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Stalking the Nightmare
Contents
Foreword • by Stephen King
Introduction: Quiet Lies the Locust Tells (1982) • essay
Grail (1981)
The Outpost Undiscovered by Tourists (1982)
Blank ... (1957)
The 3 Most Important Things in Life (Scenes from the Real World #1) (1978) • essay
Visionary (1959) / Harlan Ellison and Joe L. Hensley
Djinn, No Chaser (1982)
Invasion Footnote (1957)
Saturn, November 11th (Scenes from the Real World #2) (1981) • essay
Night of Black Glass (1981)
Final Trophy (1957)
!!!The!!Teddy!Crazy!!Show!!! (1968)
The Cheese Stands Alone (1982)
Somehow, I Don't Think We're in Kansas, Toto (Scenes from the Real World #3) (1974) • essay
Transcending Destiny (1957)
The Hour That Stretches (1982)
The Day I Died (1973) • essay
Tracking Level (1956)
Tiny Ally (1957)
The Goddess in the Ice (1967)
Gopher in the Gilly (Scenes from the Real World #4) (1982) • essay
Foreword • by Stephen King
Introduction: Quiet Lies the Locust Tells (1982) • essay
Grail (1981)
The Outpost Undiscovered by Tourists (1982)
Blank ... (1957)
The 3 Most Important Things in Life (Scenes from the Real World #1) (1978) • essay
Visionary (1959) / Harlan Ellison and Joe L. Hensley
Djinn, No Chaser (1982)
Invasion Footnote (1957)
Saturn, November 11th (Scenes from the Real World #2) (1981) • essay
Night of Black Glass (1981)
Final Trophy (1957)
!!!The!!Teddy!Crazy!!Show!!! (1968)
The Cheese Stands Alone (1982)
Somehow, I Don't Think We're in Kansas, Toto (Scenes from the Real World #3) (1974) • essay
Transcending Destiny (1957)
The Hour That Stretches (1982)
The Day I Died (1973) • essay
Tracking Level (1956)
Tiny Ally (1957)
The Goddess in the Ice (1967)
Gopher in the Gilly (Scenes from the Real World #4) (1982) • essay
299 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 1982
56 people are currently reading
723 people want to read
About the author
Harlan Ellison
1,080 books2,799 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 55 reviews
August 22, 2025
I remember reading Harlan Ellison's "Stalking the Nightmare" many years ago (and, as with most of Ellison's stuff, I probably read it more than once), but it has been long enough that re-reading it now felt like the first time.
I own a dog-eared copy of the 1984 Berkley mass market paperback edition, which is blue. On the cover, in huge white letters, is Ellison's name and the title, along with a picture of a Matryoshka doll. It is well-loved.
Besides featuring an adorably gushing foreword by Stephen King, there are roughly 20 stories, essays, and miscellenia within its 301 pages that show off the wide range of Ellison's worldview and talent.
Some favorites:
*"Grail": In this dark and moody horror/fantasy, the protagonist is on a life-long quest to find True Love, which is an actual tangible object that he has studied, researched, and hunted for his entire life. Unfortunately for him, he eventually finds it...
*"Djinn, No Chaser": a story that has appeared in more than a few Ellison collections and has been filmed numerous times for shows like The Twilight Zone and Tales From the Darkside. Probably one of the best examples of Ellison's humor at the top of his game.
*"Saturn, November 11": a rare nonfiction essay that shows what Ellison could have done if given more opportunities to write science articles with a Hunter S. Thompson-like self-referential flair.
*"The Hour That Stretches": A very funny self-deprecating story in which Ellison himself is the main character. In this story, one sees both the light-hearted and somewhat angsty side of Ellison. And he saves the world from an alien invasion, so there's that...
*"Tracking Level", "Tiny Ally", and "The Goddess in the Ice": three creepy and fun short-shorts all inspired by Lovecraft's classic novella "At the Mountains of Madness".
Those are just my faves, but I'll be honest: I loved every story in this book.
I own a dog-eared copy of the 1984 Berkley mass market paperback edition, which is blue. On the cover, in huge white letters, is Ellison's name and the title, along with a picture of a Matryoshka doll. It is well-loved.
Besides featuring an adorably gushing foreword by Stephen King, there are roughly 20 stories, essays, and miscellenia within its 301 pages that show off the wide range of Ellison's worldview and talent.
Some favorites:
*"Grail": In this dark and moody horror/fantasy, the protagonist is on a life-long quest to find True Love, which is an actual tangible object that he has studied, researched, and hunted for his entire life. Unfortunately for him, he eventually finds it...
*"Djinn, No Chaser": a story that has appeared in more than a few Ellison collections and has been filmed numerous times for shows like The Twilight Zone and Tales From the Darkside. Probably one of the best examples of Ellison's humor at the top of his game.
*"Saturn, November 11": a rare nonfiction essay that shows what Ellison could have done if given more opportunities to write science articles with a Hunter S. Thompson-like self-referential flair.
*"The Hour That Stretches": A very funny self-deprecating story in which Ellison himself is the main character. In this story, one sees both the light-hearted and somewhat angsty side of Ellison. And he saves the world from an alien invasion, so there's that...
*"Tracking Level", "Tiny Ally", and "The Goddess in the Ice": three creepy and fun short-shorts all inspired by Lovecraft's classic novella "At the Mountains of Madness".
Those are just my faves, but I'll be honest: I loved every story in this book.
January 30, 2014
I found this collection of stories buried in a mound of books at a flea market back in 2004. There were so many books piled on multiple tables that I had a hell of a time sorting through all of them. The place was busy and packed and each book was being sold for fifty cents or less. I found I didn't have the space or time to read through books before deciding to purchase, so I dove in and bought a bunch of random titles.
It wasn't until I brought the books home and looked through that I realized Stalking the Nightmare has a foreword by Stephen King. I knew nothing about the stories or the author. I had never heard of the author before. And so I bought a book with some of the must fluid and chilling prose for fifty cents.
Best fifty cents I ever spent. Now go stalk your own nightmare.
It wasn't until I brought the books home and looked through that I realized Stalking the Nightmare has a foreword by Stephen King. I knew nothing about the stories or the author. I had never heard of the author before. And so I bought a book with some of the must fluid and chilling prose for fifty cents.
Best fifty cents I ever spent. Now go stalk your own nightmare.
August 31, 2009
I found this one on my bookshelf by accident the other day. Hubby and I had just had our millionth arguement about how I need more bookshelves and he telling me to get rid of some books (shudder). Ok...so I find only 6 out of 300 or so that I'm willing to part with (all 6 of them his...heh, heh) but I lucked out by finding several books I'd forgotten I had and wanted to read. This was one of them.
If you've never read Ellison, this one might be a good place to start. There's a little bit of everything here and you will get a good feel for him. At the very least you'll love the introduction by Stephen King! Ellison denies being a SF writer but he is (among several other genres). There are also some very funny NF essays in here about the craft, dealing with Hollywood and a poignant piece about running away to join a traveling carnival when he was a kid. I won't say this is his best work, but it's very good and if you come across it you will be glad you did.
If you've never read Ellison, this one might be a good place to start. There's a little bit of everything here and you will get a good feel for him. At the very least you'll love the introduction by Stephen King! Ellison denies being a SF writer but he is (among several other genres). There are also some very funny NF essays in here about the craft, dealing with Hollywood and a poignant piece about running away to join a traveling carnival when he was a kid. I won't say this is his best work, but it's very good and if you come across it you will be glad you did.
July 6, 2013
Found most of the stories just so-so, felt as though I was treading water waiting for a really good one. Was rewarded with The Grail, which was a stand-out. Djinn, No Chaser was decent, too. The collection of shorties is interspersed with a handful of Ellison's essays. The 3 Most Important Things in Life was amusing, telling of how the author started a job with Disney, and lost it within a matter of hours. He messed with The Mouse. He probably had it coming.
November 2, 2017
This is one of Ellison's better collections, with a fine selection of some good stories from the '70s and '80s such as Grail, several of his very better early efforts, and three very captivating nonfiction pieces. None of his award winders are included, but it's a very good collection of lesser-known works. There's a nice introduction by Stephen King, particularly noteworthy as amusing because he singles out a story for praise which Ellison subsequently decided not to include.
September 23, 2015
The Basics
As is the case with most of Ellison’s work, it’s a short story collection. Interestingly, this one contains a few personal stories of his, some true and some… exaggerated. I’m looking at you “The Hour That Stretches”.
My Thoughts
My personal quest to read everything by Harlan Ellison continues. He’s a wonderful writer who stands the test of time, and this was a very strong series of stories. The thing that will always strike me about him is his very unique ideas. Cliches are hard to find in his work, and if they are present, they’re usually twisted upside-down and backwards.
Let’s talk about the strongest contenders for me. “Blank…” was truly inspired. I won’t give it away, but it has to be one of the most grisly fates for a character in all of speculative fiction. “The Cheese Stands Alone” had me very intrigued throughout, and I loved the way the protagonist dealt with existential horror. “Djinn, No Chaser” and “!!!The!Teddy!Crazy!!Show!!!” were both great for a laugh. And “Visionary” (co-written with Joe L. Hensley) is one of the most beautifully written stories I’ve ever read.
But what really makes this collection shine is the fact that Ellison threw in a few personal notes. “The 3 Most Important Things in Life” should be read by everyone, everywhere. It’s hilarious, then terrifying, then hilarious again. And real. “Somehow, I Don’t Think We’re In Kansas Anymore, Toto” recounts his awful turn with Hollywood in trying to make the show The Starlost. If you’re a fan of Ellison’s, you’ll have heard of this as a complete disaster. I had, but I didn’t know the full lowdown. Well, here it is, and it’s ugly. And so, so funny. It shouldn’t be funny, but in typical form, his rage is so eloquent that it’s hilarious.
This is a great read for anyone who is even halfway interested in this author, especially for those non-fiction elements.
Final Rating
5/5
As is the case with most of Ellison’s work, it’s a short story collection. Interestingly, this one contains a few personal stories of his, some true and some… exaggerated. I’m looking at you “The Hour That Stretches”.
My Thoughts
My personal quest to read everything by Harlan Ellison continues. He’s a wonderful writer who stands the test of time, and this was a very strong series of stories. The thing that will always strike me about him is his very unique ideas. Cliches are hard to find in his work, and if they are present, they’re usually twisted upside-down and backwards.
Let’s talk about the strongest contenders for me. “Blank…” was truly inspired. I won’t give it away, but it has to be one of the most grisly fates for a character in all of speculative fiction. “The Cheese Stands Alone” had me very intrigued throughout, and I loved the way the protagonist dealt with existential horror. “Djinn, No Chaser” and “!!!The!Teddy!Crazy!!Show!!!” were both great for a laugh. And “Visionary” (co-written with Joe L. Hensley) is one of the most beautifully written stories I’ve ever read.
But what really makes this collection shine is the fact that Ellison threw in a few personal notes. “The 3 Most Important Things in Life” should be read by everyone, everywhere. It’s hilarious, then terrifying, then hilarious again. And real. “Somehow, I Don’t Think We’re In Kansas Anymore, Toto” recounts his awful turn with Hollywood in trying to make the show The Starlost. If you’re a fan of Ellison’s, you’ll have heard of this as a complete disaster. I had, but I didn’t know the full lowdown. Well, here it is, and it’s ugly. And so, so funny. It shouldn’t be funny, but in typical form, his rage is so eloquent that it’s hilarious.
This is a great read for anyone who is even halfway interested in this author, especially for those non-fiction elements.
Final Rating
5/5
May 6, 2025
There’s a reason Ellison is considered one of the greats. With the exception of one or two stories this was a delightful collection
July 31, 2025
This is the sixth book by Ellison that I've read this year, all during my insane binge-reading of his work which started back in January when I first discovered his most famous story "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream." Quite candidly, I haven't been this obsessed with an author in years, but Ellison has a way of writing that really reels you in and captivates your attention in spite of the extremely dark and bleak subjects that he tends to gravitate towards.
Stalking the Nightmare is pretty aptly titled because, like most Ellison collections, the stories tend to be dark in the extreme -- I think it's fair to say that Ellison's work is as much horror-adjacent as fantasy and science fiction oriented. This particular collection even comes with an intro by Stephen King which is pretty damn funny, not least because of King's uncanny ability to capture the charm and weirdness of Ellison's frenetic energy as both a writer and as a person.
The entire anthology is brilliant, but stand-out tales to me were:
"Grail": A man embarks on a quest for a grail that will reveal the face of his true love. In the pursuit of this grail, he experiences tragedies and loves in his life, but none of these shake his desire to reveal this truth. I can't say more without spoiling the ending, but holy hell was it devastating and haunting. I'm very used to Ellison's gut-wrenching sense of irony (it's strange to me that he never wrote an episode for the classic Twilight Zone series), but what made this particular story so excruciating was the sincere romanticism at its core. It's clear that Ellison isn't mocking but rather empathizing with the quest for true love, which makes the poignancy of the ending all the more crushing. This story will be with me for the rest of my life.
"Blank...": A short and sweet sci-fi horror story that manages to deliver a creepy ending for its criminal anti-hero that would have made Dante smile. After reading this and "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream," I have to wonder: what is with Ellison and the theme of eternal damnation?!
"Night of Black Glass": This story is fascinating to me for several reasons. Harlan wrote it as part of one of his gimmick stunts where he would ask someone for a story prompt and then write the entire story with onlookers watching. As a writer, it's intimidating to say the least to see that he not only managed to write complete stories based on these prompts, but that the stories are actually pretty damn good. This one is a haunting take on the theme of survivor's guilt...or lack thereof. The image of the black sea as a kind of amorphous symbol for death, terror, the unknown is uniquely haunting.
"The Hour That Stretches": Okay, this story hovered between hilarious and almost obscenely self-indulgent, to the point where I almost couldn't believe what I was reading! It's Ellison's fantastic take on his occasional radio stunts where he would hang out at a radio station fielding callers who would give him story ideas which he would build into complete stories. All very well and good except that
At this point in the story I was losing my damn mind. I think I gave a sound somewhere between a choking gulp and a nervous laugh. I can only imagine the response from the people who hated Ellison as they read this. The sheer audacity of this story absolutely cannot be missed and I was torn between incredulity and genuine humor as I made it to the conclusion.
There are a ton of other stories that stuck in my head as particularly good, several of which would have fit in very nicely as episodes in "The Outer Limits." Ellison really does run the gauntlet between fantasy, science fiction, and horror with an ease that makes it look much easier than it actually is. The anthology can get pretty dark -- you may be shocked, depressed, and annoyed while you read it -- but I guarantee that you will most definitely never be bored.
Stalking the Nightmare is pretty aptly titled because, like most Ellison collections, the stories tend to be dark in the extreme -- I think it's fair to say that Ellison's work is as much horror-adjacent as fantasy and science fiction oriented. This particular collection even comes with an intro by Stephen King which is pretty damn funny, not least because of King's uncanny ability to capture the charm and weirdness of Ellison's frenetic energy as both a writer and as a person.
The entire anthology is brilliant, but stand-out tales to me were:
"Grail": A man embarks on a quest for a grail that will reveal the face of his true love. In the pursuit of this grail, he experiences tragedies and loves in his life, but none of these shake his desire to reveal this truth. I can't say more without spoiling the ending, but holy hell was it devastating and haunting. I'm very used to Ellison's gut-wrenching sense of irony (it's strange to me that he never wrote an episode for the classic Twilight Zone series), but what made this particular story so excruciating was the sincere romanticism at its core. It's clear that Ellison isn't mocking but rather empathizing with the quest for true love, which makes the poignancy of the ending all the more crushing. This story will be with me for the rest of my life.
"Blank...": A short and sweet sci-fi horror story that manages to deliver a creepy ending for its criminal anti-hero that would have made Dante smile. After reading this and "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream," I have to wonder: what is with Ellison and the theme of eternal damnation?!
"Night of Black Glass": This story is fascinating to me for several reasons. Harlan wrote it as part of one of his gimmick stunts where he would ask someone for a story prompt and then write the entire story with onlookers watching. As a writer, it's intimidating to say the least to see that he not only managed to write complete stories based on these prompts, but that the stories are actually pretty damn good. This one is a haunting take on the theme of survivor's guilt...or lack thereof. The image of the black sea as a kind of amorphous symbol for death, terror, the unknown is uniquely haunting.
"The Hour That Stretches": Okay, this story hovered between hilarious and almost obscenely self-indulgent, to the point where I almost couldn't believe what I was reading! It's Ellison's fantastic take on his occasional radio stunts where he would hang out at a radio station fielding callers who would give him story ideas which he would build into complete stories. All very well and good except that
At this point in the story I was losing my damn mind. I think I gave a sound somewhere between a choking gulp and a nervous laugh. I can only imagine the response from the people who hated Ellison as they read this. The sheer audacity of this story absolutely cannot be missed and I was torn between incredulity and genuine humor as I made it to the conclusion.
There are a ton of other stories that stuck in my head as particularly good, several of which would have fit in very nicely as episodes in "The Outer Limits." Ellison really does run the gauntlet between fantasy, science fiction, and horror with an ease that makes it look much easier than it actually is. The anthology can get pretty dark -- you may be shocked, depressed, and annoyed while you read it -- but I guarantee that you will most definitely never be bored.
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December 26, 2018Ellison pleaded that this was his best story and it is one of the best stories.
March 8, 2025
Harlan Ellison hasn't always gotten along with me, a common occurrence in Harlan's relations whether it was with other industry professionals or mere readers like myself. I've only read one short story collection of his (*I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream*, which I believe I gave a 4.5/10 or something dreadfully low like that), but besides that the only work of note I've read from him (so, discounting short stories anthologized by others) is his landmark collection *Dangerous Visions*, which didn't always impress me with the quality of its stories but usually satisfied me with the quality of Ellison's introductions to each author. *Stalking the Nightmare* includes some of Ellison's nonfictional essays, and I found them to be just as good - if not occasionally better - than his vignettes from *DV*. Furthermore, I found the harsh wit often present in his nonfiction to be somewhat more pleasant in the short stories collected here than in other places. While I was still put off by a lot of them, I actually found myself appreciating Ellison as a fiction writer for the first time here, and I think that - in honor of this momentous occasion - it's only right that I go through a little debriefing on each story for you.
--The collection kicks off with a strange fictional Introduction that I tried breezing through on a Monday morning because I thought it was going to be nonfictional/biographical. Ellison subverted my expectations - as he often does - and I don't recommend trying to breeze through it.
--"Grail" is the first proper story. It's a weird and fantastical tale about one man's quest for eternal happiness, a path which his first wife is . Like a lot of Ellison, it hasn't quite stuck with me even though it hasn't been that long since I've read the book, but that's probably because the theme, while objectively well-done, didn't make a huge impression on me either. Still, a step up form the stories in *IHNM+IMS*; 7/10.
--"The Outpost Undiscovered by Tourists" transports the bibical Three Wisemen into a contemporary setting in a way that's supposed to be funny but just ends up feeling kind of... sleazy? I didn't think it was clever either. Typical Ellison if you ask me; 5/10.
--"Blank..." takes a kind of traditional SF idea (a society in which your thoughts are scanned to try and help detect crime before it happens) and spins it in a kind of fun way with a . It was witty and fast-paced and had that particular Ellison conceptual edge which set this apart from other stories that are built around very similar concepts. 7.5/10
--The first nonfiction piece is "The Three Most Important Things in Life." These things are Sex (in which Ellison reports on a date he almost went on that got shut down before it began by recently cleaned carpet and kinkiness), Violence (in which Ellison remembers a scene of violence he and a friend witnessed at the movie theater), and Labor Relations (in which Ellison regretlessly recalls how he got fired from Disney in less than a day; from what I hear on the street, this actually did happen). The first and third stories had me laughing, even if the middle one was a bit of a snoozer compared to the other too. All feature engaging wit, and while I don't need to rate essays, if I did... 7.5 or 8?
--Another story, this time co-written with Joe L. Hensley, is "Visionary," in which a few soldiers who . It's not a bad focal point, but like a lot of stories here, it's not real memorable, and the theme ends up getting loss in some futile sauce. 6/10.
--"Djinn, No Chaser" is another outright fantasy story, and while it starts with a pun, it's really not that funny; it's about a down-on-their-luck newlywed couple who end up looking for cheap furniture and stumble across magically appearing bazaar before heading home with a lamp and a djinn. But when the djinn ends up being spiteful this story starts looking like a retread of . It's not what I expected form Ellison, but I liked it; it had more tonal balance than some other stories while still being suitably all over the place. 7.25/10.
--Robotic uprising is the theme of "Invasion Footnote," but it all becomes a bit of a joke once the original upriser's plans are foiled by . Lots of jokes have been made about what happened here, but I'd guess this story predated most of them; 7.75/10.
--"Saturn, November 11th" is probably my least favorite nonfiction piece. It's still good - it's about Ellison's experience with a NASA press pass gifted to him from Jerry Pournelle - captures the emotions of that day well. That being said, I didn't find it particularly educational or amusing. 7.25+?
--"Night of Black Glass" is a weird story about a man with survivor's guilt - or abandonment guilt? - after . It's more of a literary tale than genre story so I don't mean "weird" as in the genre, but... well, read it for yourself and see if it does anything for you. Didn't really for me. 5.5/10
--Ellison has two stories about game hunting here. The first is "Final Trophy," where a trophy hunter spends some time on a planet and winds up wanting to kill the beast that kills natives as the centerpiece of some religious ceremony of theirs. Spoiler alert: . The way Ellison paints exoplanets and cultures is always kind of sparse, but also not exactly empty; and maybe a little jagged. I got that feeling here, but it didn't turn me off; 7.5/10.
--"!!!The!!Teddy!Crazy!!Show!!!" is a riff off reality TV; think a version of "Dr. Phil" where the host is a complete a-hole who lives only to disparage and embarrass his guests (largely random people) on national television. It's sick, as Ellison often is, but this time the sick character gets some comeuppance once the Devil himself shows up. Still didn't do wonders for me, but it had a nice ending. 7.5/10.
--"The Cheese Stands Alone" features a bitter character as well; I'm starting to think that Ellison liked projecting... in this case, though, that bitter character is a mean-spirited old woman who runs a bookshop that no one has ever escaped from before since they get stuck seeing their destinies within macabre books or something like that. But will this main character be able to break the curse? Only time (and reading this) will tell... I didn't mind it at all, but as usual, something is lacking. The story is supposed to be thematic and potent, but it never reaches that point. 7.25/10.
--Ellison then recounts his infuriating experience trying to get a 70s TV show called *The Starlost* off the ground in "Somehow, I Don't Think We're In Kansas, Toto." Ellison spares no mercy, lambasting the small mind of the first man who tries to steal the idea from him (he found the idea of a generation ship revolutionary, even in the 70s... behind the times), the production company for moving for Canada, how they tried to trick him into working during a Writer's strike, and more... the only person he has anything good to say about is Gene Roddenberry, who had a funny thing to say to the show's producers. If I rated, I'd give this high regards; 8.5/10? Probably my favorite piece of any kind in the collection.
--"Transcending Destiny" is a bit of a left-turn; it's about a man who was raised to be an expert thief even in a world where thieving is useless who meets a ? While I can respect the ending, I think Ellison's logic is a bit faulty... there'd be much better ways to achieve what they meant to achieve than raising the main character as a thief. Regardless, I didn't mind the setup of it at all; 7.25/10.
--In "The Hour That Stretches," Ellison benches his usual douchey characters and goes for broke: a self-insert character named Harlan Ellison who guest-stars on a radio talk show while all the other SF authors are celebrating at a convention. That clever, sharp-toothed wit is here in full force, especially once they start taking callers' ideas for science fiction stories so Ellison can tear each of them a new one. It gets to be a bit *too* bitter though... luckily, saving that particular broadcast. It featured some of Harlan's best literary elements without hinting at any themes that he can't really pull off; a true example of what he's capable of. 8.5/10. That being said, I doubt there's too much here for someone who's not a big SF reader...
--"The Day I Died" also features Ellison as the main character, but it's just a few different tellings of his death in different eras... it's more experimental and not particularly engaging. 6/10.
--Ellison then anthologizes three stories which are set up as references to Lovecraft's "At the Mountains of Madness," presumably because they all take place on snowy mountains. They are:
--"Tracking Level," the collection's second game-hunting story, during which a hunter hunts a telepathic alien on a snowy world and ends up ; it's a short, snappy little tale with a bit of imagination. 7/10.
--"Tiny Ally" takes place on an Earthly mountain, with a couple of climbers inexplicably finding a very small dead body. They wind up finding a little saucer with little aliens, and once ; also short and snappy and inconsequential, but a little less evocative. 6.75/10.
--"The Goddess in the Ice" also takes place on Earth. This time, instead of finding tiny aliens, the climbers find a beautiful woman entrapped in the ice; as it turns out, there may be a reason she was put there in ancient times... but was in justified? . Same complaints, same snappy appealing nature; 6.75/10.
--Finally, one last nonfiction piece: "Gopher in the Gilly". Was it real? Well... I'm not sure. The titular "gopher" was a "go get this" guy in the circus, and I'm not sure if that's Ellison's real origin. And it ends rather sadly after the police raid the event. And it's such a bitter look at carnies... makes *Something Wicked This Way Comes* downright pleasant. Actually, this was my least favorite nonfiction piece, and a weird note to end on.
Overall, this collection helped me narrow down what I like about Ellison's writing and what I don't. I don't like his cruelty or his apparent lack of ability to make thematically cohesive/significant science fiction, but I do find him to be a clever writer in a literary sense, and his larger-than-life personality gives his writing a pretty distinct flavor that sets him in a league of his own, for better or worse. He's sparse but biting, and I think whether or not that does it for me depends on the work.
Here, it mostly did it for me, and only a couple stories really turned me off. This was a good book; I'll give it 7/10. I think I tended to like the more recent (AKA 70s) pieces more than the earlier (AKA 50s) ones, so I'll keep that in mind with his work going forward. I don't have any more purchased, but... well, it never takes me long to pick up new books from the wild. Who knows what the next collection will bring? Thanks for reading my review of this one; here's hoping I've been a more pleasant voice to read than Ellison could be. On that note: have a fantastic rest of your day, and here's hoping that you don't encounter anyone akin to his favorite kind of character to write...
--The collection kicks off with a strange fictional Introduction that I tried breezing through on a Monday morning because I thought it was going to be nonfictional/biographical. Ellison subverted my expectations - as he often does - and I don't recommend trying to breeze through it.
--"Grail" is the first proper story. It's a weird and fantastical tale about one man's quest for eternal happiness, a path which his first wife is . Like a lot of Ellison, it hasn't quite stuck with me even though it hasn't been that long since I've read the book, but that's probably because the theme, while objectively well-done, didn't make a huge impression on me either. Still, a step up form the stories in *IHNM+IMS*; 7/10.
--"The Outpost Undiscovered by Tourists" transports the bibical Three Wisemen into a contemporary setting in a way that's supposed to be funny but just ends up feeling kind of... sleazy? I didn't think it was clever either. Typical Ellison if you ask me; 5/10.
--"Blank..." takes a kind of traditional SF idea (a society in which your thoughts are scanned to try and help detect crime before it happens) and spins it in a kind of fun way with a . It was witty and fast-paced and had that particular Ellison conceptual edge which set this apart from other stories that are built around very similar concepts. 7.5/10
--The first nonfiction piece is "The Three Most Important Things in Life." These things are Sex (in which Ellison reports on a date he almost went on that got shut down before it began by recently cleaned carpet and kinkiness), Violence (in which Ellison remembers a scene of violence he and a friend witnessed at the movie theater), and Labor Relations (in which Ellison regretlessly recalls how he got fired from Disney in less than a day; from what I hear on the street, this actually did happen). The first and third stories had me laughing, even if the middle one was a bit of a snoozer compared to the other too. All feature engaging wit, and while I don't need to rate essays, if I did... 7.5 or 8?
--Another story, this time co-written with Joe L. Hensley, is "Visionary," in which a few soldiers who . It's not a bad focal point, but like a lot of stories here, it's not real memorable, and the theme ends up getting loss in some futile sauce. 6/10.
--"Djinn, No Chaser" is another outright fantasy story, and while it starts with a pun, it's really not that funny; it's about a down-on-their-luck newlywed couple who end up looking for cheap furniture and stumble across magically appearing bazaar before heading home with a lamp and a djinn. But when the djinn ends up being spiteful this story starts looking like a retread of . It's not what I expected form Ellison, but I liked it; it had more tonal balance than some other stories while still being suitably all over the place. 7.25/10.
--Robotic uprising is the theme of "Invasion Footnote," but it all becomes a bit of a joke once the original upriser's plans are foiled by . Lots of jokes have been made about what happened here, but I'd guess this story predated most of them; 7.75/10.
--"Saturn, November 11th" is probably my least favorite nonfiction piece. It's still good - it's about Ellison's experience with a NASA press pass gifted to him from Jerry Pournelle - captures the emotions of that day well. That being said, I didn't find it particularly educational or amusing. 7.25+?
--"Night of Black Glass" is a weird story about a man with survivor's guilt - or abandonment guilt? - after . It's more of a literary tale than genre story so I don't mean "weird" as in the genre, but... well, read it for yourself and see if it does anything for you. Didn't really for me. 5.5/10
--Ellison has two stories about game hunting here. The first is "Final Trophy," where a trophy hunter spends some time on a planet and winds up wanting to kill the beast that kills natives as the centerpiece of some religious ceremony of theirs. Spoiler alert: . The way Ellison paints exoplanets and cultures is always kind of sparse, but also not exactly empty; and maybe a little jagged. I got that feeling here, but it didn't turn me off; 7.5/10.
--"!!!The!!Teddy!Crazy!!Show!!!" is a riff off reality TV; think a version of "Dr. Phil" where the host is a complete a-hole who lives only to disparage and embarrass his guests (largely random people) on national television. It's sick, as Ellison often is, but this time the sick character gets some comeuppance once the Devil himself shows up. Still didn't do wonders for me, but it had a nice ending. 7.5/10.
--"The Cheese Stands Alone" features a bitter character as well; I'm starting to think that Ellison liked projecting... in this case, though, that bitter character is a mean-spirited old woman who runs a bookshop that no one has ever escaped from before since they get stuck seeing their destinies within macabre books or something like that. But will this main character be able to break the curse? Only time (and reading this) will tell... I didn't mind it at all, but as usual, something is lacking. The story is supposed to be thematic and potent, but it never reaches that point. 7.25/10.
--Ellison then recounts his infuriating experience trying to get a 70s TV show called *The Starlost* off the ground in "Somehow, I Don't Think We're In Kansas, Toto." Ellison spares no mercy, lambasting the small mind of the first man who tries to steal the idea from him (he found the idea of a generation ship revolutionary, even in the 70s... behind the times), the production company for moving for Canada, how they tried to trick him into working during a Writer's strike, and more... the only person he has anything good to say about is Gene Roddenberry, who had a funny thing to say to the show's producers. If I rated, I'd give this high regards; 8.5/10? Probably my favorite piece of any kind in the collection.
--"Transcending Destiny" is a bit of a left-turn; it's about a man who was raised to be an expert thief even in a world where thieving is useless who meets a ? While I can respect the ending, I think Ellison's logic is a bit faulty... there'd be much better ways to achieve what they meant to achieve than raising the main character as a thief. Regardless, I didn't mind the setup of it at all; 7.25/10.
--In "The Hour That Stretches," Ellison benches his usual douchey characters and goes for broke: a self-insert character named Harlan Ellison who guest-stars on a radio talk show while all the other SF authors are celebrating at a convention. That clever, sharp-toothed wit is here in full force, especially once they start taking callers' ideas for science fiction stories so Ellison can tear each of them a new one. It gets to be a bit *too* bitter though... luckily, saving that particular broadcast. It featured some of Harlan's best literary elements without hinting at any themes that he can't really pull off; a true example of what he's capable of. 8.5/10. That being said, I doubt there's too much here for someone who's not a big SF reader...
--"The Day I Died" also features Ellison as the main character, but it's just a few different tellings of his death in different eras... it's more experimental and not particularly engaging. 6/10.
--Ellison then anthologizes three stories which are set up as references to Lovecraft's "At the Mountains of Madness," presumably because they all take place on snowy mountains. They are:
--"Tracking Level," the collection's second game-hunting story, during which a hunter hunts a telepathic alien on a snowy world and ends up ; it's a short, snappy little tale with a bit of imagination. 7/10.
--"Tiny Ally" takes place on an Earthly mountain, with a couple of climbers inexplicably finding a very small dead body. They wind up finding a little saucer with little aliens, and once ; also short and snappy and inconsequential, but a little less evocative. 6.75/10.
--"The Goddess in the Ice" also takes place on Earth. This time, instead of finding tiny aliens, the climbers find a beautiful woman entrapped in the ice; as it turns out, there may be a reason she was put there in ancient times... but was in justified? . Same complaints, same snappy appealing nature; 6.75/10.
--Finally, one last nonfiction piece: "Gopher in the Gilly". Was it real? Well... I'm not sure. The titular "gopher" was a "go get this" guy in the circus, and I'm not sure if that's Ellison's real origin. And it ends rather sadly after the police raid the event. And it's such a bitter look at carnies... makes *Something Wicked This Way Comes* downright pleasant. Actually, this was my least favorite nonfiction piece, and a weird note to end on.
Overall, this collection helped me narrow down what I like about Ellison's writing and what I don't. I don't like his cruelty or his apparent lack of ability to make thematically cohesive/significant science fiction, but I do find him to be a clever writer in a literary sense, and his larger-than-life personality gives his writing a pretty distinct flavor that sets him in a league of his own, for better or worse. He's sparse but biting, and I think whether or not that does it for me depends on the work.
Here, it mostly did it for me, and only a couple stories really turned me off. This was a good book; I'll give it 7/10. I think I tended to like the more recent (AKA 70s) pieces more than the earlier (AKA 50s) ones, so I'll keep that in mind with his work going forward. I don't have any more purchased, but... well, it never takes me long to pick up new books from the wild. Who knows what the next collection will bring? Thanks for reading my review of this one; here's hoping I've been a more pleasant voice to read than Ellison could be. On that note: have a fantastic rest of your day, and here's hoping that you don't encounter anyone akin to his favorite kind of character to write...
January 10, 2013
With an introduction by Stephen King and an amalgam of short stories and essays, Stalking the Nightmare is an entertaining read. As with any collection of tales from a single writer, some stand out more than others. In this case, the most memorable ones include:
"Grail" - in which a man spends his life searching for true love only to learn that it's an artifact that has been traded around the world.
"The Outpost Undiscovered by Tourists" - A parody of the three wise men in modern times after searching 2000 years for Christ. They now drive a Rolls Royce and sleep on air mattresses while fighting the "forces of chaos". Eventually, they find the savior in The Manger, a hotel by Hyatt, and surrounded by various folks including accountants, pet-store owners, and hairdressers.
"Night of Black Glass" - this one interested me mostly as it was written in 5 hours in a B. Dalton bookstore window after news anchor Tom Brokaw challenged Harlan to write a story based on one line: "August afternoon a person walking along a rocky beach in Maine picks up a pair of broken sunglasses.”
"Djinn, No Chaser" - a young couple walks into a mysterious antique shop that materializes from thin air. They purchase a cheap lamp before the owner kicks them out just as the shop vanishes once more. Later, the couple finds that the lamp contains a sadistic genie who turns their lives into a living hell, sending the husband into an asylum. Later, his wife discovers a way to turn their situation completely around...
"Invasion Footnote" - another farce about a megalomaniacal robot hell-bent on world domination, until his own kind turn on him. Predictable but funny.
"The Hour That Stretches" - Harlan fills in for Jerry Pournelle as a guest on a radio show and decides to allow callers to phone in one-line prompts to which Harlan will conjure up a story premise on the spot. After awhile, it becomes an exhausting exercise for Harlan, until the final caller...
"The Day I Died" - not so much a story, but a series of possible ways in which Harlan will die, with exact descriptions and dates ranging from 1973 to 2010.
In my opinion, the first three essays are actually more interesting than the stories.
"The 3 Most Important Things in Life" offers moments from Harlan's life that deal with sex, violence, and labor relations. The latter of which is an incident that occurred when he was hired to write for Disney...and fired within hours of arrival.
"Saturn, November 11th" details Harlan's visit to JPL as a guest of Jerry Pournelle when the Voyager satellite begins sending pictures back of Saturn and its moons.
"Somehow, I Don't Think We're In Kansas, Toto" is a recount of Harlan's ludicrous experiences with Hollywood when The Starlost TV series went into production based on his story, “Phoenix Without Ashes".
All told, Stalking the Nightmare is an enjoyable read and further evidence of Harlan's vivid imagination and reputation for fearless, and even experimental, storytelling.
"Grail" - in which a man spends his life searching for true love only to learn that it's an artifact that has been traded around the world.
"The Outpost Undiscovered by Tourists" - A parody of the three wise men in modern times after searching 2000 years for Christ. They now drive a Rolls Royce and sleep on air mattresses while fighting the "forces of chaos". Eventually, they find the savior in The Manger, a hotel by Hyatt, and surrounded by various folks including accountants, pet-store owners, and hairdressers.
"Night of Black Glass" - this one interested me mostly as it was written in 5 hours in a B. Dalton bookstore window after news anchor Tom Brokaw challenged Harlan to write a story based on one line: "August afternoon a person walking along a rocky beach in Maine picks up a pair of broken sunglasses.”
"Djinn, No Chaser" - a young couple walks into a mysterious antique shop that materializes from thin air. They purchase a cheap lamp before the owner kicks them out just as the shop vanishes once more. Later, the couple finds that the lamp contains a sadistic genie who turns their lives into a living hell, sending the husband into an asylum. Later, his wife discovers a way to turn their situation completely around...
"Invasion Footnote" - another farce about a megalomaniacal robot hell-bent on world domination, until his own kind turn on him. Predictable but funny.
"The Hour That Stretches" - Harlan fills in for Jerry Pournelle as a guest on a radio show and decides to allow callers to phone in one-line prompts to which Harlan will conjure up a story premise on the spot. After awhile, it becomes an exhausting exercise for Harlan, until the final caller...
"The Day I Died" - not so much a story, but a series of possible ways in which Harlan will die, with exact descriptions and dates ranging from 1973 to 2010.
In my opinion, the first three essays are actually more interesting than the stories.
"The 3 Most Important Things in Life" offers moments from Harlan's life that deal with sex, violence, and labor relations. The latter of which is an incident that occurred when he was hired to write for Disney...and fired within hours of arrival.
"Saturn, November 11th" details Harlan's visit to JPL as a guest of Jerry Pournelle when the Voyager satellite begins sending pictures back of Saturn and its moons.
"Somehow, I Don't Think We're In Kansas, Toto" is a recount of Harlan's ludicrous experiences with Hollywood when The Starlost TV series went into production based on his story, “Phoenix Without Ashes".
All told, Stalking the Nightmare is an enjoyable read and further evidence of Harlan's vivid imagination and reputation for fearless, and even experimental, storytelling.
May 24, 2017
Having read Ellison since the mid Eighties and collected many of his books over the years, I wanted to refresh myself with his work. I plan to keep by my bedside a book of his short stories throughout the remainder of the year to fill in the melas between novels or just to occupy my mind in 20 minute increments. This particular group of stories was always a favorite from my high school days and still holds it own with me, although not as strongly as it once did. Harlan Ellison holds a special place in my heart and mind.
February 6, 2023
Never really heard of the guy before this was given to me as a recommendation. And I’ve come away thoroughly enjoying every short story and personal tale crafted as simple entertainment and deep personal soliloquy. I found the Scenes From The Real World 1-4 to be among my favorite of the dozens of other stories laid out here with Saturn, November 11th being my favorite short of the lot. Just from this concoction of fantasy and sci-fi shorts I find myself wanting to dive deeper into the mans works.
January 6, 2010
I need to read some of this out loud to my students. I've read Repent Harlequin said the Tick Tock Man to them in the past.
January 9, 2018
I mentioned the introduction to this collection of stories and essays when I reviewed The Benedict Option. Of course, that planted the seed to pull this one off the shelf to read again. When I first read it, back in the 1980s, I thought Harlan Ellison was one of the greatest writers ever. Thirty years later, I still think he's good, but I've read much more great literature. The stories didn't quite measure up to my memory of them. To be honest, my tastes have also changed. I still love reading along as Mr. Ellison plays with words, but I no longer find the themes enjoyable. He paints a good picture of the dark side of humanity. He doesn't seem to find much light, however, either within or from above.
Well, that was introspective. For those of you aren't as interested in my internal musings, just go ahead and read it. It's not uplifting, but it's honest, witty, and gut-felt. Worth your time and musings.
Well, that was introspective. For those of you aren't as interested in my internal musings, just go ahead and read it. It's not uplifting, but it's honest, witty, and gut-felt. Worth your time and musings.
February 8, 2023
The essays steal the show in this collection. Most of this stuff wouldn't fly today, but if you're not too buttoned up, you're in for a treat. Ellison's essay on sex, violence and labor relations is both hilarious and terrifying. He meets a girl who's obsessed with keeping her shag carpet clean, he witnesses a man getting pitched to his death off the balcony of a NYC movie theater, and he says the absolute worst things at the worst possible time in the Disney commissary. In another essay, he visits the JPL in Pasadena as the Voyager I gives us our first closeup of Saturn and its rings. Then he recounts a pretty typical episode of writer vs Hollywood production mill, which offers some pretty sage advice if you ever want to enter into that arena. Finally, he closes out this collection with a very anti-Ray Bradbury overview of his experiences working in the circus as a young teenage runaway. I'll never be able to forget that smell, and I didn't even smell that smell.
August 22, 2022
Ellison schooling us on hard boiled prose and how to not suck. The audio volume has nearly 20 hours of readings, various essays, several stories read by the author, and the infamous "Xenogenesis" essay, where Harlan reads a stack of letters from the top people in the industry at that time talking about their worse experiences at the hands of the fans.
Haha, if you write and want to know if your stuff passes muster, you could do a lot worse than get people to listen to it in a moving vehicle. I can't tell you how many mushier authors get lost every time someone tries to kill me, cut me off, jump four lanes, or I get passed by a series of dump trucks through an underpass, making sure I just missed a solid ten seconds of narration. Harlan does not have this problem, because even when he's being emotional or tender, he doesn't overcook it into unrecognizable porridge.
Haha, if you write and want to know if your stuff passes muster, you could do a lot worse than get people to listen to it in a moving vehicle. I can't tell you how many mushier authors get lost every time someone tries to kill me, cut me off, jump four lanes, or I get passed by a series of dump trucks through an underpass, making sure I just missed a solid ten seconds of narration. Harlan does not have this problem, because even when he's being emotional or tender, he doesn't overcook it into unrecognizable porridge.
March 7, 2022
It was good. It was Harlan.
He chews on the gristle of life and makes something of it.
That's how I found this volume. Insightful. Chewy.
Whatever he was trying to escape at 13, he was willing to sit in jail with a freak show addict, soaked in feces, who beat/chewed his own face in and died around the third day, rather than give the authorities his name, and be placed back in something he obviously considered worse.
I don't know what they put him through...
But all respect for this amazing man.
He took the abuse, and made it anyways.
He was never untrue to himself.
He only created some of the best speculative and science fiction ever written.
The man was a genius.
Enough said.
He chews on the gristle of life and makes something of it.
That's how I found this volume. Insightful. Chewy.
Whatever he was trying to escape at 13, he was willing to sit in jail with a freak show addict, soaked in feces, who beat/chewed his own face in and died around the third day, rather than give the authorities his name, and be placed back in something he obviously considered worse.
I don't know what they put him through...
But all respect for this amazing man.
He took the abuse, and made it anyways.
He was never untrue to himself.
He only created some of the best speculative and science fiction ever written.
The man was a genius.
Enough said.
December 30, 2023
“The ability to dream is all I have to give. That is my responsibility; that is my burden. And even I grow tired”
Definitely hit and miss but the ones that hit fucking HIT. Harlan Ellison was such a mean writer that he doesn’t care how you feel reading it. The best stories were about people who have hit the dead end of pleasure seeking and have no where left to go. I imagine Harlan considered himself one of those people and tried to write himself out. The dreams he writes about show little cracks of light through the brick wall of our treat addicted world. I will admit I only knew about this book because of the trailer for blowback season 4. Sue me
Definitely hit and miss but the ones that hit fucking HIT. Harlan Ellison was such a mean writer that he doesn’t care how you feel reading it. The best stories were about people who have hit the dead end of pleasure seeking and have no where left to go. I imagine Harlan considered himself one of those people and tried to write himself out. The dreams he writes about show little cracks of light through the brick wall of our treat addicted world. I will admit I only knew about this book because of the trailer for blowback season 4. Sue me
July 12, 2018
I think "Djinn, No Chaser", "The Cheese Stands Alone", and "The Hour That Stretches" were my favorites of the fiction (though I at the very least *liked* everything in here) and either "The Three Most Important Things in Life" or "Gopher in the Gilly" were best among the essays (again, though, all were great). While I'm still gutted to have lost one of my heroes, his words will live forever and that is good.
November 26, 2018
This is one of the best Harlan Ellison collection of short stories I've read. It starts in the realm of fantastic realism and ends up deep in science fiction. It also has a few (fictional) non-fiction essays by the author.
Great prose. Love his style.
Great prose. Love his style.
October 16, 2023
It’s easy to be smart, in the end. I loved this collection. Harlan Ellison books are so hard to come by, at least to my experience. I cherish them as much as possible when I find them. Reading this collection lifted my mood. I know he claimed to hate his readers, but I can’t help loving his stories, particularly the ones that were him just recounting real-life experiences. If I was to meet him (maybe in an afterlife, if there is one) I would just tell him, “Thanks, man.”
June 3, 2017
Not my favorite collection of HE stories and essays. OK. Not great. The last time I read this I was still in high school and I remember it as being better. A lot of the stories seem kind of... simplistic... now.
August 16, 2018
All of Harlan Ellison's collections are worth reading but each may have a story or two that will leave you cold.
April 6, 2023
A heady, exhilarating selection. Great fun!
November 21, 2023
Always amazing, his stories always take you to places you didn't know you wanted to go to.
January 24, 2025
Inspiring as an author
December 12, 2025
Ellison is always good. Especially like the personal stories/anecdotes in this collection.
Currently reading
January 1, 2026It's hard not to like Harlan (:
July 4, 2014
This collection is highlighted by four nonfiction essays that really showcase Harlan Ellison's versatility and range:
"The 3 Most Important Things in Life" - features some very funny anecdotes about sex, violence, and labor relations. Includes the now-infamous story of how the author got fired from Disney after less than a day on the job.
"Saturn, November 11" - an uplifting piece of inspired science writing
"Somehow, I Don't Think We're in Kansas, Toto" - the story of Harlan's failed attempt to develop a primetime science fiction drama for CBS in the early 1970's. This is a longer, funnier, and more insightful version of the essay that introduces the novel Phoenix Without Ashes.
"Gopher in the Gilly" - a brief examination of the time Harlan ran away from home at the age of 13 and joined a traveling carnival.
Together with a great introduction essay by Stephen King, these are certainly worth your time.
Unfortunately, the 16 fiction stories also included here are mostly forgettable. They seem to be a grab-bag of lesser-known stories written anywhere from the late 1950's through the early 1980's. "Night of Black Glass" was notable only in that Harlan wrote it in five hours while sitting in a bookstore (apparently on a dare or a challenge). "Grail" had a great premise but petered out into a somewhat bloated and confusing ending. "The Outpost Discovered by Tourists" was essentially a shaggy dog story, pointless except to set up a punch line.
"Blank...", "Final Trophy", "Visionary" and "Invasion Footnote" were some early traditional science fiction stories.
I probably enjoyed "Djinn, No Chaser" and "The Hour that Stretches" the most, but they were hardly up to Ellison's best work.
"The 3 Most Important Things in Life" - features some very funny anecdotes about sex, violence, and labor relations. Includes the now-infamous story of how the author got fired from Disney after less than a day on the job.
"Saturn, November 11" - an uplifting piece of inspired science writing
"Somehow, I Don't Think We're in Kansas, Toto" - the story of Harlan's failed attempt to develop a primetime science fiction drama for CBS in the early 1970's. This is a longer, funnier, and more insightful version of the essay that introduces the novel Phoenix Without Ashes.
"Gopher in the Gilly" - a brief examination of the time Harlan ran away from home at the age of 13 and joined a traveling carnival.
Together with a great introduction essay by Stephen King, these are certainly worth your time.
Unfortunately, the 16 fiction stories also included here are mostly forgettable. They seem to be a grab-bag of lesser-known stories written anywhere from the late 1950's through the early 1980's. "Night of Black Glass" was notable only in that Harlan wrote it in five hours while sitting in a bookstore (apparently on a dare or a challenge). "Grail" had a great premise but petered out into a somewhat bloated and confusing ending. "The Outpost Discovered by Tourists" was essentially a shaggy dog story, pointless except to set up a punch line.
"Blank...", "Final Trophy", "Visionary" and "Invasion Footnote" were some early traditional science fiction stories.
I probably enjoyed "Djinn, No Chaser" and "The Hour that Stretches" the most, but they were hardly up to Ellison's best work.
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