The Last Dangerous Visions edited by Harlan Ellison

 

Harlan Ellison is dead. This was clearly not edited by Ellison, but by J. Michael Straczynski (aka JMS), who, as Mr. Ellison’s friend and the executor of Ellison’s estate, poured alot of time into, energy, and love into this book. That’s fine - Harlan Ellison was a terrible person. He sexually assaulted Connie Willis when she was being awarded a grandmaster award because he thought it was funny. He was mean and rude to fans at conventions, and even if I particularly liked his writing, I have no respect for him and I will not separate the person from the man. 

However, even though his name is on this, it is not his book. It is JMS’s book. And I have the utmost respect for JMS.  I loved Babylon 5 since I was first introduced to it in college.  I loved everything about it, and am still amazed by the fact that JMS wrote every episode of seasons 3 and 4, and all but one of 5.  I don’t think anyone else has ever surpassed that stunning accomplishment. 

I later came to realize that JMS was the reason why I had enjoyed so many of the cartoons of my youth. His work on the Masters of the Universe, the Real Ghostbusters, and Captain Power were all ahead of their times. I read a number of his comics and enjoyed many of them. And when his autobiography came out a while back, I devoured it with delight.  (The fact that Peter Jurasik narrated it didn’t hurt.). I read one of his few fiction novels in the past and really enjoyed it, even though I’m not a big horror fan.

So I was interested when I found out he was going to finish Ellison’s work and finish the Last Dangerous Visions anthology that Ellison claimed to be working on for decades, and even more intrigued when I got an eARC from NetGalley and the publisher. 

Now, I don’t always love anthologies. The tonal shifts can cause whiplash and I always prefer single author short story collections. 

But I really enjoyed a number of the stories in this book! Most of the ones I liked best were the newer replacements for older stories bought by Ellison whose right reverted or which were printed elsewhere. A story about a human food critic who are alien food still sticks with me. 

But the best thing in the book was the lengthy piece by JMS, Ellison Exegesis. In it, JMS details his friendship with Ellison as well as Ellison’s crippling mental illness that ended up with him unable to complete this work on his own. It was a very well written piece and to my mind worth