This is an anthology of all-new (as for 1967) short works of speculative fiction, one of the most prominent collections in SF. The editor, Harlan Ellison, asked a lot of famous and not-so-famous authors to send him their stories, too ‘dangerous’ to be published in magazines I read is as a part of monthly reading in January 2020 at The Evolution of Science Fiction group.There is the list of works with concise notion what was assumed dangerous about them and slightly longer reviews of more promin...

Some of these stories might still be considered dangerous today in religious circles--but then what isn't? I'd have been happy if they were simply interesting.There are stories in here of such rambling incoherency that I'm thankful I missed the sixties. Some are reactionary, some are silly. Larry Niven is afraid that if organ transplants become common practice, people will be given the death penalty for minor, petty crimes in order to augment resources. Sturgeon's story takes thirty pages to get...

If any anthology of short stories written by multiple authors qualifies as a classic, it is Harlan Ellison's 1967 Dangerous Visions, a collection of 33 previously unpublished, highly swingin' 60s original, high dangerous to the status quo tales from what has since become widely known as New Wave Science Fiction with such authors as Philip K. Dick, J.G. Ballard, Samuel R. Delany, Theodore Sturgeon, and Brian W. Aldiss.The updated 2011 SF Masterworks edition is the one to read since it not only in...

"I'm scared liverless of this country that changes. When a mirage turns solid it's time to quit."More than an SF anthology worthy to be read for its own literary or entertainment value, I'd say we could think of Dangerous Visions as an informal roundtable of prominent personalities in the world of SF--or better yet, as a sort of work night out where everyone is sharing inside jokes and amicable insults. We, the readers, are spectators to this chaotic conversation taking place over multiple intro...

The best sf anthology ever. And I mean ever!so it's been 45 years since this book was first published. i don't remember whether i read this when it came out in 1967 or whether it was a few years later. it doesn't really matter, all i know is the book had a massive impact on me and got me seriously interested in sf. in any event, it was a long time ago when i was just a teenager.after i read this book, i read sf almost exclusively for quite a long time...maybe 15 years or so. then i gradually str...

Definitely required reading for those seeking to understand or at least sample the zeitgeist of the late 60's New Wave SF movement. Reading this as a teen in the 80's was a bit unfortunate. Wish I could have read it at the height of its time, when these stories really were Dangerous Visions.

6.0 stars. This is one case in which THE HYPE DON'T LIE and the HUGENORMOUS helpings of hallelujahs heaped on Harlan (Ellison) have hardly been hyperbole. Sorry about that, but it was fun to write. Seriously though, this book's Andre the Giant-sized reputation of amazing had me thinking there was no way for me to end up anywhere but disappointmentville. Uh...I was WRONG. This anthology is every bit as delicious as its press would have you believe. It's fair to say that this collection has reac...

I bought this collection of 33 science fiction stories because it was recommended in A Reader's Guide to Science Fiction on its "5 Parsec Shelf" of the best books in the genre. Here's what it said about the book: Anthologies, no matter how excellent, have seldom had enough impact to be "classics." But the first Dangerous Visions, edited by Ellison, was not only a wonderful sampling of the writers working in the exciting late '60s, it revolutionized science fiction in the matter of attacking more...

Harlan Ellison is one of the best SF short story writers around. He's also a very good editor & seems to know everyone in the field. Here he's collected the best of the best. He introduces every story quickly, concisely & often humorously. He's also included an afterword for each story by the author. I don't know that I've ever seen that before. It really works & between them, I got a lot more out of each story.

While there are amazing stories within (Philip Jose Farmer's was my favourite- makes me want to say something corny about Joyce and acid. Then something meta-cutesy about Joyce being Joyce on acid), the real joy is found in the intros and outros. Especially the outros, because a lot of these stories are pretty incomprehensible, and it's cool at the end to have the author say 'I was thinking about ABC so I had to write this story' and you're like 'Ohhhh... You shoulda just said that!'[If you're w...

Posted at HeradasSomething clicked in my head when I turned thirty; I started devouring older science fiction stories. I was an avid reader during my teens, but I read very little during my twenties for whatever reason. I think I suddenly realized how many valuable novels and stories and how much interesting history and perspective I missed out on throughout my twenties. Catching up for lost time became a real priority in my thirties.The Golden Age science fiction stories of the thirties, fortie...

Note, April 2, 2020: Usually, I don't do any significant editing of a review that already has "likes." In this case, however, I decided it was necessary. My evaluations of the merits of the book and the individual stories remain the same; but I've come to feel that they were sometimes expressed in language that was unkind. I've edited the review below to express the same opinions more kindly.This was a book I started reading about a decade ago, at a time when I was interested in possibly develop...

This is Ellison’s self-proclaimed revolution in SF, comprising 30-odd original stories by the big names, and big-names-to-be, in the field. The 35th anniversary edition (2002) begins with five written pieces of front matter—a fair sign of the importance attached to this volume, at least by Ellison. The first is a brief, useful if a bit overly congratulatory foreword by Michael Moorcock. The last is Ellison’s original introduction, which is a breezy, entertaining read. It is certainly far superio...

A masochistic box-ticking exercise for me, I just had to find out what this big monster was all about. It was designed to be ultra-controversial, radical, taboo-busting and revolutionary, printing all the bad-ass stories no respectable sf editors would touch with the nosecone of their grandmother’s old rocket. Described by one critic as :Without a doubt the best and most important single anthology of original sf work ever to appearI found two great stories ("The Jigsaw Man" by Larry Niven and "T...

This daring, ground-breaking, iconoclastic anthology, edited by the great Harlan Ellison, came out in 1967. He encouraged the contributors to push the boundaries, expand the envelope, think the unthinkable and mention sex, religion, politics, sex, sex, and things like that. You know, the kind of stuff you wouldn't normally find in a short story that had passed John W. Campbell's desk on its way to a million pimply teenage SF fans. (Disclaimer: I was one of those fans, even though I wasn't quite

(Adjusted rating down, Sep 28, 2018)Typical 70s drivel: pro-drug, pro-sex, pro-anarchy, anti-establishment, anti-Christian, anti-military. Not science fiction so much as speculative fiction. It all seemed so new and relevant then; now it seems like cold spit.If you do read it, skip the introductions to each story. It's mostly Ellison sucking up to his buddies. DO READ the authors' afterwords. Several of them are insightful.

3.5 out 5This is a great anthology, there are some really amazing stories in here. but sadly, most of them haven't aged well at all. Some of the stories are very experimental, that makes them kind of difficult to read sometimes, at least for me. I got lost several times. Highlights: -Evensong-The Man Who Went to the Moon — Twice-Lord Randy, My Son-Faith of Our Fathers-Land of the Great Horses-Judas

I have few positive things to say about this anthology. So here goes.I don't like Harlan Ellison at all; I ended up skipping most of the story introductions (they were unnecessary anyway). Everything I had ever heard about the man made it sound like he was an egotistical, arrogant, vicious little asshole, who wrote good stuff but will be remembered mostly for being a vicious little asshole. (And that is sad and regrettable). And I'm only writing this in a public place because I feel safe doing s...

What a great read. Dangerous Visions is one of the must reads for well read Science Fiction fans. Harlan Ellison created a masterpiece at the beginning of the 1960's Science Fiction revolution and this collection was one of the great achievements of the period. 33 stories and not one is a miss. 7 of the stories are Hugo and Nebula winners and 13 of them are nominated. The tying vision is that the author wrote a story for the anthology that is somehow dangerous as the author sees it. Harlan Ellis...

Harlan Ellison (trademarked) managed to create something special here with his wish to break SF out of the 50s and into the 60s and onward. Just like with any other anthology, there will be good stories, bad stories, excellent stories and terrible stories, but this anthology deserves its cult status with the larger number of good stories. With this collection of Authors it was kind of inevitable. Unfortunately not all of them aged very well, or better yet some of them are nothing special now (th...