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| Book cover to Harlan Ellison's new and posthumously published anthology. Image Credit: Publisher's Weekly, Blackstone Publishing |
No, the headline to this post is not a tabloid. This is not rag or sensationalist journalism. Even though mulit-award-winning author Harlan Ellison passed away six years ago, an anthology edited by him is posthumously coming out very soon. I’ve read all of Ellison’s anthology of dark and disturbing science fiction, "Dangerous Visions", and almost ever since his final and third book in the “Dangerous Visions” trilogy was announced as a Patreon-backed project in 2020, I had been looking for my used paperback copy of the second volume, "Again, Dangerous Visions". I knew it sat buried, untouched and unread by yours truly among many other books of science fiction, horror and other genres, somewhere in my bedroom closet. It was only a little over a week ago that I finally found it, and it wasn’t as buried away in my closet as much as I had thought. After opening coffins and treasure chests of books and not finding it, I found it stashed away behind a row of several other paperbacks and hardbacks on the closet shelf! As frustrating as it was, I'm glad I had to hunt for it. It puts some adventure in one's life who seems not to get enough of it. I just wish I could've found the book a little sooner (like about a year sooner) because it was only towards the end of last week when I found out that "The Last Dangerous Visions" releases just a little over a week from now.
What’s So Different About ‘Dangerous Visions’ III
"Dangerous Visions” Volume I was published in 1967 during the dawn of the new wave of science fiction writers whom Harlan Ellison was one of. The second volume, “Again, Dangerous Visions”, was published in 1972. Both featured science fiction stories considered controversial for their time. “The Last Dangerous Visions” will also consist of such stories in addition to poems and essays.
The unique thing about this third volume, however, is not only its delay in publication by half a century (it was originally planned to release in 1974). It’s also its inclusion of works by older and newer writers for the 1970s, as well as works by some of today’s writers such as Corey Doctorow, James S.A. Corey (The Expanse series of novels) and Cecil Castellucci. Besides having been edited by Harlan Ellison before his death in 2018, Ellison Estate Executor J. Michael Straczynski in a way acted posthumously as co-editor by selecting the newest stories for the volume.
Publication of “The Last Dangerous Visions” kept getting stalled for various reasons. The planned selection of authors whose work would appear in it continuously changed throughout the years. In fact, Harlan Ellison said in his introduction to ADV that some authors new and old were going to have work appear in the second volume. However, their work did not appear after all for reasons unknown to the blogger. Some of that work included a story by Frank Herbert (the Dune series of novels), one by Octavia Butler and another by Anne McCaffrey. The introduction to TLADV doesn't specify the stories, perhaps because the editor didn’t know at the time which ones they were going to be.
Where to Find a List of All Authors Appearing in ‘Dangerous Visions’ III
I went to the Amazon page for “Last Dangerous Visions” to find out what authors work made the final selection but it only listed a small sample. However, File 770 share's an image of the table of contents listing every writer and their work to appear in the book.
So, "The Last Dangerous Visions" will contain stories that span as far back as the '70s all the way to modern times and so should give a good diversity of voices in science fiction. "The Last Dangerous Visions" is published by Blackstone Publishers and goes on sale October 1.
Latest Book Progress on 'Bad Apps'
I just finished an oral proofreading of a story for "Bad Apps", my upcoming short story collection about strange and evil phone apps. I normally have a final proofread where I'll read the story out loud to see how smooth it sounds so if it comes across as choppy or awkward sounding, I can more easily fix grammatical problems. However, I had also run the manuscript for that story through Grammerly's check and it gave me a report of several problems that need to be fixed, some that I had already caught. So, I'm doing a final editing using the Grammerly report which shouldn't take too long.
For more specific details on "Bad Apps" progress and behind-the-scenes, sign up for my free author's newsletter, "Night Creatures' Call". The August-September edition is now out and so if you subscribe within the next couple of weeks you'll get that edition emailed to you. The next edition will be the Halloween one so if you don't subscribe in time for the current newsletter be sure to subscribe in time for that! In there I will be talking horror and monsters in my stories for the occasion!
Have you read Harlan Ellison's anthologies, "Dangerous Visions" or "Again, Dangerous Visions"? Are you planning to purchase the third volume, "The Last Dangerous Visions", when it releases on October 1,?
Until next time . . .
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