An Edge In His Voice

Harlan Ellison; An Edge In My Voice (E-Reads Ltd.; 2008; cover by Leo and Diane Dillon).

I wasn't expecting much out of this collection of Ellison's essays that originally appeared in the late Future Life magazine (sister, more serious sister when it started out, to Starlog) before moving into other venues. After all, I figured that they probably had aged and I would be scratching my head over various references, trying to dredge up memories of what was going on in the science fiction world then.

Wrong, so wrong. In addition to Ellison's usual attempts to beat back at stupidity, there are excellent references to his failed attempt to bring I, Robot to the screen (but hope still springs that maybe when they decide to remake what we saw the alleged it was based on the works of Isaac Asimov, maybe they will dust off Ellison's excellent screen treatment and get it right, for once!), there is one essay (so far) that makes the whole collection worth it: that would be Ellison's wonderful report on the close encounter with the Voyager probes with Saturn (oddly enough, this generated a science fiction novel...do you know which one?). As Ellison keeps saying in his essay, "I sigh deeply. Ain't we a wonderful species."

(Besides, in another essay he mentions Root Boy Slim and the Sex Change Band...man, there's a name I haven't heard in a long time!)

Followup: Probably the most moving piece in here is when Harlan is back in NYC in the winter and sees a homeless person. Been there, done that, got my humanity back.

Made up of: Foreword (Tom Snyder); Introduction: Ominous Remarks for Late in the Evening; Installment 1: 25 March 80; Installment 2: 5 May 80; Installment 3: 9 June 80; Installment 4: 20 July 80; Installment 5: 8 September 80; Installment 6: 13 November 80; Installment 7: 1 January 81; Installment 8: 27 February 81; Installment 9: 25 April 81; Installment 10: 5 June 81; Installment 11: 18 June 81; Installment 12: 2 July 81; Installment 13: 2 July 81; Installment 14: 25 July 82; Installment 15: 1 February 82; Installment 16: 5 February 82; Installment 17: 16 February 82; Installment 18: 21 February 82; Installment 19: 1 March 82; Installment 20: 4 March 82; Installment 21: 10 March 82; Installment 22: 19 March 82; Installment 23: 29 March 82; Installment 24: 1 April 82; Installment 25: 19 April 82; Installment 26: 26 April 82; Installment 27: 1 May 82; Installment 28: 7 May 82; Installment 29: 25 May 82; Installment 30: 7 June 82; Installment 31: 21 June 82; Installment 32: 24 June 82; Installment 33: 2 July 82; Installment 34: 12 July 82;
Installment 35: 19 July 82; Installment 36: 23 July 82; Installment 37: 2 August 82; Installment 38: 8 August 82; Installment 39: 16 August 82; Installment 40: 20 August 82; Installment 41: 30 August 82; Installment 42: 2 September 82; Installment 43: September 82 (no date listed); Installment 44: 20 September 82; Installment 45: 24 September 82; Installment 46: 1 October 82; Installment 47: 18 October 82; Installment 48: 25 October 82; Installment 49: November 82 (no date listed); Installment 50: 7 November 82; Installment 51: 15 November 82; Installment 52: 16 November 82; Installment 53: 29 November 82; Installment 54: 6 December 82; Installment 55: 19 December 82; Installment 56: 22 December 82; Installment 57: 3 Janary 83; Installment 58: 10 January 83; Installment 59: 25 January 83; Installment 60: 23 June 82; Installment 60: 21 August 84 (yes there was more than one Installment 60).

Counts as 63 entries in the 2009 Year in Shorts.

FTC Disclaimer: Yes, I bought the book. So there.