The Collected Ellison: The Harlan Ellison Hornbook and Harlan Ellison's Movie

My father had been a fan of Ellison's ever since I can remember and so I've always had his writing around. Alas, many of his books are out-of-print. I must have taken Harlan Ellison's Hornbook out of the library countless times, re-reading it cover to cover again and again. It's that good.Most people, if they know of Ellison's work, know mostly of his short stories but this book collects essays he wrote in the 1970s about whatever struck his fancy... a great restaurant, some publisher who ripped him off once, the death of his beloved dog, a woman who double-crossed him, lamenting Lenny Bruce's death... Ellison writes with such authority and with such style--pithy yet degenerate is the best description I can think of. This book hums with intensity as the last greatest angry young man lets loose on all kinds of topics (to read his rant on why he hates Christmas is incredibly funny, even if you don't agree with his sentiments). This is one helluva read.Even though I've read this book countless times, I keep coming back to it because Ellison's style of writing is endlessly entertaining and thought-provoking. It really gets under you skin and stays there.Do yourself a favor and track down this book. It is definitely worth it.

Harlan Ellison has made quite a reputation for himself as an "angry man" of sorts, with his infamous attacks against amateurs in the numerous writing classes that he has taught, or his essays, which are collected herein. Some people claim that he has no emotions, and is unable to sympathize with so-called "normal" people because of this; but he is, in fact, the exact opposite, a man of such fierce emotion and opinion that he may come off as being caustic, or angry. Others claim that he has no "soft" side; if you believe this, read his essay, Ahbhu. These essays display his great intelligence, and tremendous "cultural warehouse of a mind," (The New York Times) and Ellison calls the shots as he sees them - by simply stating his opinion. In doing this, he has created a highly refreshing book, one that I highly recommend to anyone and everyone.

Anyone who has ever read Harlan Ellison knows he throws a lot of personnel information and views into his writing. This book is all that. In this collection of essays from the 70s, repackaged nicely, Ellison is angry, funny and sick at the same time. Reading these somewhat tall tales, I was taken back to the days of my childhood. Back to when one of my more crazy "uncles" used to tell me stories of his youth on hot summer days. Ellison is a better writer now than he was then, but the essays still hold up. They hold up even though references to Nixon and Lenny Bruce may leave some younger readers feeling a little unattached to the stories at times. I promise by the time you finish reading this one, you'll find it hard to forget some of the tales told by crazy Uncle Harlan.