“It crouches near the center of creation. There is no night where it waits. Only the riddle of which terrible dream will set it loose. It beheaded mercy to take possession of that place. It feasts on darkness from the minds of men. No one has ever seen its eyeless face. When it sleeps we know a few moments of peace. But when it breathes again we go down in fire and mate with jackals. It knows our fear. It has our number. It waited for our coming and it will abide long after we have become congealed smoke. It has never heard music, and shows its fangs when we panic. It is the beast of our savage past, hungering today, and waiting patiently for the mortal meal of all our golden tomorrows. It lies waiting.”

This is the “Beast” of the title story of Harlan Ellison’s mind-bending collection of stories. The Beast is a hideous thing that has drawn the madness out of a race of alien beings and infected humanity with it.

Though each story in The Beast that Shouted Love At The Heart Of The World burnishes Ellison’s reputation in yet another coruscating way way, the gem is “A Boy and His Dog”. Ellison continued the story in the graphic novel Vic and Blood . It was the basis of a movie adaptation in 1974, the post-apocalyptic science fiction film of the same name, directed by L. Q. Jones working in collaboration with Ellison.

For a special treat, read Neil Gaiman’s introduction.

RC