The Last Dangerous Visions edited by Harlan Ellison and J. Michael Straczynski (book review)

After fifty years of waiting, ‘The Last Dangerous Visions’ is finally here. ‘Dangerous Visions’, the first groundbreaking anthology published in 1967, was followed by ‘Again, Dangerous Visions’ in 1972. Since then, until he died in 2018, Harlan Ellison struggled intermittently with a pile of stories intended for the final anthology. J. Michael Straczynski explains this battle in a long essay titled ‘Ellison Exegesis’ at the start of the book and adds more in ‘Afterword: Tetelestai!’ compiling ‘The Last Dangerous Visions’. He was a loyal friend of Harlan, who, by all accounts, could be a difficult fellow. There are over twenty stories here with some flash fiction ‘Intermezzo’ in between. The following caught my attention.

‘Assignment No. 1’ by Stephen Robinett is told from the point of view of a young boy, so you feel his powerlessness to do anything about the situation. His Grandpa Willis is taken to a place called ‘Golden Tomorrows’. Floaters, recumbents is the official term, are in coffin-sized tanks with transparent lids, floating face up in a cloudy blue fluid with a skull cap on their heads from which a cable runs to a mainframe computer. They are living their best dream inside their heads unless, like Grandpa Willis, they resist. An excellent solution to the problem of elderly care maybe.

‘Hunger’ by Max Brooks takes the form of a letter to the US President from a high-ranking Chinese official explaining why they will lose the coming war over Taiwan. It quotes ‘Unrestricted Warfare’ by Colonel Liang and Colonel Xiangsui and also P.J. O’Rourke on how the USA beat the Warsaw Pact. ‘You have been consistently dividing and dumbing down your own people for selfish, shortsighted gain. From education cuts to a deregulated media, you have slowly turned an iron-spined civilisation into a flock of gullible, jittery dullards.’ It’s uncomfortable reading for Westerners but rings very true.

‘War Stories’ by Edward Bryant is a series of short tales from different viewpoints about a future conflict in which genetically and technologically enhanced ocean dwellers are used. Different, entertaining and informative, it was probably inspired by those stories about the CIA and the KGB using dolphins who are not, incidentally, as cuddly and nice as their permanent smiles make you think. It’s also rather a poetic homage to sharks, the perfect killing machine.

LifePlus brings famous people back to life in new bodies as revenants, but it’s funded by a newspaper baron so only does it for those he deems worthy of interest. These include Mary Kelly, the last known victim of Jack the Ripper, a famous writer from England and Jesus of Nazareth. Mary has settled comfortably into modern life and enjoys the televangelists, the cartoon shows and the porn channels. The writer is a big hit on talk shows and Jesus! Well, you’ll have to read ‘The Great Forest Lawn Sale – Hurry, Last Days’ by Stephen Dedman to find out.

Martin 4.683.218 defiantly calls himself Martin Liberté and has paper books by Kafka and Voltaire to support his idea that the Clinic is evil and must be destroyed. The Clinic is the instrument of the Great Govet which makes everyone equal and if you don’t agree, you are tortured. ‘Levelled Best’ by Steve Herbst has an old totalitarian theme that’s still terrible. Paper books raise the issue, now current, that if you get everything by streaming, then the providers can choose what you get and might opt for making unavailable stuff that doesn’t fit their worldview.

‘The Weight Of A Feather (The Weight Of A Heart)’ by Cory Doctorow seems to be set in a post-scarcity future because Ivan lives with other social outcasts in a growing town and work is not necessary. After one too many ‘fits of pique’, recorded and put out on social media by others, he has to change, but he’s not sure how. The fact that he voluntarily opted for rehabilitation doesn’t make it any better. To me, this future is nearly as bad as the one in ‘Levelled Best’ but I’m a contrary fellow.

‘The Malibu Fault’ by Jonathan Fast, son of Howard, is about a Hollywood screenwriter who migrated from New York like many of his colleagues, has a perfect life and is sure it will end when they come. If you’re happy, it means disaster is just around the corner. Beware. I feel this, too. Is it common?

In ‘The Size Of The Problem’ by Howard Fast, Mister Hunter tells his psychiatrist that he is dreaming this session and all the previous ones. A neat little fantasy by the author of ‘Spartacus’, who went to jail for three months for being unamerican.

When a lovely time traveller abandons a professor of English Literature who fell in love with her, it hurts. ‘Goodbye’ by Steven Utley is a first-person lament with a Science Fiction theme. Love does hurt but when we all upload to the cloud it won’t be a worry. The last line rang true.

At the dawn of time, when the universe was nearly all matter with hardly any space, certain proto-beings came into existence. Usually, they faded away but one, called Ilvan, was the first to eat others for sustenance, so he survived. He slowly ate most of the matter in the universe but left what he didn’t like much, the stars and planets we have now. ‘Primordial Follies’ by Robert Sheckley is as offbeat and amusing as that author’s usual fare.

‘The Final Pogrom’ by Dan Simmons tells a lot about the history of Anti-Semitic Pogroms and predicts another, this one backed up with modern surveillance technology and a ruthless police state so no one can escape. There’s a sting in the tail.

First contact stories are a common trope in the genre. In ‘First Sight’ by Adrian Tchaikovsky, Diplomatic Attaché Helen leads a delegation to the Baili of planet Haile. There has been a lot of preparation beforehand with human and Haile doing their honest best to understand each other. But can you comprehend something truly alien that perceives reality differently? Solid Science Fiction.

‘Binary System’ by Kayo Hartenbaum is zir first published piece and is about a lighthouse keeper made effectively immortal by an AI duplicate who avoids human society by working in isolation on an interstellar beacon. It has an interesting point of view. Why must every story have a romance in it? Can a human not exist as an independent entity?

The most dangerous vision is saved for last. ‘Judas Iscariot Didn’t Kill Himself: A Story In Fragments’ by James S.A. Corey is about a sort of religious community in the age of neural resheathing, where you can get a new body of any sex, colour or shape whenever you want. It touches on themes of hypocrisy, abuse and the online troll world, which feeds into the news cycle and other very up-to-date concerns. It might make you uncomfortable.

An excellent collection, but dangerous? Not really. Times have changed since 1967 and what was taboo then isn’t now. Indeed, many things that were normal then are taboo now. Straczynski feels compelled to apologise for ‘a bit of Catskills-Borscht belt humour about marital relations’ in Robert Sheckley’s story. I didn’t notice anything offensive but I’m old.

As with the original ‘Dangerous Visions’, these stories might upset the Moral Majority, a group not favoured by Ellison and Straczynski, but it won’t bother today’s speculative fiction readers. Despite the misleading title, it’s a fine collection. Hats off to Ellison and especially Straczynski for putting it together.

Eamonn Murphy

January 2025

(pub: Blackstone Publishing, 2024. 450 page hardback. Price: $27.99 (US), £22.00 (UK). ISBN: ‎979-8-21218-379-6)

check out website: www.blackstonepublishing.com/products/book-fyhm?_pos=1&_psq=last+d&_ss=e&_v=1.0