James Nicoll Reviews

Again, Dangerous Visions is the second installment in Harlan Ellison’s Dangerous Visions original speculative fiction series.

Again, Dangerous Vision’s remit was to reprise Dangerous Visions’ remit: present readers with stories that could not be published in the staid magazines and anthologies of the era. ADV would do this on a vaster scale than Dangerous Visions.

Having not read Again, Dangerous Visions since 1979 or 1980¹, I had only the vaguest of memories of this work. The reread was a journey of rediscovery.

I am too lazy to type out titles over and over, so:

DV: Dangerous Visions, the first volume in the series

ADV: Again, Dangerous Visions, the second volume in the series

TLDV: The Last Dangerous Visions, the third, long-promised conclusion that Ellison failed to deliver

HE: Harlan Ellison

What I learned rereading ADV was that the abject failure of Last Dangerous Visions was baked in far earlier than I remembered. To quote:

The Last Dangerous Visions will be published, God willing, approximately six months after this book. It was never really intended as a third volume. What happened was that when A,DV hit half a million words and seemed not to be within containment, Ashmead and I decided rather than making A,DV a boxed set of two books that would cost a small fortune, we’d split the already-purchased wordage down the middle and bring out a final volume six months after this one. 

In retrospect, certain features — clusters of stories by a given author presented under a group title — hint at an editor overwhelmed by FOMO. Each author is provided a single slot in a single volume but if the editor cannot make up their mind which of the offered pieces is best, then some coping mechanism must be embraced. Or perhaps there’s some cunning statement being made here that I cannot see.

Even setting aside material for TLDV, ADV was a behemoth. ADV was 760 pages to DV​’s sylphlike 520 pages. In what turned out to be a harbinger for TLDV, ADV was years late, to the distress of at least one author, Richard Lupoff.

The other surprise was rediscovering that Ellison’s barefaced effrontery towards poor Lupoff wasn’t something he came up with for the introduction for Lupoff’s Space War Blues (see review for details). HE was presenting his defense for spiking an early sale of Lupoff’s novel to Dell as far back as ADV itself. Well, points for consistency.

How might a reader in 1972, unaware of what was to come, have reacted to ADV? As mentioned, the anthology is a tome compared to DV. ADV was massive compared to contemporary anthologies. There was a price to pay for that: $13 for the Doubleday hardcover, $4.50 for the SFBC edition², and $4 for the Signet two-volume mass market paperback. According to an online inflation calculator, that would be about $105, $34, and $30 in 2024 USD. Those prices seem astonishing but that’s what I got when I dropped the figures into the inflation calculator.

Readers who enjoyed Ellison’s bombastic, slang-filled, self-aggrandizing verbiage would have found their money well spent. A considerable fraction of the volume is taken up with Ellison’s discussions of the stories, their authors, and other matters. If you’re reading this now and don’t care for that stuff, you can always flip past. Lord knows I was tempted to.

In addition to Ellison’s commentary, the stories are also accompanied by commentary from the authors themselves. That was a pleasant surprise about which I had totally forgotten. 

As with DV, ADV casts a wide net. Newbies do appear but veterans are well-represented. Ross Rocklynne, for example, debuted in the mid-1930s, which makes him as contemporary to the readers of ADV as an author who debuted in 1988 would be to modern readers. Of course, HE also sought out a new authors to spotlight: nobody (aside from HE himself) who appeared in DV appeared in ADV. Given how small the field was half a century ago, finding seventy-four (over one hundred twenty counting the fifty promised for TLDV) different authors interesting in writing for the Dangerous Visions series would have been no small task.

While the anthology is overwhelmingly white and male, well, it was 1972. As hard as it might be for modern Americans to believe, 1972 was an era of egregiously unequal opportunities, and being white and male gave authors a huge head start, even for editors as loudly egalitarian as HE. 

[Added later, as it was pointed out I forgot to mention this period detail]: Ellison’s glowing accolade for James Tiptree, jr.

Wilhelm is the woman to beat, but Tiptree is the man.

Is nearly as quotable as Silverberg’s ​“ineluctably masculine.”

The stories themselves fall into two broad classes: dross and classics. The first is composed of minor pieces that scratched some itch of Ellison’s but not mine; there is also absolute junk like Piers Anthony’s ​“In the Barn.” Someone less self-indulgent than HE could have cut a third of this book’s length without losing much. Maybe more.

The classics unsurprisingly include some famous stories, works like The Word for World is Forest and ​“When It Changed.” There are some less well-known pieces worth highlighting, such as ​“King of the Hill”, and The Funeral. A number, ​“Harry the Hare” being a prime example, are as timely if not more timely then they were half a century ago.

It might be tempting to dismiss the whole volume as late 1960s, early 1970s excess but actually, that’s not the case. I don’t regret rereading this. Well, I don’t regret rereading most of ADV. Other readers will have an option I didn’t have, of skipping past the dross.

While ADV was not as engaging as DV, and while it’s long enough that I had to be strategic about scheduling reading time, I don’t resent the time invested in the stories themselves. There’s a decent anthology here, buried in all the chaff. I wonder if I could sell the publisher on a Princess-Bride-style good parts version?

Again, Dangerous Visions is available here (Amazon US), here (Amazon Canada), here (Amazon UK), here (Apple Books), here (Barnes & Noble), here (Chapters-Indigo), and here (Words Worth Books).

Introduction: An Assault of New Dreamers • essay by Harlan Ellison

A rambling account of the genesis of this volume and of The Last Dangerous Visions sequel that would surely follow by the end of the year.

“The Counterpoint of View” • short story by John Heidenry

Metafictional textual analysis.

“Ching Witch!” • short story by Ross Rocklynne

The last survivor from Earth skedaddles to a planet of space rustics, whom he hopes to thoroughly bilk before the lightfront of Earth’s destruction arrives.

Wow, Rocklynne. The hep slang has Robert G. Haney​’s light touch. Still, good on Rocklynne for making it into ADV.

The Word for World Is Forest • [Hainish] • novel by Ursula K. Le Guin

Natives drive off Terran exploiters at great cost to themselves.

This would be one of the classics. Best to focus on the allegory—Forest is, like a lot of the stories in this volume, about Vietnam — and not the economics of shipping wood interstellar distances at near-light speeds.

“For Value Received” • short story by Andrew J. Offutt

A young woman owes her medical training to the unique American approach to funding medical care.

Well, also to her father refusing to pay an unexpected medical bill. Pretty sure I’ve read other stories about patients not being allowed to leave hospital until their bills were paid, and I am not sure all of them were fiction.

Mathoms from the Time Closet • short fiction by Gene Wolfe

This is the collective title for the three stories that follow; it is not actually a story itself.

“Robot’s Story” • short story by Gene Wolfe

The tale of a castaway who put his trust in the wrong person falls on the uninterested ears of druggie teens.

“Against the Lafayette Escadrille” • short story by Gene Wolfe

A vintage airplane fan has a vision of an even more vintage balloon.

“Loco Parentis” • short story by Gene Wolfe

Parental yearnings poorly pursued.

“Time Travel for Pedestrians” • short story by Ray Nelson

Drugs facilitate a memorable masturbation session.

“Christ, Old Student in a New School” • poem by Ray Bradbury

A recognition of past human flaws and a celebration of human potential.

“King of the Hill” • short story by Chad Oliver

The richest man on a dying Earth spends his fortune ensuring his legacy. Not that any human will appreciate his accomplishment.

He might have accomplished more with a purely terrestrial approach, but then readers might not have seen the story as SF.

“The 10:00 Report Is Brought to You by …” • short story by Edward Bryant

Just how far will the news media go in search of ratings?

This aged very well.

The Funeral • novelette by Kate Wilhelm

Coming of age in a regimented, dystopian society.

Now, why did I think this appeared in an Orbit?

“Harry the Hare” • short story by James B. Hemesath

The power of the media giants is supreme! All worship that which we will prudently not call ​“the Mouse.”

“When It Changed” • [Whileaway] • short story by Joanna Russ

A perfectly functional society of women is threatened by the reappearance of men.

“The Big Space Fuck” • short story by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

Humanity launches a space penis to impregnate the universe.

There are a lot of stories about sex in this volume, that being as popular as death, and a lot of the sex is overt and not allegorical. But this is the story whose sex is most overt.

“Bounty” • short story by T. L. Sherred

American manages soaring violence as only America can.

This too aged very well.

“Still-Life” • short story by Barry N. Malzberg [as by K. M. O’Donnell]

An astronaut trapped in a miserable marriage ventures into space.

“Stoned Counsel” • short story by H. H. Hollis

The legal system is transformed thanks to the use of mind-altering drugs.

Monitored Dreams and Strategic Cremations • short fiction by Bernard Wolfe

As with Mathoms, this is a collective title for both of Wolfe’s pieces

“The Bisquit Position” • short story by Bernard Wolfe

Napalming Asians doesn’t bother voters, but don’t get caught accidentally incinerating pet dogs.

Not really science fiction.

The Girl With Rapid Eye Movements • novelette by Bernard Wolfe

A teacher and his disaffected student relate to each other in an unusual way.

Wolfe’s afterword makes it clear he did not care for the military industrial complex, capitalism, or anyone who served them, including SF writers.

“With a Finger in My I” • short story by David Gerrold

What begins as apparent word games leads to catastrophe as the ability of humans to reshape reality fails to take into account homonyms.

I have the Gerrold collection for which this is the title story. I should give it a reread.

In the Barn • novelette by Piers Anthony

A dimensional traveler discovers just where humans on a world with no other animals are getting their dairy products.

Yup, that Piers Anthony story. Seems to be a condemnation of farming practices, wrapped in a story designed to appeal to a very specific fetish.

“Soundless Evening” • short story by Lee Hoffman

The world only has so much room for adult humans but children can be had in abundance… at a cost.

If anyone is putting together the Gomphothere Book of Really Stupid Solutions to the Population Bomb, this would be a fine addition.

“ * “• short story by Gahan Wilson

Against the blot, humanity contends in vain.

“The Test-Tube Creature, Afterward” • short story by Joan Bernott

A man enjoys a very close relationship with his cat.

“And the Sea Like Mirrors” • short story by Gregory Benford

A man and a rather stupid woman who won’t be seeing the credits contend against a primarily oceanic alien invasion.

I believe this was incorporated into a later novel. I’d forgotten that Benford was in ADV.

“Bed Sheets Are White” • short story by Evelyn Lief

America takes whitewashing to a new, even more dystopian, level.

Tissue • short fiction by James Sallis

The collective title for two Sallis pieces.

“At the Fitting Shop” • short story by James Sallis

A customer navigates a confusing department store in quest of a very personal accessory.

“53^rd American Dream” • short story by James Sallis

Parents do their best to raise their children properly, despite trying circumstances.

“Elouise and the Doctors of the Planet Pergamon” • short story by Josephine Saxton

A brave woman takes on the medical-industrial complex.

“Chuck Berry, Won’t You Please Come Home?” • short story by Ken McCullough

The tragic life and death of a tick.

“Epiphany for Aliens” • short story by David Kerr

A hidden redoubt of Neanderthals has the misfortune to be discovered by humans.

“Eye of the Beholder” • short story by Burt K. Filer

Mundanes plot to steal antigravity from an inspired artist.

“Moth Race” • short story by Richard Hill

Humans in an overcrowded, heavily medicated world are consoled by lethal spectacle.

In re Glover • short story by Leonard Tushnet

Are cryogenically preserved people live or dead? Their heirs very much want to know.

We do not get an answer to that question because circumstances intervene, but probably it’s ​“whichever side has more money.”

Zero Gee • [Kinsman] • novelette by Ben Bova

Cosmic horndog Chet Kinsman relentlessly pursues the opportunity to found the hundred-mile-high club… but can success be as much fun as the chase?

At least this time Kinsman didn’t kill the woman he encountered in orbit.

Bova had a number of Kinsman stories that culminated in the novel Millennium. The timeline is inspirationally inconsistent. One early installment is set in 2020 but Millennium was set in 1999.

“A Mouse in the Walls of the Global Village” • short story by Dean R. Koontz

Science gave almost every human telepathy. The fate of the exceptions is lamentable.

Getting Along • novelette by James Blish and J. A. Lawrence [as by James Blish and Judith Ann Lawrence]

A series of parodies of well-known fantastic works.

“Totenbüch” • short story by Parra y Figuéredo [as by A. Parra y Figueredo]

License breeds atrocity.

“Things Lost” • short story by Thomas M. Disch

Transformed by plague, immortals set out for the stars.

With the Bentfin Boomer Boys on Little Old New Alabama • [Space War Blues] • novella by Richard A. Lupoff

Cheap interstellar travel and an abundance of habitable worlds facilitate the recreation, on a vaster scale, of past errors.

The prose in this is daring and pretty much impenetrable, like listening to Starship Troopers as narrated by King of the Hill’s Boomhauer.

This is the seed of Space War Blues, whose publication was delayed because Ellison did not want to release the novella from Again, Dangerous Visions, even though ADV was late.

“Lamia Mutable” • [Viriconium] • short story by M. John Harrison

The tree of violent debauchery yields disappointing fruit.

“Last Train to Kankakee” • short story by Robin Scott Wilson [as by Robin Scott]

Cryogenic preservation of a cad has unexpected, quite unpleasant consequences.

Ellison praises Clarion co-founder Wilson’s editorial skills, so I should probably track down some of Wilson’s anthologies.

“Empire of the Sun” • short story by Andrew Weiner

A war with vague victory conditions against an enemy who cannot be defeated (because they do not exist) is the very thing to deliver much needed structure to human society.

“Ozymandias” • short story by Terry Carr

The last intellectual leads violent barbarians towards what the barbarians hope is a treasure trove… which it is, but not in the sense the brutes expect.

“The Milk of Paradise: • short story by James Tiptree, Jr.

A man yearns to return to the alien paradise where he was raised.

Ed Emshwiller • essay by Anonymous

A short bio for ADV artist Emshwiller.

I am not sure this retained in later editions.

1: I think I must have first read this when I was sixteen or seventeen What I can’t remember is where I got my copy. I didn’t read it in paperback, because I avoided split anthologies. I was too cheap to buy a hardcover, so it must have been a library book. But I have no memory of handling such a ponderous book. Baffling.

2: About the SFBC (rest in venture capital peace) edition, Ellison asserts:

As an aside, I also made sure no book club or paperback editions of Again, Dangerous Visions could be sold without my agreement, thereby assuring that the writers who contributed to this volume would have a good long trade edition run for their royalties before those deadbeats among you who wait for cheaper editions could obtain marked-down incarnations. The point of this aside is to assure those of you reading this book over the shoulders of your friends, that you won’t be obtaining a cheapo version for some time, so you’d better rush out right now and buy this edition at full-price. Or rip it off from the bookstore. Either way it counts for full royalties.

How many years did the SFBC faithful have to wait for the SFBC edition? Five years? A decade? A century? If ISFDB is correct, slightly under six months.