Shatterday

After seeing videos of how angry, passionate, occasionally inconsistent, witty, and entertaining Harlan Ellison could be, I had to check him out. Shatterday seemed like a decent place to start and I was not disappointed for the most part. The only two stories that really didn't do it for me were "Would You Do It For a Penny?" and "All the Lies That Are My Life". The former just felt sleazy and misogynistic--now I have no problem with sexist or racial humor under one condition: It better be pretty damn funny. WYDIFAP was not, but it was cowritten with some other guy so I guess I can't place all the blame on Ellison. The way the protagonist was oh-so-slick and the girl was this independent but easily-seduced chick lacked verisimilitude; it felt like a stupid adolescent fantasy--which is probably why it was published in Playboy originally. The latter story just didn't do it for me. It seemed like Ellison was trying to depart from the magical-realism that worked so well in all of the other stories and write drama instead. It didn't do much for me and the dialogue was embarrassing. It's like he tried to insert his own wit into every conversation and it ended up feeling awkward and contrived. Besides those two stories, everything else was pretty much gold. I don't want to go into detail and spoil the stories for anyone but "Jeffty Is Five" had a great theme about nostalgia that anyone can relate to, "Shoppe Keeper" had a wonderful twist-ending and view on a familiar fantasy theme, "How's The Night Life on Cissalda?" was hilarious (what ISN'T funny about alien-human sexual relations?) and Shatterday felt like a fun, updated version of Conrad's Jungian themes from "The Secret Sharer." The opening introduction was fantastic, honest and just as good as his best stories. The introductions to each story were hit and miss though. At times I felt like he was being too open about the inspiration for the stories and how they were inspired from personal memories. This openness sometimes made the stories feel like wish-fulfillment and made me view the characters as clumsy, self-inserted versions of the author. In the end, this was an entertaining collection and it showcases Ellison's imagination wonderfully. The man's mind is an amalgamation of a passionate child like Calvin from Bill Watterson's comic and an insightful writer whose eloquence oozes off the page. If you enjoy dark humor, grim honesty, and The Twilight Zone, this anthology is for you.

harlan ellison at his best, if you like twilight zone, you'll love shatterday and ellison's other short stories.

This is the perfect book to read during the weekend. Help yourself to a healthy helping of Harlan, the short story master. Unlike some of his collections (Deathbird Stories, Angry Candy) which deal with certain themes, Shatterday has a nice variety. What's really nice is that each of these stories is prefaced by an introduction, which is both entertaining and informative. Now for my personal favorites: FLOP SWEAT: an impromptu short-story that Harlan wrote in 6 hours appears unedited here. It deals with a radio talk show host and an evil guest. COUNT THE CLOCK THAT TELLS THE TIME: A very moving piece of fiction that shows us the value of LIVING our lives instead of just wasting our time. I believe this one won an award, and rightly so. There were several other stories that I found enjoyable in this book, but the two mentioned above are the ones I like best. These stories certainly make this book worth reading.

Shatterday is Harlan's tribute to the sometimes symbiotic (but usually parasitic) relationship between an author and his stories. He uses the book to lay out the philosophy of writing he's been hinting at and refining after almost half-a-century as one of America's finest writers.Ellison contends that the two are locked in something of a struggle for dominance, and if the writer can make the story work before the story totally crushes him under its own weight, that means he's succeeded. He also makes some very good points, such as anything more than twelve minutes of personal pain is just wanton self-pity. In the end, it's a guide for thinking, a new viewpoint or perspective; a bit disturbing, a bit dark, a bit pessimistic...but then, we certainly wouldn't have Harlan any other way.

Different from Philip K Dick, but Ellison was in similar territory in a way here. You can't read these stories without being affected by them. Even the less grinding stories like Arlo - The Great White Hunter have an edge to them.