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Title: Shatterday by Harlan Ellison ISBN: 0-395-28587-9 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Co Pub. Date: November, 1980 Format: Hardcover List Price(USD): $12.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.67 (3 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Taking tours in other people's lives
Comment: This is a 1980 collection of works culled mostly from magazine sources as well as two pieces that were originally done as live readings for radio and television. It isn't one of Ellison's themed anthologies, so the content is varied.
The book opens with one of his most well-known stories, "Jeffty is Five." It concerns a child who not only stops aging, but who exists in a kind of temporal stasis with regards to his perception of the world. In other words, the world as it was continues on as such, even though it has moved into the future for everyone else. I found it to be largely an exercise in nostalgia.
"How's the Night Life on Cissalda?" is an uncharacteristically silly story about sexually voracious aliens. It is outrageous, hilarious, and merciless in its satire.
"Would You Do It For A Penny?" is a fascinating study of an expert manipulator who plies his psychological trade on vulnerable women.
A radio call-in show becomes a medium for spreading demonic gospel. An man's thirst to right a wrong alters the reality of others, while another's builds gradually, rising to the surface and emerging as a murderous personality, many years later. A man who has wasted his life finds himself in a limbo specially reserved for such sinners. All the women in a man's life return to him one by one, leading to an inevitable and terrifying confrontation. A woman desperately searches for escape from the world. A man who has always given of himself at last learns to take what he needs to truly live. A writer learns that a person's death does not always free you from him. And we finally find out what the deal is with those odd magical curio shops that always turn up in fantasy fiction.
The title story, and the last in this collection, is about a man who finds himself split in two and helpless as his other self gradually takes over his life. I still remember this as the premiere episode of the 1980s Twilight Zone series.
Preceding each entry is an introduction in which Ellison talks about the inspirations and circumstances that led to its creation. While these are always interesting, occasionally they give a little too much away, making parts of some stories seem contrived. Many of them would have been more appropriate as afterwords. I actually would suggest reading the stories first in most cases.
Rating: 5
Summary: SHATTERDAY STORIES FOR SATURDAY
Comment: This is the perfect book to read during the weekend. Help yourself to a healthy helping of Harlan, the short story master. Unlike some of his collections (Deathbird Stories, Angry Candy) which deal with certain themes, Shatterday has a nice variety. What's really nice is that each of these stories is prefaced by an introduction, which is both entertaining and informative. Now for my personal favorites: FLOP SWEAT: an impromptu short-story that Harlan wrote in 6 hours appears unedited here. It deals with a radio talk show host and an evil guest. COUNT THE CLOCK THAT TELLS THE TIME: A very moving piece of fiction that shows us the value of LIVING our lives instead of just wasting our time. I believe this one won an award, and rightly so. There were several other stories that I found enjoyable in this book, but the two mentioned above are the ones I like best. These stories certainly make this book worth reading.
Rating: 5
Summary: Stories from the edge of somewhere nasty.
Comment: Different from Philip K Dick, but Ellison was in similar territory in a way here. You can't read these stories without being affected by them. Even the less grinding stories like Arlo - The Great White Hunter have an edge to them.
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Title: The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World by Harlan Ellison ISBN: 0312940270 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: October, 1984 List Price(USD): $6.95 |
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Title: Slippage : Previously Uncollected, Precariously Poised Stories by Harlan Ellison ISBN: 0395924820 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Co Pub. Date: 17 September, 1998 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Troublemakers : Stories by Harlan Ellison by Harlan Ellison ISBN: 0743423984 Publisher: I Books Pub. Date: 01 November, 2001 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Strange Wine by Harlan Ellison ISBN: 0446306592 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: January, 1984 List Price(USD): $3.50 |
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Title: Deathbird Stories by Harlan Ellison ISBN: 002028361X Publisher: Collier Books Pub. Date: August, 1990 List Price(USD): $9.00 |
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