Dangerous visions – a controversial SF anthology

Steph P. Bianchini December 27, 2014 4 Comments

In 1967, Harlan Ellison put together a short-story anthology titled Dangerous Visions. Mildly put, this collection made history and “almost single-handedly [it] changed the way readers thought about science fiction.” What all the fuss was about?

First of all, the quality of stories, amazing under any standard.  It’s not surprising many of them were nominated for (and received) a few SF awards – including Hugo and Nebula. The list of authors is similarly impressive, a sort of Who’s Who of 1960s SF. Together with Ellison himself, there are Isaac Asimov, Philip José Farmer,  Robert Silverberg,  Frederik Pohl, Brian W. Aldiss,  Philip K. Dick,  Poul Anderson, Theodore Sturgeon,  Larry Niven, J. G. Ballard, Roger Zelazny and Samuel R. Delany. And this list is not even complete: I have just mentioned here some of my favourites.

Last but not the least, the anthology itself received the mention in the 26th Worldcon as the “the most significant and controversial SF book published in 1967.”  The experiment was so successful that it got a sequel – a new, larger, anthology in 1972 called Again, Dangerous Visions, published by Ellison as well.

I was not sure if anything so groundbreaking would retain its disruptive power, together with its beauty, after almost half a century, so I decided to give it a try during this Christmas holidays. I was not disappointed, even though I’ve appreciated some stories more than others.  But the variety in topics and voices is truly amazing, and some of them may sound controversial even now. For a taste of it, have a read at Robert Bloch, A Toy for Juliette, followed by its sequel, The Prowler in the City at the Edge of the World by Harlan Ellison, where Jack the Ripper is summoned in a dystopian London of the future by a De Sade-style Juliette. Warning: not for the faint of heart (or stomach). For something less graphic, but equally disquieting, try Faith of Our Fathers by Philip K. Dick.