Essential Ellison (35th Anniversary Morpheus Trade Paperback)

A 35th anniversary retrospective of Harlan’s writing career.

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Description

The 1987 Bram Stoker Award-winning Best Collection.

Edited & Introduced by Terry Dowling
with Richard Delap & Gil Lamont

Cover by Leo & Diane Dillon

In Egyptian mythology, Iai is the rebel, the tester, the stubborn resisting force of intellect and insight which donkey-like stands its  ground, refusing to budge, and challenges what is accepted and valued and thought to be sensible and true. This book is a portrait of one artist as sublime Rebel. Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be just a “Best of” collection (though it does contain much of his finest work). Rather, it is a sound representation, “warts and all,” of the writing of someone who is perfectly, vigorously, cast as the Iai of his age. Though Harlan’s work is widely known and applauded, not enough is made of the sense of social responsibility that is central to it. In fact, this dimension often seems to be deliberately overlooked and the major thrust of his fantasy trivialized. He deals in ideas, sometimes so full of love and compassion that they stun with their simple honesty; sometimes set with barbs and hooks that catch and tear and make us gasp and make us feel. Dr. Johnson would have been proud. Shakespeare would have smiled  fondly. Because that’s the dimension of achievement occurring here. Ellison is as close to the pulse of his age as Chaucer and Shakespeare and Dickens ever came to theirs. – From the Introduction by Terry Dowling

Contents
Introduction: The Sublime Rebel, by Terry Dowling

I. BEGINNINGS
The Sword of Parmagon
The Gloconda
The Wilder One
The Saga of Machine Gun Joe
Glowworm
Life Hutch
S.R.O.

II. WORLDS OF TERROR
Lonelyache
Punky & the Yale Men
A Prayer for No One’s Enemy

III. WORLDS OF LOVE
In Lonely Lands
The Time of the Eye
Grail

IV. THAT NEW-OLD TIME RELIGION
I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream [1968 Hugo Award, Best Short Story]
Corpse
The Whimper of Whipped Dogs [1974 Edgar Allan Poe Award, Best Short Story]

V. A STAB OF MERRIMENT
The Voice in the Garden
Erotophobia
Mom
Ecowareness
The Outpost Undiscovered by Tourists
Dept. of “What Was the Question?” Dept.

VI. TROUBLE WITH WOMEN
The Very Last Day of a Good Woman
Valerie: A True Memoir
The Other Eye of Polyphemus
All the Birds Come Home to Roost

VII. TO THE MATTRESSES WITH MEAN DEMONS
The Tombs: An Excerpt From Memos From Purgatory
“Our Little Miss”
A Love Song to Jerry Falwell
Telltale Tics and Tremors
True Love: Groping for the Holy Grail
Adrift Just off the Islets of Langerhans: Latitude 38° 54’ N, Longitude 77° 00’ 13” W W [1975 Hugo Award, Best Novelette; 1975 Locus Poll Award, Best Novelette]

VIII. ROCOCO TECHNOLOGY
The Sky Is Burning
The Prowler in the City at the Edge of the World
Along the Scenic Route
The Song the Zombie Sang (with Robert Silverberg)
Knox

IX. HEART’S BLOOD
From Alabamy, With Hate
My Father
My Mother
Tired Old Man
Gopher in the Gilly
Strange Wine

X. NIGHTS & DAYS IN GOOD OLD HOLLYWEIRD
The Resurgence of Miss Ankle-Strap Wedgie
Flintlock: An Unproduced Teleplay
The Man on the Mushroom
Somehow, I Don’t Think We’re in Kansas, Toto
Face-Down in Gloria Swanson’s Swimming Pool

XI. PETARDS & HANGINGS
Soldier
The Night of Delicate Terrors
Shattered Like a Glass Goblin
At the Mouse Circus

XII. SHADOWS FROM THE PAST
Free With This Box!
Final Shtick
One Life, Furnished in Early Poverty
Jeffty Is Five Five [1977 Nebula Award, Best Short Story; 1977 Jupiter Award, Best Short Story; 1978 Hugo Award, Best Short Story; 1978 Locus Poll Award, Best Short Story; 1979 British Fantasy Award, Best Short Story; 1999 Locus Poll Award, Best Short Story of All Time]

XIII. CONTRACTS ON THE SOUL
Daniel White for the Greater Good
Neither Your Jenny Nor Mine
Alive and Well and on a Friendless Voyage

XIV. THE CLASSICS
“Repent, Harlequin!” Said the Ticktockman [1965 Nebula Award, Best Short Story; 1966 Hugo Award, Best Short Story; 2015 Prometheus Award Hall of Fame Inductee]
Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes
A Boy and His Dog [1969 Nebula Award, Best Novella]
The Deathbird [1973 Jupiter Award, Best Short Story; 1974 Hugo Award, Best Novelette; 1974 Locus Poll Award, Best Short Fiction]

XV. DARK LIBERATION
The Thick Red Moment
The Man Who Was Heavily Into Revenge
Driving in the Spikes

AFTERWORD by Harlan Ellison

Additional information

Weight 3.125 lbs
Dimensions 9.125 × 6.125 × 2.25 in
Condition

Fine, Very Good