I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream

I grabbed this one off the shelf because I was on my way to Comic Con and I wanted a lightweight paperback to read in and out of various queues. I first read it at least 10 years ago, and I've been a Harlan Ellison fan ever since. The way he weaves a story in a very limited number of pages is mystifying, and it's easy to see why he remains a king of SFF short stories.

The only story that really stuck with me through the years is the title one. I remember being absolutely terrified the first time, and the added years of personal experience coupled with acceleration in the field of artificial intelligence make this story relevant even long after the Cold War that inspired it. While I have mixed feelings on the way women are treated in this story and others (misogynist characters to don't make a misogynist writer, but they are deeply troubling), I think their core stands the test of time.

A common theme in this collection is death and what happens after. From the deathless prisoners in the title story, to the afterlife challenge of “Delusions of a Dragon Slayer” to the tragic tale of Maggie Moneyeyes and the men who follow her, each story shows Ellison approaching the idea of death from a different angle, no two interpretations alike. It's a remarkable degree of variation on one of the oldest themes in literature.

I've been away from Ellison for a while, but rereading this collection makes me want to dig out a few more. Summer means lots of quick trips where a good short story is the brain's best friend.