Looking to read first Harlan Ellison book

"Default User" <first.last DeleteThis @boeing.com.invalid> wrote in message news:<I5LEnn.94G DeleteThis @news.boeing.com>...
 > Anthony Page wrote:
 >
  > > Hi, I am a big fan of the books of Robert Heinlein, I was thinking of
  > > starting to read some of Harlan Ellison's books. Can anyone make a
  > > recommendation for a good first book of his to start with? The books
  > > I like most from Heinlein is "Puppet Masters" "Methuselah's children"
  > > and "Citizen of the Galaxy". The thing that got me intersted in
  > > Ellison was I heard he wrote a favorite episode of the Outer Limits
  > > called "Demon with the Glass Hand".
 >
 > You may want to inquire on rec.arts.sf.written. If you do, be advised
 > that it's a very high-traffic group with a pretty fair percentage of
 > off-topic posting. It will give you lots of opinions though.
 >
 > That being said, the thing to know about Ellison is that he mainly
 > wrote shorter pieces. What you'd probably want is a good collection of
 > of his short stories and novellettes.
 >
 > I'd try to find _The Essential Ellison_, which is a compendium of his
 > earlier works and has such classics as "I Have No Mouth, and I Must
 > Scream", "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman", "A Boy and His
 > Dog", and many others.


_Essential_ is pretty huge. Could be discouraging for a newbie,
just on the basis of size.

If you want a basic introduction, _Shatterday_, _Strange Wine_,
or _Stalking the Nightmare_ are decent exposures to his stories,
and fairly easy to find.

_Deathbird Stories_ is a superb collection, maybe his best, but it's
pretty intense and short on humor, which the others have a little more
of.

I find his essays a little more consistent, though not usually as
great as his very best stories. _Sleepless Nights in the Procrustean
Bed_ is the best intro to those, but may be a little hard to find.
_The Glass Teat_ and _The Other Glass Teat_ are classic TV criticism
from 1969-71, _Harlan Ellison's Watching_ is a more recent compendium
of his film reviews.

For something completely different (at least for Ellison), try
_Spider Kiss_, his excellent novel about a 50s rockabilly star
and his rise and fall. (May remind you of Elvis, but Ellison says
he based it more on Jerry Lee Lewis.)

If you just want more information, the Islets of Langerhans web site
describes the depth and breadth of Ellison's work:

<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.islets.net/index.html" target="_blank">http://www.islets.net/index.html</a>

while Ellison Webderland is devoted more to the phenomenon of the
man himself:

<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://harlanellison.com/home.htm" target="_blank">http://harlanellison.com/home.htm</a>




David Loftus<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
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