Harlan Ellison - Deathbird Stories

Dust Jacket Interior Flaps:

Winner of seven and a half Hugo and three Nebula awards, Harlan Ellison has

long been regarded as one of America’s most brilliant and controversial writers.

Immediately acknowledged as one of his finest when it was first published

in 1975, Deathbird Stories gathers together 19 tales originally published between

1960 and 1974. It has been extensively revised by the author himself, and is

likely to become the definitive edition of the book.

In the tradition of Mark Twain’s “Letters from the Earth,” the Hugo-winning

“The Deathbird” retells the story of Genesis from a diabolical perspective. Taken

from the molten magma core of the Earth where he rested for millennia within the

confines of his crypt, and brought up to the surface by the Snake, Nathan Stack

is due for his final showdown with God, “The mad one….”

In the Hugo-winning “Adrift Just Off the Islets of Langerhans: Latitude

38°54’ N, Longitude 77°00’ 13” W,” Lawrence Talbot has lost something vitally

important, and he can’t die until he finds it. So, with the aid of is old friend, Victor,

the Central European scientific genius, he plans an odyssey through the interior

of his own body…to search for the exact geographic location of his soul.

The Edgar-winning “The Whimper of Whipped Dogs” is set in modern-day

New York City, where no one wants to get involved. Beth is a young Bennington

graduate who witnesses a Kitty Genovese-like dance of death below the window

of her new apartment. She is appalled by her failure to do anything to help the

victim, but when the horrors of the city invade her own life, she discovers the

existence of a new god….

“Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes”--Hooker. Grabber. Swinger. If there’s a buck

in it, there’s rhythm and the onomatopoeia is Maggie Maggie Maggie. She died

feeding the “Chief” slot machine in Vegas, and now her love is Kostner. She

wants Kostner because she’s lonely and she tells him so with her three blue

eyes, staring from the Jackpot bars. Kostner’s on a roll, jackpot after jackpot, but

all he can think about is those three blue eyes and the woman beckoning in his

dreams….

In “Shattered Like a Glass Goblin,” Rudy is home from the army seeking

his fiancée, Kristina, who’s living with Jonah and the rest of the gang up at The

Hill. When Kris shuns him, he should take a hint. But Rudy’s in love with her. So

he moves in and tolerates the perpetual orgy of drugs and sex. But what are

those squeaking noises coming from the attic? And the moist sounds from the

basement?

Let Harlan Ellison introduce you to the new gods of our age.

PRINTED IN THE U.S.A

FROM THE PUBLISHER

A disquieting discovery was made during the preparations for publication of the Bluejay

Books edition of Harlan Ellison’s most prestigious collection of stories. All previous

editions had been set from outdated, imperfect, versions of the manuscripts. This edition

has been extensively revised by the Author; every page has been carefully examined for

errors. This edition culls all mistakes, restores missing material, and is as close to a

Preferred Text as the Author and Publisher can offer. It is the book, finally, as it was

intended to be.

Books by Harlan Ellison

Web of the City (1958)

The Deadly Streets (1958)

The Sound of a Scythe (1960)

A Touch of Infinity (1960)

Children of the Streets (1961)

Gentleman Junkie and other stories of the hung-up generation (1961)

Memos from Purgatory (1961)

Spider Kiss (1961)

Ellison Wonderland (1962)

Paingod and other delusions (1965)

I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream (1967)

Doomsman (1967)

Dangerous Visions [Editor] (1967)

From the Land of Fear (1967)

Nightshades and Damnations: the finest stories of Gerald Kersh [Editor] (1968)

Love Ain’t Nothing but Sex Misspelled (1968)

The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World (1969)

The Glass Teat essays of opinion on television (1970)

Over the Edge (1970)

Partners in Wonder sf collaborations with 14 other wild talents (1971)

Again, Dangerous Visions [Editor] (1972)

All the Sounds of Fear [British publication only] (1973)

The Time of the Eye [British publication only] (1973)

Approaching Oblivion (1974)

The Starlost #1: Phoenix Without Ashes [with Edward Bryant] (1975)

Deathbird Stories (1975)

The Other Glass Teat further essays of opinion on television (1975)

No Doors, No Windows (1975)

Strange Wine (1978)

The Book of Ellison [Edited by Andrew Porter] (1978)

The Illustrated Harlan Ellison [Edited by Byron Preiss] (1978)

The Fantasies of Harlan Ellison (1979)

All the Lies That Are My Life (1980)

Shatterday (1980)

Stalking the Nightmare (1982)

Harlan

Ellison

Deathbird

Stories

Blujay Books Inc.

A Bluejay Special Edition, published by arrangement with the Author.

First Bluejay Edition: December 1983

Cover art by Barclay Shaw

any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or by any information

storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Author or the Author’s agent,

except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a critical article or review to be printed in a

magazine or newspaper, or electronically transmitted on radio or television. For information,

address the Author’s agent: Richard Curtis Associates, Inc., 164 East Sixty-fourth Street, New

York, New York 10021

All persons, places and organizations in this book--except those clearly in the public domain--are

fictitious, and any resemblance that may seem to exist to actual persons, places, or organizations

living, dead, or defunct is purely coincidental. These are works of fiction.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Inc. / “The Whimper of Whipped Dogs” appeared in the Harper & Row anthology BAD MOON

1967 by Sirkay Publishing Company. Copyright reassigned to Author 19 September 1967.

Harlan Ellison. “Delusion for a Dragon Slayer” originally appeared in Knight Magazine. Copyright

Ellison. / “At the Mouse Circus” appeared in NEW DIMENSIONS 1 (edited by Robert Silverberg).

1974 by Harlan Ellison. / “The Deathbird” appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science

WITH SOME WEARINESS, BUT NOT MUCH MORE WISDOM,

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO TRUE LOVE, WHATEVER

LOVELY FACE IT WEARS

CONTENTS

Introduction: Oblations at Alien Altars

The Whimper of Whipped Dogs

Along the Scenic Route

On the Downhill Side

O Ye of Little Faith

Neon

Basilisk

Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes

Corpse

Shattered Like a Glass Goblin

Delusion for a Dragon Slayer

The Face of Helene Bournouw

Bleeding Stones

At the Mouse Circus

The Place with No Name

Paingod

Ernest and the Machine God

Rock God

Adrift Just Off the Islets of Langerhans: Latitude 38° 54’ N, Longitude 77°

00’ 13” W

The Deathbird

TO COUNT LEO TOLSTOY

14 February 1910

“To me God does not yet exist; but there is a creative force constantly struggling to

evolve an executive organ of godlike knowledge and power: that is, to achieve

omnipotence and omniscience; and every man and woman born is a fresh attempt to

achieve this object....

“The current theory that God already exists in perfection involves the believe that God

deliberately created something lower than Himself when He might just as easily have

created something equally perfect. That is a horrible believe…

“You said that my manner in [Man and superman] was not serious enough, that I made

people laugh in my most earnest moments. But why should I not? Why should humor and

laughter be excommunicated? Suppose the world were only one of God’s jokes, would

you work any the less to make it a good joke instead of a bad one?”

--GEORGE BERNARD SHAW

“If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.”

--VOLTAIR: Epître à M. Saurin, 10 Novembre 1770

“It is expedient there should be gods, and, since it is expedient, let us believe that gods

exist.”

--OVID: Ars Amatoria I

“Men rarely (if ever) manage to dream up a god superior to themselves. Most gods have

the manners and morals of a spoiled child.”

--ROBERT A. HEINLEIN, 1973

CAVEAT LECTOR

It is suggested that the reader not attempt to read this book at one sitting. The emotional

content of these stories, taken without break, may be extremely upsetting. This note is

intended most sincerely, and not as hyperbole.

H.E.

Harlan Ellison - Deathbird Stories

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