Alone Against Tomorrow: Stories of Alienation in Speculative Fiction

by Harlan Ellison

Book Overview

Collection of stories from this winner of more awards for imaginative literature than any other living author - including multiple Hugos, Nebulas and Edgars. CONTENTS: Introduction: The Song of the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: B00005VCKY
• Release Date: March 1971
• Publisher: Macmillan
• Length: 312 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Generally good, sometimes classic

Harlan Ellison isn't a writer who is always 100% to my taste, as he's sometimes a little too mopey and apocalyptic in a whiny way. (I still like the stories that lean this way too much, just not as well as the others.) Still, he can write and when he's on he can be really amazing. This collection is arguably a bit monontonous thematically, as it is subtitled something like 'Tales of Alienation in Speculative Fiction', and alienation is indeed almost inevitably the central theme. Honestly, thinking back on this collection I can't quite recall the details for most of the stories, but I did enjoy them all, and it certainly deserves particular recommendation due to it's two real standout stories, 'I Have No Mouth, And I Must Scream' and 'Repent, Harlequin!', Said the Ticktockman.' The former is the archetypal, evil, omnipotent computer story, and it's definitely one of my favorite short stories of all time. It's about AM, a massive, intelligent computer which helped bring about the apocalypse, saving only 6 individuals, for the purpose of torturing them endlessly. It's simply one of the darkest stories ever, creating an atmosphere of sheer hopelessness far beyond anything else I can think of. Truly brilliant. 'Repent...' is almost as good, but a lighter, more satirical tale about a future society where such an emphasis is put on efficiency that one has their life deducted every time they're late, focusing on the conflict between the Harlequin, who wishes to disrupt the system, and the Master Time Keeper. (The Ticktockman, natch.) That sounds pretty stupid, I'm sure, but it works in the story. A very influential story too, I remember Moore or maybe whathisname crediting it as a major inspiration for 'V For Vendetta', and you can totally see that. Again, those are the standouts, but it's all worth a read. I also particularly like 'Nothing For My Noon Meal', 'The Discarded', 'Blind Lightning' and 'The Silver Corridor'. (which has a really great ending.) Yeah, check it out.

Ten Years In the Making...

This was, originally, a ten-year retrospective into HE's work, and contains many of his classics. "Repent, Harlequin, Said the Ticktockman!", "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream", "Lonelyache" and others combine to bring forth a comment on loneliness and isolation; that whether it is caused by the individual, or by forces beyond their control, it can have horrible, and damning consequences.