Ellison is one of the great authors of short stories of speculative fiction. This 1971 collection offers a nice sampling of his work. Stories range from very traditional scifi tales ("Life Hutch" or "Night Vigil") to horror tales ("All the Sounds of Fear" or "Lonelyache") to something more like dark fantasy ("Pennies, Off a Dead Man’s Eyes" or "Are You Listening?"). Several of them would have made great Twilight Zone episodes.

Two of Ellison's most famous stories are included: "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" (my personal favorite from this collection--the AI in this story makes Skynet of Terminator fame seem like a warm puppy), and "'Repent, Harliquin!' Said the Ticktockman" (which I enjoyed, but not any more than several other interesting tales in the collection). ( )

Ellison may be one of the biggest blowhards in science fiction, but boy howdy, can he write. This collection of SF (he prefers "speculative fiction") stories about alienation contains two gems: "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream" is possibly one of the best SF short stories ever written; it is certainly one of the most powerful. And "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman" (love his titles) is at once one of the funnier and more pointed stories I have read anywhere. The others ain't bad, either. ( )

tbr