For the third time, down that multicolored rabbit hole to the unpredictable, singular, frequently disturbing Ellison Wonderland of the writer the New York Times summed up thus: "Harlan Ellison has the spellbinding quality of a great nonstop talker with a cultural warehouse for a mind." And this third expedition arrived not a moment too soon--at exactly the moment a brilliant film documentary, Dreams with Sharp Teeth, a film of the life and work of Harlan Ellison, premiered across America. Here, in eleven stories, a true memoir, five brand-new commentaries, and a linked horror story of Jack the Ripper by Ellison's great friend, the late Robert Bloch, this mesmerizing audio performance by the Author provides the full measure of reason why Ellison has won Listen Up, Audio, and a shelf full of other awards, including investiture as one of the few Grand Masters of the literature of the fantastic. This one is the best yet.
Performed, with new commentaries, by the author.
Contents: Between heaven and hell -- Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes -- Twilight in the cupboard -- Kiss of fire -- Fever -- The discarded -- Darkness falls on the river -- Status quo at Troyden's -- Tired old man -- The silence -- Valerie : a true memoir -- Base -- A toy for Juliette / by Robert Block -- The prowler in the city at the edge of the world.
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".
Reading Harlan Ellison stories can make me feel like I've been slammed in the gut by a fist of ice. The best of them leave me feeling cold, out of breath and struggling to process the myriad emotions they evoke. Dark, chiling and affecting, Ellison's tales can haunt and leave a lingering afterimage on the psyche.
Yes, they're just that good.
This collection has several of my favorite Ellison stories and the fact that they are all read by the man himself makes this an absolute must have. Nobody reads Ellison like Ellison and any time you have a chance to listen to him spin one of his yarns, stop what you are doing and just listen.
While overall, I am rating the collection 4 stars, that is simply the result of there being a handful of stories that were only GOOD to VERY GOOD and I grade Ellison harshly as he has set the bar up where the atmosphere is very, very thin. However, of the 13 stories in this collection, there are are 5 that are absolute MUST READS. The remainder are all high quality and good reads with “Status Quo at the Troydens,” “Darkness Falls on the River” and “The Silence” worthy of special note.
Here are my 5 favorites from the collection:
Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes: I previously read this story in Ellison’s collection, Deathbird Stories, but there is nothing like listening to Ellison tell this superb tale of a down on his luck gambler who finally hits big with a very special slot machine and finds out that the worst mistakes in life are those from which you do not learn.
Twilight in the Cupboard: A short, grim and powerful tale about the final resting place of holocaust survivors. I had to listen to this one twice because the first time around was a complete WTF moment at the end.
The Discarded: Another favorite of mine that I finally was able to listen to Ellison tell himself. Harlan spins a haunting story about people whose exposure to atomic radiation has caused them to develop severe mutations. These "discards" have been exiled from Earth and are forced to live on large slow moving space ships that roam the solar....that is until an ambassador from Earth comes calling and begging for their help. A classic Ellison story.
The final two stories originally appeared in Dangerous Visions. The first is A Toy for Juliette by Robert Bloch. Ellison explains in the introduction that Bloch was the first first he called when he started putting together Dangerous Visions and specifically requested that Bloch write a sequel to his earlier story called Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper. Bloch agreed and A Toy for Juliette is the result. In addition, as a “one of a kind” bonus, the story is read by Robert Bloch himself and I do not believe this recording is available anywhere else.
Finally, The Prowler in the City at the Edge of the World was a story Ellison wrote after reading A Toy for Juliette and begins immediately after the end of that story. It is probably Ellison’s goriest and most brutal story and also one of his absolute best. It is one of those stories that as I am reading it I said to myself, ‘only Ellison could write this story.’
Overall, a terrific collection of Ellison stories with the huge bonus of the Robert Bloch story making this one that I HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!
Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes: The Voice from the Edge Vol. 3: Worth it for the title story alone Originally posted at Fantasy Literature This is the third installment in Harlan Ellison’s 5-volume THE VOICE FROM THE EDGE series. He’s a born storyteller, without question the most passionate, intense and brilliant audiobook narrator I’ve ever experienced. This is the ideal showcase for him to read his favorite stories from a career spanning over 60 years.
Vol. 3 has some top-notch stories like “Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes,” and finishes with two horror tales, the first narrated by Robert Bloch to chilling effect. It’s also unusual in that it has six very short stories that accompany the artwork of Jacek Yerka especially for the book Mind Fields: The Art of Jacek Yerka, the Fiction of Harlan Ellison. While these may be very effective when seen with the artwork, they lack context alone and are too short to really have a major impact. I would have preferred that he include some of his huge back catalog of longer shorter stories instead. Ellison does sprinkle in a lot of biographical anecdotes that makes this audiobook a real treat to listen to. He may be cocky and abrasive, but he’s also charming and honest as hell.
This collection is interesting for the number of stories that are nearly devoid of fantastic elements. Ellison is a masterful storyteller, so basically any ideas he chooses have the potential to be great. In this collection, you won’t find too many spaceships, robots, or futuristic societies except for “Kiss of Fire,” “The Discarded,” and “The Prowler in the City at the Edge of the World.” Some of the best work perfectly well without any real fantasy elements at all, like “Status Quo at Troyden’s” and “Valerie: A True Memoir.” These were the standouts for me:
“Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes” (1967): This story alone is worth the money. Ellison absolutely tears into every word like a pack of Dobermans attacking a bloody-raw Porterhouse steak. I guarantee you have NEVER heard narration this intense, sinister, down and dirty and absolutely joyful. Ellison’s description of Maggie goes on for a long time, and in the afterword you understand this character had a real-life inspiration. It’s an incredible tale of a down on his luck loser in Vegas who finds a Silver Cartwheel Chief slot machine that gets him jackpot after jackpot after jackpot… but at a terrible price. The real show-stopper here is Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes, a high priced escort who shows in Vegas with her Sicilian hood boyfriend Nuncio and ends up staying in Vegas much longer than expected. I listened to this one several times and every character in it, including the sleazy pit boss, are done to perfection. Here’s a sample of Ellison’s writing:
Outthrust chin, perhaps a tot too much belligerence, but if you’d walloped as many gropers, you too, sweetheart; narrow mouth, petulant lower lip, nice to chew on, a lower lip as though filled with honey, bursting, ready for things to happen; a nose that threw the right sort of shadow, flaring nostrils, the acceptable words: aquiline, patrician, classic, cheekbones as stark and promontory as a spit of land after ten years of open ocean; cheekbones holding darkness like narrow shadows, sooty beneath the taut-fleshed bone structure; amazing cheekbones, the whole face, really; simple up-tilted eyes, the touch of the Cherokee, eyes that looked out at you, as you looked in at them, like someone peering out of the keyhole as you peered in; actually, dirty eyes, they said you can get it.
“Kiss of Fire”(1973): This is a fairly tricky story to grasp on the first time around. I listened several times to get the drift, but I came to appreciate it as a very daring story about creativity and at what cost, set far in the future. It’s also about a fatigued artist, and how far one can go when your work victimizes others. Strangely enough, the jaded and cynical far-future denizens strongly reminded me of the decadent members of Iain M. Banks’ CULTURE series.
“Status Quo at Troyden’s” (1958): This is another perfectly narrated story by Ellison that has no fantastic elements. It’s the simple story of a down-on-his luck old man living in a flop-house on the minimal payments sent by his son. When his payment is cut, he is at a loss and asks the slimy building owner for a few bucks off the already-low rent. When he gets rejected, things take an ugly turn, and our previously-meek protagonist shows a surprisingly mean streak when the tables are turned.
“Tired Old Man”(1975): This is a story based on a real life meeting in NY at a writers’ party between Ellison and one of his crime fiction idols, Cornell Woolrich. It is one of Ellison’s favorites, and features some pretty harsh ridiculing of the jealous little world of competing authors, and Ellison’s dislike for such literary circles. But when he encounters and has a deep and inspiring conversation with a very old man in a soft chair, he is shocked to find that nobody else at the party saw this guy, and that the person he claims to be has been dead for many years.
“Valerie: A True Memoir” (1972): Here’s another excellent story that has no fantastic elements whatsoever. It’s simply a tale Ellison tells about himself as a writer, when he encounters a seductive woman named Valerie who takes him for a ride, and his efforts to get back at her. Ellison isn’t afraid to ridicule his own gullibility, while also suggesting he is quite the lady’s man. It’s a funny story, something you could easily imagine him telling over a beer.
“A Toy for Juliette” (1967): This is actually a story by Robert Bloch (of Psycho fame) written for Ellison’s famous Dangerous Visions anthology in 1967. It may be the creepy soundtrack of any horror story I’ve heard. It’s about a young lady named Juliette in the far future who basically sits around waiting for her kindly uncle to bring her live ‘toys’ for her to play with (and dispatch painfully). Everything goes as usual until one of her ‘toys’ turns out to be much more than she bargained for. The story reads like an evil nursery story, with this inane toy store background music that wildly contrasts with the dark storyline. I loved it.
“The Prowler in the City at the Edge of the World” (1967): This story is a direct follow-up by Ellison to “A Toy for Juliette,” and takes place immediately after that story ends. As Ellison says in his afterword, this is the most violent and explicit piece he’s ever written, and I can understand why Kat would be sickened by it. When you realize who has been set loose in a decadent far-future dome society, you can imagine the mayhem that will ensue. It’s a pretty nasty story, and I actually liked the prior story better because of its sick sense of humor. But I give Ellison full credit for such a creative idea and not pulling any punches.
A horror tale involving a haunted slot machine - and a well-crafted story about the false hopes of gambling, and the bleak desperation of those who are drawn to it.
A selection of my favourite passages from the book
• Long legs, trim and coltish; hips a trifle large, the kind that promote that specific thought in men, about getting their hands around it; belly fiat, isometrics; waist cut to the bone, a waist that works in any style from dirndl to disco–slacks; no breasts—all nipple, but no breast, like an expensive whore (the way O’Hara pinned it)—and no padding … forget the cans, baby, there’s other, more important action; smooth, Michelangelo–sculpted neck, a pillar, proud; and all that face • She carried herself like a challenge, the way a squire carried a pennant, the way a prize bitch carried herself in the judge’s ring. Born to the blue. The wonders of mimicry and desire • So now he stood before the machine, waiting. It spoke to him. Inside his skull, where no one had ever lived but himself, now someone else moved and spoke to him. A girl. A beautiful girl. Her name was Maggie, and she spoke to him • There was a ringing in his ears. Hartshorn seemed to waver at the edge of his vision like heat lightning across a prairie. Like memories of things Kostner had come across the country to forget. Like the whimpering and pleading that kept tugging at the cells of his brain • Broke, and tapped out in all the silent inner ways a man can be drained, he had left, without even a fight, for all the fight had been leeched out of him • There was a terrible shriek, of tortured metal, of an express train ripping the air with its passage, of a hundred small animals being gutted and torn to shreds, of incredible pain, of night winds that tore the tops off mountains of lava. And a keening whine of a voice that wailed and wailed and wailed as it went away from there in blinding light
More entertaining than the last, but still just a brief look into what couldve been a more fleshed out story. I definitely appreciate the no-bs-no-filler approach, as many stories fill out pages simply to reach a word count. But the tempo in both The Ticktockman and this one felt severe, and before I knew it the story was finished. There is still loads to unpack, but with the length being so shirt, I don't feel I'm left with enough compassion for any of the people involved.
Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes is a collection of short stories by Harlan Ellison. Several are decent, others not so much. I think Ellison has a self-indulgent tendency to let his technique get in the way of a good story.
ok, i now am convinced that harlan ellison was quite good actually.
this is a little sillier than the other stories, but it is, like the last one, very fun & readable. feels like a twilight zone episode that never got filmed.
harlan's descriptions are so good, he knows how to write. yet, i have to agree with lena's review, as it's exactly what i was thinking while reading the story;
"the concept might have been interesting if maggie hadn't solely been written about from the perspective of a gooner"
This is the third collection of Harlan Ellison’s short stories which he has narrated himself. Each of these Voice from the Edge audiobooks is quite excellent. I can’t say that I like every story — some of them are just to gross for me — but I can say that Ellison is a great storyteller and that there’s no better way to read his stories than to listen to him read them to you.
This collection contains:
“Between Heaven and Hell” — (first published in 1994 in Mind Fields: The Art of Jacek Yerka, the Fiction of Harlan Ellison) This is a very short piece (3 minutes) in which Ellison juxtaposes the wonderful and ... Read More: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...
This is the third collection of Harlan Ellison’s short stories which he has narrated himself. Each of these Voice from the Edge audiobooks is quite excellent. I can’t say that I like every story — some of them are just to gross for me — but I can say that Ellison is a great storyteller and that there’s no better way to read his stories than to listen to him read them to you.
This collection contains:
“Between Heaven and Hell” — (first published in 1994 in Mind Fields: The Art of Jacek Yerka, the Fiction of Harlan Ellison) This is a very short piece (3 minutes) in which Ellison juxtaposes the wonderful and aw... Read More: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...
This is the third collection of Harlan Ellison’s short stories which he has narrated himself. Each of these Voice from the Edge audiobooks is quite excellent. I can’t say that I like every story — some of them are just to gross for me — but I can say that Ellison is a great storyteller and that there’s no better way to read his stories than to listen to him read them to you.
This collection contains:
“Between Heaven and Hell” — (first published in 1994 in Mind Fields: The Art of Jacek Yerka, the Fiction of Harlan Ellison) This is a very short piece (3 minutes) in which Ellison juxtaposes the wonderful and aw... Read More: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...
A decent collection of stories by Ellison. Most of them are pretty good, taken as pure entertainment, though the ones in which he tries to make some kind of point are typically pretty bad thematically. But Ellison's narration of his own work is really fantastic. A special treat is Robert Bloch's reading of his story "A Toy for Juliette" from the Ellison-edited Dangerous Visions sci-fi anthology, included here as context for Ellison's story "The Prowler in the City at the Edge of the World" which is a direct sequel to Bloch's.
As usual, Harlan Ellison has some great stories and ever greater voice-acting. You almost feel insane when you listen to his crazy stories. Entertaining although somewhat melancholic, like his previous The Voice from the Edge.
Another solid audiobook with excellent narration. This one had a lot of improvised commentary by Ellison, which was as fun as the stories themselves. I especially loved the story from the title, it's a masterful piece.