I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream Paperback – June 3, 2014

I am blown away. What an emotional, mind-bending, unique experience, weaved into every story. Ellison crafts each story, ranging from psychedelic fantasy to straight science fiction, as imperfect, unrepentant, and unrelenting. Threaded through each story is the theme of humanity looking at itself, and terrified at what they find. The characters are petty narcissists with few redeemable qualities, many of them bordering on insanity, but Ellison's addicting prose forces you to continue the stories to their conclusion, wherever that may lead.It's a short collection. Focused, it will take you no longer than a day or two, but I stretched it over a few days to savor the journey. A few of my personal favorites:I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream -- a post-apocalyptic horror story with a mad supercomputer playing a cruel, misanthropic god. A surreal, and horrifying journey from beginning to end.Big Sam Was My Friend -- a galactic circus of gifted 'teepers' (people with powers like teleporting or taming animals) is already a cool setting that I would want to read. But then came the heartache.Delusions For A Dragon Slayer -- The phrase "WTF" came into my head several times. Seriously. You'd think the title would prepare me for the climax -- a dragon does appear -- but at no point did I accurately guess what would happen next. I will not forget this story any time soon.It might be possible to be turned off by the collection -- there were times where I wondered if I would. As I said, these are stories populated thoroughly by a-holes, sexists, narcissists, and generally unappealing jerks. That being said, do not allow that to dissuade you from this unparalleled experience. The whole point of this collection isn't a celebration of these characteristics. Instead, Ellison is inviting you to look at them, as they struggle to look at themselves -- judge, condemn, or pity, that's up to you. Undeniably, though, Ellison purposefully leaves the line between the human characters and monsters treacherously thin.

I will confess that I had only heard of the lead story of this collection through word of mouth (pardon the bad pun) and that this was my first experience reading this author. I am glad I read on after reading “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream” because I felt like there were a few ones that were better in my opinion.I feel like when you step on into the arena of a Harlan Ellison reading experience, you are entering into a singularly, odd realm.I would say that there are many thoughts and adjectives to describe the feelings associated with reading the collection, and it is difficult to quantify in a few words.Suffice to say that all these stories have a level of harsh, bleak, cold introspection, yet strong symbolic power. There is a high level of brutality and violence, but often there is some sort of theme or moral. On a whole, these stories embody experimentalism, a surrealistic approach, existential, post-apocalyptic oddities in which we have two layers of storytelling and meaning: the fantasy realm and the surface level.Of the stories included, I think my favorites were “Big Sam was my Friend”, “Eyes of Dust.” And the final story, “Petty Maggie Moneyeyes.”According to the author’s note, “Big Sam was my Friend” is about there being a situation when it is necessary to take action for an individual in a given circumstance when it is the right thing to do and how, oftentimes, the individual does not act in this particular situation. I found this story to be rather bittersweet and sad, but I also found it to be quite profound.“Eyes of Dust” to me seem the closest thing to an episode of The Outer Limits or The Twilight Zone (I’m thinking of the episode “Eye of the Beholder”). The story involves a place known as Topaz that does not tolerate “ugliness” or “deformity” or “imperfections” or any kind. A couple raise a son known as Person and the son is isolated from society because of Topaz’ intolerance of imperfection. I thought there was a brilliant level of symbolic power, irony and moralistic depth to this story, the irony being how the concept of “beauty” is depicted as only being superficial and surface level. I rather liked these quotes because I think they epitomize the moral and theme of the tale:“But Person had eyes of dust, and the eyes of dust saw what could not be seen, and the soul within was the sweet soul of the visionary.”“And the clouds passed before two of the moons, looking so much like the eyes of dust it was clear Topaz had cursed itself with ugliness.”“Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes” depicts the Las Vegas lifestyle as immoral through the lead character, Kostner, who has an incredible string of “good luck” on one particular slot machine. This is no ordinary slot machine, though, as it has a bit of a short history and back story:“So now he stood before the machine. It spoke to him. Inside his skull, where no one had ever lived but himself, now someone else moved and spoke to him.”Of all the stories, this one has the strongest level of stream of consciousness writing style, and there is an exceptional way the author fuses fantasy and character perspective.Truth be told, the stories are very dark, and may leave the reader feeling a bit cold, but there is also quite a bit of introspection, moral, and social commentary contained through the layers of symbolism and fantasy that I thought very compelling. This collection is definitely different than anything I have ever read before.

I absolutely loved this book! Ellison’s incite to his process when writing each particular story helps to properly set the stage for the narrative. I found myself experiencing every emotion, from pure joy to a sorrowful emptiness, all due to his masterful hand. I urge any lover of science fiction (or just good storytelling in general) to immediately place an order for this perfect selection of stories.

A so so collection of stories that are at times so surreal that they are difficult to follow. The first tale is this volume’s lone standout.

I have a new addiction. Joining the ranks of Phillip Dick and Neil Gaiman on the list of 'things I will read compulsively' is this little set of short stories. I love short stories, and the human failings and explosive prose in this short work make it well worth the title of 'classic'. The writing is onomatopoeic and sharp and lovely.Oh, fine, I will mention that Ellison himself can be abrasive; the short essays before each short story make this VERY clear indeed. Some might also find that it ruins the immersion. I expect that the style will probably also bug some readers; I get the feeling this prose will be polarizing. It's certainly not an 'easy' read--emotionally or stylistically.Definitely one of the best books I've read so far this year--or ever. I can't wait to read more.