Randy Johnson's review from 2009.
Forgotten Short Stories: The Whimper of Whipped Dogs – Harlan Ellison
Harlan Ellison is hardly a forgotten writer, but I’m working under the assumption there are people today that haven’t read him. They should go right out and find anything by the man. He’s a writer worth reading. I’ve written about him before HERE.
My selection for the first edition of Patti Abbott’s Forgotten Short Stories is THE WHIMPER OF WHIPPED DOGS, the story of a woman brutally murdered in a courtyard while residents watched, not one responding to her cries for help, not even calling the police. The story concerns the aftermath and the decision the young woman protagonist, one of the watchers, makes at the end of the story.
It was inspired by the true life murder of Kitty Genovese in 1964. A news story two weeks later reported on the non-response of neighbors to the brutalization that went on only a hundred feet from her apartment door. Stabbed twice, the attacker left, only to return ten minutes later to continue the assault.
The report may have been in error, no one knows for sure anymore. Nevertheless, it inspired a powerful story from Mr. Ellison on the general malaise enveloping people living in the city, the constant violence on TV, the mind your own business attitude of to many of us. It won the Edgar for best short story in 1974, one of the many awards(to numerous to list here) his writing has won in a long career.
It’s easily available in numerous editions.
1. Bad Moon Rising, eidted by Tom Disch: first appearance and reasonably priced with a little search
2. Deathbird Stories: good prices
3: Dreams With Sharp Teeth: omnibus containing Deathbird Stories,
Shatterday, and I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream. A nice introduction
to the man’s stories for anyone new to Mr. Ellison’s work
4. The Essential Ellison: A 35 Year Retrospective and the expanded 50 Year Retrospective
14 comments:
Much of Ellison's best work came from a justifiable rage, combined with an unrelenting love for the potential of the human race. I wish that many more -- both in the writing field and out -- exhibit those same qualities.
For those unfaniliar with Ellison's work, Randy's reopmmendations make a great starting place.
For whatever reason, I've always been interested in the Genovese story, Patti, so this one appeals to me.
I started reading Harlan Ellison in the 1960s and kept reading Ellison's fiction and non-fiction for decades. He was a unique writer and made an impact on the Science Fiction genre that still resonates today.
Tod Goldberg, THE LOW DESERT. I was impressed with Goldberg's story "Paladin" in the Block anthology PLAYING GAMES, so got this collection of stories from the library. They are set in the Inland Kingdom area of Southern California, from Palm Springs south to the Salton Sea, a place that has always fascinated me. About 1/3 of the way through "Thug Number Four," it started to seem awfully familiar, and I recognized that I had read it in a previous Block anthology, THE DARKLING HALLS OF IVY. It has a sly sense of humor I really enjoyed. Brett describes himself matter-of-factly as a "thug" who works as a mercenary in the Middle East or elsewhere around the world, as a bodyguard or killer as the case may need. Now that he's getting older, he's ready to retire and has his sister enroll him in junior college courses. Very entertaining story, and much less dark than several of the others in this collection. Goldberg is the younger brother of Lee Goldberg.
Strangely Monday night, a woman told me of her great interest in the Salton Sea and how she drove hours out the way to see it.
Yeah the Genovese story always pops up. I have read very little Ellison.
Particularly the Genovese murder keeps popping up because it was so mythologized, apparently. The misreporting on the incident seems to have been driven with a Trump-level desire to cast aspersions, when the general run of life is bad enough.
Which doesn't worsen Ellison's story, as he was sparked by what was being reported at the time..and the general run of life.
Ellison is not forgotten, but is already being passed by increasingly, I think. His best work is definitely worth looking for, but some of what is routinely touted as his best, such as "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Tick-Tock Man" is really Not, and might even put off the sophisticated newbie. Try the likes of "Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes" and "The Deathbird", less-touted (if not much less) default choices, instead. There's at least one mid-period novella I need to read that might be a book post soon.
My typically tardy entry coming up soonish.
Patti, I believe the Salton Sea had a part in one of the later Bosch books, after he retires. He goes undercover pretending to be homeless to catch these drug dealers (pills), and in one part they fly the people they are using to get the prescriptions at various pharmacies to a place near the Salton Sea (including Bosch). At least, that is how I remember it.
I read some stories by Ellison when I was in my twenties, but not since then. Unfortunately, only the first book listed that include the story are now available easily at affordable prices. Fortunately, I have a ebook edition of Deathbird Stories that I purchased back in 2016, so I will check out the story soon. And I have some of the other collections mentioned above on ebook, and will try those too.
I hope you enjoy what you find, Tracy!
Mine is up, now, thus: https://socialistjazz.blogspot.com/2023/08/ssw-delmore-schwartz-screeno-donald.html
And, George, Ellison wasn't solely influential in sf, which (as he noted), he only occasionally wrote, so much as fantasy and crime fiction, albeit most of his fictional work was published in fantasy/sf contexts.
I wonder if there's a relationship with the Salt Lake. I will have to check.
The Salton Sea was created through human incompetence during a rainy 1905 season for the Colorado River; the Great Salt Lake was once the much more enormous Bonneville Lake (mostly recalled in daily parlance by the Bonneville Flats near Salt Lake), which shrunk and salted up as last ice age receded...
Never been to Utah and a bunch of its neighbors. Thanks, Todd
What a continuing interest and the fragments of memory of my interdisciplinary Planetary Science curriculum (Geology/Oceanography/Planetary Astronomy/Meteorology--while also pursuing English and PoliSci, in other words setting myself up for a 7-year BAs round) will allow one to retain. Also at the Salt Flats, all the land-speed records that were set (parental fast-car influence).
Post a Comment