Dave Carlson's Reviews > Again, Dangerous Visions

This was an extraordinarily chauvinist time in SF. I didn’t realize this when I was reading it when it came out, it was just the culture of the time, but now and then when I go back to read some stories from this time, it’s pretty shocking how one sided it is. The SF of the 50s and early 60s was quite chauvinist, but with the late 60s sexual revolution, male fantasy as the plot or subplot got seriously out of control. These are stories written by men for men where women are here to constantly please them sexually. Also, I’m using the term women merely to refer to the to the female sex as one of the stories features an older man and a ten year old “woman”. Beyond the sexual imbalance there is a lot story telling experimentation and it’s definitely worth reading to find the gems among the many fails. I will admit that even though I’m a big fan of Harlan Ellison, I did skip most of the story introductions. I did, however, read many of the afterwords by the authors. These are people playing around with things, experimenting with what is possible, and I appreciate that, but not all experiments are successful, and that’s fine too, because some are very successful. For what it’s worth, following are my ratings for each story, which run the gamut from DNF to 4 stars. How do you give a single rating to a collection of stories from different authors who are all trying to push the boundaries of late 1960’s SF? Also, I tried to rate the stories from the perspective of craft rather than my uncomfortableness with their treatment of women.

- THE COUNTERPOINT OF VIEW - 1
- CHING WITCH! - 2
- THE WORD FOR WORLD IS FOREST - 4
- FOR VALUE RECEIVED - 2
- MATHOMS FROM THE TIME CLOSET - 2
- TIME TRAVEL FOR PEDESTRIANS - 3
- CHRIST, OLD STUDENT IN A NEW SCHOOL - 2 1/2
- KING OF THE HILL - 3
- THE 10:00 REPORT IS
- BROUGHT TO YOU BY….. - 3
- THE FUNERAL - 4
- HARRY THE HARE - 2
- WHEN IT CHANGED - 3
- THE BIG SPACE FUCK - 2
- BOUNTY - 2
- STILL-LIFE - 3 1/2
- STONED COUNSEL - DNF
- MONITORED DREAMS & STRATEGIC CREMATIONS - Dreams 2, Cremations 3
- WITH A FINGER IN MY I - 3
- IN THE BARN - 3 1/2
- SOUNDLESS EVENING - 4
- GAHAN WILSON - 3
- THE TEST-TUBE CREATURE, AFTERWARD - 3
- AND THE SEA LIKE MIRRORS - 2 1/2
- BED SHEETS ARE WHITE - 2
- TISSUE - 1 1/2
- ELOUISE AND THE DOCTORS OF THE PLANET PERGAMON - 2
- CHUCK BERRY, WON'T YOU PLEASE COME HOME - DNF
- EPIPHANY FOR ALIENS - 3
- EYE OF THE BEHOLDER - 3
- MOTH RACE - 3
- IN RE GLOVER - 2 1/2
- ZERO GEE - 3
- A MOUSE IN THE WALLS OF THE GLOBAL VILLAGE - 3
- GETTING ALONG - 3
- TOTENBÜCH - 2
- THINGS LOST - 2 1/2
- WITH THE BENTFIN BOOMER BOYS ON LITTLE OLD NEW ALABAMA - 3
- LAMIA MUTABLE - 3
- LAST TRAIN TO KANKAKEE - 3
- EMPIRE OF THE SUN - 4
- OZYMANDIAS - 3 1/2
- THE MILK OF PARADISE - 3 1/2