Approaching Oblivion: Road Signs on the Treadmill Toward Tomorrow

by Harlan Ellison

Ellison's often prophetic visions of the future are revealed in eleven tales of science fiction including Erotophobia, Ecowareness, 480 Seconds, and I'm Looking for Kadak

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction, Fantasy, Speculative Fiction, Horror, Science Fiction Fantasy

213 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

Harlan Jay Ellison (1934-2018) was a prolific American writer of short stories, novellas, teleplays, essays, and criticism.

His literary and television work has received many awards. He wrote for the original series of both The Outer Limits and Star Trek as well as The Alfred Hitchcock Hour; edited the multiple-award-winning short story anthology series Dangerous Visions; and served as creative consultant/writer to the science fiction TV series The New Twilight Zone and Babylon 5.

Several of his short fiction pieces have been made into movies, such as the classic "The Boy and His Dog".

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

One thing you can say--there's no one like Ellison. And I mean not only his stories, but the man himself. I saw him once and it was an experience.
In this collection, there were some stories I had not read before, but my favorite is one I read a long time ago-the semi-autobiographical "One Life, Furnished in Early Poverty."

Above was what I wrote after first reading this book and I thought this time I would rank the stories after rereading this collection. "One Life.." is my favorite--from before and upon my rereading it. "Kadak" comes in a close second. The only one I did not care for is "Erotophobia."
Knox ***
Cold Friend ****
Kiss of Fire ****
Paulie Charmed the Sleeping Woman ***
I'm Looking For Kadak ****
Silent in Gehenna ****
Erotophobia **
One Life, Furnished in Early Poverty *****
Ecowareness ***
Catman ***
Hindsight: 480 Seconds ***
The collection should be rated ***1/2 but because Harlan has been one of my favorite authors, I'll give it ****.

[Ilana (illi69) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was both pleasantly surprised, while also being disappointed when I got to the last story on this double volume audiobook. Until then, I’d found it difficult to engage in the worlds Ellison created, and my interest lagged. Until Harlan Ellison himself narrated one of his stories, which had been read by a professional narrator earlier in the book. I wish he’d read the whole collection because the same tale I’d found only moderately interesting suddenly came to life when he told it. As it turns out, the narrator they used for the project was all wrong, giving a flat delivery, thus depriving Ellison’s stories from all the excitement they’re meant to convey. My rating reflects my lukewarm appreciation of the whole experience, but it seems I’d have enjoyed it much better had the narrator done the works justice.

[Paulo (not receiving notifications)]

Harlan Ellison is infuriating! Every story of his is like a brick thrown to the face of your conscience. A wake-up call to our inertia and navel-gazing centrism. Love the writer and hate the man, or hate the writer and love the man, but you can't stay indifferent. With Ellison, there is no midground, and there are no prisoners either.
He was a writer with his own unique dictionary, where the word "Compromise" doesn't exist.
This book is a collection of 11 stories. I approached each one individually in this review.
The introductions (Michael Crichton and H. Hlison) alone are reason enough to buy the book.
Harlan Ellison's stories always commented on social and human responsibility; They dealt with pain, both mental and emotional. And he was the most ferocious critic of our stupidity.
Human beings use only three percent of their brain… It is more likely that only three percent of human beings use their brains.


Knox (1974)

The book opens with one of the most terrifying stories I've ever read. A short story of 16 pages of pure despair, terror and fear. Here, H.E. shows the devastating effects of accepting any kind of course of action without putting yourself in question and asking constantly: "Is this right?".
The reading is particularly hard-hitting because similar white supremacist groups exist today.
When everyone goes through the dogmas unquestioningly, we are heading blindfold at full speed to the Abyss… Think twice before saying YES.

Cold Friend (1973)

In the second story, we witness the devastation of an unaware and unwanted obsessive love as a consequence of an ARK (an act of random kindness) from someone you don't even remember meeting.
Facing the END of the world, what should we do? Like the main character of this story, I'm going to teach myself how to make pizza


Kiss of Fire (1973)

Greed, cupidity, boredom and the god complex that the human race suffers from are the basis of the third story. Here, H.E. tells us that no matter how powerful, clever and ruthless you are, payback day will come. Sooner or later.
Unfortunately, usually comes far too late; when all the damage is already done and although satisfying, that may be revenge, the only thing that is left is the bitter taste of loss.
In this short story, Ellison uses a language, despite its incredibly flowery nature, superficial and empty. The effect reflects perhaps the state of mind of the main character. If it was on purpose or not, I don't know, but the effect is devastating.

Paulie Charmed the Sleeping Woman (1962)

Then we have a ghost story. But, wait… There are no ghosts, are there? Perhaps there are only those we build with our guilty conscience or long-lasting sorrows, I don't know, but I know that this is one of the saddest stories I've ever read.

I'm Looking for Kadak

I am a Zsouchmoid, I'm blue and I have eleven arms, thereby defying the Law of Bilateral Symmetry…. And I'm Jew… hilarious
Blue alien Jews…. Only H.E.!
Being himself a Jew, he wrote a satire to denounce, with ridicule, the absurdity of religious ceremonies and even the Religions themselves. I don't believe that his parody around the Wall of Lamentations, the holiest place where Jews are permitted to pray, made him a lot of friends. But he spares no one, so… don't get farblondjet and stop all that tummel before Evsive kicks your tuchis….

Silent in Gehenna (1971)

Therefore the days are surely coming, says the Lord, when this place shall no more be called Tophet, or the Valley of the Sons of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter" (Jeremiah 19:16).

There are still visible parts of the original stone that held the pagan altars. Tophet altars got the name from the drums that devotees would beat to drown out the cries of children immolated in sacrifice to whichever god was in fashion. Later, the valley also became the burning-garbage site of Jerusalem, where a fire could be seen permanently.
By Jesus' time, the Greek translation of Hinnom Valley, Gehenna, became a synonym for Hell. Hinnom Valley serves as a metaphor for both the Christian and Jewish hells. Those who walked through the biblical "Valley of the Shadow of Death" walked there.
Mentioned in the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke, …) as a place in which fire will destroy the wicked, it also is noted in the Talmud, as a place of purification, after which one is released from further torture; in other words, the Purgatory, where the souls should attune their consciences and get released or don't and be condemned.
Only H.E. to write a story based on Jewish and Christian mythology to create a protest and a warning against future tyrannic absolutism in the best manner of 1984 of George Orwell.

Erotophobia (1971)

ROFL… What would you do if you were sexually assaulted by males and females everywhere, all the time, because the entire world thinks you are "irresistible"? What would you do if you were literally “loved to death”? Run like hell, I suppose. But the conclusion is a real "killer"

One Life, Furnished in Early Poverty (1970)

A poignant reflection over one's past options and decisions. Filled with interwoven strands of nostalgia and longing, it's a touching tale about the bitterness surrounding one’s own life.
I can't be sure 100% to say that some parts are based on autobiographical facts, but I had that impression.

Ecowareness (1974)

We are screwing the planet and not doing anything about it!
A “fairy tale” about Earth and how many "It" had to kill before people realized the damage they had wrecked.
James Lovelock started defining the idea of a self-regulating Earth controlled by the community of living organisms in 1965. Then he formulated the Gaia Hypothesis in journal articles in 1972, followed by a popularizing 1979 book, Gaia: A new look at life on Earth. I think that Lovelock's book was one of the first, if not the first, ecological scientific manifestos.
H.E. wrote this "pamphlet" in 1972, and I believe the influence is obvious.
So we have an angry planet taking revenge by eating people. … Barbra Streisand's house suddenly vanished into a bottomless pit…. Her C above high C was heard for hours. Diminishing.

Catman (1974)

A story about the "Forbidden Fruit", in my opinion.
I read it several times and still can't be sure of its entire meaning and what Ellison intended to state.
The story is set in a society where nothing is taboo except one thing, and since something is forbidden, there is always someone who wants it. Even if it is to have sex with an AI half machine, half flesh… here my brain sloped all down the Hill.
Behind all action in the "centre scene", like in a magician's show, we can glimpse the traits of that brand new future society:
… what are we doing for the company peasants who were affected by the tsunami?...
An absolutely splendid advertising campaign, car-cards, wandering evangelists, rumours, and in three days a major holo extravaganza… Morale is very high…. We've established competition between the cities: The one that mounts the most memorable mass burial ceremony gets a new sports arena… How about that Hunger Games?
Isn't it wonderful the faith in a better, brilliant future? Well, life is filled with little disappointments.
But a police officer who is bound by a time clock to make his arrest is absurdly delightful. Also, a thief who runs by a time clock is too bloody surreal. It's as if Batman is chasing The Joker and cornering him, then looking at his watch and says: "Oh dear, it's tea time. Get the scones…

Hindsight: 480 Seconds (1973)

Earth is going to be completely destroyed. You know it; you will witness it first hand; you will have 480 seconds to record all for the eventual future of mankind, and you are a poet. What would you say?
. . . and it would be right for the children of the dark places, even if it took them a thousand years to find another home.
The only story in this collection that gives us some hope for the future of mankind, or not…

[Skallagrimsen]

Harlan Ellison died about five years ago. I was surprised and just a tad by how little attention his passing seemed to garner. The enfant terrible of American science fiction's psychedelic heyday, it seemed, had rather outlived his fame. It didn't help that Ellison didn't write much in his declining years, including exactly none of those supercharged works of imagination that anyone will ever remember in association with his name. If Ellison died somewhat young, in the 80's or even the 90's, I believe his death would have made a bigger splash. But by 2018, to the degree he was remembered, it might have been disproportionately as a cantankerous and litigious relic of a bygone era. I think he deserved better--or at any rate, the best of his work did. But he also brought it on himself.

All of Ellison's collections that aren't Deathbird Stories, Angry Candy, or Strange Wine sort of blur together in my memory. Chances are Approaching Oblivion, like the others, is a mix of good and bad writing, brilliant and mediocre ideas, honest emotion and blustery pretense--all sometimes within the same story. I'd have to re-read it to say for sure, however, and this I am unlikely ever to do. I can propose, however, that "Approaching Oblivion," now aptly doubles as a description of Ellison's current literary reputation. Beside that, I think it's a good and poetic title. Or would be if not marred by a pompous subtitle: "Road Signs on the Treadmill To Tomorrow." Then again, I suppose these together, good and bad, combine to do a pretty good job of summarizing Harlan Ellison.

[Tomislav · Rating 2 out of 5]

Back in the 1970s, my girlfriend and I read a lot of Harlan Ellison story collections, and liked them. In fact, some of the stories were required in my college classes. The other day, a lot of decades later, my wife was discarding some old SF books of hers, and I saw this one. Somehow, I had not read this one back then, and so resolved to read it now.

I think most of these were written after Harlan Ellison became famous and a required inclusion in all new anthologies, and published in the likes of Penthouse magazine. One of the patterns of his writing is to make a commonplace of unexpected gore, showing the rotten underside of our own society. Often his characters display a twisted psychological angst. They seem the kind of story that was considered rebellious and pushed the limits of acceptability in 1970s creative writing classes. These techniques were authentically shocking when he started writing, and are present in some of his greatest stories. But after a while, it's not shocking, or even effective, any more.

[Marvin · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is no such thing as a bad Ellison collection. The man rocks. However there is one story here that would be worth the price of admission even if all the others sucked (they don't). "I'm Looking for Kadak" is a very funny tale about Jewish aliens trying to form a Minyan for worship. It helps to know more than a little Yiddish to read this story. But never fear. Ellison provides a glossary. How thoughtful!

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The female puts her long middle finger of the bottom arm on the right side, straight into the pupik [belly-button] and goes moofky-foofky, and that's how we shtup."

for this my eleven year old self hid this book from my parents!

[Charles Dee Mitchell · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was my first and is likely to be my only encounter with the writing of Harlan Ellison. It's not as though I didn't know what I letting myself in for. Ellison's reputation as an old crank, which he wears a a badge of honor, precedes him. I have watched Dreams with Sharp Teeth, the 2008 documentary on him and actually rather enjoyed it. (It might have been very late at night) But this anthology dates from the mid-1970's, so he was at most a forty-year-old crank. Old cranks can have undeniable charm and even a sense of gravitas about them. In his forties, Ellison comes off as an overaged college student with a weighty chip on his shouler who has just discovered that the world is neither fair nor very nice and goddammit he's going to tell it like it fucking is.

I dislike so much about this book I hardly now where to begin, although the title, the subtitle, and the jacket copy seem like a good place. (I read a book club hardback edition.) A book published today with the title Approaching Obliviion could be a screed by Glenn Beck or any number of right wing hand wringers who lament the disappearance of an America they think existed sometime sixty years ago. Hyperbole swings both ways. Ellison caps it off with a subtitle, Road Signs on the Treadmill Toward Tomorrow, a phrase that evokes a self-pitying Jeremiah. Then there is the predictably slavish praise of the promotional copy on the book's inside flaps. Apparently the New York Times once described Ellison as "relentlessly honest," a fact relentlessly repeated in almost everything you read about him. Buried on the back flap is this irrelevant and irritating nugget. "[Ellsion} created a series called Starlost and walked away from $93,000 in profits when the producers departed from his original concept." Mr. Ellison, you are a pillar of integrity. I assume he did accept payment for the episode of The Flying Nun he wrote in 1968. It actually sounds pretty good, a kinky mix that has Sister Bertrille crash-landing on a desert island and patching up the relationship between the shipwrecked lovers she finds there.

I really did read this book and can say something about its eleven stories. But I have forgotten to mention one more indigestible nugget of pretension that comes before the stories themselves. Ellison titles his introduction, "Reaping the Whirlwind." Maybe I should have replaced Jeremiah with Hosea in my earlier comment.

Fiction can be "of its day" or even dated and still be if not very compelling at least an interesting window into its time. But Ellison's diatribes and experiments with transgressive material are too easily targeting a disenfranchised readership eager to accept as radical anything that spices its politics with sex and anger. "Erotophobia" is a neither very funny nor very dirty dirty joke that could have seemed the height of sophistication for those reading the issue of Penthouse in which it first appeared. In "Knox" right-wing groups are sponsoring a race war that is dragging into its conflict people who seem incapable of resisting its violent allure. When it turns out aliens are involved, readers of the original story in Crawdaddy were no doubt nodding their heads and thinking, yeah, dude, I knew it was something like that. "Catman" is an enjoyably weird far future tale that makes little sense but ends in an act of misogynistic incest that is more puzzling that shocking.

Enough. I hated just about everything about Approaching Oblivion, and as I said up top I doubt I will be searching out more Ellison. (Although I have been told that the Dangerous Visions anthologies are good if you skip Ellison's introductions to each story.) Strangely his book I am most drawn to is a nonfiction anthology An Edge in my Voice. This is the publisher's description.

At the beginning of the 1980's Harlan Ellison agreed to do a regular column for the LA WEEKLY on the condition that they publish whatever he wrote, without revising it or suggesting rewrites.

This is trumpeted as though the editors of LA Weekly considered Ellison on a level with Samuel Johnson or Andre Malraux. I suspect they just knew his name could shift a few papers, and those publications are always hurting for editorial staff.

[Stuart · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was only my second dive into the work of Harlan Ellison. My first experience, Phoenix Without Ashes, was very satisfying. Unfortunately, I could not recommend Approaching Oblivion. For me, the stories fell into three groups:

Stories worth the read:
"I'm Looking for Kadak" - narrator is a multi-legged, multi-armed Jewish alien who speaks in Yiddish slang. Enjoyable, humorous read
"One Life, Furnished in Early Poverty" - a nice time travel yarn about what makes up one's past,
"Ecowareness" - a mean, nasty little ditty about ecology that tickled me.
"Kiss of Fire" - a decent story about the end of man and the life cycle of phoenixes.

Stories that just didn't do anything for me:
"Cold Friend" and "Paulie Charmed the Sleeping Woman" held my interest until their abrupt and ambiguous endings.
"Knox" has a core idea that was intriguing, but it left me wanting a better presentation,
"Hindsight: 480 Seconds" character made a dumb choice (without explaining why to the reader) and faces the consequences

The last group are really in there I guess for the shock value.
"Catman" read like stream of consciousness and features a three way sexual encounter between a man, a computer and his mother.
"Erotophobia" features a man sexually assaulted by every woman he encounters, whose reflection then transforms into a woman, who tells him to keep his hands off her. He then falls in love with his reflection. Yes, I understand it could make a shockingly intriguing idea, but it came across too glib for anything psychologically thrilling.

I will continue to explore the author's other work, but this one left me flat.

[Marsha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hard as it can be to describe an Ellison story, you feel you must try if only to say something else to a friend besides, “You must READ this book!”

No. That’s not quite true. I would hesitate to recommend this book to a friend. There’s a palpable chill lying over these tales and visible traces of anger in quite a few. Even in “I’m Looking for Kadak”, a tale that strives for humor in every Yiddish-inflected sentence, there is a decided grimness as alien Jews prepare to sit shivah to a dying planet.

Speaking of humor, only two of these stories really possesses any: the aforementioned Yiddish tale and “Erotophobia”. Unfortunately, the former tale creaks in its forced Borscht Belt Jewish comedy tone, managing to wring only wry smiles as we follow its hapless protagonist across the surface of his world while he searches for the titular Kadak. It’s “Erotophobia” that contains genuine humor as it details a man afflicted with the ability to incite erotic love in anyone he encounters. (Oy, you should be so lucky.)

But Ellison retains his ability to shake the senses and rattle the nerves. He has a way with metaphor, storyline and characterization that is all his own and creating the ability to shock, stun or wring your heartstrings. His main characters (usually male) are people forced into extraordinary circumstances who then flail or lash out in an effort to make sense of it all. Whether they happily subside into mediocrity or scale the heights of infamy or fame, they and the stories they inhabit leave a person feeling decidedly queer after it.

Read this book. Put it away for a few years and read it again. It is a book worth reading repeatedly if only to see how excellent it remains even after you’ve grown and changed into an alien creature.

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Harlan Ellison is my homeboy. I want that on a T-shirt, a la all those trendy celebrities who have "Jesus Is My Homeboy" shirts.

I found this in a dusty old used bookstore on the north side of town here, and it appears to be a first edition, tattered dust jacket and all. There are eleven stories herein, all of which contain a negative futuristic element of some sort. True to Ellison's usual form, he managed to be terrifying, misanthropic, achingly human, outrageously funny, and heartbreaking, sometimes in the same story.

[Erik Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Harlan Ellison is usually a safe bet. The two Dangerous Visions volumes he edited are superior collections of short science fiction and representative of the kind of taboo-tweaking characteristic of his own writing as demonstrated in this sampling of his work.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ellison's stated goal for this collection was to show what might become of our world if our hatred and ignorance were to continue unabated, and for the first 35 pages, it seems like he'll accomplish it through blistering, scornful satire; after a hot introduction that ends with Ellison railing "you've killed me, you fuckers," he transitions into "Knox," a bleak and angry story about racial animosity with language that still stings even 45 years later*. But as soon as the second story, "Cold Friend," comes around, the wheels have totally fallen off Ellison's thesis.

"Cold Friend" is one of the better stories in Approaching Oblivion, but it doesn't have a particularly dystopian or prophetic bent. It's about a man dying of cancer who wakes up in the hospital one day to discover that not only is he cured, he's the only man left on earth-- or at least on the little chunk of Hanover, New Hampshire floating in empty space that seems to be what's left of the world. This story is of a small scale, has a simple sort of sentiment, and is concerned with largely humane and interior concerns, which lends it a cozy quality. It feels good to slow down and follow this guy as he rustles up some food, visits the deserted library at Dartmouth University, moves into an empty townhouse, etc.

After "Cold Friend," the book gets choppy. It's a mix of hard, futuristic sci-fi described in impenetrable lingo ("Kiss of Fire", "Catman") and odds and ends that just seem random, like they were pushed off from other, better Ellison collections. "Paulie Charmed the Sleeping Woman" is pretty good, atmospheric and melancholic, but it was written almost 15 years before Approaching Oblivion was published, and it shows; culturally, it's very early-60s, even 50s, about a couple of jazz musician buddies and replete with all the jazz slang from the 50s that now seems just square. "I'm Looking for Kadak" is a goofy comic piece, a sci-fi picaresque told from the point of view of a space alien so sterotypically Jewish it would make Gilbert Gottfried blush. It has funny moments, but it mostly seems like an excuse to show off Elllison's moderately large Yiddish vocabulary, and so is altogether a little forced and inexplicable, as if it never decides whether it's for an audience of Jews, or of non-Jews who might be more amused by novel and unfamiliar words like "pupik" and "schlemiel." At this point, the stated goal for the collection has been completely left behind.

A couple pointless stories seem to only pad out the length of the book (the less said about "Erotophobia" the better), and then "One Life, Furnished in Early Poverty" comes along and gives us the best story of the whole batch. In this story, Ellison displays a quality I don't often expect of him: beauty. In a time travel story that's more It's a Wonderful Life than Terminator, he asks the question “what would you do if you could meet your younger self?” In Ellison's case, the answer is to treat that little boy with love and care, to protect him from bullies, and to buy him nice things to please and enrich him. It's beautiful. In the 80s this story was adapted into an episode of The Twilight Zone, but I'm not rushing off to watch it, if only for the fact that no TV show could possibly capture the sensations of December 1941 in that small Ohio town more acutely or more personally than Ellison does here.

Approaching Oblivion is uneven. That's Ellison for you. It does itself wrong by pretending to have a thesis, because it's ultimately a rather mismatched patchwork, but you walk away with two or three great stories, and that's worth a lot.

*Despite its darkness, "Knox" also has one of the funniest moments in the book, when Knox's wife asks him why he seems so far away, and it's because he's memorizing a long list of racial slurs. It's a good story.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the lesser known Ellison collections, it remains a favorite that I recommend to everyone. the dedication itself is thought provoking, but the stories are what Ellison is known for and in this book we find the ideas coming fiercely and at fever pitch. One story, short enough to maintain a significant sting and relevant to all, is the work "Ecowareness" - a story of the Earth waking up from a nap to find that we have disturbed its slumber, so it starts relentlessly wiping us out so it can have peace and quiet again. I imagine this was written with tongue solidly in cheek, but it still maintains a sense of not only social commentary, but the commentary on the human condition that Ellison willingly throws out in his works. The other tales are equally unique and dangerously relevant as the one I describe and while every one of Ellison's tales may not be your cup of tea, I would hate to meet the person who could not find one quoteable line or thought provoking story in this work.

Ellison himself says he conceived the book originally in the 1970's as a call to action, but by the time it was published, it became a work that catalogued his stories of failed rebellions. Some stories are heart wrenching - "One Life, Furnished in Early Poverty" - is the story about a man who has the opportunity to travel in time to comfort a younger version of himself and ease the pain of being a bullied child, yet he finds that he can not do it, there is no escaping from the suffering he had to endure as a child to be the man he is now.

From the dark humor of "Ecowareness" to the tone of "One Life, Furnished in Early Poverty" that is ever more important in these days when bullying is becoming a hot button topic, the book provokes - or some would say demands - thoughts from the reader. It is a favorite in my collection, so much so that I have the original copy I found at a library discard sale but have purchased another copy due to the wear I have committed on my first copy. There is, in no case, a bad collection of Ellison's work if you are willing to be challenged, engaged, and entertained in one singular moment.

[D.S. West · Rating 4 out of 5]

Without getting in the weeds of praise, I'll go ahead and break my normal rule, to wait until I've traversed an artistic work no less than two times before I name it a favorite out of fresh enthusiasm, and laud "Hindsight: 480 Seconds" as the best sci-fi story I've ever read.

I'm more of a horror guy. Science fiction isn't normally my bag because science, well, I'm not a "how" guy. The "what if?" game doesn't appeal to me in the practical sense. Me being a horror guy and not a sci-fi guy, I still enjoyed many of these stories immensely. Some lost me due to the futuristic sci-fi tropes, which I'm sure pleased Mr. Ellison's devoted sci-fi fans, but even those I finished and appreciated as well-told stories.

Good read. Would recommend for the badass introduction alone. Ah, I almost forgot about those first few pages. They seem so long ago when you've reached the end: I don't think I've ever read so bold and invigorating an introduction to a work of fiction. Whether he deserves his asshole rep or not, Mr. Ellison seems as abrasive as any man or woman would who so loves the world and the possibilities it affords its greedy, careless, and above all selfish inhabitants.

[John Peel · Rating 3 out of 5]

First off, I have to say that Harlan Ellison is a brilliant, often poetical writer. Then I have to say that I often dislike his stories. That might sound contradictory, but it isn't really. You see, he's also an angry writer; he writes stories about people who've failed their dreams, who've betrayed others (or even themselves), or who are just plain unlikable. His stories are often full of rage, quite often with reason. The thing is, though, that I don't have that anger. Maybe I should have, because he protests things quite often that need to be protested, that need somebody to yell and scream about them. But that simply isn't who I am, and so, sadly, I often don't like his darkness. So - if you're angry, this is probably a book you'd enjoy; if you're not... well, then you probably won't enjoy it. Either way, though, Harlan isn't a writer you'll soon forget.

[Konstantine · Rating 3 out of 5]

some good stories in this collection (Kiss of Fire, Silent in Gehenna, One Life Furnished in Early Poverty and Ecowareness), some stories that lack the sort of punch they intended to have or just feel dated (Knox, Erotophobia), and some that have cool ideas but work more for their ideas and visuals and less their stories told (Cold Friend, Looking for Kadak, Paulie Charmed the Sleeping Woman, Catman). Overall not a bad collection but definitely not the best collection nor the best Ellison Ive read, but its also Ellison so none of the stories are really gonna be terrible, he works better in the more brutal and uncomfortable scenarios for sure

[Ratko Radunović · Rating 3 out of 5]

3+

predgovor: „Reaping the Whirlwind“ --- 4/5

„Knox“ --- 4/5

„Cold Friend“ --- 3.75/5

„Kiss of Fire“ --- 3.75/5

„Paulie Charmed the Sleeping Woman“ --- 3/5

„I'm Looking for Kadak“ --- 3.75/5

„Silent in Gehenna“ --- 4.25/5

„Erotophobia“ --- 2/5

„One Life, Furnished in Early Poverty“ --- 4/5

„Ecowareness“ --- 3/5

„Catman“ --- 3.75/5

„Hindsight: 480 Seconds“ --- 3/5

prosjek: 3.52 (solidno)

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ah, I enjoyed this collection of Ellison better than the last. These were some consistently fresh and clever stories one after another. There was a strange marketing disconnect, however, in the marketing for the book.

Ellison gives one of his trademark introductions about his contempt and sadness for the state of the world that are like blood spraying from an open chest wound -- so unbelievably raw -- that ends with something like "and if you see me weeping sometimes, it's because you killed me too, you f*ers."

With that kind of naked emotional power in the introduction, the publishers of this version saw fit to include a quote on the cover to get people to buy the book. Who could they get to comment on one of the most influential writers of his time?

Richard Dawson, host of Family Feud.

"Good Author! Good Author!"

[Joachim Boaz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full review: https://sciencefictionruminations.com...

"Ellison’s stories punch where it hurts. Approaching Oblivion (1974) is filled with transfixing tales about violent future racism (“Knox”), humanity’s last moments (“Kiss of Fire”), the desperate desire to change one’s own past (“One Life, Furnished in Early Poverty”), a last rebel against the militarizing system (“Silent in Gehanna”), and familial rivalry within a vast arcology (“Catman”), etc…

They are terrifying and vicious, immersive and gut-wrenching, and span from baroque far future speculations to near future warnings. Above all, they are well-written and intelligent. Many are infused with (pseudo) autobiographical content [...]"

[Rod · Rating 3 out of 5]

Part of my mission to go back and read books I'd left unfinished for no good reason. This was one of the featured selections in the very first month of my Science Fiction Book Club subscription (in 1974). The collection is a bit raggedy and uneven, but sometimes brilliant and bold and moving. Ellison takes risks, and I admire the effort even when it doesn't work and sometimes marvel at the results when it does. This was from a time when "sci-fi" was morphing into "speculative fiction," making its bid as literature, experimental, political, graphic, and profound. It also brought back the whole time period to me, but that's another story...

[Kent · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my first dive into Harlan Ellison's writing. My dad suggested I read some. He's been a fan for many years. I thought some of the stories were really good and others were at least interesting. It makes me curious to read some of his other works, so I will probably be on the lookout for more of these in the future. The way he writes reminds me a bit of Vonnegut, but a little edgier. My favorite stories from this collection were: "One Life, Furnished in Early Poverty", "Cold Friend", and "I'm Looing for Kadak". It's classified as sci-fi I believe, but not every story has those elements. I look forward to checking out more of his stories.

[Mathew · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very mixed bag. Some stories that are as dark and disturbing as the intro lead me to expect, a couple that haven’t aged well, a couple that are melancholy and lyrical, and a couple that feel like filler. I don’t object to a shaggy dog story peppered with Yiddish about an eleven armed Jewish alien, but it isn’t really approaching oblivion.

[Ari Pérez · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Knox" -**
"Cold Friend" -**
"Kiss of Fire" -***
"Paulie Charmed the Sleeping Woman" -*
"I'm Looking for Kadak" -***
"Silent in Gehenna" -***
"Erotophobia" -**
"One Life, Furnished in Early Poverty" -**
"Ecowareness" -*
"Catman" -***
"Hindsight:480 Seconds" -**

[Valerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The only short story writer whose work I enjoy.

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this was one of Ellison's best books.

[Jon Sauve · Rating 3 out of 5]

About half the stories were amazing. The other half were mediocre. It averages out to being a good collection.

[Love · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two of Ellisons best stories are on here in my opinion. Both science fiction: 'Kiss of Fire' and 'Catman'. Recommend reading both stories attentively

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

"If you haven't read Harlan Ellison, you haven't read." ~ Richard Halasz

[Paul (formerly known as Current) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Less oblivion than I expected. Amazing how many of the stories, although fictional, seem to be about right now.