- Dangerous Visions
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Dangerous Visions 
Cover of first edition (hardcover)Author(s) Edited by Harlan Ellison Illustrator Leo and Diane Dillon Country United States Language English Genre(s) Science fiction anthology Publisher Doubleday Publication date 1967 Media type Print (Hardcover & Paperback) Pages 544 pp ISBN NA Followed by Again, Dangerous Visions Dangerous Visions (ISBN 0-425-06176-0) is a science fiction short story anthology edited by Harlan Ellison, published in 1967.
A path-breaking collection, Dangerous Visions helped define the New Wave science fiction movement, particularly in its depiction of sex in science fiction. Writer/editor Al Sarrantonio[1] writes how Dangerous Visions "almost single-handedly [...] changed the way readers thought about science fiction."
The list of the authors' names reads like a Who's Who of 1960s science fiction. Ellison introduced the anthology both collectively and individually while authors provided afterwords to their own stories.
Contents
Awards and nominations
The stories and the anthology itself were nominated for and the recipients of many awards. "Gonna Roll the Bones" by Fritz Leiber received both a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award for Best Novelette, whilst Philip K. Dick's submission "Faith of our Fathers" was a nominee for the Hugo in the same category. Philip José Farmer tied for the Hugo Award for Best Novella for "Riders of the Purple Wage". Samuel R. Delany won the Nebula for Best Short Story for "Aye, and Gomorrah..." Harlan Ellison received a special citation at the 26th World SF Convention for editing "the most significant and controversial SF book published in 1967."
Sequels
The popular collection was followed by an even larger 1972 sequel, Again, Dangerous Visions. The projected third collection, The Last Dangerous Visions, was started, but controversially remains unpublished. The final book has become something of a legend as science fiction's most famous unpublished book. It was originally announced for publication in 1973, but other work demanded Ellison's attention and the anthology has not seen print to date. He has come under criticism for his treatment of some writers who submitted their stories to him, whom some estimate to number nearly 150 (and many of whom have died in the ensuing almost four decades since the anthology was first announced). In 1993 Ellison threatened to sue New England Science Fiction Association (NESFA) for publishing Himself in Anachron, a short story written by Cordwainer Smith and sold to Ellison for the book by his widow,[2] but later reached an amicable settlement.[3] British SF author Christopher Priest critiqued Ellison's editorial practices in a widely-disseminated article titled The Book on the Edge of Forever.[4] Priest documented a half-dozen instances in which Ellison promised TLDV would appear within a year of the statement, but did not fulfill those promises. Ellison has a record of fulfilling obligations in other instances, including to writers whose stories he solicited, and has expressed outrage at other editors who have displayed poor practices.
Contents
Illustrations by Leo and Diane Dillon accompany each short story.
- Foreword 1 - The Second Revolution by Isaac Asimov
- Foreword 2 - Harlan and I by Isaac Asimov
- Thirty-Two Soothsayers (introduction) by Harlan Ellison
- Evensong by Lester del Rey. This is described by its author as an allegory. It details the capture of a being, identified at the end of the story as God, by Man, which has usurped God's power.
- Flies by Robert Silverberg. It was inspired by a quote from King Lear: "As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods. They kill us for their sport."
- The Day After the Day the Martians Came by Frederik Pohl
- Riders of the Purple Wage by Philip José Farmer (Hugo Award for best novella)
- The Malley System by Miriam Allen deFord
- A Toy for Juliette by Robert Bloch
- The Prowler in the City at the Edge of the World by Harlan Ellison
- The Night That All Time Broke Out by Brian W. Aldiss
- The Man Who Went to the Moon — Twice by Howard Rodman
- Faith of Our Fathers by Philip K. Dick
- The Jigsaw Man by Larry Niven
- Gonna Roll the Bones by Fritz Leiber (Hugo and Nebula awards for Best Novelette)
- Lord Randy, My Son by Joe L. Hensley
- Eutopia by Poul Anderson
- Incident in Moderan and The Escaping by David R. Bunch
- The Doll-House by James Cross (pseudonym)
- Sex and/or Mr. Morrison by Carol Emshwiller
- Shall the Dust Praise Thee? by Damon Knight
- If All Men Were Brothers, Would You Let One Marry Your Sister? by Theodore Sturgeon
- What Happened to Auguste Clarot? by Larry Eisenberg
- Ersatz by Henry Slesar
- Go, Go, Go, Said the Bird by Sonya Dorman
- The Happy Breed by John Sladek
- Encounter with a Hick by Jonathan Brand
- From the Government Printing Office by Kris Neville
- Land of the Great Horses by R. A. Lafferty
- The Recognition by J. G. Ballard
- Judas by John Brunner
- Test to Destruction by Keith Laumer
- Carcinoma Angels by Norman Spinrad
- Auto-da-Fé by Roger Zelazny
- Aye, and Gomorrah by Samuel R. Delany (Nebula Award for best short story, 1967)
References
- ^ Sarrantonio, Al, editor. 999: New Stories of Horror and Suspense. 1999. Avon Books. ISBN 0-380-97740-0
- ^ "ConFrancisco Continued". Ansible 76. November 1993. ISSN 0265-9816. http://news.ansible.co.uk/a76.html.
- ^ "Infinitely Improbable". Ansible 77. December 1993. ISSN 0265-9816. http://news.ansible.co.uk/a77.html.
- ^ Priest, Christopher. "THE LAST DEADLOSS VISIONS" (TXT). http://sf.www.lysator.liu.se/sf_archive/sf-texts/Ansible/Last_Deadloss_Visions,Chris_Priest. Retrieved 2006-03-11.
External links
- Dangerous Visions series listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
Categories:- 1967 books
- 1967 short stories
- Dangerous Visions
- Works edited by Harlan Ellison
- Books with cover art by Leo and Diane Dillon
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