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Books : reviews

Harlan Ellison, ed.
Dangerous Visions.
Gollancz. 1967

Dangerous Visions helped define the New Wave movement and almost single-handedly changed the way readers thought about science fiction.

Included in this collection of 33 stories are 7 winners and 13 nominees for the prestigious Hugo and Nebula Awards.

Contents

Larry Niven. The Jigsaw Man. 1967
Philip Jose Farmer. Riders of the Purple Wage. 1967
Fritz Leiber. Gonna Roll the Bones. 1967
Carol Emshwiller. Sex and/or Mr Morrison. 1967
Poul Anderson. Eutopia. 1967
Philip K. Dick. Faith of Our Fathers. 1967
Robert Silverberg. Flies. 1967
Roger Zelazny. Auto-Da-Fe. 1967
Frederik Pohl. The Day After the Day the Martians Came. == The Day the Martians Came. 1967
Lester del Rey. Evensong. 1967
Miriam Allen DeFord. The Malley System. 1967
Robert Bloch. A Toy for Juliette. 1967
The Prowler in the City at the Edge of the World. 1967
Brian W. Aldiss. The Night that All Time Broke Out. 1967
Howard Rodman. The Man Who Went to the Moon --- Twice. 1967
Joe L. Hensley. Lord Randy, My Son. 1967
David R. Bunch. Incident in Moderan. 1967
David R. Bunch. The Escaping. 1967
James Cross. The Doll-House. 1967
Damon Knight. Shall the Dust Praise Thee?. 1967
Theodore Sturgeon. If All Men Were Brothers, Would You Let One Marry Your Sister?. 1967
Larry Eisenberg. Whatt Happened to Auguste Clarot?. 1967
Henry Slesar. Ersatz. 1967
Sonya Dorman. Go, Go, Go, Said the Bird. 1967
John Sladek. The Happy Breed. 1967
Jonathan Brand. Encounter With a Hick. 1967
Kris Neville. From the Government Printing Office. 1967
R. A. Lafferty. Land of the Great Horses. 1967
J. G. Ballard. The Recognition. 1967
John Brunner. Judas. 1967
Keith Laumer. Test to Desruction. 1967
Norman Spinrad. Carcinoma Angels. 1967
Samuel R. Delany. Aye, and Gomorrah.... 1967

Harlan Ellison.
The Beast that Shouted Love at the Heart of the World.
1969

Contents

The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World. 1968
Try a Dull Knife. 1968
Are You Listening?. 1958
The Waves in Rio. 1969
Phoenix. == Phoenix Land. 1968
Asleep: With Still Hands. == The Sleeper With Still Hands. 1968
Santa Claus vs S.P.I.D.E.R.. 1968
The Pitll Pawob Division. == The Pawob Division. 1968
White on White. 1968
Run for the Stars. 1957
S.R.O.. 1957
Worlds to Kill. 1969
A Boy and His Dog. 1969

Harlan Ellison, ed.
Approaching Oblivion.
1974

Contents

Michael Crichton. Approaching Ellison. 1974
Reaping the Whirlwind. 1974
Knox. 1974
Cold Friend. 1973
Kiss of Fire. 1972
Paulie Charmed the Sleeping Woman. 1962
I'm Looking for Kadak. 1974
Silent in Gehenna. 1971
Erotophobia. 1971
One Life, Furnished in Early Poverty. 1970
Ecowareness. 1974
Catman. 1974
Hindsight: 480 Seconds. 1973

Harlan Ellison.
The City on the Edge of Forever.
1975. 1995

rating : 2 : great stuff
review : 11 October 1998

Anyone who knows anything about ST:TOS knows that fans consistently give the 'best episode' vote to the Hugo Award winning "The City on the Edge of Forever", by Harlan Ellison. Anyone who knows even a little more knows that Harlan Ellison was ... unhappy ... with the episode as aired, and that he and Gene Roddenberry ... disagreed ... over some of the historical details.

In this book, Ellison puts his side of the story, forcefully, pungently, and backed up by documentary evidence. He also includes the script as he originally wrote it, which was the version that won the Writers Guild of America Award for best teleplay, to let the reader see for themselves what changed.

I see three major changes that mangle the logic and depth of the story. Firstly, eliding the character of Trooper affects the depth. Secondly, in the original, the character who changed the timeline by saving Edith Keeler was not a temporarily demented McCoy, but a rotten-apple drug-dealing Starfleet officer. (No, not Scotty.) So the act that unintentionally dooms the world, the act that has to be prevented, is ironically a single out-of-character selfless moment by an otherwise evil person. Thirdly, in the original, Kirk fails to stop that act, because of his great love for Edith Keeler, and it is Spock who has to step in and save the universe.

It seems that two of these changes were made because no Starfleet officer could possibly be evil, and because Kirk could not possibly fail to be perfect. If that were all, the only problem would be the viewers' loss, that the episode was reworked into something so much less than it could have been. But, reading Ellison's story, it seems that there was an attempt to rewrite history, too, and snatch credit where credit wasn't due. This is shocking stuff, but essential reading for anyone who wants to know how things really are, not how things are retrofitted by deifiers.

Harlan Ellison.
The Time of the Eye.
1974

Contents

Pennies, Off a Dead Man's Eyes. 1969
Try a Dull Knife. 1968
Night Vigil. == Yellow Streak Hero. 1957
The Time of the Eye. 1959
Life Hutch. 1956
Eyes of Dust. 1959
In Lonely Lands. 1959
Nothing for My Noon Meal. 1958
Are You Listening?. 1958
O Ye of Little Faith. 1968
Lonelyache. 1964
The Very Last Day of a Good Woman. == The Last Day. 1958