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Deathbird Stories by Harlan Ellison β€” book cover

Deathbird Stories

by Harlan Ellison
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Overview

Harlan Ellison's masterwork of myth and terror as he seduces all innocence on a mind-freezing odyssey into the darkest reaches of mortal terror and the most dazzling heights of Olympian hell in his finest collection.

Deathbird Stories is a collection of 19 of Harlan Ellison's best stories, including Edgar and Hugo winners, originally published between 1960 and 1974. The collection contains some of Ellison's best stories from earlier collections and is judged by some to be his most consistently high quality collection of short fiction. The theme of the collection can be loosely defined as God, or Gods. Sometimes they're dead or dying, some of them are as brand-new as today's technology. Unlike some of Ellison's collections, the introductory notes to each story can be as short as a phrase and rarely run more than a sentence or two. One story took a Locus Poll Award, the two final ones both garnered Hugo Awards and Locus Poll awards, and the final one also received a Jupiter Award from the Instructors of Science Fiction in Higher Education (discontinued in 1979). When the collection was published in Britain, it won the 1979 British Science Fiction Award for Short Fiction.

His stories will rivet you to the floor and change your heartbeat...as unforgettable a chamber of horror, fantasy and reality as you'll ever experience.
-Gallery

"Brutally and flamboyantly shocking, frequently brilliant, and always irresistibly mesmerizing."
-Richmond Times-Dispatch

Synopsis

Harlan Ellison's masterwork of myth and terror as he seduces all innocence on a mind-freezing odyssey into the darkest reaches of mortal terror and the most dazzling heights of Olympian hell in his finest collection.

Deathbird Stories is a collection of 19 of Harlan Ellison's best stories, including Edgar and Hugo winners, originally published between 1960 and 1974. The collection contains some of Ellison's best stories from earlier collections and is judged by some to be his most consistently high quality collection of short fiction. The theme of the collection can be loosely defined as God, or Gods. Sometimes they're dead or dying, some of them are as brand-new as today's technology. Unlike some of Ellison's collections, the introductory notes to each story can be as short as a phrase and rarely run more than a sentence or two. One story took a Locus Poll Award, the two final ones both garnered Hugo Awards and Locus Poll awards, and the final one also received a Jupiter Award from the Instructors of Science Fiction in Higher Education (discontinued in 1979). When the collection was published in Britain, it won the 1979 British Science Fiction Award for Short Fiction.

His stories will rivet you to the floor and change your heartbeat...as unforgettable a chamber of horror, fantasy and reality as you'll ever experience.
-Gallery

"Brutally and flamboyantly shocking, frequently brilliant, and always irresistibly mesmerizing."
-Richmond Times-Dispatch

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly

This expanded edition of Ellison's most reprinted collection includes three new myths of "the new gods, the new devils... the gods of the freeway, of the ghetto blacks, of the coaxial cable; the paingod and the rock god and the god of neon; the god of legal tender...." "From A to Z, in the Sarsaparilla Alphabet" is an encyclopedia of dead and buried gods. In "Scartaris, June 28th," an ancient god struggles with the corrupt modern world. In the 20 reprints, still thematically relevant 35 years after their original publication, we meet the god of "not my problem" ("The Whimper of Whipped Dogs"), gods worshipping their own creations ("The Face of Helene Bournouw"), and the god of hurt and suffering ("Paingod"). Strong, sometimes crude language and emotionally striking themes pervade these stories, and Ellison's unique and highly intellectual writing style require careful, slow, and thoughtful reading. (Dec.)

Book Details

Published
May 1, 2009
Publisher
ereads.com
Pages
346
Format
Paperback
ISBN
9781585867981

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