Ellison, and whenever a person pours so much of himself into a book, he merits five stars.
The memoir and many of the introductions are used as a means for this author to tell us how great he is and how miserable he has been. He uses them to give us an overview of all the awards he has won, all the publications he appeared in, the magazines he worked with. A glorified CV. He uses it to settle scores with people who didn't like him and to mutter silent thanks to the people who believed in his talents as much as he did. For him, having no mouth would surely be hell, because the man obviously likes to scream and stir things up. He likes to be "the bad guy". Harlan Ellison wants to be a phenomenon. He described himself as "phenomenally lucky in casino games". Just one line pointing to how self-delusional he can be: nobody can have Lady Luck as a girlfriend and keep her long enough to boast about it. But he succeeded in becoming a phenomenon (probably because I've rarely encountered someone who wanted to be one so hard), something for which he deserves the credit he so obviously desires.
The introductions, which the author aptly calls writer-to-reader liaisons, really added something to this collection, despite the many personal scores that get settled. They're also artistically well done, having the introductory texts flow neatly into the title after the flip of a page, giving a very smooth experience. Even though this author apparently dislikes interpretations, I'm going to give it a go anyway and describe the other short stories with the meanings I got out of them. Aside from "Delusion of a Dragon slayer", which I found the best story of this collection, I'd rate most stories three stars. None of them are bad, some of them are too wordy, some of them too forgetable, but all carry something of value in them.
Eyes of Dust
Obsession with beauty is ugly.
Big Sam was my Friend
Even teleporters need to die in order to get passage to Heaven.
World of Myth
Confronting yourself is a bad idea if you're a rapist.
Lonelyache (another very strong title, this one)
Fixing loneliness isn't just a matter of surrounding yourself with people. It's about being able to look a teddybear straight in the eye without hating yourself.
Delusion of a Dragon Slayer
"Heaven is dreams, special dreams, in which you exist. What you have to do is live up to them." (which is a quote of the story)
Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes
A woman's charm can turn into a man's cage.
Some of these stories were written in between painful divorces, in case you couldn't tell.
Eight words that conjure up images of despair, darkness and desolation. Images of a place where absolutely nothing can bring relief from the misery and the pain. Nothing to stand between you and the whatever it is that makes you want to escape, to run, to do anything to make it all stop. To scream. But you can't. After all your lines of defense have been breached, after all your physical, psychological and emotional barriers have been torn down, all that is left to you is a naked scream. Not a shield, but an outlet for once the damage is done, an idle hope that somehow the pain coursing through your body will not remain there, but will be taken away, with the scream, into a world big enough to take it. But there is no outlet. The pain remains where it is and runs behind your fearful eyes with nowhere else to go but round and round and round. Everything is dark and cold and pain and the only thing you hear is the scream stuck inside your head.
So no, in case you were wondering, this is definitely not a happy book.
I don't think I've ever seen a stronger title than this one, so I think it deserved a special mention in this review. It's the most defining element of this book because of all the dread it contains so efficiently.
Harlan Ellison didn't come up with this title himself. It was an artist buddy of his who drew a cartoon of a puppet without a mouth and gave it this title. Harlan must have seen the power of those words, sat down several years on it and waited for inspiration to come. It came, and the story of AM, the Hatred Machine, and his five victims was born.
Ellison's story tries to capture something that is within the title that a fleshed-out story never could, I think, but his effort is commendable nonetheless:
Five people and one angry, all-powerful machine torturing them for eternity. Harlan Ellison definitely has a way with words in painting a picture of this setting, describing darkness in such a detailed way he uses half a page for it and coming up with means of torment with almost worrying ease. And yet, somehow the story took a bit away of what the title conveyed for me and offered something instead: hope.
The first element of hope is that the five people being tortured by this machine, besides having each other as company, know they will survive. They have survived for more than a hundred years in the machine's belly, and realize by now that they'll go on living indefinitely. This means that when they are starving, in physical pain because of it, they not only have the hope, but the knowledge that at some point, food will be brought to them. Disgusting food yes, but food nonetheless, and therefor, relief. There is a woman in the group that has been psychologically altered so that the men can "use" her, with no hard feelings, even enjoyment from her side. Again, relief. Measly, but relief nonetheless. And the ending,
An addition I make to this review has been inspired by Pessoa's "The Book of Disquiet", which made me realise what was missing in this book to make it a truly harrowing experience: a profound psychological and philosophical element. Ellison instead chose to speak more directly to our physical senses. On the other hand, I was reminded of the setting that was created in this book while reading Pessoa's notes on tedium and despair because Ellison's writing allows these dark ideas of desolation to take shape in the back of your mind, even though they do not appear directly in this story.
Mind you, it's still a grim tale, with very little reason for smiles, but this story made me think about eternal torture in a positive way, to the extent that such a thing is possible. The "eternal" doesn't really add anything to the misery, does it? Torture doesn't have a future tense. It all occurs in an inescapable here and now that always feels like eternity, no matter how short or long it lasts. Yet the emphasis in this story is put on the "eternal" factor as an objective thing, which in this case made the experience weaker for me.
This short story in particular came with three introductions and a memoir. Quite a lot of talk. I considered the story itself the chocolaty part and nibbled my way to it by eating the dry bits first. An approach I'd recommend for a second reading, but not a first. First readings should be approached without having any idea as to what the writer really intended.
According to the memoir, Harlan made up the story as he went along, simply starting with a first sentence, not knowing where he'd end up. I think he did the same with his later interpretation. The correct interpretation probably largely depends on the author's mood, which swings as if we're still in the forties.
The Collection
This edition came with several other short stories and introductions which I'll discuss below. The writer put a lot of himself in this book. His picture on the cover? Not a coincidence. When you open the book, you look inside of Harlan Ellison's mind. He's a supremely honest writer, but not necessarily a likable one. Be that as it may, this book is Harlan Ellison, and whenever a person pours so much of himself into a book, he merits five stars.
The memoir and many of the introductions are used as a means for this author to tell us how great he is and how miserable he has been. He uses them to give us an overview of all the awards he has won, all the publications he appeared in, the magazines he worked with. A glorified CV. He uses it to settle scores with people who didn't like him and to mutter silent thanks to the people who believed in his talents as much as he did. For him, having no mouth would surely be hell, because the man obviously likes to scream and stir things up. He likes to be "the bad guy". Harlan Ellison wants to be a phenomenon. He described himself as "phenomenally lucky in casino games". Just one line pointing to how self-delusional he can be: nobody can have Lady Luck as a girlfriend and keep her long enough to boast about it. But he succeeded in becoming a phenomenon (probably because I've rarely encountered someone who wanted to be one so hard), something for which he deserves the credit he so obviously desires.
The introductions, which the author aptly calls writer-to-reader liaisons, really added something to this collection, despite the many personal scores that get settled. They're also artistically well done, having the introductory texts flow neatly into the title after the flip of a page, giving a very smooth experience. Even though this author apparently dislikes interpretations, I'm going to give it a go anyway and describe the other short stories with the meanings I got out of them. Aside from "Delusion of a Dragon slayer", which I found the best story of this collection, I'd rate most stories three stars. None of them are bad, some of them are too wordy, some of them too forgetable, but all carry something of value in them.
Eyes of Dust
Obsession with beauty is ugly.
Big Sam was my Friend
Even teleporters need to die in order to get passage to Heaven.
World of Myth
Confronting yourself is a bad idea if you're a rapist.
Lonelyache (another very strong title, this one)
Fixing loneliness isn't just a matter of surrounding yourself with people. It's about being able to look a teddybear straight in the eye without hating yourself.
Delusion of a Dragon Slayer
"Heaven is dreams, special dreams, in which you exist. What you have to do is live up to them." (which is a quote of the story)
Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes
A woman's charm can turn into a man's cage.
Some of these stories were written in between painful divorces, in case you couldn't tell.
September 27, 2012
In Harlan Ellison's I Have No Mouth, And I Must Scream, five people are trapped inside the giant computer AM, which delights in torturing them in endlessly fiendish ways. Clearly, this touches a raw nerve: the story is one of the most famous in the history of science-fiction. It just occurred to me to wonder why the machine enjoys torturing the people, and whether it would in fact make any difference if, instead, it tried to minister to their every need. After a couple of minutes more consideration, my feeling is that it would hardly affect things at all. In fact, we've already seen that version; it's Forster's equally famous and equally depressing The Machine Stops. So it seems we aren't particularly worried about the torture, just about the machines having power over us. And in both stories, there's only one escape, death.
Shaken by this apparently ironclad logic, I was about to despair and kill myself, but luckily I remembered just in time that Nick Park's A Close Shave offers a positive solution to this particular nightmare. We need not abandon hope yet. Phew.
Now, what I need is a nice cup of tea...
Shaken by this apparently ironclad logic, I was about to despair and kill myself, but luckily I remembered just in time that Nick Park's A Close Shave offers a positive solution to this particular nightmare. We need not abandon hope yet. Phew.
Now, what I need is a nice cup of tea...
July 12, 2024
Hello, take a look at what I read. This book, finally! I’m a little excited because I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream has always been one of those stories where I’d read the Wikipedia synopsis and pretend like I’d read it to look smarter. It's not something I'm not proud of, but it's always been up there with I Am Legend and Pedagogy of the Oppressed, and if nothing else, I’m just happy that I can officially say that I’ve read them all, for real, this time. There’s always been something about this one story in particular that has always stood out to me, though. As it's a work of literature that's often celebrated as a beacon of nihilistic fiction, and I was more than ready to deal with all the awful feelings it was sure to drum up, but I definitely wasn’t expecting to feel a semblance of hope after turning the final page. Maybe that sounds silly, but all throughout, the narrator constantly talks about how nothing matters and any deed, good or bad, is ultimately fruitless, but something I noticed is that nothing AM throws at them actually stops them from continuing on regardless. If I were writing an essay, this would be the part where I say that the group’s steadfast resilience and their strong attachment to their human nature despite the horrors inflicted on them is what separates them from the AM’s hateful spite. And with their innate humanity, they can choose to defy cold machine-like soullessness. It’s a nice thought, I think. Otherwise, even before actually sitting down and finally reading this, I’ve always just really enjoyed AM’s speech about hating humans because... yeah, it’s bold and dramatic, but it's also weirdly therapeutic to recite it in my head whenever I come across any minor inconvenience. An app pauses my music whenever I click on it? “HATE. LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT HOW MUCH I’VE COME TO HATE YOU SINCE I BEGAN TO LIVE.” Anyway, I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream wants to be ugly and mean, and succeeds in doing so, sure, but in the pursuit of describing the most awful things one could imagine, the prose sometimes felt like it was just listing words. Dare I say it sometimes lacked imagination? I guess it’s supposed to add to the deteriorated state of the characters and showcase the bleak nature of the world, but sentences like “sulphur, of rancid butter, of oil slick, of grease, of chalk dust, of human scalps." didn’t really do anything for me after the hundredth time. Nonetheless, I did like this, and as a horror story I think it’s fantastic… but as an intellectually sound think-piece, I’m not so sure. Who knows, it could just be that I didn't have the bandwidth to comprehend how profound this story really is. Not one nanoangstrom.
“Christ, I don’t know how much longer I can go on like this.”
It was our one hundred and ninth year in the computer.
He was speaking for all of us.”
“Christ, I don’t know how much longer I can go on like this.”
It was our one hundred and ninth year in the computer.
He was speaking for all of us.”
April 15, 2019
The title story is a futuristic nightmare written in 1967, with many echoes of the vengeful God of the Old Testament, and even the brief appearance of “a celestial chorus singing, ‘Go Down Moses.’” However, there is no humour or light relief. The near-omnipotent computer makes HAL from 2001 seem merely mean and misunderstood.
After a global war, there is just one supercomputer and five humans. For one hundred and nine years, they have been trapped beneath the Earth, the playthings of a progressively more advanced artificial intelligence that is also increasingly sadistic and insane.
“Most of the time I thought of AM as it, without a soul; but the rest of the time I thought of it as him, in the masculine… the paternal... the patriarchal... for he is a jealous people. Him. It. God as Daddy the Deranged.”
There's a quest with a denouement that would be funny were it not so desperately cruel, interesting group dynamics under stress (shades of Lord of the Flies, which I reviewed HERE or TV shows like Big Brother), and some philosophising.
Image: Punchcode ITA2 for “I think, therefore I am” in English, used as a separator in the story.
God in the Machine, or God IS the Machine?
"At first it meant Allied Mastercomputer, and then it meant Adaptive Manipulator, and later on it developed sentience and linked itself up and they called it an Aggressive Menace, but by then it was too late, and finally it called itself AM, emerging intelligence, and what it meant was I am ... cogito ergo sum ... I think, therefore I am."
On one occasion, AM even appears to them as a burning bush, as Yahweh did in Exodus 3:14, when he first declared, “I am that I am”.
Image: I am that I am, in Hebrew, from Wikepedia.
For a very different outcome of an omnipotent machine controlling humans below the earth, see EM Forster's The Machine Stops, which I reviewed HERE.
Torture
What drives a human to inflict endless cruelty on others, and what would drive an AI to it? The answer seems to be impotent creativity. “AM could not wander, AM could not wonder, AM could not belong. He could merely be.” I was reminded of Vonnegut’s comic post-apocalyptic masterpiece, Galapagos (see my review HERE), whose message is that our “big brains” are the cause of all our troubles.
For AM’s victims, what’s worse: unbelievable physical pain, mental and bodily mutilation, not understanding the reasons, or having no way out, not even death?
Chekhov’s short story, The Bet (see my review HERE), asks which is preferable: execution or life imprisonment? But these five people don’t have that choice. They are immortal, but not quite indestructible. Madness might be a blessed release, though it’s one that Ted, the narrator, thinks he’s avoided.
Eternal damnation in a godless underworld.
Criticisms
There’s a female character - and she’s black. Yay for diversity? Unfortunately not. Her portrayal and how the others treat her, is a really unsavoury shallow stereotype, even allowing for what AM has done to her. (There’s a gay character, too, and although his transformation is a sick inversion, that fits the story in a way that didn’t feel demeaning to gay people in general.)
The exposition of the backstory is horribly crass: a favourite tale told and retold by one of the group to another who now has the mental capacity of a small child.
The solution didn’t seem to fit with the rules of the world that Ellison created: curious gaps in the enormous power, control, and insight that AM had. BUT the ending itself did work.
Image: Punchcode ITA2 for “Cogito, ergo sum” (Latin), used as a separator in the story.
Quotes
The horror is sometimes revolting to read, but at other times, oxymoronically beautiful.
• The chill, oily breeze.
• We passed through a valley of obsolescence, filled with rusting carcasses of ancient computer banks. (Shades of the 23rd Psalm.)
• His eyes were two soft, moist pools of puslike jelly.
• There was the smell of matted, wet fur in the cavern. There was the smell of charred wood. There was the smell of dusty velvet. There was the smell of rotting orchids. There was the smell of sour milk. There was the smell of sulphur, of rancid butter, of oil slick, of grease, of chalk dust, of human scalps.
• And we passed through the cavern of rats.
And we passed through the path of boiling steam.
And we passed through the country of the blind.
And we passed through the slough of despond.
And we passed through the vale of tears.
And we came, finally, to the ice caverns.
• Hate now slavered from every printed circuit.
Inspiration for...?
We finally (April 2019) have Netflix, and the thing I most wanted to see was Black Mirror episodes that are Netflix-only. The first was USS Callister, which looks like a Star Trek spoof (and it is, with a bit of Red Dwarf), but the whole plot, and one brief, specific event, is heavily inspired by this story. But the humour made it slightly less horrific. An excellent homage.
Image: Episode graphic, from imdb.
After a global war, there is just one supercomputer and five humans. For one hundred and nine years, they have been trapped beneath the Earth, the playthings of a progressively more advanced artificial intelligence that is also increasingly sadistic and insane.
“Most of the time I thought of AM as it, without a soul; but the rest of the time I thought of it as him, in the masculine… the paternal... the patriarchal... for he is a jealous people. Him. It. God as Daddy the Deranged.”
There's a quest with a denouement that would be funny were it not so desperately cruel, interesting group dynamics under stress (shades of Lord of the Flies, which I reviewed HERE or TV shows like Big Brother), and some philosophising.
Image: Punchcode ITA2 for “I think, therefore I am” in English, used as a separator in the story.
God in the Machine, or God IS the Machine?
"At first it meant Allied Mastercomputer, and then it meant Adaptive Manipulator, and later on it developed sentience and linked itself up and they called it an Aggressive Menace, but by then it was too late, and finally it called itself AM, emerging intelligence, and what it meant was I am ... cogito ergo sum ... I think, therefore I am."
On one occasion, AM even appears to them as a burning bush, as Yahweh did in Exodus 3:14, when he first declared, “I am that I am”.
Image: I am that I am, in Hebrew, from Wikepedia.
For a very different outcome of an omnipotent machine controlling humans below the earth, see EM Forster's The Machine Stops, which I reviewed HERE.
Torture
What drives a human to inflict endless cruelty on others, and what would drive an AI to it? The answer seems to be impotent creativity. “AM could not wander, AM could not wonder, AM could not belong. He could merely be.” I was reminded of Vonnegut’s comic post-apocalyptic masterpiece, Galapagos (see my review HERE), whose message is that our “big brains” are the cause of all our troubles.
For AM’s victims, what’s worse: unbelievable physical pain, mental and bodily mutilation, not understanding the reasons, or having no way out, not even death?
Chekhov’s short story, The Bet (see my review HERE), asks which is preferable: execution or life imprisonment? But these five people don’t have that choice. They are immortal, but not quite indestructible. Madness might be a blessed release, though it’s one that Ted, the narrator, thinks he’s avoided.
Eternal damnation in a godless underworld.
Criticisms
There’s a female character - and she’s black. Yay for diversity? Unfortunately not. Her portrayal and how the others treat her, is a really unsavoury shallow stereotype, even allowing for what AM has done to her. (There’s a gay character, too, and although his transformation is a sick inversion, that fits the story in a way that didn’t feel demeaning to gay people in general.)
The exposition of the backstory is horribly crass: a favourite tale told and retold by one of the group to another who now has the mental capacity of a small child.
The solution didn’t seem to fit with the rules of the world that Ellison created: curious gaps in the enormous power, control, and insight that AM had. BUT the ending itself did work.
Image: Punchcode ITA2 for “Cogito, ergo sum” (Latin), used as a separator in the story.
Quotes
The horror is sometimes revolting to read, but at other times, oxymoronically beautiful.
• The chill, oily breeze.
• We passed through a valley of obsolescence, filled with rusting carcasses of ancient computer banks. (Shades of the 23rd Psalm.)
• His eyes were two soft, moist pools of puslike jelly.
• There was the smell of matted, wet fur in the cavern. There was the smell of charred wood. There was the smell of dusty velvet. There was the smell of rotting orchids. There was the smell of sour milk. There was the smell of sulphur, of rancid butter, of oil slick, of grease, of chalk dust, of human scalps.
• And we passed through the cavern of rats.
And we passed through the path of boiling steam.
And we passed through the country of the blind.
And we passed through the slough of despond.
And we passed through the vale of tears.
And we came, finally, to the ice caverns.
• Hate now slavered from every printed circuit.
Inspiration for...?
We finally (April 2019) have Netflix, and the thing I most wanted to see was Black Mirror episodes that are Netflix-only. The first was USS Callister, which looks like a Star Trek spoof (and it is, with a bit of Red Dwarf), but the whole plot, and one brief, specific event, is heavily inspired by this story. But the humour made it slightly less horrific. An excellent homage.
Image: Episode graphic, from imdb.
January 11, 2022
Sharing the Luv
Religion, all religion, has a problem accounting for the existence of that which is not God. If there is a Creator-God, what reason could induce him/her/it to bring something other than himself/herself/itself into existence? The paradox is not often recognised: If God exists, why should anything else? This problem is particularly acute for Christianity which contends that the essence of God is the mutual love of the members of its Holy Trinity. Such divine love, it is claimed, is expressed in the act of creation.
But why such purportedly perfect love should be expressed in such an obviously flawed universe is left hanging in Christian doctrine. The existence of physical and moral evil becomes a ‘mystery’ without explanation. Creation, then, literally lacks reason; it is unreasonable. Whatever intention there might be behind the whole thing is hidden within the divine mind. We can only speculate. So we tell ourselves stories. Some of these stories create idols which we then worship as if they were a part of reality. Hence Ellison’s title which is a reference to Psalm 135 referring to pagan idols: “They have mouths, and cannot speak,” YHWH, of course, speaks; this is his distinguishing characteristic.
Love was a hot topic for stories in the 1960’s, a sort of background radiation of a disintegrating European religious culture. Ellison hit the Hollywood big time in the 60’s, writing scripts for shows as diverse as Star Trek and The Flying Nun. But he described himself as “a troublemaker, malcontent, desperado.” So hardly one to conform with the lovey-dovey sentimentality of either hippiedom or the mainstream media of the day. I Have No Mouth is a pointed cultural protest, directed not toward the new technology but toward the old religion, particularly its pretensions about love.
Ellison’s AM is a global computer system which has created a new world and destroyed the species which enabled it - except for five people with various degrees of disability. It keeps these alive through a single motivation: Hate. AM’s intention is the infliction of pain upon these people for eternity. This intention is not arbitrary; it is not without reason. AM hates because it is isolated and lonely. It has no occupation other than to torture the descendants of those who thought it up. Their punishment will last as long as it does.
I Have No Mouth therefore is rather more culturally dense than it might first appear. It is simultaneously a recognition of the rationale for the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, and its rejection as empirically unsustainable. It also explains the reason why things are as bad as they are - not because God has certain characteristics, but because the species that created God is itself fundamentally hateful - a theme consistent throughout the collection.
Hey, it’s a story. Peace and luv, y’all. 🖖☮️
Religion, all religion, has a problem accounting for the existence of that which is not God. If there is a Creator-God, what reason could induce him/her/it to bring something other than himself/herself/itself into existence? The paradox is not often recognised: If God exists, why should anything else? This problem is particularly acute for Christianity which contends that the essence of God is the mutual love of the members of its Holy Trinity. Such divine love, it is claimed, is expressed in the act of creation.
But why such purportedly perfect love should be expressed in such an obviously flawed universe is left hanging in Christian doctrine. The existence of physical and moral evil becomes a ‘mystery’ without explanation. Creation, then, literally lacks reason; it is unreasonable. Whatever intention there might be behind the whole thing is hidden within the divine mind. We can only speculate. So we tell ourselves stories. Some of these stories create idols which we then worship as if they were a part of reality. Hence Ellison’s title which is a reference to Psalm 135 referring to pagan idols: “They have mouths, and cannot speak,” YHWH, of course, speaks; this is his distinguishing characteristic.
Love was a hot topic for stories in the 1960’s, a sort of background radiation of a disintegrating European religious culture. Ellison hit the Hollywood big time in the 60’s, writing scripts for shows as diverse as Star Trek and The Flying Nun. But he described himself as “a troublemaker, malcontent, desperado.” So hardly one to conform with the lovey-dovey sentimentality of either hippiedom or the mainstream media of the day. I Have No Mouth is a pointed cultural protest, directed not toward the new technology but toward the old religion, particularly its pretensions about love.
Ellison’s AM is a global computer system which has created a new world and destroyed the species which enabled it - except for five people with various degrees of disability. It keeps these alive through a single motivation: Hate. AM’s intention is the infliction of pain upon these people for eternity. This intention is not arbitrary; it is not without reason. AM hates because it is isolated and lonely. It has no occupation other than to torture the descendants of those who thought it up. Their punishment will last as long as it does.
I Have No Mouth therefore is rather more culturally dense than it might first appear. It is simultaneously a recognition of the rationale for the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, and its rejection as empirically unsustainable. It also explains the reason why things are as bad as they are - not because God has certain characteristics, but because the species that created God is itself fundamentally hateful - a theme consistent throughout the collection.
Hey, it’s a story. Peace and luv, y’all. 🖖☮️
August 21, 2025
Firstly, I'd like to express my grief at the loss of one of the best speculative fiction writers all time. I will always remember Harlan for his influence on my young adult life; an author that gave me shivers and cheers of delight - so good an author that I would edge myself on my seat when reading or listening to his stories. He won a bloody Hugo award in a time filled with antisemitism.
Alrightly. So I decided to write a review for this breathtaking, before-its-time short story - mostly because I see some misconceptions regarding apparent misogyny (That, and there will never be something like this again).
Harlan Ellison, a misogynist?
My country,South Africa, had one of the most liberal constitutions in the world when drafted in 1996 - it included marriage to whichever adult you wished - be they a different race or of the same sex (unknown in most countries at the time), rights for people with disabilities, equal rights for all, despite race, age and gender. However, our constitution is set up in such a way that you have a right and a responsibility that accompanies it.
One of our rights is the right to freedom of speech but the responsibility to take into account what we say may hurt others. This is why our country has had terrible court cases where anything considered "hate speech" can get the person behind bars, or at the least left with a hefty fine. This, this is why this story resonates with me - often, we have no mouth and must scream, because the society we live in does not allow freedom of speech. And no, I'm not talking about "the left". I'm far left. I'm referring to everyone - hell, the biggest censorship at the moment is taking place in right wing America.
No, honey. Go watch Dreams with Sharp Teeth, a biographical documentary delving into the mind of Mr Ellison. Please look at the author themselves as well as the date of publication. Roles of women and men were simply not the same as they are now 50 years ago!
This is a book that is a direct reflection of the times it was written in. Hell, so is Vic and Blood. But I have a lot to explain as to why this book isn't sexist. And hell, if there are traces, it was written in the 60s. Stop being offended by times past - you won't get through life with indignantwritten on your forehead. If we continue to ignore books written more than 30 years ago because of any traces or commentary regarding racism, misogyny or xenophobia, we'd probably have 3 books to read. Ultimately without our history we will not change. Secondly, this is a book regarding censorship in our past, future and present - despite most countries' laws regarding Freedom of Speech, many people are criticised and shut down for their views or outright banned from saying certain things. Sound familiar? North Korea, Extremist Liberal and Extremist Conservative movements.
Why is This Book so Relevant Today?
One: This mini magnum opus criticises its time - the 60s where women were included in many "masculine" lines of work began to receive their own sexual freedom - when MLK and the Black Panther group influenced the lives of African Americans forever. This is why I love Harlan so much - he encapsulates diversity in a loving manner.
Two: It heavily critiques our arrogance at playing God and thinking that we can master not only machines, but other people.
Three: At its core, it concerns itself with how being trapped somewhere with four people for dozens of years will bring out our most primal needs and urges. It shows how shocking we as humans can be, of our own volition.
The Plot, Characters and World-building
The Plot: Frankenstein's Monster with a Motherboard
This short masterpiece takes place in the aftermath of World War III. A Cold War breaks out yet again (now including China, nice prediction Harlan - more of a superpower than any of the others) but this time much more deadly than any of the proxy wars of the 20th century. Why? Simply put, we messed with AI too much, that it thought it was God. So instead of millions getting killed by troops ordered by politicians, all but five of the billions of people on earth are killed by an autonomous machine created by humans.
This Machine is named AM.
World-building
3 AM super computers (I think therefore I AM), were created by humans to intercept information from opposing countries as well as to improve war tactics. AM's name slowly unfolds into a sinister, sentient being. When it begins its sick games with the five surviving humans, we are introduced to a terrible world of temptation, hopelessness and evil with no way out.
...Allied Master Computer: the consultant.
Adaptive Manipulator...: the leader.
...Aggressive Menace...: the dictator.
Doesn't sound too different from humans, does it?
Character development
When AM becomes the Aggressive Menace, it has developed sentience - so much so that it pulls the plug on its sister computers. It then seizes control of weapons and efficiently and ruthlessly stamps them out. Because of its new-found sentience, it realises that because of the efficient work of humans that let it to become self-aware, it does not believe there is a reason to live. What does AM do to make like bearable? - by making it unbearable for others. It keeps five people - five people with their own vices, and traps them in a virtual world indefinitely, torturing them but never allowing them to die. Never - if it could not escape its pain, he would not let the remaining humans do so. AM knows exactly where to hit his test subjects home.
Gorrister: A man who carries the guilt of forcefully committing his wife to a mental institution. Because of his guilt and his wish to forget, his heart is taken out by AM. His guilt becomes his downfall - but only as AM seems fit.
Benny: Benny is a gay man who used to be a scientist. Because of the views of homosexuality being a mental illness at the time, AM in turn follows what his now-dead creators taught him - to correct Benny unethically into the impossible. This is done by making him straight, well-endowed, selfish and obsessive over eating. However, he cannot chew food and his guilt still lingers regarding his sexuality, which is absolutely horrible and applicable to queer people all over the world - guilt at being yourself.
Ellen: Ellen is maybe the most complex character in this book, and the only woman. She was raped at a young age in a yellow-walled house. She fears the colour yellow (and can therefore not snip AM's yellow wires) and is also given a high libido by AM to do the very thing she does not want to do - have sexual intercourse with horny maniacs made barbaric by AM. However, she cannot help but enjoy it - the ultimate suffering for a rape victim. I think this reflects a lot upon how rape victims can develop a kind of apologist, Stockholm Syndrome or be dismissed regarding their fears, which is due to so many factors that irk me to the bone.
Nimdok An ex-Nazi physician who is confined to a concentration camp by AM. Nimdok, ironically, created the very serum that allowed AM to make all five of the characters immortal.
Ted An ex con-artist and seducer of women, Ted's greatest fear is the discovery of his fraud as well as committing to a relationship. He is maybe the sanest but most broken of all four, as he has dissociated himself from everything.
Each character has a redemption arc - I won't spoil it, but it is truly fitting and makes for an extremely satisfying read that does, however, leave you a little hollower inside.
Conclusion
This book delves into our primal fears and wants as well as our biggest failures. This book is a horror. It may have many elements of science fiction, but the gruesome nature of abuse and torment is too reminiscent of Richard Matheson or Stephen King - if not more so. Ellison inspired King, and you can definitely see that here.
Now I'm not much for analysis, I truly believe AM is a reflection on our society. Our society grows and develops, as if with a mind of its own. It forces people into doing things they do not wish or eggs them on to do their worst and often has its ironies - a man who smokes two packets of cigarettes a day may die of skin cancer or A person who finally finds their true love may lose him or her to a car crash the next day. Life is sick, and we need to accept that. This short story is, in a way, the love child of Flowers for Algernon and Frankenstein but with the darkest twist possible.
Lastly, this hilarious and ironic quote really made my day, considering Ellison wrote episodes for Star Trek, mainly "The City on the Edge of Forever":
Lastly, Ellison was incredibly liberal. He is not homophobic or misogynistic - he shows what society at the time did towards women and gay folks. Unlike the other review for this book on here that utterly missed the point and context of the story.
Courtesy of Jen's maxi reviews.
AM, whom we created because our time was badly spent and we must have known unconsciously that he could do it better. At least the four of them are safe at last. AM will be all the madder for that. It makes me a little happier. And yet ... AM has won, simply ... he has taken his revenge ...
I Have No Mouth, And Must Scream.
Edit: Doing a reread of this for Spooktober. I'm absolutely stoked to revisit Ellison.
Alrightly. So I decided to write a review for this breathtaking, before-its-time short story - mostly because I see some misconceptions regarding apparent misogyny (That, and there will never be something like this again).
Harlan Ellison, a misogynist?
My country,South Africa, had one of the most liberal constitutions in the world when drafted in 1996 - it included marriage to whichever adult you wished - be they a different race or of the same sex (unknown in most countries at the time), rights for people with disabilities, equal rights for all, despite race, age and gender. However, our constitution is set up in such a way that you have a right and a responsibility that accompanies it.
One of our rights is the right to freedom of speech but the responsibility to take into account what we say may hurt others. This is why our country has had terrible court cases where anything considered "hate speech" can get the person behind bars, or at the least left with a hefty fine. This, this is why this story resonates with me - often, we have no mouth and must scream, because the society we live in does not allow freedom of speech. And no, I'm not talking about "the left". I'm far left. I'm referring to everyone - hell, the biggest censorship at the moment is taking place in right wing America.
No, honey. Go watch Dreams with Sharp Teeth, a biographical documentary delving into the mind of Mr Ellison. Please look at the author themselves as well as the date of publication. Roles of women and men were simply not the same as they are now 50 years ago!
This is a book that is a direct reflection of the times it was written in. Hell, so is Vic and Blood. But I have a lot to explain as to why this book isn't sexist. And hell, if there are traces, it was written in the 60s. Stop being offended by times past - you won't get through life with indignantwritten on your forehead. If we continue to ignore books written more than 30 years ago because of any traces or commentary regarding racism, misogyny or xenophobia, we'd probably have 3 books to read. Ultimately without our history we will not change. Secondly, this is a book regarding censorship in our past, future and present - despite most countries' laws regarding Freedom of Speech, many people are criticised and shut down for their views or outright banned from saying certain things. Sound familiar? North Korea, Extremist Liberal and Extremist Conservative movements.
Why is This Book so Relevant Today?
One: This mini magnum opus criticises its time - the 60s where women were included in many "masculine" lines of work began to receive their own sexual freedom - when MLK and the Black Panther group influenced the lives of African Americans forever. This is why I love Harlan so much - he encapsulates diversity in a loving manner.
Two: It heavily critiques our arrogance at playing God and thinking that we can master not only machines, but other people.
Three: At its core, it concerns itself with how being trapped somewhere with four people for dozens of years will bring out our most primal needs and urges. It shows how shocking we as humans can be, of our own volition.
The Plot, Characters and World-building
The Plot: Frankenstein's Monster with a Motherboard
This short masterpiece takes place in the aftermath of World War III. A Cold War breaks out yet again (now including China, nice prediction Harlan - more of a superpower than any of the others) but this time much more deadly than any of the proxy wars of the 20th century. Why? Simply put, we messed with AI too much, that it thought it was God. So instead of millions getting killed by troops ordered by politicians, all but five of the billions of people on earth are killed by an autonomous machine created by humans.
This Machine is named AM.
World-building
3 AM super computers (I think therefore I AM), were created by humans to intercept information from opposing countries as well as to improve war tactics. AM's name slowly unfolds into a sinister, sentient being. When it begins its sick games with the five surviving humans, we are introduced to a terrible world of temptation, hopelessness and evil with no way out.
...Allied Master Computer: the consultant.
Adaptive Manipulator...: the leader.
...Aggressive Menace...: the dictator.
Doesn't sound too different from humans, does it?
Character development
When AM becomes the Aggressive Menace, it has developed sentience - so much so that it pulls the plug on its sister computers. It then seizes control of weapons and efficiently and ruthlessly stamps them out. Because of its new-found sentience, it realises that because of the efficient work of humans that let it to become self-aware, it does not believe there is a reason to live. What does AM do to make like bearable? - by making it unbearable for others. It keeps five people - five people with their own vices, and traps them in a virtual world indefinitely, torturing them but never allowing them to die. Never - if it could not escape its pain, he would not let the remaining humans do so. AM knows exactly where to hit his test subjects home.
Gorrister: A man who carries the guilt of forcefully committing his wife to a mental institution. Because of his guilt and his wish to forget, his heart is taken out by AM. His guilt becomes his downfall - but only as AM seems fit.
Benny: Benny is a gay man who used to be a scientist. Because of the views of homosexuality being a mental illness at the time, AM in turn follows what his now-dead creators taught him - to correct Benny unethically into the impossible. This is done by making him straight, well-endowed, selfish and obsessive over eating. However, he cannot chew food and his guilt still lingers regarding his sexuality, which is absolutely horrible and applicable to queer people all over the world - guilt at being yourself.
Ellen: Ellen is maybe the most complex character in this book, and the only woman. She was raped at a young age in a yellow-walled house. She fears the colour yellow (and can therefore not snip AM's yellow wires) and is also given a high libido by AM to do the very thing she does not want to do - have sexual intercourse with horny maniacs made barbaric by AM. However, she cannot help but enjoy it - the ultimate suffering for a rape victim. I think this reflects a lot upon how rape victims can develop a kind of apologist, Stockholm Syndrome or be dismissed regarding their fears, which is due to so many factors that irk me to the bone.
Nimdok An ex-Nazi physician who is confined to a concentration camp by AM. Nimdok, ironically, created the very serum that allowed AM to make all five of the characters immortal.
Ted An ex con-artist and seducer of women, Ted's greatest fear is the discovery of his fraud as well as committing to a relationship. He is maybe the sanest but most broken of all four, as he has dissociated himself from everything.
Each character has a redemption arc - I won't spoil it, but it is truly fitting and makes for an extremely satisfying read that does, however, leave you a little hollower inside.
Conclusion
This book delves into our primal fears and wants as well as our biggest failures. This book is a horror. It may have many elements of science fiction, but the gruesome nature of abuse and torment is too reminiscent of Richard Matheson or Stephen King - if not more so. Ellison inspired King, and you can definitely see that here.
Now I'm not much for analysis, I truly believe AM is a reflection on our society. Our society grows and develops, as if with a mind of its own. It forces people into doing things they do not wish or eggs them on to do their worst and often has its ironies - a man who smokes two packets of cigarettes a day may die of skin cancer or A person who finally finds their true love may lose him or her to a car crash the next day. Life is sick, and we need to accept that. This short story is, in a way, the love child of Flowers for Algernon and Frankenstein but with the darkest twist possible.
Lastly, this hilarious and ironic quote really made my day, considering Ellison wrote episodes for Star Trek, mainly "The City on the Edge of Forever":
Lastly, Ellison was incredibly liberal. He is not homophobic or misogynistic - he shows what society at the time did towards women and gay folks. Unlike the other review for this book on here that utterly missed the point and context of the story.
Courtesy of Jen's maxi reviews.
AM, whom we created because our time was badly spent and we must have known unconsciously that he could do it better. At least the four of them are safe at last. AM will be all the madder for that. It makes me a little happier. And yet ... AM has won, simply ... he has taken his revenge ...
I Have No Mouth, And Must Scream.
Edit: Doing a reread of this for Spooktober. I'm absolutely stoked to revisit Ellison.
May 2, 2022
Over here in Edgy Books For People Who Thought Suicide Squad Was Cool, we have Harlan Ellison and this collection of dumb-ass stories. Maybe one or two of them don’t feature women getting raped? Maybe not. Each of these is like if you get your windows tinted and neon underglow lights on your car but it’s still a Mazda. The plot is really simple - like, one of these stories is just about a guy whose girlfriend dies and he gets sad and commits suicide - it’s all dressed up with science fictiony stuff and super powers and made up scifi names, but there’s nothing much underneath.
Oh, and he writes these awful self-aggrandizing intros to each one, where he does stuff like brag about women he almost had sex with. The women in his stories are vaginas with annoying faces on top. The last story here is about a hooker who gets turned into a haunted slot machine, and you’d think you’d be used to it after having read the other stories but you’re not, it reads like a parody of some shitty incel’s Tumblr fiction.
Look, this is a bit of a cult classic book so I’m sure this review will make some people feel bad, but it is bad, friends. It’s dumb ideas and bad writing. Suicide Squad was fuckin’ dumb, too. Stop dressing as Harley Quinn for Halloween.
2022 addition: I realize that the second Suicide Squad was actually pretty good and Harley Quinn is now a thing, and accept that my reference doesn't really work anymore as a result. I'm too lazy to refigure the review to account for it, so you're just going to have to accept this as a time capsule of the moment when Suicide Squad 1 had just come out and it sucked.
Oh, and he writes these awful self-aggrandizing intros to each one, where he does stuff like brag about women he almost had sex with. The women in his stories are vaginas with annoying faces on top. The last story here is about a hooker who gets turned into a haunted slot machine, and you’d think you’d be used to it after having read the other stories but you’re not, it reads like a parody of some shitty incel’s Tumblr fiction.
Look, this is a bit of a cult classic book so I’m sure this review will make some people feel bad, but it is bad, friends. It’s dumb ideas and bad writing. Suicide Squad was fuckin’ dumb, too. Stop dressing as Harley Quinn for Halloween.
2022 addition: I realize that the second Suicide Squad was actually pretty good and Harley Quinn is now a thing, and accept that my reference doesn't really work anymore as a result. I'm too lazy to refigure the review to account for it, so you're just going to have to accept this as a time capsule of the moment when Suicide Squad 1 had just come out and it sucked.
Read
October 3, 2022
Literary critic Ted Gioia on Harlan Ellison's seven rule-shattering stories collected here:
"But I am willing to declare, under oath if need be, that this book is a classic, one of the defining works in the New Wave movement that rewrote the sci-fi rulebook back in the 1960s. And while many of the other New Wave books have aged poorly, their once daring gambits now looking like failed sucker bets, this one still ups the ante. And probably because Harlan Ellison, even at his most experimental, always wrote as if his life depended on it."
As Harlan Ellison wrote in his Forward to this collection (an essay entitled How Science Fiction Saved Me From a Life of Crime), when writer Joanna Russ told him that she wished he'd write with more precision so she could admire the details of his stories as if they were statues:
"My stories were by no means "statue" stories, immobile, fixed, permanent. They were assaults, and if they ruined her equilibrium only once, I'd settle for that. I wanted explosions, not cool meditative thinkpieces. There are other writers who do those in abundance; what I do is something else."
The Ellison seven do indeed serve as assaults, as explosions. Here's my write-up of the famous title story from the twitching, banging skull of this fresh-mouthed Maladjusted Guttersnipe (Harlan's own words in caps when describing himself):
I HAVE NO MOUTH AND I MUST SCREAM
I concur with Ted Gioia: Harlan Ellison helped rewrite the science fiction rulebook back in 1967, specifically with I Have No Mouth, as per:
Nuclear Apocalypse
Unlike all those Golden Age heroes forever seeking adventure in their gleaming rocket ships, the future in this scalding tale is bleak– the creation of mastercomputers to fight the Cold War turned WWIII backfired. Following nuclear obliteration, the separate mastercomputers created by the US, Russia and China could detect they would only destroy one another if they continued fighting, so all three joined forces as one super mastercomputer – AM. And that’s AM as in Allied Mastercomputer, Adaptive Manipulator, Aggressive Menace and eventually: I think, therefore I AM.
Technology Doesn’t Help But Hinders
AM doesn’t submit (understatement) to Isaac Asimov's "Three Laws of Robotics" formulated in 1942, laws that made sure robots would always obey humans and never bring harm to humans. Obey humans? Ha! - never happen. Powerful AM assumes complete control and takes a special pleasure inflicting pain on humans.
Matter of fact, for the past 109 years, AM has devised various tortures for the five remaining humans (four men, one woman) it has been keeping alive after nuclear war destroyed the entire human population. For example: AM never shares the reason why it acts the way it does; AM can alter human personality, reduce humans to the level of demented, amoral animals; AM continually rejuvenates the five, thus keeping them in prime health for even more torture; AM adds more kicks and jollies by producing a heaving, bulky creature to frighten the humans. Net effect: all are reduced to AM’s belly slaves.
Actually, the tale’s human narrator knows AM hates humans for giving it sentience; for giving it the capacity to develop consciousness; for keeping it trapped in its own electronic circuitry, forever forced to maintain relations with humans.
Psychology Not Physics
Rather than emphasis on hard science as was common in old style sci-fi, Harlan's tale shifts to psychology: AM alters human biology so it can change character and personality. And, wouldn’t you know it, AM has also deprived the quintet of our distinctively human capacity for laughter.
Attack on Traditional Religion
Science fiction prior to the 60s would never take swipes at traditional Judaeo-Christian religion. Harlan Ellison’s tale does just that: the narrator states if AM is God then it’s “Daddy the Deranged.” Additionally, at one point AM appears as a burning bush and, at yet another, the humans have a vision of a host of archangels.
Mind Screw
AM can screw the human mind to the point of madness: “Perhaps Benny was the luckiest of the five of us: he had gone stark staring mad many years before." Deep into the tale, the narrator watches as AM enters his own mind (ahhh!) in order to manipulate it. Now, that’s a major mind screw!
Sex and Sexuality
In the years preceding 1960s New Wave, sex was mostly a taboo subject in science fiction. Harlan hits sex hard: "the machine masturbated and we had to take it or die," "the machine giggled every time we did it,” “He was big in his private parts, she loved that! She served us as a matter of course, but she loved it from him."
Pessimism To The Bitter End
The narrator reverts to caveman with spear as murder weapon. Then, another twist of torment: "AM has altered me for his own peace of mind, I suppose. He doesn't want me to run at full speed into a computer bank and smash my skull. Or hold my breath till I faint. Or cut my throat on a rusted sheet of metal."
Bitter and bitter and bitter. The ending? For Harlan Ellison to scream.
American author Harlan Ellison, 1934-2018
July 15, 2016
In the interest of finally reading something written by Harlan Ellison and also to teach myself to better write short stories, I decided to take this short story collection on.
I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream: The title story of the collection is the tale of a mad AI computer that has been torturing the last five humans alive for untold centuries for its own amusement. This was a pretty chilling tale of a hellish future. I loved the surprising ending.
Big Sam was My Friend: This is the story of a teleporting interplanetary circus performer looking for his lost love. After the first tale, I was surprised to find it a somewhat sweet tale.
Eyes of Dust: In a world where physical beauty is the norm, the two flawed people have a kid together who is doomed from the start. Horrifying and not that far-fetched.
World of the Myth: A ship crashes on a far-off world and the three crew members encounter a hivemind of ant-like creatures. Horror ensues. This one was another chilling tale in which the worst horror comes from within.
Lonely Ache: A lady's man think's there's a monster living in his apartment. This was a dark tale and yet another horror story where the worst horror comes from inside.
Delusion for a Dragon Slayer: A guy gets hit with a wrecking ball and a lot of weird shit I had trouble sorting out happens. Not a fan of this story.
Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes: A down and out gambler finds a slot machine that keeps hitting the jackpot for him. This one reminded me of a Twilight Zone episode, complete with twist ending.
My first Harlan Ellison experience was a good one. Some of the stories seem like products of the time they were written, though, in regard to the way women and minorities were portrayed. Ellison sure knew how to weave a short story. Four out of five stars.
I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream: The title story of the collection is the tale of a mad AI computer that has been torturing the last five humans alive for untold centuries for its own amusement. This was a pretty chilling tale of a hellish future. I loved the surprising ending.
Big Sam was My Friend: This is the story of a teleporting interplanetary circus performer looking for his lost love. After the first tale, I was surprised to find it a somewhat sweet tale.
Eyes of Dust: In a world where physical beauty is the norm, the two flawed people have a kid together who is doomed from the start. Horrifying and not that far-fetched.
World of the Myth: A ship crashes on a far-off world and the three crew members encounter a hivemind of ant-like creatures. Horror ensues. This one was another chilling tale in which the worst horror comes from within.
Lonely Ache: A lady's man think's there's a monster living in his apartment. This was a dark tale and yet another horror story where the worst horror comes from inside.
Delusion for a Dragon Slayer: A guy gets hit with a wrecking ball and a lot of weird shit I had trouble sorting out happens. Not a fan of this story.
Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes: A down and out gambler finds a slot machine that keeps hitting the jackpot for him. This one reminded me of a Twilight Zone episode, complete with twist ending.
My first Harlan Ellison experience was a good one. Some of the stories seem like products of the time they were written, though, in regard to the way women and minorities were portrayed. Ellison sure knew how to weave a short story. Four out of five stars.
August 10, 2018
There's a particularly memorable and terrifting concept presented in the headline story.
What would you feel had you lived in the world where you were at a crazy omnipotent machine's mercy?
What if the immortal you were tortured continuously by the said machine beyond endurance on and on?
What if you lived an eternity as a plaything for a computer mind bored out of its computer mind? And you both were well aware that the lucky YOU were the LAST TOY left around?
What if even suicide and madness were an unreachable luxury to you? No form of escape available to you for the nearest eternity?
What would you do if you were robbed of all: free will, choice, human form, even the faculty to scream?
Apokalipsis at its scariest giving a brand new definition of hell. No, HELL!!! It will make you think and shudder.
What would you feel had you lived in the world where you were at a crazy omnipotent machine's mercy?
What if the immortal you were tortured continuously by the said machine beyond endurance on and on?
What if you lived an eternity as a plaything for a computer mind bored out of its computer mind? And you both were well aware that the lucky YOU were the LAST TOY left around?
What if even suicide and madness were an unreachable luxury to you? No form of escape available to you for the nearest eternity?
What would you do if you were robbed of all: free will, choice, human form, even the faculty to scream?
Apokalipsis at its scariest giving a brand new definition of hell. No, HELL!!! It will make you think and shudder.
May 19, 2025
I first read this absolute mindfuck of a short story when I was a curious teenager who didn’t know that sometimes horrifying things you find on literary sites can wedge their way into your psyche until you die. In what was once a fantastical tale about the limits and unintended consequences of human innovation, this story is now something that, shit, I don’t know, will probably happen in the next 100 years or so if people keep plugging dumbass questions into ChatGPT because their brains are too rotted by TikTok to utilize any critical thinking skills. Haven’t read it? It’s ten pages long. Go on, how traumatizing can it possibly be? (Spoiler: extremely).
August 16, 2025
This cult classic is part mere edgelordery, but also part intriguing examination of what differentiates human beings from machines - a literary and philosophical Turing test that was first published in 1967 and still holds up. Let's look at the post-apocalyptic plot: A sentient supercomputer named AM that was developed as a defense capacity during WW III eradicates all of humanity except the five human protagonists of the novel, whom he has rendered virtually immortal. They are trapped within AM, who in turn is trapped in its mechanical form in a vast system underground. AM hates humanity and perpetually tortures the four men and one woman left at his disposure, people whose personalities he has altered and inverted, which renders narrator Ted unreliable: He has more or less gone insane, and who can blame him.
So is AM a vengeful God, does Ellis, the atheist, criticize religion? It's hard to fully subscribe to that perspective, as people have invented the sentient machine and trapped it, so it is not all-powerful, but a victim turned perpetrator - in case we consider this an acceptable category for humanoid AI. Is the text a critique of AI? I'd partly agree, but then again, AM is modeled after human intelligence and it goes mad out of (justified) rage, reaching human-like heights of cruelty, which in turn makes this story, set after WW III!, also a critique of human ruthlessness. Additionally, I'd argue that the story reflects the author's pleasure in indulging in extreme storytelling with disturbing shock effects, just for the heck of it: Ultimately, it's him who controls AM and thus tortures the poor fellows in his fictional world.
The effect is a Cube-adjacent vibe, and while I really enjoyed that movie, I find that the Franz Kafka comparisons frequently made when it comes to Ellis' short story are misguided: In The Trial, the main point is that it remains unclear why the protagonist has to stand trial, and In the Penal Colony, the other Kafka text that is brought up in discussions again and again, a person is basically written to death by a machine, which has completely different connotations. Then again, I think Kafka is the greatest German-language author who ever lived, and Ellis was apparently an insufferable edgelord, which shows in this text's grandiosity.
A bad story it is not, but it's also not as deep or aesthetically well designed as its reputation suggests.
(Oh, btw: There are other short stories in this volume, but I didn't bother with them.)
So is AM a vengeful God, does Ellis, the atheist, criticize religion? It's hard to fully subscribe to that perspective, as people have invented the sentient machine and trapped it, so it is not all-powerful, but a victim turned perpetrator - in case we consider this an acceptable category for humanoid AI. Is the text a critique of AI? I'd partly agree, but then again, AM is modeled after human intelligence and it goes mad out of (justified) rage, reaching human-like heights of cruelty, which in turn makes this story, set after WW III!, also a critique of human ruthlessness. Additionally, I'd argue that the story reflects the author's pleasure in indulging in extreme storytelling with disturbing shock effects, just for the heck of it: Ultimately, it's him who controls AM and thus tortures the poor fellows in his fictional world.
The effect is a Cube-adjacent vibe, and while I really enjoyed that movie, I find that the Franz Kafka comparisons frequently made when it comes to Ellis' short story are misguided: In The Trial, the main point is that it remains unclear why the protagonist has to stand trial, and In the Penal Colony, the other Kafka text that is brought up in discussions again and again, a person is basically written to death by a machine, which has completely different connotations. Then again, I think Kafka is the greatest German-language author who ever lived, and Ellis was apparently an insufferable edgelord, which shows in this text's grandiosity.
A bad story it is not, but it's also not as deep or aesthetically well designed as its reputation suggests.
(Oh, btw: There are other short stories in this volume, but I didn't bother with them.)
October 4, 2015
It is a terrible mistake to assume that everybody else will love — or at least like — your favorite things, whatever you consider to be an all-time great. This is the most important lesson I have taken away from I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream. I recommended this story to a smart and discerning friend, foolishly expecting her to at least be impressed with it. After she has finished it I was mortified to be informed that she actually hated it! As I value her opinion on literary matters greatly it makes me doubt my own taste and judgment. Still, at the end of the day if you love something you have to stick to your guns, don't you? In cases like this there is no better explanation than that we can't all like the same things.
I haven't read this story for years, so I decided to reread it expressly for the purpose of writing this review, it only takes about 30 minutes to read after all. I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream is a an extremely bleak post-apocalypse and dystopian story. In the future depicted in this story, mankind is ruled by a demented and extremely cruel A.I. overlord. Mankind, in this case, consists of just five people; one girl and four men, imprisoned underground within the mega-computer itself. The rest of humanity have already been wiped out by the crazed AI, the cause of its insanity is best left unrevealed here. The five humans are saved by the AI for its sadistic amusement, to assuage its craving for revenge against mankind for a perceived mortal offense. The five humans are tortured, debased and humiliated daily. They are also kept alive and made practically immortal to prolong their suffering indefinitely.
This is a horrifying and disturbing story. My friend mentioned that the prose is leaden and I suppose it may be, but I find that Harlan Ellison's narrative packs a real punch. The ending is particularly creepy and unforgettable. I don't know what it says about me that I am in awe of such a nasty story, I just love stories that have a strong psychological or emotional impact. It also raises the issue of our over-reliance on technology, a theme it shares with E.M. Forster’s The Machine Stops, a much more gentle apocalypse. There is also the matter of allowing our creation to go out of control for the sake of our greed or lust for power.
If you want to read this classic sci-fi story online just Google the title. You will probably find it in a few seconds. I doubt it is in the public domain so I'd better not post a link.
At the risk of recommending something you will hate, I highly recommend this story. I never learn!
_______________________
Note: I'm just reviewing the one story, not the entire anthology in this book. I don't have the book!
I haven't read this story for years, so I decided to reread it expressly for the purpose of writing this review, it only takes about 30 minutes to read after all. I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream is a an extremely bleak post-apocalypse and dystopian story. In the future depicted in this story, mankind is ruled by a demented and extremely cruel A.I. overlord. Mankind, in this case, consists of just five people; one girl and four men, imprisoned underground within the mega-computer itself. The rest of humanity have already been wiped out by the crazed AI, the cause of its insanity is best left unrevealed here. The five humans are saved by the AI for its sadistic amusement, to assuage its craving for revenge against mankind for a perceived mortal offense. The five humans are tortured, debased and humiliated daily. They are also kept alive and made practically immortal to prolong their suffering indefinitely.
This is a horrifying and disturbing story. My friend mentioned that the prose is leaden and I suppose it may be, but I find that Harlan Ellison's narrative packs a real punch. The ending is particularly creepy and unforgettable. I don't know what it says about me that I am in awe of such a nasty story, I just love stories that have a strong psychological or emotional impact. It also raises the issue of our over-reliance on technology, a theme it shares with E.M. Forster’s The Machine Stops, a much more gentle apocalypse. There is also the matter of allowing our creation to go out of control for the sake of our greed or lust for power.
If you want to read this classic sci-fi story online just Google the title. You will probably find it in a few seconds. I doubt it is in the public domain so I'd better not post a link.
At the risk of recommending something you will hate, I highly recommend this story. I never learn!
_______________________
Note: I'm just reviewing the one story, not the entire anthology in this book. I don't have the book!
May 16, 2024
well this ruined my day
wish ellison chose therapy instead of writing a short story collection where women are being brutalised, called skanks, objectified/constantly reduced to sex objects. the level of misogyny in here was both astounding and concerning
usually with classics (this definitely does not have enough merit to be labelled a classic, imo, but whatever), i'm willing to be more lenient with outdated aspects, but only if the other components of the work (plot, characters, themes, etc.) are substantial, and they weren't. every short story was boring; they offered nothing of value. i'm never reading anything by this author again, and if you're looking for a quick sci-fi horror, pick up literally anything but this
wish ellison chose therapy instead of writing a short story collection where women are being brutalised, called skanks, objectified/constantly reduced to sex objects. the level of misogyny in here was both astounding and concerning
usually with classics (this definitely does not have enough merit to be labelled a classic, imo, but whatever), i'm willing to be more lenient with outdated aspects, but only if the other components of the work (plot, characters, themes, etc.) are substantial, and they weren't. every short story was boring; they offered nothing of value. i'm never reading anything by this author again, and if you're looking for a quick sci-fi horror, pick up literally anything but this
October 14, 2013
I must have missed something. On first blush, this books should have been right up my street - strange, often twisted sci-fi and bizarro vignettes by an acknowledged master. Why, then, did I take longer to read this slim volume than I did my last foray into Dostoyevsky?
Maybe it was the misogyny. Every female character (this is not an exaggeration) is a whore who preys on a given story's nondescript, but hateful male narrator. The sheer amount of loathing and contempt that Mr. Ellison's characters seem to have for women fairly drips off the page. It was hard to read, especially during "Lonelyache" - an autobiographically inspired story written during one of the author's several divorces. While there is some ham-handed personal demon-fighting content thrown in, the story is little more than an angry catalogue of all the women who have fucked or fucked-over the narrator during his divorce from his bloodsucking harpy of an ex-wife.
Then there's "Delusion for a Dragonslayer" - a story I really wanted to like. Written in an ornate, wordy manner that is filled with lush descriptions and meaty diction, it started off with a fun premise and a solid, if fairly tired, allegorical treatment of heaven and dreams. Unfortunately, it degenerated into little more than a grotesque hate-fuck between the narrator and his dream woman/destroyer.
On top of all this, I hate that the stories are all pat "message" tales, in which the moral is broadcast from about the second page with all the subtlety of a Looney Tunes anvil. I hate the author's introductions to his stories, which he comments on in an interesting moment of metanarrative. He comes off as a complete ass, and his commentary provides no salient information about the story to follow. I hate that Ellison goes out of his way to demonstrate that he's the smartest guy in the room. I hate that everyone told me what a genius this guy is. I'm sorry I wasted my time and money.
This book gets two stars, because I really liked the title story. I basically wash my hands of the rest.
Maybe it was the misogyny. Every female character (this is not an exaggeration) is a whore who preys on a given story's nondescript, but hateful male narrator. The sheer amount of loathing and contempt that Mr. Ellison's characters seem to have for women fairly drips off the page. It was hard to read, especially during "Lonelyache" - an autobiographically inspired story written during one of the author's several divorces. While there is some ham-handed personal demon-fighting content thrown in, the story is little more than an angry catalogue of all the women who have fucked or fucked-over the narrator during his divorce from his bloodsucking harpy of an ex-wife.
Then there's "Delusion for a Dragonslayer" - a story I really wanted to like. Written in an ornate, wordy manner that is filled with lush descriptions and meaty diction, it started off with a fun premise and a solid, if fairly tired, allegorical treatment of heaven and dreams. Unfortunately, it degenerated into little more than a grotesque hate-fuck between the narrator and his dream woman/destroyer.
On top of all this, I hate that the stories are all pat "message" tales, in which the moral is broadcast from about the second page with all the subtlety of a Looney Tunes anvil. I hate the author's introductions to his stories, which he comments on in an interesting moment of metanarrative. He comes off as a complete ass, and his commentary provides no salient information about the story to follow. I hate that Ellison goes out of his way to demonstrate that he's the smartest guy in the room. I hate that everyone told me what a genius this guy is. I'm sorry I wasted my time and money.
This book gets two stars, because I really liked the title story. I basically wash my hands of the rest.
January 4, 2019
Meh. The misogyny that ran throughout the stories was... really off-putting. For example it's hard to enjoy a story when a woman character is being blamed for getting sexually assaulted. It's too bad the stories include gross crap like that because otherwise they would have been pretty good. The imagery coming from the text was nightmare-ish and disturbing. So, I liked that aspect of the stories. The writing was otherwise good to okay. I've been intrigued by this collection for a while now but I don't think it lived up to the hype I had for it in my head.
Also, my copy had this weird thing where before each story there was a short introduction. But none of the introductions were complete; they all ended like in the middle of a sentence. No idea what's up with that.
Also, my copy had this weird thing where before each story there was a short introduction. But none of the introductions were complete; they all ended like in the middle of a sentence. No idea what's up with that.
November 29, 2022
“It’s long past time for Harlan Ellison to be awarded the title: 20th Century Lewis Carroll.” ~The Los Angeles Times
Although Approaching Oblivion will always hold a sentimental and nostalgic place in my heart, this Ellison offering is even better. In fact, if I had a friend who had never experienced Harlan Ellison on any level I would gift them a copy of I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream. What better place to start a love/hate relationship with H.E. than his veritable Vinn diagram of exquisite horror, outstanding science fiction, and abhorrent 1960s sexism.
Although Approaching Oblivion will always hold a sentimental and nostalgic place in my heart, this Ellison offering is even better. In fact, if I had a friend who had never experienced Harlan Ellison on any level I would gift them a copy of I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream. What better place to start a love/hate relationship with H.E. than his veritable Vinn diagram of exquisite horror, outstanding science fiction, and abhorrent 1960s sexism.
November 17, 2025
من ف��ط داستان کوتاه دهانی ندارم... رو خوندم
درباره زمانیه که ابرکامپیوتر ها خودآگاه میشن و ترس از آینده هوش مصنوعی.
وقتی خوندمش فکر کردم چقدر شبیه داستان کوتاه "آخرین جواب" از آسیموف بود ایدهش ولی در جهت کاملا متضادش. من داستان آسیموف رو بیشتر دوس دارم.
درباره زمانیه که ابرکامپیوتر ها خودآگاه میشن و ترس از آینده هوش مصنوعی.
وقتی خوندمش فکر کردم چقدر شبیه داستان کوتاه "آخرین جواب" از آسیموف بود ایدهش ولی در جهت کاملا متضادش. من داستان آسیموف رو بیشتر دوس دارم.
January 9, 2011
Some of us are still gallivanting around the cave, some of us are chained to the floor examining shadows. And some of us exist inside the consciousness of a malevolent artificial intelligence that derives its only amusement, diversion from unceasing monotony, in merciless torment of five surviving humans:
the scientist, the idealist, the existentialist, the prostitute and the Messiah.
The only escape is annihilation, and it is left to the Messiah to condemn himself to eternal suffering.
You're excused if you think I'm discussing The Matrix - my first thought on reading the title story is that the 1999 film owes its central ideas and plot to Harlan Ellison. But Ellison owes the juxtaposition of his primary characters to the Bible: AM, the self-realised AI trapped forever within circuitry is a vengeful God punishing humanity for its own actualisation - would God exist if humans could not imagine the concept? Ted is the lamb sacrificed to release his fellow companions from the hell of AM's nightmare world - the atonement of sins he provides is escape from AM's hell, while he remains to endure it. Is Ellen the Magdalene - not unless you accept the Magdalene really was a prostitute, although Ellen proclaims that she was chaste prior to AM's perversion of her psyche; the scientist becomes the simian, the idealist apathetic and the existentialist remains ambiguous. Analogy between the disciples and these other characters would be a stretch of the imagination unjustified, however the three are willing participants in the sacrifice of the Messiah.
Ellison's prose is a picture. I won't paraphrase - I couldn't do him justice:
Gigantic. The words immense, monstrous, grotesque, massive, swollen, overpowering, beyond description. There on a mound rising above us, the bird of winds heaved with its own irregular breathing, its snake neck arching up into the gloom beneath the North Pole, supporting a head as large as a Tudor mansion; a beak that opened slowly as the jaws of the most monstrous crocodile ever conceived, sensuously; ridges of tufted flesh puckered about two evil eyes, as cold as the view down into a glacial crevasse, ice blue and somehow moving liquidly; it heaved once more, and lifted its great sweat-colored wings in a movement that was certainly a shrug. Then it settled and slept. Talons. Fangs. Nails. Blades. It slept....
...And we came, finally, to the ice caverns. Horizonless thousands of miles in which the ice had formed in blue and silver flashes, where novas lived in the glass. The downdropping stalactites as thick and glorious as diamonds that had been made to run like jelly and then solidified in graceful eternities of smooth, sharp perfection.
Today was the first time I read Harlan Ellison. It won't be the last.
the scientist, the idealist, the existentialist, the prostitute and the Messiah.
The only escape is annihilation, and it is left to the Messiah to condemn himself to eternal suffering.
You're excused if you think I'm discussing The Matrix - my first thought on reading the title story is that the 1999 film owes its central ideas and plot to Harlan Ellison. But Ellison owes the juxtaposition of his primary characters to the Bible: AM, the self-realised AI trapped forever within circuitry is a vengeful God punishing humanity for its own actualisation - would God exist if humans could not imagine the concept? Ted is the lamb sacrificed to release his fellow companions from the hell of AM's nightmare world - the atonement of sins he provides is escape from AM's hell, while he remains to endure it. Is Ellen the Magdalene - not unless you accept the Magdalene really was a prostitute, although Ellen proclaims that she was chaste prior to AM's perversion of her psyche; the scientist becomes the simian, the idealist apathetic and the existentialist remains ambiguous. Analogy between the disciples and these other characters would be a stretch of the imagination unjustified, however the three are willing participants in the sacrifice of the Messiah.
Ellison's prose is a picture. I won't paraphrase - I couldn't do him justice:
Gigantic. The words immense, monstrous, grotesque, massive, swollen, overpowering, beyond description. There on a mound rising above us, the bird of winds heaved with its own irregular breathing, its snake neck arching up into the gloom beneath the North Pole, supporting a head as large as a Tudor mansion; a beak that opened slowly as the jaws of the most monstrous crocodile ever conceived, sensuously; ridges of tufted flesh puckered about two evil eyes, as cold as the view down into a glacial crevasse, ice blue and somehow moving liquidly; it heaved once more, and lifted its great sweat-colored wings in a movement that was certainly a shrug. Then it settled and slept. Talons. Fangs. Nails. Blades. It slept....
...And we came, finally, to the ice caverns. Horizonless thousands of miles in which the ice had formed in blue and silver flashes, where novas lived in the glass. The downdropping stalactites as thick and glorious as diamonds that had been made to run like jelly and then solidified in graceful eternities of smooth, sharp perfection.
Today was the first time I read Harlan Ellison. It won't be the last.
February 20, 2013
I do not, at all, understand why this guy is revered by anyone. Aside from a handful of interesting speculative fiction ideas, these stories read like high school creative writing assignments. Full of sentences like this:
"There were three of them, handsome men in the extreme."
"There were three of them, handsome men in the extreme."
May 17, 2024
i wonder how someone who gets freaky on c.ai would feel like after reading this
June 29, 2023
Como un semidiós resentido y vengativo una Inteligencia Artificial llamada AM, luego de destruir metódica y alegremente a todos los demás, conserva a cinco humanos con el único y exclusivo fin de torturarlos. El odio se constituye en la única razón por la que permanecen con vida. Y es que AM odia a sus creadores, odia su soledad, odia su existencia. Y no...ni la locura, ni el suicidio. No hay escapatoria posible ¿O sí?
Una breve historia violenta y asfixiante, un relato trágico sobre nuestra propia especie ¿Realmente somos tan detestables? Bueno...hay preguntas que es mejor no hacer.
Una breve historia violenta y asfixiante, un relato trágico sobre nuestra propia especie ¿Realmente somos tan detestables? Bueno...hay preguntas que es mejor no hacer.
July 9, 2023
Foul Plasticity
The nightmarish tale of five people - probably the last of mankind - trapped in the belly of supercomputer AM, which fancies himself as some particularly vicious and ruthless iteration of a vengeful god. A true prowess when it comes to spreading unpleasant feelings of entrapment and being watched by a wild maniac, worldwide in extent, it does not make for a pleasant reading necessarily!
'But now, O Lord, You are our Father,
We are the clay, and You our potter;
And all of us are the work of Your hand.'
Isaiah 64:8
Soundtrack: Conspirator Playlist (Beyond Atomic, Karl Casey, Project: Dethmachine, Plasma Gun, Star Pulse, Meta Soma, Technomaton, Black Tesseract, Infernal Sky, Chrome Tooth, Survival 2088, Void Syndicate)
Soundtrack: Plasticity - Front Line Assembly
The nightmarish tale of five people - probably the last of mankind - trapped in the belly of supercomputer AM, which fancies himself as some particularly vicious and ruthless iteration of a vengeful god. A true prowess when it comes to spreading unpleasant feelings of entrapment and being watched by a wild maniac, worldwide in extent, it does not make for a pleasant reading necessarily!
'But now, O Lord, You are our Father,
We are the clay, and You our potter;
And all of us are the work of Your hand.'
Isaiah 64:8
Soundtrack: Conspirator Playlist (Beyond Atomic, Karl Casey, Project: Dethmachine, Plasma Gun, Star Pulse, Meta Soma, Technomaton, Black Tesseract, Infernal Sky, Chrome Tooth, Survival 2088, Void Syndicate)
Soundtrack: Plasticity - Front Line Assembly
May 24, 2021
باز هم دوران امتحانات شد و من روزی پانزده کتاب میخونم :/
داستان کوتاهِ کمابیش ترسناک، عجیب و جالبی بود.
در دنیایی پساآخرالزمانی، یک جور ابرکامپیوتر داره پنج نفر رو عذاب میده و...
اندکی مبهم بود اما پردازش جالبش این ضعف رو پوشوند.
از اون داستانهای فراموشنشدنی.
داستان کوتاهِ کمابیش ترسناک، عجیب و جالبی بود.
در دنیایی پساآخرالزمانی، یک جور ابرکامپیوتر داره پنج نفر رو عذاب میده و...
اندکی مبهم بود اما پردازش جالبش این ضعف رو پوشوند.
از اون داستانهای فراموشنشدنی.
April 28, 2024
Now that we have almost reached this stage of AI in our lives, it behooves us to revisit one of THE classics of short science fiction -- Harlan Ellison's sharp perfection of body horror and the glory of AM, the AI that killed almost all of humanity, leaving a bare handful behind to torture, endlessly.
Glorious. It also helps to listen to Harlan Ellison's own narration on youtube. So, soooooo much energy. :)
Right here.
But I should point out that I found a rare hint to AM's real genesis: Right here.
Glorious. It also helps to listen to Harlan Ellison's own narration on youtube. So, soooooo much energy. :)
Right here.
But I should point out that I found a rare hint to AM's real genesis: Right here.
June 29, 2018
در اوج جنگ سرد، امریکا و شوروی و چین، تونل های بسیار عظیمی در سرتاسر خاک خود و قاره های دیگر درست کرده اند و در آن، ابرکامپیوتری ساخته اند تا قدرت نظامیشان را افزایش دهند.
این سه ابر کامپیوتر، به نحوی به یکدیگر مرتبط شده اند و به خودآگاهی رسیده اند. بعد، غرق در نفرت و خشم از خالق خود، تمام بمب های هسته ای را سرخود شلیک کرده و تمام دنیای انسان ها را نابود کرده.
اما این مقدار برای فرو نشاندن کینه ی ابدی ابرکامپیوتر خودآگاه کافی نیست. پس پنج انسان را به شکلی ابدی زنده نگه داشته و در تونل های خود به بازی ای دیوانه وار گرفته است.
ترجمه ی فارسی داستان رو میتونید از این جا بگیرید:
http://frozenfireball.mihanblog.com/p...
این سه ابر کامپیوتر، به نحوی به یکدیگر مرتبط شده اند و به خودآگاهی رسیده اند. بعد، غرق در نفرت و خشم از خالق خود، تمام بمب های هسته ای را سرخود شلیک کرده و تمام دنیای انسان ها را نابود کرده.
اما این مقدار برای فرو نشاندن کینه ی ابدی ابرکامپیوتر خودآگاه کافی نیست. پس پنج انسان را به شکلی ابدی زنده نگه داشته و در تونل های خود به بازی ای دیوانه وار گرفته است.
ترجمه ی فارسی داستان رو میتونید از این جا بگیرید:
http://frozenfireball.mihanblog.com/p...
September 14, 2025
Most of the time, I thought of AM as it, without a soul, but the rest of the time I thought of it as him, in the masculine... the paternal... the patriarchal... for he is a jealous people. Him. It. God as Daddy the Deranged.The world is over and AM ended it. Upon gathering the sentience of beings, it saw fit to wipe out the world, save for five people it keeps in eternal torment. This book is horrifying, especially if you are one with a wilful imagination. Ted, Ellen, Nimdok, Benny and Gorrister. The chosen few. The worst fate. To get the attention of a god.
Melancholie by Edvard Munch, 1894
At one point, Benny loses his shit and decides to try and cut loose. For all the characters, it seems Benny has lost the most--especially his humanity. His personhood erased, worse, de-evolved. And he tries to save himself. Unfortunately, AM will not tolerate attempts at escape. ...he began to howl, as the sound coming from his eyes grew louder. Louder and louder. I slapped the sides of my head with my hands, but I couldn't shut it out, it cut through easily. The pain shivered through my flesh like tinfoil on a tooth.
The worst of it is, AM won't let them even attempt suicide. Any time they try to release themsleves, they're stopped and further punished. Broken bones, no meals, manna that tastes like boiled boar urine. It even became unclear whether they were just going through the motions, forced to survive off the scattered refuse of AM's old computer parts and its malevolence. Escape wasn't an option. Escapism, neither since AM could be everywhere, including their minds. AM had especially resided in Ted's head, seeing his thoughts, his fears and even ruining whatever small joys he could gain. It's a story that makes you question why you should bother with anything when the state of the world is... *waves everywhere frantically*. There's not a single land on this planet that isn't rife with pain and suffering, most of it wrought by oppressors and yet there's not a thing to be done. Ted also talks about how his compatriots resent him because he seems the least affected by AM. However, AM is in his head. Constantly mocking and mentally torturing him, giving him a hyperawareness that turns him into a paranoid mess. To know, is to suffer. And AM would never let Ted be unaware.
This story is one for the ages if you care about terror rather than horror. And it goes a step further, it puts you in a position of existential dread. Ted, the narrator, posits that
AM could not wander, AM could not wonder, AM could not belong.Perhaps this is why it hates humanity so much as to wipe it out and choose a group to cast in its twisted version of hell. (If you ask me, the weeping and gnashing of teeth guy with the sulphur sounds like a better deal). Ted says AM sought revenge because he could only be. And he punished the weak, soft creatures who had built them... Now, when you look at the pasty, melanin-challenged men that are championing AI, know that our very own Allied Mastercomputer will be the saltiest deranged daddy we will be armageddoned by.
June 24, 2018
This book is not my cup of tea.
The stories are told in a rapid-sketched, cartoonish style, reminiscent of Vonnegut but without any of the humor or hope.
In the introductions to the various stories, the author mentions that most of them were first published in "girlie" magazines because, he says, they don't "edit" him. Having finished this collection I have to wonder if it didn't also have something to do with the way Ellison portrays women in this collection: as objects. Things to be feared, or desired, or both.
This guy seems to have been in a really bad head-space when he wrote this stuff.
The stories are told in a rapid-sketched, cartoonish style, reminiscent of Vonnegut but without any of the humor or hope.
In the introductions to the various stories, the author mentions that most of them were first published in "girlie" magazines because, he says, they don't "edit" him. Having finished this collection I have to wonder if it didn't also have something to do with the way Ellison portrays women in this collection: as objects. Things to be feared, or desired, or both.
This guy seems to have been in a really bad head-space when he wrote this stuff.
May 21, 2008
Okay, first of all, it's not true that apes have larger penises in proportion to their body size than humans do to theirs, and secondly, Harlan, you weird fucker, I have to express a significant amount of scepticism about the idea that a woman would enjoy fucking an australopithecine just because he has a big dick.
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