J. Michael Straczynski, executor of Harlan and Susan Ellison’s estate, including Harlan’s literary estate, announced Ellison’s Greatest Hits collection is available for preorder. JMS posted on X:
Hey check it! These days publishers tend to do a “soft launch” of their books to see who’s paying attention, and Union Square, owned by Barnes & Noble, just put up a page for Harlan Ellison’s Greatest Hits! Available now for pre-order! (Cover coming soon)
Greatest Hits by Harlan Ellison, which features Ellison’s best and most award-winning stories from across the many years of his career, will be released on March 12, 2024. The collection has an introduction by JMS and a foreword by Neil Gaiman.
Greatest Hits features these stories and many more:
- “‘Repent Harlequin!’ Said the Ticktockman” (1966) – Hugo Award winner
- “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream” (1999) – Bram Stoker Award winner
- “Mefisto in Onyx” (1993) – Bram Stoker Award winner
- “Jeffty Is Five” (1979) – British Fantasy Award winner
- “The Whimper of Whipped Dogs” (1974) – Edgar Allan Poe Award winner
About the job of picking which stories to include Straczynski says:
It was terribly hard. Some stories like ”’Repent, Harlequin’” and “I Have No Mouth…” are no-brainers…but beyond that it became a matter of finding the most recognized stories that also showed his amazing range… going from speculative fiction, to urban fantasy, to some things that were just two degrees away from mainstream…to show all the different shades of his work. I think we hit the right balance.
LAST AND OTHER DANGEROUS VISIONS. Straczynski also told Twitter followers that Last Dangerous Visions is “done, in final copyediting stage with the publisher, and will be out fall ’24.” And he had more to say on Facebook:
Since there’s a lot of interest in what’s happening with Dangerous Visions, and a lot I can’t say pending announcements, let me say what little I can say.
As I write this, the copyedited Last Dangerous Visions has been sent from the publisher for any final notes or edits on my part. This is the last stage before locking the galleys for review and publication. The file is sitting in my computer and I have until next week to turn it around so we can hit publication deadlines.
The publisher of the three Dangerous Visions books has coordinated the re-release of the first Dangerous Visions to the release of Harlan Ellison’s Greatest Hits by the other publisher involved. This will let them combine publicity and marketing strategies to get the most bang for their respective bucks and make that month (which will be announced soon I hope) basically Harlan Ellison Month. This will be all about putting Harlan’s work in front of critics, university bookstores, online and print press, and basically making a lot of noise.
Again, Dangerous Visions will then be released 3 months later, and The Last Dangerous Visions three months after that. The publisher and I are now working on designing a unified series of covers to span all three books.
We are hoping to have a launch party for Greatest Hits and the first DV republication at Harlan’s house, which will also be the launch of the place as a memorial library/museum. By then all the repairs, renovations and refits to make it safe for (very small) tour groups and academics will be completed, and we hope to have a lot of press in attendance as well as folks from the City of LA to help ensure that the house is designated a historical landmark for long term preservation.
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Nice.
No mention of Cat Man, my all-time favorite HE story. Le sigh.
Wait a minute. “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream” was published in 1967, not 1999. What gives?
Here, let me look it up for you. In 1999 Ellison’s audio rendition of the story won the Bram Stoker Award.
“‘Repent Harlequin!’ Said the Ticktockman” definitely has the wrong year, though.
Stuart Hall: Or you could read my comment above.
Thanks, I might not have been able to look it up myself. (To be quite precise, the 1999 audio rendition won the Bram Stoker a year later).
Similarly, Jeffty Is Five was published in 1977, but got the BFA only in 1979. (And The Whimper of Whipped Dogs is also a 1973 story with a 1974 award.)
But unlike these, Repent: Harlequin was not released in audio as early as 1996, let alone winning the Hugo in that form or year. I really can’t see where the date might have come from. (Could it be merely a typo for the 1966 Hugo?)
I suppose this “soft launch” means bugs will be caught later. Still, it would have helped to make it more clear the whole list was copypasted from the publisher’s website.
Jan Vanek jr.: Yes, I think the “‘Repent, Harlequin…'” one is a typo for the 1966 Hugo.
However, in the interest of precision, the Bram Stoker Award site calls these the “1999 Bram Stoker Awards (presented in 2000)”. Some organizations designate their awards according to the eligibility year, others (like the Hugos) by the presentation year.
Yes indeed, I do know (compare the recent mention of “the night of the 1998 Nebulas”). My quibble was not with the use of the date itself but your phrasing “In 1999 Ellison’s audio … won the Bram Stoker”. It was released in 1999 and then it won the 1999 Award, or won the Award for (best work of) 1999, but I don’t think it can be said the win happened before the 2000 presentation.
If “Repent Harlequin” won the 1966 Nebula, then I guess he wrote it in 1965.
I watched him write it in damon knight and Kate Wilhelm’s kitchen at The Anchorage, while the rest of us were partying very hearty on martinis with pickles, because we had run out of olives.
He informed us the next day that the story was going to win the Hugo, and he was right.
When I received a small inheritance I bought a typewriter just like his, complete with sans serif typeface; my very first electric, though I think maybe Harlan’s was not powered.
I keep hoping the picture I took of him writing it will turn up.