Fifteen masterpieces of speculative short fiction, including Hugo and Nebula Award–winning stories from the acclaimed author of Shatterday. “These are not stories that should be forgotten; and some of you are about to read them for the first time . . . I envy you.” —Neil Gaiman, #1 New York Times–bestselling author of American Gods, from his Foreword In a post-apocalyptic future, fifteen-year-old Vic wanders the wasteland with Blood, his genetically-altered telepathic dog, in a struggle for survival against violent marauders, deadly radioactive insects, and an underground community desperate to restore the human race in the Hugo Award–nominated and Nebula Award–winning novella, “A Boy and His Dog,”—the basis of the cult classic film. An intergalactic conspiracy infects the minds of the most powerful politicians in the Republican Party—and only one jolly old elf can save them in “Santa Claus vs. S.P.I.D.E.R.” And in the Hugo Award–winning title story, disparate threads of violence, conflict, and conversation weave an intricate tapestry across worlds and times in an experimental tour-de-force of the imagination. This groundbreaking collection brings together some of Harlan Ellison’s most innovative and intriguing stories, frightening and funny visions of human nature that can only come from the peerless Grand Master of Science Fiction. “One of the great living American short story writers.” —The Washington Post Includes: “The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World,” “Along the Scenic Route,” “Phoenix,” “Asleep: With Still Hands,” “Santa Claus vs. S.P.I.D.E.R.,” “Try a Dull Knife,” “The Pitll Pawob Division,” “The Place With No Name,” “White on White,” “Run For the Stars,” “Are You Listening?,” “S.R.O.,” “Worlds to Kill,” “Shattered Like a Glass Goblin,” “A Boy and His Dog”

An intergalactic conspiracy infects the minds of the most powerful politicians in the Republican Party—and only one jolly old elf can save them in “Santa Claus vs. S.P.I.D.E.R.”

Winner of the Hugo and Nebula Awards: A science fiction classic about an antiestablishment rebel set on overthrowing the totalitarian society of the future. One of science fiction’s most antiestablishment authors rails against the accepted order while questioning blind obedience to the state in this unique pairing of short story and essay. “‘Repent, Harlequin!’ Said the Ticktockman” is set in a dystopian future society in which time is regulated by a heavy bureaucratic hand known as the Ticktockman. The rebellious Everett C. Marm flouts convention, masquerading as the anarchic Harlequin, disrupting the precise schedule with bullhorns and jellybeans in a world where being late is nothing short of a crime. But when his love, Pretty Alice, betrays Everett out of a desire to return to the punctuality to which she is programmed, he is forced to face the Ticktockman and his gauntlet of consequences. The bonus essay included in this volume, “Stealing Tomorrow,” is a hard-to-find Harlan Ellison masterwork, an exploration of the rebellious nature of the writer’s soul. Waxing poetic on humankind’s intellectual capabilities versus its emotional shortcomings, the author depicts an inner self that guides his words against the established bureaucracies, assuring us that the intent of his soul is to “come lumbering into town on a pink-and-yellow elephant, fast as Pegasus, and throw down on the established order.” Winner of the Prometheus Hall of Fame Award, “‘Repent, Harlequin!’ Said the Ticktockman” has become one of the most reprinted short stories in the English language. Fans of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World will delight in this antiestablishment vision of a Big Brother society and the rebel determined to take it down. The perfect complement, “Stealing Tomorrow” is a hidden gem that reinforces Ellison’s belief in humankind’s inner nobility and the necessity to buck totalitarian forces that hamper our steady evolution.

Love has ten thousand names and a million different faces. History will surely agree that America's most destructive contribution to 20th century living has been that damaged product called plastic romance. It twists and savages us. After a lifetime of lies about what love is supposed to be, are you finally angry and depressed enough to be part of a 'recall' on that shabby, mildewed merchandise? If so, join the remarkable Harlan Ellison as he dissects the soul and body of love in Our Time. In 16 scalpel-sharp stories that range from the legalized whorehouses of Nevada to the steaming lynch towns of Georgia, from the abortion mills of Tijuana to the sound stages of Hollywood, the writer whom Oui magazine charmingly named 'the perpetually angry young punk of the bizarre' rips the Saran-Wrap off love and hate and sin and twittering passion-to disclose the raw meat beneath. Here are sixteen poisoned arrows from fantasy's most improbable Cupid in which he presents a world of hearts & flowers guaranteed to revise your thinking about where love is found and how it looks.