In the mid-1960s enfant terrible Harlan Ellison invited – no, dared – cutting-edge science fiction writers to contribute to an anthology he was assembling. In 1967 Dangerous Visions was published; it was like introducing horse-and-buggy riders to a vehicle powered by a ramjet. Aside from its electrifying contents, written by a host of authors well on their way to immortality, the format of the book shattered rules, precedents and icons. For one thing, each contribution was introduced by Ellison and the authors furnished afterwords to their own stories.

The book and individual stories rolled up awards in a way that has not been remotely duplicated since: Philip K. Dick’s story was nominated for a Hugo, but was beaten out by one by Fritz Leiber. The same Leiber story, Gonna Roll Them Bones, also won the Nebula that year. Philip José Farmer shared Leiber’s Hugo in Best Novella category. Samuel R. Delany copped a Nebula for Best Short Story. Ellison himself was given a special citation at WorldCon. All in all, in this memorable collection of 33 original stories, seven are winners and 13 are nominees for Hugos and Nebulas.

Some other names in this stellar and (to this very day) controversial collection are: Lester Del Rey, Robert Silverberg, Frederik Pohl, Philip Jose Farmer, Miriam Allen deFord, Robert Bloch, Brian W. Aldiss, Larry Niven, Poul Anderson, Carol Emshwiller, Damon Knight, Theodore Sturgeon, R. A. Lafferty, J. G. Ballard, John Brunner, Norman Spinrad, Roger Zelazny and Samuel R. Delany.

Dangerous Visions, for the first time ever in e-book format (and soon to be in paperback), is the latest installment in E-Reads’ initiative to bring back more than thirty major works by Harlan Ellison. Watch this page for more announcements.

RC