Adam's Reviews > Dangerous Visions

I was so excited to read this collection that even after a full book of introductions I almost had some excitement left. Well, there are a few great stories in here but Ellison just kills all enthusiasm for reading and it took me nearly a month to finish this monster.

Harlan’s smug and condescending hubris injected throughout this book in the form of flatulent commentary is repulsive. The book is edited by Ellison, but really it’s more like a fire hydrant he peed on; no one but Him could have pulled off this project; no one but Him is amazing enough to be friends with all these amazing writers; no but Him understands what these stories really mean - trust me, every story in this collection is incredible and earth shattering and if you don’t think so it’s just because you’re too stupid to understand.

Well, I’m too stupid, because a lot of these stories are flat out awful and forgettable. Maybe at the date of publishing it was different? But overall this collection was a disappointment.

Evensong by Lester Del Ray ** An allegory about the God and Man creation myth. Not that interesting.

Flies by Robert Silverberg **** A group of advanced aliens have re-constructed the remnants of a man, and enhanced him with excessive sensory abilities. Their plan is to return him to Earth and have his experiences transmitted back to them to gather information. Unfortunately their ‘upgrades’ don’t exactly go as planned. The story is dark and disturbing and an excellent example of impactful short fiction.

The Day After the Day the Martians Came by Frederick Pohl ** A story about how people find ways to hate on each other. Sad and true and not that well delivered.

Riders of the Purple Wage by Philip Jose Farmer * DNF. I couldn’t stand the writing style, I felt like a lemming throwing myself off a cliff just to flee this story. It’s a shame because I read the Wikipedia after and there are a lot of fascinating ideas presented, apparently. Personally I enjoyed the Wiki article much more than the actual story.

The Malley System by Miriam Allen deFord **** deFord’s writing is disturbing and convincing from the perspective of various criminals. The idea of a future where criminals of the worst sort have to relive their crimes every day as a form of punishment is fascinating. It reminds me of the kid caught smoking a cigarette by his parents and is then forced to smoke the whole pack. The ramifications of this experimental treatment is fascinating.

A Toy for Juliette by Robert Bloch **** A disturbing story about Jack the Ripper out of time and place, that’s really more about the remnants of a future utopian society and what dark pleasures their boredom leads them toward. Clever twist at the end; a very well written story.

A Prowler in the City at the End of the World by Harlan Ellison ** No surprise here that the story meant in tribute to another is less impressive than the original. Ellison’s continuation of Bloch’s short story is longer and less effective, a well written and overdone story.

The Night That All Time Broke Out by Brian Aldiss ** A somewhat interesting science fiction idea about harnessing time like a natural gas explored in a silly and unimpactful way.

The Man Who Went to the Moon - Twice by Howard Rodman *** A quaint telling of the loss of wonder and of growing old and forgotten. It’s fairy tale type style makes it stand out in this collection.

Faith of our Fathers by Philip K. Dick ***** Ahhh, I missed PKD! It’s all here: people who aren’t who they say they are; disturbing truths behind a faulty, perceived reality; delusions and paranoia; secret plots; and a story that morphs from something similar to 1984 into cosmic horror, wild, horrifying, and transcendent. What can I say? I just love PKD. This story could best be described by Dick himself with the following two quotes: “What if, through psychedelic drugs, the religious experience becomes commonplace in the life of intellectuals?” and “We do not know what God is. God Himself does not know what He is because He is not anything. Literally God is not, because He transcends being.” Deep right? Human beings that believe we are created in God’s image reeks of hubris, similar to how ancient astronomers believed Earth to be the center of the universe. All PKD does here is to explore the possibility of God as something terrifying and impossible to comprehend. I do truly appreciate Dick’s zaniness and depth of paranoid imagination, and while most critics don’t seem to glow over his prose, I dig his style. Actually my favorite part of this story comes from the following short paragraph which described a sexual act in the most delightfully unsexual manner: “He tugged her against him, then, doing what she asked, and what he wanted to do. She was neat; she was swiftly active; she was successful and she did her part. They did not bother to speak until at last she said, ‘Oh!’ And then she relaxed.” Haha! Fantastic.

The Jigsaw Man by Larry Niven ** A premise about criminals being executed for petty crimes because of how valuable their organs are. Didn’t age well.

Gonna Roll the Bones by Fritz Lieber **** A man plays craps with Death. Not sure what the point of this story is, but it’s incredibly evocative and one of the few stories in this collection that really stuck with me.

Lord Randy, My Son by Joe L. Hensley *** Not bad, but it was done better by Jerome Bixby in It’s a Good Life.

Eutopia by Poul Anderson ** Definitely science fiction; not a particularly interesting story involving time travel and alternate timelines. I guess it was shocking because the protagonist’s lover was a young boy? Meh.

Incident in Moderan by David R. Bunch ** Interesting concept of a plastic coated world ruled by war mongering cyborgs, but just not enough here.

The Escaping by David R. Bunch ** See above.

The Doll-House by James Cross **** I enjoyed this short yarn about a man in desperate financial straits that turns to a tiny diving prophet living in a doll-house. The prophet will answer any question you ask, if you treat her nicely. But the answers are open to interpretation.

Sex and/or Mr. Morrison by Carol Emshwiller *** Disturbing story from the point of a view of a female stalking a fat male neighbor. Or is he an alien!? Does it matter?

Shall the Dust Praise Thee? By Damon Knight ** God returns to Earth to find humanity gone. They murdered each other already. Oops! I think it’s about God? Not for me.

If All Men Were Brothers, Would You Let One Marry Your Sister? By Theodore Sturgeon *** Some really interesting concepts here, other than the main one: sorry but incest is not nearly the most repulsive thing human’s are capable of.

What Happened to Auguste Clarot? By Larry Eisenberg * Did I read this? I’ve forgotten it already, and I just finished it.

Ersatz by Henry Slesar * Haha. What. Is. This. Am I supposed to equate homosexuals or transsexuals with the apocalypse? Oh boy.

Go, Go, Go, Said the Bird by Sonya Dorman * Forgettable.
The Happy Breed by John T. Sladek *** A not bad allegory about how easy and safe living breeds weakness.

Encounter With a Hick by Jonathan Brand * Two of my least favorite themes combined: academia and religion. Yay!

From the Government Printing Office by Kris Neville * Nope.

Land of the Great Horses by R.A. Lafferty *** Semi interesting explanation of Gypsies as people who have had their land stolen by aliens.

The Recognition by J.G. Ballard *** Incredible mood created here. And that’s all. Unless you want to pretend there’s more there, be my guest.

Judas by John Brunner * More religion! *Gasps. *Gurgles. *Dies slowly.

Test to Destruction by Keith Laumer **** Astonishing action. Feels like reading The Bourne Identity. I like the theme too, about the strengths and resiliency of humans pushed to the brinks of their survival instincts.

Carcinoma Angels by Norman Spinrad *** The guy from the Dos Equis commercial mixed with Fantastic Voyage. Neat stuff.

Auto-Da-Fe by Roger Zelazny *** Fun story about future humans?robots? that fight sentient cars instead of bulls.

Aye, and Gomorrah… by Samuel R. Delany **** A story about relationships, desires, sexual fetishes. A story about spacers. What are spacers? I’m not sure. They used to be humans, but they’ve been modified for space travel. That means, I think, no genitals, and no sexual urges. So they’re eunuchs in space? And they have a dedicated sect of space eunuch groupies called Frelks. Weird. Interesting. Neat.

Stories-6, Language-7, Ideas-8, Characters-6, Enjoyment-7, Overall-6.8