NEED A BIT OF HELP

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

I’m trying to locate what appears to be a catalogue page on line with “Dangerous Visions” offered on it. There’s a review beneath it that starts off with ‘Although a legend, Harlan Ellison admits he’s a pain in the…” It is listed as an “editors pick,” and the review has a date on it of 4/29/03.

Furthermore, there’s a little “Buy me!” Icon.

I need to get a url for that page so I can read it myself. I’ve been checking google. and thus far come up empty. Does anyone have a clue from whence this piece originates?

PAD

26 comments on “NEED A BIT OF HELP”

  1. I’m trying to search, but not having any luck.

    Where did you see it originally? Or was it mentioned to you?

  2. Are you looking at a screen capture or printout? If so, could you post the image? Maybe the look of the UI will trigger something.

    So far no luck thru search engines (including Froogle, Google.co.uk, and a couple of comparison-shopping engines)

  3. Completely not helpful, but wouldn’t “from whence” mean “from from where”?

  8. Andrew – or Andrew, or Andrew –

    You are mostly correct in that whence does mean “from where”, but in popular usage, it has come to be used with “from”, so that “from whence” is now accepted as a synonym for “whence”. It’s sort of like using “most unique”…

    I agree with you, personally – but I can’t argue with billions of poor grammar users…

  11. Probably also not very helpful, but the Science Fiction Book Club (and the website) is offering an edition of “Dangerous Visions.” But I don’t think it is the site you are looking for.

  12. I’m pretty sure the page you’re talking about was sent out as a promotional email by SFBC.com. I got it, as I am on their list, but I promptly deleted the file and no longer have it.

    Still, if anyone out there gets the SFBC.com newsletter stuff and still has the last few in their trash, then you might be in luck…

    Eric

  13. Sorry no luck here either. I even dogpiled it, but nothing turns up that review line.

    Good luck to all other searchers.

    BTW, there are way to many Andrews here 🙂

  14. Andrew and Andrew–there, hopefully this’ll help alleviate the identity crisis.

    Eric–yes, you can, it just won’t do any good 😀

    And now, back to our regularly scheduled insanity….

  15. Well, I didn’t find that one, but I found this quote:

    2: Author Full Of Themselves

    Two words: Harlan Ellison. The man’s in love with his own gøddámņëd voice. I can tell one thing for sure from what I’ve read of him: I’m not. I’m surprised that some kind of recursive event hasn’t occured turning him into some kind of singularity. Maybe that’s why he’s so short.

    http://www.livejournal.com/users/tropism/?skip=20

  16. I know there was a re-released version of DV, with a new foreword by Harlan Ellison (who, wisely, skips explaining that he’s been working on THE LAST DANGEROUS VISIONS for around 20 years now, but it’s *just* about done).

    Also, if you (PAD) want, I have a signed copy of the 1967 edition of DANGEROUS VISIONS (thanks to an extra copy and seeing Harlan Ellison twice at I-CON, I did wind up having him sign two copies of the same book). Of course, I suspect you’d be the last person to need to go out of their way to get an autographed Ellison work.

    And I ain’t givin’ up my signed copy of MIND FIELDS, no way no how…

    Jim

  19. http://www.sfbc.com

    yes, they are offering a reprint of this classic collection — there was also a 2nd collection called “Again Dangerous Visions” — they may reprint that one too – fingers crossed 🙂

  20. Have no inside information, but if I understand correctly, one reason ‘The Last Dangerous Visions’ is taking so long is because it’s HUGE. At least one hundred different stories, all of which need intros. And Ellison is not the kind of writer who’ll whip through a bunch of stuff just to get it done. He’s not letting it go until he’s convinced it’s absolutely perfect.

    Look at it this way: Dunno about you, but I’m kind of glad it didn’t come out when it was originally expected. I was five years old then, and I probably wouldn’t have liked it.

  21. As for THE LAST DANGEROUS VISIONS, this work has been “almost done” for over 20 years. I highly recommend the (comic) book THE BOOK ON THE EDGE OF FOREVER, which details in amazing detail Ellison’s innumerable announcements of updates, expansions, and the ever-present promise that the book will be coming soon. At this point, if the book ever did come out it would be several volumes long and several hundred dollars. Priest argues, rightly, that Ellison would do best to just admit he can’t finish it, rather than spend his remaining years offering the same promises and excuses. (I was actually present for one of these, 2 or 3 years ago at I-CON.)

    Harlan Ellison is one of my favorite authors, but I have no doubt that THE LAST DANGEROUS VISIONS will never see print. Ellison should just let it go, give the authors their stories back (though several of the authors have died, while their stories remained committed to this project), and get on with the work he can finish.

  22. I had the opportunity to meet Neil Gaiman a few years back, (he was doing an interview for KPCC in Pasadena, and a friend’s mother was one of the producers) and he told me a story about how Ellison would show up at cons and chase people away from Neil’s signings so that Neil would have time to buy Ellison lunch.

    Grumpy writers rock.

  23. I tried a couple of the links and came up with the SFBC’s top 50 most significant SF/Fantasy books.

    http://www.sfbc.com/doc/content/sitelets/FSE_Sitelet_Theme_2.jhtml;jsessionid=E1VV2JEUNCHI2CWKAQOCFEY?SID=nmsfctop50&_requestid=1175

    I am a bit chagrined that there are 18 that I don’t think I have read (I might have read Dangerous Visions and Rend. with Rama… but I can’t remember.) I have issues with Anne Rice on the list and have always thought that the Foundation trilogy was overrated and don’t quite grok the high ranking for Stranger in a Strange Land (even though I read it in my formative years a half dozen times). “Sword of Shahara” series was rather average. I have to think if I can come up with any omissions.

  24. …. but I was thrilled that the “Wizard of Earthsea” was so highly ranked. I just reread the trilogy after following a thread related to the whole “power of the name” theme in the last few episodes of Angel. The bokks stand up EXTREMELY WELL. Outstanding. For slim books they are packed with interesting concepts.

  25. Read the Christopher Priest thing.

    In my opinion, if it’s such a big deal, the writers can just talk to Ellison themselves and get their stories back if they want. It’s their call, not ours. There’s no need for us to get involved.

    And if the book(s) end up coming out posthumously, at least it sets the stage for one Hëll of a tribute.

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