Description
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
Titles in blue were added for the 2001 edition.
Contents
Introduction: The Sublime Rebel, by Terry Dowling
Lagniappe, by Terry Dowling
I. BEGINNINGS
The Sword of Parmagon [1949]
The Gloconda [1949]
The Wilder One [1955]
The Saga of Machine Gun Joe [1955]
Glowworm [1956]
Life Hutch [1956]
S.R.O. [1957]
II. WORLDS OF TERROR
Lonelyache [1964]
Punky & the Yale Men [1966]
A Prayer for No One’s Enemy [1966]
Pulling Hard Time [1995]
III. WORLDS OF LOVE
In Lonely Lands [1959]
The Time of the Eye [1959]
Grail [1981]
IV. THAT NEW-OLD TIME RELIGION
I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream [1967] – 1968 Hugo Award, Best Short Story
Corpse 91972]
The Whimper of Whipped Dogs [1973] – 1974 Edgar Allan Poe Award, Best Short Story
V. A STAB OF MERRIMENT
The Voice in the Garden [1967]
Erotophobia [1971]
Mom [1976]
Ecowareness [1974]
The Outpost Undiscovered by Tourists [1981]
Dept. of “What Was the Question?” Dept. [1974]
Dept. of “Trivial Pursuit” Dept. [1972-1986]
Prince Myshkin, and Hold the Relish [1982]
VI. TROUBLE WITH WOMEN
The Very Last Day of a Good Woman [1958]
Valerie: A True Memoir [1972]
The Other Eye of Polyphemus [1977]
All the Birds Come Home to Roost [1979]
VII. TO THE MATTRESSES WITH MEAN DEMONS
The Tombs: An Excerpt From MEMOS FROM PURGATORY [1961]
“Our Little Miss” [1970]
A Love Song to Jerry Falwell [1984]
Telltale Tics and Tremors [1977]
True Love: Groping for the Holy Grail [1978]
Adrift Just off the Islets of Langerhans: Latitude 38° 54’ N, Longitude 77° 00’ 13” W [1975] – 1975 Hugo Award, Best Novelette; 1975 Locus Poll Award, Best Novelette
The Function of Dream Sleep [1988] – 1989 Locus Poll Award, Best Novelette
VIII. ROCOCO TECHNOLOGY
The Sky Is Burning [1958]
The Prowler in the City at the Edge of the World [1967]
Along the Scenic Route [1969]
The Song the Zombie Sang [1970] (with Robert Silverberg)
Knox [1974]
With Virgil Oddum at the East Pole [1984] – 1986 Locus Poll Award, Best Short Story
IX. HEART’S BLOOD
From Alabamy, with Hate [1965]
My Father [1972]
My Mother [1976]
Tired Old Man [1975]
Gopher in the Gilly [1982]
Strange Wine [1976]
X. NIGHTS & DAYS IN GOOD OLD HOLLYWEIRD
The Resurgence of Miss Ankle-Strap Wedgie [1968]
Flintlock: An Unproduced Teleplay [1972]
The Man on the Mushroom [1974]
Somehow, I Don’t Think We’re in Kansas, Toto [1974]
Face-Down in Gloria Swanson’s Swimming Pool [1978]
XI. PETARDS & HANGINGS
Soldier [1957]
The Night of Delicate Terrors [1961]
Shattered Like a Glass Goblin [1968]
At the Mouse Circus [1971]
XII. SHADOWS FROM THE PAST
Free With This Box! [1958]
Final Shtick [1960]
One Life, Furnished in Early Poverty [1970]
Jeffty Is Five Five [1977] – 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 [1961]
Neither Your Jenny Nor Mine [1964]
Alive and Well and on a Friendless Voyage [1977]
XIV. THE CLASSICS
“Repent, Harlequin!” Said the Ticktockman [1965] – 1965 Nebula Award, Best Short Story; 1966 Hugo Award, Best Short Story; 2015 Prometheus Award Hall of Fame Inductee
Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes [1967]
A Boy and His Dog [1969] – 1969 Nebula Award, Best Novella
The Deathbird [1973] = 1973 Jupiter Award, Best Short Story; 1974 Hugo Award, Best Novelette; 1974 Locus Poll Award, Best Short Fiction
Paladin of the Lost Hour [1985] – 1986 Hugo Award, Best Novelette; 1986 Locus Poll Award, Best Novelette
Soft Monkey [1987] – 1988 Edgar Allan Poe Award, Best Short Story; 1988 American Mystery Award, Best Short Story
Mefisto in Onyx [1993] – 1993 Bram Stoker Award, Best Novella; 1994 Locus Poll Award, Best Novella
XV. PROCESS
Where I Shall Dwell in the Next World [1992]
The Museum on Cyclops Avenue [1995]
Objects of Desire in the Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear [1999]
Man on Spikes [1998][2000]
Introduction to “Tired Old Man” [1999]
The Man Who Rowed Christopher Columbus Ashore [1991] – Included in 1993 edition of BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES
XVI. DARK LIBERATION
The Thick Red Moment [1982]
The Man Who Was Heavily Into Revenge [1978]
Driving in the Spikes [1983]
An Edge in My Voice, Installment 55 [1982]
The Streets, Installment 1 [1990]
Xenogenesis [1990]
AFTERWORD by Harlan Ellison