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It's a great way to ridiscover the power of words in science fiction.
It's made of short stories that, despite the passing of the years, are not at all dated and keep their strength and value.
A great book.
The true key to this compilation is the editing work of Harlan Ellison, whose sarcastic and caustic personality shines through almost every page, even though he only wrote one of the stories himself. (That isn't self-glamorization, because his submission is an endorsed sequel to Bloch's story.) Ellison's introductions to each story combine the best in praising and roasting, and he certainly located many fascinating writers. Here we can see up-and-comers who later went on to greater things, along with intriguing unknowns who encourage where-are-they-now speculation. Another groundbreaking aspect of this collection is Ellison's use of afterwords by each author to comment on their own stories. This is usually successful except for a few cases of self-aggrandizement by the writers, and at least one attempt to explain a sub-par story (J.G. Ballard). Aside from a few minor clunkers, there is just one story that may have once been dangerous but is now a flop. That's the 70-plus-page novella from Philip Jose Farmer, which has aged wretchedly with an overload of creaky 60's politics and an unreadably faddish writing style. That's about the only story here that's not still capable of opening new horizons all these decades later.
I was lucky enough to this up for a measly $.75 at a local used bookstore. Believe me, it was money well spent.
There are a few duds in this collection (doesn't every anthology have some?), but they are by far outweighed by the gems. Some examples of the latter: the outrageous Joycean wit of Philip Jose Farmer's "Riders Of The Purple Wage", the dream-like beauty of Carol Emshwiller's "Sex And/Or Mr. Morrison", John Sladek's shockingly prophetic "The Happy Breed", and Kris Neville's Salingeresque humor in "From The Government Printing Office".
If you like science fiction, or just enjoy well-crafted stories, by all means - seek this out.
At the time these stories were written they were considered _dangerous_. They remained dangerous for a long time and when I read them in these days I can see why. Innovating and shocking they still are, well some of them. A great read and necessary reading for SF lovers.
This book has also useful for-and afterwords.
Lately, many o.o.p. books are instilled with new life, but I don't think this will be available long. It can't hurt to have a bit of a history of SF on your shelves. However, it remains a period book. Some dated stories, but always interesting.
No SF library is complete without it.
One other reviewer mentioned some favorites. The Bloch story is tremendously fun to read. As is the PKD story.
Good reading here.
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