Onward Deathbird Soldier

[buzzgun]

Regards to the poor fools who are being swamped with spam.

I am about finished reading Deathbird Stories. I would like to know
what recommendations there might be for my next read. My university
has a great loan system so even if its obscure, I'll be sure to try an
locate it. DS is deliciously dark and cynical. I particularly love
Paingod. I may be wrong, but I don't recall reading all of these
stories in the Essential Ellison. What a relief! Its comforting that
there is a lot left to be discovered. I was shocked by some of the
stories in DS is all, and wanted to know if Harlan ever got this dark
in his other work.

I also picked up the I, robot illus. screenplay at CostCo over
Christmas, but can't get into it. I'd like to try a novel I suppose,
would somone take a stab at recommending one?

I wish the Babylon 5 feature film hadn't died its death, I was really
hoping for a continuation... even though Harlan probably was not going
to be involved.

buzzmonger
np: eternal sunshine of the spotless mind

[Barney Dannelke]

Post by buzzgun
Regards to the poor fools who are being swamped with spam.
I am about finished reading Deathbird Stories. I would like to know
what recommendations there might be for my next read.

iBooks has a trade paperback re-release of Harlan's STRANGE WINE out at the
moment with a nice repro of an old Whelan illustration for the cover. In
addition to being a very strong collection for the most part, it has one of
his best introductions and again, very little crossover with the ESSENTIAL
ELLISON.

Regards - Barney Dannelke

[buzzgun]

Post by Barney Dannelke
iBooks has a trade paperback re-release of Harlan's STRANGE WINE out at the
moment with a nice repro of an old Whelan illustration for the cover. In
addition to being a very strong collection for the most part, it has one of
his best introductions and again, very little crossover with the ESSENTIAL
ELLISON.

Dear Barney,
I already <guilty smirk> have a nice hardback (signed by Harlan at
DragonCon) of SW. I can't see the artist, but my cover has a female
elf with orange hair holding a large glass goblet of wine in her left
hand, she is lounging, appear to have her right hand resting on a stamp
or letter press and at her side are a lion, a man, and a goat or ram.
In the top left corner is a woman's head and neck in mosaic relief.
She appears quite serpentine. never noticed before, but my edition
does not have a page with the requisite copyright info, Library of
Congress number, edition data, etc..! How very odd, indeed.

Without delving into the text again, but checking the TOC, I would
say that SW is not as dark as DS. Thanks for trying to keep me away
from overlap, but maybe you would say something about Harlan's darkest
stories.

Buzz, who is tittering because he knows he has to reread SW now!

[Barney Dannelke]

Post by buzzgun
Without delving into the text again, but checking the TOC, I would
say that SW is not as dark as DS. Thanks for trying to keep me away
from overlap, but maybe you would say something about Harlan's darkest
stories.

I'm not really very good at commenting on the relative merits of Harlan's
fiction. I know what I like, but that's no yardstick. I tend to focus more
on biographical details and the non-fiction. The other thing is that I
honestly don't usually find the core of Harlan's stories to be dark or
depressing or mean-spirited - as some others have characterized them. I
actually find the messages - as I see them - to be rather affirming.

Now if you mean "dark" as in gothic, well SLAB and CROATOAN might serve you
pretty well.

But I don't know you and your mileage may vary.

- Barney