Dangerous Visions!

I've finally done it. I've finally read all of the 1967 anthology Dangerous Visions edited by the rambunctious Harlan Ellison. For science fiction fans of a certain age this is who's who in the field. It's a crossroads of sorts with plenty of classic names from science fiction's "Golden Age" such as Asimov, Del Rey, Sturgeon, and Pohl. And fresher faces who went on to become a new generation of renowned talents such as Spinrad, Zelazny and Delany. And lots of talents who fall in between such as Farmer, Knight and Dick. The collection garnered two Hugos and two Nebulas for the stories within. Not a bad showing at all for novice editor Harlan Ellison.  

As much as I enjoy Ellison's fiction, I think I prefer his nonfiction better. And this collection offers up some dazzling little essays introducing the various talents. His snark is full on display as he praises and pinches the writers within. Those who are his friends get especially sharp barbs. Each story is also accompanied by an afterword from the author. They range from a single sentence to much larger reflections. 

Here is the table of contents: 

"Foreword 1 - The Second Revolution" by Isaac Asimov'

"Foreword 2 - Harlan and I" by Asimov

"Thirty-Two Soothsayers" (Introduction) by Harlan Ellison

"Evensong" by Lester Del Rey

"Flies" by Robert Silverberg

"The Day After the Martians Came" by Frederick Pohl

"Riders of the Purple Wage" by Phillip Jose Farmer (Hugo for bet novella)

"The Malley System" by Miriam Allen de Ford

"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" 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 Lieber (Hugo and Nebula for best Novelette)

"Lord Randy, My Son" Joe L. Hensley

"Eutopia" by Poul Anderson

"Incident in Moderan" and "The Escaping" by David R. Bunch

"The Doll-House" by Hugh Jones Parry

"Sex and/or Mr. Morrison" by Carol Emshwiller

"Shall the Dust Praise Thee?" Damon Knight

"If All Men Were Brothers, Would You Let One Marry Your Sister?" by Ted Sturgeon

"What Happened to Auguste Clarot?" by Larry Eisenberg

"Ersatz" by Henry Slesar

"Go, Go, Go, Said the Bird" by Sony 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-Fe" by Roger Zelazny

"Aye, and Gormorrah" by Samuel R. Delany (Nebula for best short story)

I haven't the inclination to review every story. But some that stood out were "Eutopia" by Anderson, "The Happy Breed" by Sladek, "Test to Destruction" by Laumer, "The Night that All Time Broke Out" by Aldiss, and "Evensong" by Del Rey. I found all the stories enjoyable in their own way, but I will have to say I'll need to read "Riders of the Purple Wage" by Farmer again to fully grok it. The stories were selected because in most cases they pushed boundaries at a time when boundaries desperately need to be pushed. (Actually, they probably need to be tested all the time.) I wasn't shocked especially by any story, but I'm reading these tales in 2025, over half a century from when they were concocted and first published. That the stories feel fresh at all is a triumph for the collection, but perhaps a sad commentary on society. 

As tall peak as Dangerous Visons was, it's sequel Again, Dangerous Visions is even more daunting. I've already dived into it and expect a report when I get get through with it. That's going to take a spell. 

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The Broken Sword!

I'm amazed it has taken me this long, most of my life as it turns out to finally read Poul Anderson's famous The Broken Sword. I thought I had read it once before, back in the 80's but soon after launching into it, I realized I was on untraveled ground. The power of this narrative is nigh magical. It captures you, snarls you in its spell and it's hard to put down. But then when you do, it's surprising how short a distance you've come. The story is exceedingly compressed, in the manner of myth which rolls out the narrative with relentlessness. 

The novel was first published in 1954, the same year that J.R.R. Tolkien's masterpiece The Lord of the Rings first began to hit the bookshelves with The Fellowship of the Ring For that reason, I gather Anderson's book has been hidden in that epic's shadow. Not because of any other reason surely as Anderson also gives us a tale full of brave warriors, elves, trolls, and other magical creatures. They are profoundly different from Tolkien's creations, filled with a brutality and violence which fills The Broken Sword. Anderson does a magnificent job of capturing that sense of fatalism which informs Icelandic sagas and other Nordic myth. We meet characters only to see them die a few paragraphs later, but rather we feel that we're being cheated of story we are immediately put onto another trail. The richness if this tale is potent. 

This is a Viking saga in which we meet a brutal man named Orm who seeks his own fame and fortune. He murders the family of a witch, and she curses him. He takes a wife Alefrida and has a son, but circumstances are such that an elf named Imric replaces the child with a changeling. The changeling is named Valgard. Imric names the boy Skafloc and raises him to be the best a human can be in the Elven way. Valgard's origins are such that he's an even more violent and brutal son for a violent and brutal man, and he feels apart from his supposed family. What roles this man and changeling play in the wars between elf and troll and to some small extent man makes up the story, as well as the great sin which forms its darkest center. These can be hard characters to like, but they are characters one can admire, if only on their own brutal terms. 

This is story I'm hesitant to discuss in too much detail, as it might spoil the potential excitement for new readers. And the purpose of this post is just that. I want to encourage everyone and anyone to read The Broken Sword. It's taken me far too long to savor this truly awesome tale and I want others to get to it as soon as possible. Michael Moorcock prefers Anderson's story to Tolkien's more famous tale, and I can see why at last, even if I do hold the latter in still high regard. Many aspects of Anderson's saga find a shape in Moorcock's expansive writings. It has been exciting to find a story I can get excited about, even after all these decades. 

It's been a while since I've read a book I didn't want end, while as at the same time I raced to the inevitable conclusion. Read The Broken Sword. 

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The Sword & Sorcery Anthology!

The Sword & Sorcery Anthology puts me in the mind of those wonderful collections of sword and sorcery stories by Lin Carter so many years ago.

It showcases quite a range of authors, including of course Robert E. Howard represented here by his outstanding "The Tower of the Elephant". Also from Weird Tales is a Jirel of Jory story by C.L. Moore ("Black God's Kiss"). There's a Fafhrd and Grey Mouser story by Fritz Leiber ("The Unholy Grail") and a story by Poul Anderson ("The Tale of Hauk"). Michael Moorcock is represented by the Elric story "The Caravan of Forgotten Dreams".

Those stories I have though in other places, but what really got me to give this one a second look were a trio of stories from Whispers, a Kane story by Karl Edward Wagner, a story by David Drake, and mostly a sword and sorcery story by Ramsey Campbell written under the pseudonym of "Montgomery Comfort".

Throw in some newer stuff by the likes of Michael Swanwick and Gene Wolf, and you have a really nice range of talent represented in this book. It's not comprehensive, but nicely expansive. There's a real sense of a range of voices and styles.

The volume is really hurt significantly though by the almost complete lack of an editorial voice. There's a forward by David Drake, but nothing from the editors and no explanatory material between the stories either about the authors or the stories. These kinds of books need that context in my opinion and the lack of it here does hurt.

The cover for this one by Jean-Sebastien Rossbach is a keeper, a really nice image full of blood and thunder. That's a nice change for my tastes when fantasy covers and S&S covers in particular seem sometimes to eschew this kind of thing.

The original solicitations for this book said Jack Vance would be included, but he has no story in this collection. There's no explanation offered.

At fifteen bucks though this one is worth the effort to find.

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