pine_wulf's review against another edition
Thoughts on individual stories:
Evensong - strong start, short, but interesting
Flies - not too bad, a little disturbing
The Day After the Day the Martians Came - this one might have felt revolutionary once upon a time, but now it's a bit of a cliche
Riders of the Purple Wage - this one was sooooo boring, just, no
The Malley System - this was fascinating, I wonder if a certain Black Mirror episode was inspired.
A Toy for Juliette - I liked this one quite a bit.
The Prowler in the City at the Edge of the World - this was fine, it's a sequel to the preceding story, but not as good
The Night That All Time Broke Out - so much fun, plus I'm a sucker for "time is cyclical"
The Man Who Went to the Moon - Twice - I think the story itself is just ok, but I liked the theme. I found the afterword more touching than the story.
Evensong - strong start, short, but interesting
Flies - not too bad, a little disturbing
The Day After the Day the Martians Came - this one might have felt revolutionary once upon a time, but now it's a bit of a cliche
Riders of the Purple Wage - this one was sooooo boring, just, no
The Malley System - this was fascinating, I wonder if a certain Black Mirror episode was inspired.
A Toy for Juliette - I liked this one quite a bit.
The Prowler in the City at the Edge of the World - this was fine, it's a sequel to the preceding story, but not as good
The Night That All Time Broke Out - so much fun, plus I'm a sucker for "time is cyclical"
The Man Who Went to the Moon - Twice - I think the story itself is just ok, but I liked the theme. I found the afterword more touching than the story.
thomcat's review against another edition
4.0
Enormous collection; it feels like I've been reading this for a month. Harlan Ellison put together a collection of stories not published elsewhere, helping to define the New Wave movement of science fiction. Most of what was shocking in the late 60s isn't now, of course, so these stories must stand on their own merits.
I especially enjoyed Gonna Roll the Bones by [a:Fritz Leiber|23001|Fritz Leiber|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1423163995p2/23001.jpg] and Auto-da-Fé by [a:Roger Zelazny|3619|Roger Zelazny|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1207671346p2/3619.jpg]. For me, If All Men Were Brothers, Would You Let One Marry Your Sister? by [a:Theodore Sturgeon|12531|Theodore Sturgeon|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1211292667p2/12531.jpg] fell flat. Overall rating for the collection, a solid 3.5 stars.
I especially enjoyed Gonna Roll the Bones by [a:Fritz Leiber|23001|Fritz Leiber|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1423163995p2/23001.jpg] and Auto-da-Fé by [a:Roger Zelazny|3619|Roger Zelazny|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1207671346p2/3619.jpg]. For me, If All Men Were Brothers, Would You Let One Marry Your Sister? by [a:Theodore Sturgeon|12531|Theodore Sturgeon|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1211292667p2/12531.jpg] fell flat. Overall rating for the collection, a solid 3.5 stars.
eggp's review against another edition
4.0
Disappointing child
quiet, an easy target
conserving his wrath.
Lord Randy, My Son
has the best illustration
they have plans for you.
quiet, an easy target
conserving his wrath.
Lord Randy, My Son
has the best illustration
they have plans for you.
jeremyhornik's review against another edition
3.0
A counterculture science fiction anthology. Man, did I like this book back then. I read it and reread it and reread it. Now I can hardly remember what's in it.
markyon's review against another edition
4.0
There are some books out there whose reputations often exceed the content of the book itself. Many people, even those who don’t read SF, have heard of Frank Herbert’s Dune, for example, or Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001 (that’s the novel, not the film.)
In SF circles, Dangerous Visions is one of those that many know of by reputation but these days have rarely read. It was the Gone with the Wind of SF anthologies when it was first published in 1967. Like the film Gone with the Wind before its release, there was great speculation in the genre about Dangerous Visions before the book was published. Heralded as the best of cutting edge New Wave SF at the time, the rumours of what Harlan was doing and which authors were included, and perhaps more importantly which ones were not, were rife. Its content was allegedly salacious, sexy, outrageous, exciting, and thought-provoking, at a time when SF was maturing into something beyond the space opera pulp of the 1940’s and 50’s.
Dangerous Visions was the messenger of the New Age, bringing SF to those who had previously spurned its origins.
The eventual list of 33 stories from 32 authors reads like a Who’s Who of SF writers: Philip K Dick, Samuel ‘Chip’ Delany, Robert Bloch, Philip José Farmer, Robert Silverberg, Brian Aldiss, Theodore Sturgeon, JG Ballard, John Brunner, Norman Spinrad, Fritz Lieber, Frederik Pohl, Lester del Rey, Roger Zelazny, and even Isaac Asimov, who amusingly explains in one of his Introductions why he’s not in the collection, other than for the Introduction. Ellison cherry-picked who he saw as the best in the US at the time and the emerging British New Wave at the time.
Jo Walton claims that it is ‘an astonishing anthology’. Harlan himself, with no lack of modesty, declares at the beginning of the collection, “What you hold in your hands is more than a book. If we are lucky it is a revolution.” (page xxxii)
There is an introduction about each author written by Harlan. The authors themselves often provide an Afterword after Ellison’s Introductions. Personally, I always enjoy reading such comments, as I love hearing how authors write. However, they can be very long. The Introductions, from 1967 and 2007, and a new Introduction from Adam Roberts cover 44 pages alone. In the case of Robert Bloch, the Introduction is longer than the story itself, though I did find it entertaining.
At its worst, it can be rather like those DVD extras where people spoil the experience by telling us how great they are, or worse, that the explanation of the mechanics of writing devalue the tale. Some may find it better to ignore such excesses and focus on the stories.
Whilst some of its content feels tame by today’s standards, it can still divide. As an example, Philip José Farmer’s novella, Riders of the Purple Wage, despite its great pun of a title and being tied with Weyr Search by Anne McCaffrey for the Hugo Award for Best Novella in 1968, is still to me overblown posturing about nothing. (It actually put me off reading Farmer for a long time afterwards.) David R Bunch’s two tales (the only author to have two tales in the book) are still as confusing as ever. Carol Emshwiller’s tale of sex (Sex and/or Mr Morrison) is just weird, and no less weird from my first reading.
Others are still great. Gonna Roll the Bones by Fritz Leiber, which also received a Hugo Award and also a Nebula Award for Best Novelette in 1968, and I still think is funny, witty and quirkily odd. Unlike the Farmer, when I first read this one it set me on a course of reading more Leiber, to my mind a much underappreciated writer these days, though he did write the odd clunker.
Of the better known authors there are some surprises. Robert Silverberg’s tale of death (Flies) is still chillingly and sickeningly creepy. Poul Anderson’s tale of homosexuality (Eutopia) is startling in its New-Wave style take from an author whose reputation was by this stage fairly well known as ‘Old-Guard’.
Of the older authors, Lester del Rey’s tale of God versus Humans (Evensong), Frederik Pohl’s comments on racism in The Day After the Day the Martians Came and Larry Niven’s tale of organ-farming, The Jigsaw Man, are all less cutting-edge than they probably were at the time, though have stood the test of time. (And as an aside, the tale of how Larry Niven’s monetary contribution ensured this collection was actually published is an entertaining footnote.)
Robert Bloch’s future Jack the Ripper tale, A Toy for Juliette, an alternative to his Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper, is still unsettling. Harlan’s own sequel to Juliette, The Prowler in the City at the Edge of the World, also shows what a tour de force Harlan was in the 1960’s.
The British end of the New Wave also holds up their own through Brian Aldiss’s tale of terranaut time-altering, The Night that All Time Broke Out and JG Ballard’s bleak circus story The Recognition, as well as John Brunner’s machine-as-God Judas. There’s also a comment by Mike Moorcock, written in 2002, about the context of the collection in 1967, and claiming that Harlan “singlehandedly produced a new benchmark” with this book.
Lastly, Samuel R. Delany’s Aye, and Gomorrah, with its neutering of astronauts, ‘frelking’ and sexual prostitution is still quite a memorable tale that must have been a cautionary tale for SF fans at a time when we hadn’t made it to the Moon. Delany won the 1968 Nebula for Best Short Story for "Aye, and Gomorrah... and in the November 1967 copy of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction Judith Merrill claimed that this, the last story in the book, was by far the best.)
Other Award Winners from this collection: Philip K. Dick's submission "Faith of our Fathers" was a nominee for the 1968 Hugo in the Novelette category, beaten by Leiber. Harlan Ellison himself received a special citation at the 26th World SF Convention for editing ‘the most significant and controversial SF book published in 1967’ although he had his nomination for Fan Writer withdrawn reportedly because he had won a Hugo and Nebula in the past. Clearly there was a lot of love for Harlan at this point.
Like me, you may not like it all. When it works, it works well, where it doesn’t, it can leave you...confused. I still feel, like I did 30 years or so ago, that some of the tales try too hard to shock, and consequently in the end they make their point less. But you must read it, even if it’s to get an idea of what all the fuss was about when first published. Religion, sex, death: all are here.
The effect of Dangerous Visions is still palpable today, though many of the stories here have dated, in some cases badly. Having said that, for a book over 45 years old, there’s more hits than misses, which is impressive. (Although I defy anyone to come up with the same list of likes and dislikes as someone else!) For here lies the hereditary of William Gibson, Dan Simmons, and China Mieville, amongst many others.
Think of it as a primer, to try different authors you may not have heard of before. Then go read more of their work.
There was a second collection published, Again, Dangerous Visions in 1972. But if you want an even more controversial story, look up the one about Harlan’s supposedly last Dangerous Visions anthology, still unpublished after nearly 40 years: The Last Dangerous Visions.
In SF circles, Dangerous Visions is one of those that many know of by reputation but these days have rarely read. It was the Gone with the Wind of SF anthologies when it was first published in 1967. Like the film Gone with the Wind before its release, there was great speculation in the genre about Dangerous Visions before the book was published. Heralded as the best of cutting edge New Wave SF at the time, the rumours of what Harlan was doing and which authors were included, and perhaps more importantly which ones were not, were rife. Its content was allegedly salacious, sexy, outrageous, exciting, and thought-provoking, at a time when SF was maturing into something beyond the space opera pulp of the 1940’s and 50’s.
Dangerous Visions was the messenger of the New Age, bringing SF to those who had previously spurned its origins.
The eventual list of 33 stories from 32 authors reads like a Who’s Who of SF writers: Philip K Dick, Samuel ‘Chip’ Delany, Robert Bloch, Philip José Farmer, Robert Silverberg, Brian Aldiss, Theodore Sturgeon, JG Ballard, John Brunner, Norman Spinrad, Fritz Lieber, Frederik Pohl, Lester del Rey, Roger Zelazny, and even Isaac Asimov, who amusingly explains in one of his Introductions why he’s not in the collection, other than for the Introduction. Ellison cherry-picked who he saw as the best in the US at the time and the emerging British New Wave at the time.
Jo Walton claims that it is ‘an astonishing anthology’. Harlan himself, with no lack of modesty, declares at the beginning of the collection, “What you hold in your hands is more than a book. If we are lucky it is a revolution.” (page xxxii)
There is an introduction about each author written by Harlan. The authors themselves often provide an Afterword after Ellison’s Introductions. Personally, I always enjoy reading such comments, as I love hearing how authors write. However, they can be very long. The Introductions, from 1967 and 2007, and a new Introduction from Adam Roberts cover 44 pages alone. In the case of Robert Bloch, the Introduction is longer than the story itself, though I did find it entertaining.
At its worst, it can be rather like those DVD extras where people spoil the experience by telling us how great they are, or worse, that the explanation of the mechanics of writing devalue the tale. Some may find it better to ignore such excesses and focus on the stories.
Whilst some of its content feels tame by today’s standards, it can still divide. As an example, Philip José Farmer’s novella, Riders of the Purple Wage, despite its great pun of a title and being tied with Weyr Search by Anne McCaffrey for the Hugo Award for Best Novella in 1968, is still to me overblown posturing about nothing. (It actually put me off reading Farmer for a long time afterwards.) David R Bunch’s two tales (the only author to have two tales in the book) are still as confusing as ever. Carol Emshwiller’s tale of sex (Sex and/or Mr Morrison) is just weird, and no less weird from my first reading.
Others are still great. Gonna Roll the Bones by Fritz Leiber, which also received a Hugo Award and also a Nebula Award for Best Novelette in 1968, and I still think is funny, witty and quirkily odd. Unlike the Farmer, when I first read this one it set me on a course of reading more Leiber, to my mind a much underappreciated writer these days, though he did write the odd clunker.
Of the better known authors there are some surprises. Robert Silverberg’s tale of death (Flies) is still chillingly and sickeningly creepy. Poul Anderson’s tale of homosexuality (Eutopia) is startling in its New-Wave style take from an author whose reputation was by this stage fairly well known as ‘Old-Guard’.
Of the older authors, Lester del Rey’s tale of God versus Humans (Evensong), Frederik Pohl’s comments on racism in The Day After the Day the Martians Came and Larry Niven’s tale of organ-farming, The Jigsaw Man, are all less cutting-edge than they probably were at the time, though have stood the test of time. (And as an aside, the tale of how Larry Niven’s monetary contribution ensured this collection was actually published is an entertaining footnote.)
Robert Bloch’s future Jack the Ripper tale, A Toy for Juliette, an alternative to his Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper, is still unsettling. Harlan’s own sequel to Juliette, The Prowler in the City at the Edge of the World, also shows what a tour de force Harlan was in the 1960’s.
The British end of the New Wave also holds up their own through Brian Aldiss’s tale of terranaut time-altering, The Night that All Time Broke Out and JG Ballard’s bleak circus story The Recognition, as well as John Brunner’s machine-as-God Judas. There’s also a comment by Mike Moorcock, written in 2002, about the context of the collection in 1967, and claiming that Harlan “singlehandedly produced a new benchmark” with this book.
Lastly, Samuel R. Delany’s Aye, and Gomorrah, with its neutering of astronauts, ‘frelking’ and sexual prostitution is still quite a memorable tale that must have been a cautionary tale for SF fans at a time when we hadn’t made it to the Moon. Delany won the 1968 Nebula for Best Short Story for "Aye, and Gomorrah... and in the November 1967 copy of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction Judith Merrill claimed that this, the last story in the book, was by far the best.)
Other Award Winners from this collection: Philip K. Dick's submission "Faith of our Fathers" was a nominee for the 1968 Hugo in the Novelette category, beaten by Leiber. Harlan Ellison himself received a special citation at the 26th World SF Convention for editing ‘the most significant and controversial SF book published in 1967’ although he had his nomination for Fan Writer withdrawn reportedly because he had won a Hugo and Nebula in the past. Clearly there was a lot of love for Harlan at this point.
Like me, you may not like it all. When it works, it works well, where it doesn’t, it can leave you...confused. I still feel, like I did 30 years or so ago, that some of the tales try too hard to shock, and consequently in the end they make their point less. But you must read it, even if it’s to get an idea of what all the fuss was about when first published. Religion, sex, death: all are here.
The effect of Dangerous Visions is still palpable today, though many of the stories here have dated, in some cases badly. Having said that, for a book over 45 years old, there’s more hits than misses, which is impressive. (Although I defy anyone to come up with the same list of likes and dislikes as someone else!) For here lies the hereditary of William Gibson, Dan Simmons, and China Mieville, amongst many others.
Think of it as a primer, to try different authors you may not have heard of before. Then go read more of their work.
There was a second collection published, Again, Dangerous Visions in 1972. But if you want an even more controversial story, look up the one about Harlan’s supposedly last Dangerous Visions anthology, still unpublished after nearly 40 years: The Last Dangerous Visions.
tregina's review against another edition
4.0
I've read several of these stories before, in other venues and other collections, but I've never read the entire book which is something I always meant to do. So this isn't about the individual stories—several of which are excellent—but about the book as a unit and as a product of its time. 1967 is nearly fifty years ago now.
It's easy these days to see science fiction authors as part of a community—it's a visible thing online and very much a part of the culture. It was always a part of the culture, but once much less visible outside of the inner circles. The introductions to these stories, each of them extensive, was the first time I, as a reader who wasn't born when the book was published and who's often felt alienated by classic science fiction, really felt the existence of that community and that network of writers, from the writers at the beginning of their careers (several of whom are now luminaries in the field) to those who were already established both in science fiction and in the mainstream.
This book is a remarkable accomplishment. It's not immune to the problems that usually make me shy away from classic science fiction— the sexism, the racism, the homophobia (particularly the homophobia in this case, which hit me like a slap in the face more than once—but it digs deep into some of those issues and pushes the envelope, and it's the first time I've read something from that era and saw, or began to see, just how we got from where we were then to where we are now.
It's easy these days to see science fiction authors as part of a community—it's a visible thing online and very much a part of the culture. It was always a part of the culture, but once much less visible outside of the inner circles. The introductions to these stories, each of them extensive, was the first time I, as a reader who wasn't born when the book was published and who's often felt alienated by classic science fiction, really felt the existence of that community and that network of writers, from the writers at the beginning of their careers (several of whom are now luminaries in the field) to those who were already established both in science fiction and in the mainstream.
This book is a remarkable accomplishment. It's not immune to the problems that usually make me shy away from classic science fiction— the sexism, the racism, the homophobia (particularly the homophobia in this case, which hit me like a slap in the face more than once—but it digs deep into some of those issues and pushes the envelope, and it's the first time I've read something from that era and saw, or began to see, just how we got from where we were then to where we are now.
susiemir's review against another edition
3.0
This was a collection of the most bizzarre sci-fi stories I have ever encountered. Not that it was a bad thing, just an alarming number of them concentrated in the same place. Dangerous Visions indeed...
bev_reads_mysteries's review against another edition
4.0
Harlan Ellison is brilliant in this collection.
oleksandr's review against another edition
3.0
This is an anthology of all-new (as for 1967) short works of speculative fiction, one of the most prominent collections in SF. The editor, [a:Harlan Ellison|7415|Harlan Ellison|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1377708311p2/7415.jpg], asked a lot of famous and not-so-famous authors to send him their stories, too ‘dangerous’ to be published in magazines I read is as a part of monthly reading in January 2020 at The Evolution of Science Fiction group.
There is the list of works with concise notion what was assumed dangerous about them and slightly longer reviews of more prominent pieces. All stories have intros by Ellison where he tries to joke about them or write accolades. For a ghetto genre it was the first semi-serious introduction of many authors, usually known only by their works
Evensong by Lester del Rey sacrilege
Flies by Robert Silverberg sacrilege
The Day After the Day the Martians Came by Frederik Pohl a nice funny piece about almost instinctive segregation and denigration of the Other
Riders of the Purple Wage by Philip José Farmer the longest work, novella that won Hugo in 1968. Maybe the most serious early attempt to construct a future universal income and a great interest in art. Actively tries to shock reader e.g. with artists painting with their penises… extremely stylish and thus hard to read for a non-native speaker
The Malley System by Miriam Allen deFord changing criminals with psychology, but much weaker than idea in [b:A Clockwork Orange|41817486|A Clockwork Orange|Anthony Burgess|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1549260060l/41817486._SX50_.jpg|23596].
A Toy for Juliette by Robert Bloch a story spoilered by the intro.
The Prowler in the City at the Edge of the World by Harlan Ellison the response to the previous one.
The Night That All Time Broke Out by Brian W. Aldiss an interesting world where time is supplied like gas. Weird in a good way
The Man Who Went to the Moon – Twice by Howard Rodman a nostalgy piece, not dangerous but nice.
Faith of our Fathers by Philip K. Dick acid trip in Chinese dictatorship future, PKD style
The Jigsaw Man by Larry Niven when transplantation is ubiquitous but a deficit of bodies, nominated for Hugo
Gonna Roll the Bones by Fritz Leiber SF stylization of ‘original American story’, won Hugo and Nebula for best novelette
Lord Randy, My Son by Joe L. Hensley a version of the present day Christ
Eutopia by Poul Anderson taboo, a traveler between dimensions is prosecuted for a crime that is normal in his world
Incident in Moderan by David R. Bunch a false hope for mercy in merciless world
The Escaping by David R. Bunch a flow of consciousness
The Doll-House by James Cross a horror story of monkey paw variety
Sex and/or Mr Morrison by Carol Emshwiller taboo, why we hide our ‘private parts’, aren’t they beautiful?
Shall the Dust Praise Thee? by Damon Knight sacrilege, no need for the apocalypse after the H-bomb
If All Men Were Brothers, Would You Let One Marry Your Sister? by Theodore Sturgeon, taboo, Nebula nominee, a planet were sex with everyone is ok
What Happened to Auguste Clarot? by Larry Eisenberg a witty pseudo-mystery
Ersatz by Henry Slesar, taboo, a tired warrior needs a woman
Go, Go, Go, Said the Bird by Sonya Dorman, taboo, cannibalism
The Happy Breed by John T. Sladek, a horror of world without pain and unhappiness
Encounter With A Hick by Jonathan Brand, sacrilege
From the Government Printing Office by Kris Neville a world from POV of a 3-year old, nurtured in line with psychiatric theories
Land of the Great Horses by R.A. Lafferty all Roma finally return home
The Recognition by J.G. Ballard a misanthropic depressing piece
Judas by John Brunner an android wants to be a god
Test to Destruction by Keith Laumer power struggle on Earth happens just when aliens attept to invade, power corrupts story
Carcinoma Angels by Norman Spinrad a very nice piece about fighting cancer
Auto-Da-Fé by Roger Zelazny a florid version of corrida with cars
Aye, and Gomorrah … by Samuel R. Delany an interesting allusion to non-hetero ‘normal’ sexuality
There is the list of works with concise notion what was assumed dangerous about them and slightly longer reviews of more prominent pieces. All stories have intros by Ellison where he tries to joke about them or write accolades. For a ghetto genre it was the first semi-serious introduction of many authors, usually known only by their works
Evensong by Lester del Rey sacrilege
Flies by Robert Silverberg sacrilege
The Day After the Day the Martians Came by Frederik Pohl a nice funny piece about almost instinctive segregation and denigration of the Other
Riders of the Purple Wage by Philip José Farmer the longest work, novella that won Hugo in 1968. Maybe the most serious early attempt to construct a future universal income and a great interest in art. Actively tries to shock reader e.g. with artists painting with their penises… extremely stylish and thus hard to read for a non-native speaker
The Malley System by Miriam Allen deFord changing criminals with psychology, but much weaker than idea in [b:A Clockwork Orange|41817486|A Clockwork Orange|Anthony Burgess|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1549260060l/41817486._SX50_.jpg|23596].
A Toy for Juliette by Robert Bloch a story spoilered by the intro.
The Prowler in the City at the Edge of the World by Harlan Ellison the response to the previous one.
The Night That All Time Broke Out by Brian W. Aldiss an interesting world where time is supplied like gas. Weird in a good way
The Man Who Went to the Moon – Twice by Howard Rodman a nostalgy piece, not dangerous but nice.
Faith of our Fathers by Philip K. Dick acid trip in Chinese dictatorship future, PKD style
The Jigsaw Man by Larry Niven when transplantation is ubiquitous but a deficit of bodies, nominated for Hugo
Gonna Roll the Bones by Fritz Leiber SF stylization of ‘original American story’, won Hugo and Nebula for best novelette
Lord Randy, My Son by Joe L. Hensley a version of the present day Christ
Eutopia by Poul Anderson taboo, a traveler between dimensions is prosecuted for a crime that is normal in his world
Incident in Moderan by David R. Bunch a false hope for mercy in merciless world
The Escaping by David R. Bunch a flow of consciousness
The Doll-House by James Cross a horror story of monkey paw variety
Sex and/or Mr Morrison by Carol Emshwiller taboo, why we hide our ‘private parts’, aren’t they beautiful?
Shall the Dust Praise Thee? by Damon Knight sacrilege, no need for the apocalypse after the H-bomb
If All Men Were Brothers, Would You Let One Marry Your Sister? by Theodore Sturgeon, taboo, Nebula nominee, a planet were sex with everyone is ok
What Happened to Auguste Clarot? by Larry Eisenberg a witty pseudo-mystery
Ersatz by Henry Slesar, taboo, a tired warrior needs a woman
Go, Go, Go, Said the Bird by Sonya Dorman, taboo, cannibalism
The Happy Breed by John T. Sladek, a horror of world without pain and unhappiness
Encounter With A Hick by Jonathan Brand, sacrilege
From the Government Printing Office by Kris Neville a world from POV of a 3-year old, nurtured in line with psychiatric theories
Land of the Great Horses by R.A. Lafferty all Roma finally return home
The Recognition by J.G. Ballard a misanthropic depressing piece
Judas by John Brunner an android wants to be a god
Test to Destruction by Keith Laumer power struggle on Earth happens just when aliens attept to invade, power corrupts story
Carcinoma Angels by Norman Spinrad a very nice piece about fighting cancer
Auto-Da-Fé by Roger Zelazny a florid version of corrida with cars
Aye, and Gomorrah … by Samuel R. Delany an interesting allusion to non-hetero ‘normal’ sexuality
edgeworth's review against another edition
1.0
I would estimate that maybe 40-60% of this renowned and admired anthology of science fiction stories consists of introductions, forewords, afterwords. Every story has an introduction by Ellison, and I started skipping these after the first one, because they are – bar none – interminable chummy ramblings that reminded me of nothing so much as Grampa Simpson talking about tying an onion to his belt. In more than once case, the introduction is actually longer than the story. Not since Michael Moorcock have I encountered a writer so obsessed with the collective memoirs of his own clique. Why do SFF writers end up like this? The conventions – it must be all those goddamn conventions.
The stories aren’t much better. They almost all have that stain of early/mid-century Old White Man scifi writer on them: lecturing, condescending, sexist, not nearly as groundbreaking as they think they are, and something else I can’t put my finger on. A lack of finesse; a boyish immaturity. Nowadays the best science fiction is written by people like Kim Stanley Robinson and Margaret Atwood and Chris Beckett, people who cut their teeth in the literary world, but this is a collection of writers who learned the craft by writing for magazines with rocket ships on the cover. Some of them (Niven and Sturgeon in particular) verge into being laughable, even as they clearly think they’re writing serious Big Idea fiction.
The only story in here which I thought was worth reading was Philip K. Dick’s extremely disturbing “Faith of Our Fathers” – which is saying something, since I’m not normally a fan of Dick’s. Most of the rest of it is dated and puerile rubbish which I had to force myself through. The only story in it which I skipped entirely was Philip Jose Farmer’s “Riders of the Purple Wage,” because I’ve already wasted too much of my reading life on that talentless hack.
Ground-breaking in its time, maybe, but the world of science fiction has long since moved on to brighter and better days. Dangerous Visions can be safely consigned to the dustbin of history.
The stories aren’t much better. They almost all have that stain of early/mid-century Old White Man scifi writer on them: lecturing, condescending, sexist, not nearly as groundbreaking as they think they are, and something else I can’t put my finger on. A lack of finesse; a boyish immaturity. Nowadays the best science fiction is written by people like Kim Stanley Robinson and Margaret Atwood and Chris Beckett, people who cut their teeth in the literary world, but this is a collection of writers who learned the craft by writing for magazines with rocket ships on the cover. Some of them (Niven and Sturgeon in particular) verge into being laughable, even as they clearly think they’re writing serious Big Idea fiction.
The only story in here which I thought was worth reading was Philip K. Dick’s extremely disturbing “Faith of Our Fathers” – which is saying something, since I’m not normally a fan of Dick’s. Most of the rest of it is dated and puerile rubbish which I had to force myself through. The only story in it which I skipped entirely was Philip Jose Farmer’s “Riders of the Purple Wage,” because I’ve already wasted too much of my reading life on that talentless hack.
Ground-breaking in its time, maybe, but the world of science fiction has long since moved on to brighter and better days. Dangerous Visions can be safely consigned to the dustbin of history.