The Last Dangerous Visions

[SpaceChampion]

So! J. Michale Straczynski was appointed executor of Harlan Ellison's estate, and has been announcing one word per day a five word phrase of something mysterious he is producing...  The 3 words so far released are "The Last Dangeous...'     I assume it'll be 4 words of the title and a year of publication.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Dangerous_Visions

 

Edited November 12, 2020 by SpaceChampion

[Werthead]

Given Ellison completed one (three-volume) version of the book in 1979 that apparently survived his death and was never published only because Ellison balked at it perhaps not being as well-received as the first two, I can't see it being anything else. 2020 (or 21, I guess) continuing to throw up crazy surprises.

[SpaceChampion]

I suppose I might as well quote the original post about JMS announcing he's the executor:

 

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Ever since the passing of Susan Ellison there has been endless speculation about what will happen to Harlan's estate and his legacy. Every day, the voicemails, texts and emails pile up at my front door, passing on the latest rumor, growing to fever pitch.

“Didja hear? The house is gonna be sold!”

“Didja hear? The house is gonna be torn down!”

“Didja hear? All of Harlan’s stories and IP have been sold to Paramount for next to nothing to pay off debts!”

“Didja hear? The State of California has appointed an executor who’s gonna auction it all off!”

“Didja hear? Didja hear?”

When I told whoever was bearing the latest wild story that it WAS just a wild story, and nothing more, they would grow irate, claiming in each instance to have gotten the news directly from someone who knows the executor of the estate. A solid , for-sure, no-kidding-around source who was in a MUCH better position than me to know what was REALLY going on.

“How do YOU know what the deal is, huh? My guy talked to the executor just yesterday, who told him this straight-up. How do YOU know better than HE does?”

How do I know better? How do I know these are just rumors?

Because I am the Executor of the Harlan and Susan Ellison Trust.

I’ve kept a low profile since accepting this position in order to focus on of the million-and-one details that have to be addressed. I don’t know if anyone reading this has ever been appointed an executor, but it is a massive undertaking. To be an executor is to inherit nothing but be responsible for everything, and to implement the last wishes of those who entrusted you with the totality of their life’s work.

Consequently, ever since Susan’s passing, 80% of my day, every day, has gone into establishing the Trust, dealing with tax issues, creditors, court documents, lawyers, accountants, affidavits, death certificates, corporate minutes…in simpler cases, the process only takes a few months, and usually ends by parceling out bequests or auctioning off the estate.

But that is not the case here, because there is the legacy of Harlan’s work that must be preserved and enhanced. Looking after all this, and seeing to Harlan and Susan's wishes, is something I will likely be doing for the rest of my life.

Everything that Harlan ever owned, did or wrote will be fiercely protected. Steps are being taken to certify Ellison Wonderland as a cultural landmark, ensuring that it will remain just as it is long after I have gone to dust.

To revive interest in his prose, literary representation has been shifted to Janklow & Nesbit, one of the largest and most prestigious literary agencies in the world. Film and TV rights will be handled through A3, previously known as the Abrams Agency, also a leading and influential agency. I will be working hand in glove with them to get Harlan’s work back into print in a big way.

There is more to say on future plans – much more – but all of that will come in time.

For over thirty years, Harlan Ellison was my dearest friend on the planet. Those of you who know me, know how important he, and Susan, and his work, were to me. As a beginning writer, long before we ever met, I looked to him for inspiration and the courage to keep going. Once we became friends, I had a very simple philosophy: whatever he needed done, I would make sure it happened. I would’ve stepped in front of a bus for him, and he knew it, just as he knew that out of the thousands of people he’d met in his life, he could trust me to make sure that his and Susan's last wishes were attended to, and that his legacy would be protected.

That’s all for the moment, but as they say in TV Land, stay tuned…for there is more to come.

 

[Werthead]

Confirmed.

The book will consist of the eighty-odd stories that haven't been withdrawn over the years or appeared elsewhere and a number of new stories by heavy-hitters, new-ish authors and one slot for a debut story by a brand new author.

Assuming the old Ellison lists are still accurate, the book should contain the last-ever-to-be-published stories by (among many others) Frank Herbert, Anne McCaffrey, Leigh Brackett, Alfred Bester, Octavia Butler, Daniel Keyes and Vonda McIntyre.

[maarsen]

I have been waiting for this book much longer than I have waited for The Winds of Winter.

[TheLastWolf]

On 11/19/2020 at 6:55 PM, maarsen said:

I have been waiting for this book much longer than I have waited for The Winds of Winter.

Now that's something! 

[SpaceChampion]

Neil Gaiman announced as contributing to the LDV.

Edited December 19, 2020 by SpaceChampion

[SpaceChampion]

Submission guidelines for a spot in the Last Dangerous Visions.

[Werthead]

James SA Corey also confirmed they'd be contributing a while back.

There's a lot of pushback against the project in some quarters, though, so I think the book is going to be missing a lot of big names.

[Ran]

Cory Doctorow has been posting daily progress updates on a story called "Jeffty is Five", after the famous Harlan Ellison story, for LDV as well.

 

[The Marquis de Leech]

On 4/2/2021 at 2:33 PM, SpaceChampion said:

Submission guidelines for a spot in the Last Dangerous Visions.

They're rather hamstringing themselves with those submission guidelines. Someone who has never even had a token payment from an e-zine is going to stand out like a sort thumb.

[maarsen]

On 4/2/2021 at 9:45 AM, Werthead said:

James SA Corey also confirmed they'd be contributing a while back.

There's a lot of pushback against the project in some quarters, though, so I think the book is going to be missing a lot of big names.

Why the pushback? Are people still pissed at Ellison? Personally, I was in my early teens when the first Dangerous visions was published and I absolutely loved it. It was so... transgressive.  it appealed to my teenage anti-authoritarianism. Of course this was the 60s/70s and rebellion was in the air. But the stories were soo good! Writers I had never heard of were in those pages and have given me reading material for a life time.

Will a final Dangerous Visions be able to do the same?

[Werthead]

10 minutes ago, maarsen said:

Why the pushback? Are people still pissed at Ellison? Personally, I was in my early teens when the first Dangerous visions was published and I absolutely loved it. It was so... transgressive.  it appealed to my teenage anti-authoritarianism. Of course this was the 60s/70s and rebellion was in the air. But the stories were soo good! Writers I had never heard of were in those pages and have given me reading material for a life time.

Will a final Dangerous Visions be able to do the same?

No, fairly obviously. People can write whatever they want in 2021 without that being an issue.

And yes, there's a feeling that a lot of the criticisms of Ellison over the decades have been vindicated - particularly him refusing to give the rights back to authors when it's now clear he could have done that at any time - and this is part of an attempt to whitewash his legacy (as were the various tributes to him when he died which completely ignored his bullying and particularly his sexual assault of another author live on-stage).

Other people have argued that Ellison had good and bad traits to his character and people criticising the project are not appreciating the good he did for writers in life.

[maarsen]

6 minutes ago, Werthead said:

No, fairly obviously. People can write whatever they want in 2021 without that being an issue.

And yes, there's a feeling that a lot of the criticisms of Ellison over the decades have been vindicated - particularly him refusing to give the rights back to authors when it's now clear he could have done that at any time - and this is part of an attempt to whitewash his legacy (as were the various tributes to him when he died which completely ignored his bullying and particularly his sexual assault of another author live on-stage).

Other people have argued that Ellison had good and bad traits to his character and people criticising the project are not appreciating the good he did for writers in life.

Ellison was a complicated man and over the last 50! years my opinion of him as been complicated also. He did help unknown and starting writers but he could also be such a complete asshole. I never met him but I have enjoyed the books so I guess I am on the fence.

[SpaceChampion]

The debut writer was selected:
 

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Which brings us, at last, to the writer whose story has been selected for inclusion in THE LAST DANGEROUS VISIONS: Kayo Hartenbaum. I knew I was in for a treat as soon as I hit the first page of Binary System.

Excerpt:
 

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The beacon’s twin prongs extend out from the curved base of the lightship in an elongated U-shape. Along the sharp point of each prong is a dark, reddish glow that flickers and wanes, soft plasma licking like embers, like the rippling unshadow of light refracted through water.

At the base of the U, the lightship’s structure thickens. This is where the supporting machinery, the energy housing, the computing core, and the keeper live. The keeper: that’s me. Or that’s us, if you want to be precise about it. There is no such thing as a solitary person. Humans are social creatures.

Then again, I am about as solitary as it is possible for a human to be. I am the only human staff aboard this lightship. My job is to live here and make sure the beacon is working. It is customary for lightships to be staffed by multiple people, partially for data integrity, but mainly to avoid the psychological toll of isolation. But this beacon is a small one stitching the route of a small overpass, and its position is close enough to wider society that it would be easy for them to replace me if needed. And when it comes right down to it, it’s cheaper to staff one person than many.

My days are uneventful. I have a schedule of maintenance tasks. I sleep, I eat, I water the plants, I do laundry, I do the dishes, I play the instruments to an audience of none, I do basic repairs, I talk to myself, I exercise, I brush my teeth.

Occasionally, when the beacon stops working, I die.

 

Edited July 28, 2021 by SpaceChampion

[SpaceChampion]

It's completed, and JMS sent it off to his agent to send to publishers or arrange an auction.

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THE LAST DANGEROUS VISIONS has at last been completed. The final draft went off to the agency that will be handling the sale about fifteen minutes ago. This has been a massive effort...112,000 words...tracking down the estates of the original writers to be included in the book, and nailing down some newer A List writers; fans of Harlan's who wanted to be a part of TLDV. (And for the record, Harlan continued to buy stories for the anthology right through the 90s, and stopped only due to illness. He saw TLDV as a living document, and fought to keep it relevant when some stories became less timely or were supplanted by real world events.)

I will have more to say about the contents at a later date, but suffice to say that they include some of the most visionary writers in the science fiction genre over the last 48 years.

Is it me or is 112k words not a huge book?

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One thing needs to be pointed out since folks who have never actually seen any of the TLDV stories seem to have very strong opinions about what that book should be, and without seeing what this one is, what it shouldn't be.

There was no one thing that stands as Harlan's version of TLDV. It never existed because it was always in a state of flux. It was going to be whatever it was on the day when he finally finished with it. THAT was to be TLDV, not something frozen in amber that only reflected the70s. Which is why he continued buying stories all through the 80s and into the 90s (including from folks like Stephen Dedman) because he saw the book as a living document that would have to grow and change to stay relevant with changing times. It wasn't supposed to be static until it actually came out...and he was the first to say that some stories would have to be trimmed to make room for ones that were more current.

Further to the point: no publisher in their right mind is going to put out a 700,000 word anthology that follows on books that came out in the 70s. The risk is too great. A reasonable sized book, yes. A behemoth, no. And the whole point of the exercise is to put the work of the best of the original DV writers, and those new voices Harlan wanted to continue to see, out where the mainstream world could see it...not as a limited edition sold to the already-faithful, not as an Ebook or a print-on-demand...but something to be published from a major company that would receive the kind of critical attention in the press that these stories and Harlan's work deserve.

The only way for that to happen is to follow Harlan's lead, pare away any stories that are no longer as relevant as they were, or have been supplanted by real-world events, and focus on the very best of the very best...so the book is lean and mean and strong and utterly bulletproof. (And do bear in mind that over half the original inventory was originally pulled an published elsewhere in any event.)

To those out there complaining that every single story should be included...if that were done, the book would never be published and nobody would ever see any of it in any credible form. You can have one or the other but you can't have both. The modern publishing business doesn't work that way.

The now-completed Last Dangerous Visions contains the sharpest, most incisive stories by the leading lights of the last 40 years...the stories Harlan believed were the strongest and the best-of-the-best.

So...crazy idea for the internet...how about people wait to see what the book actually *is* and what's actually *inside* it before deciding what it actually is and what's actually inside it? And understand that what *you* think the book should be isn't the point...it's what Harlan thought the book should be, which was never one particular thing, because it kept changing over the years. This reflects where all of that thinking finally wound up. This is the book that he would have wanted to see out there so that the writers included (all others have had their stories reverted so they can appear anywhere at the discretion of their estates or themselves) can receive the critical attention that those stories deserve.

ok.

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There were never a million words, at one point it was 700K, but then about half or more were withdrawn by the authors, so now we're down to 250-300K, and from that it was essential to find the best of the best in order to make sure that this achieved publication that would draw attention to Harlan's legacy and the work of those writers. This isn't a weight competition, it's not about 50 words, it's about the best words.

Do you want to see 112K words by some of the best writers in the field finally being published? Or do you not want any of them to be seen in anything resembling a proper publication? Because that's the choice. Pick one.

And all of the stories not being used in TLDV are released and free to be published elsewhere, so there's no bottleneck at this end.

 

 

Edited August 14, 2021 by SpaceChampion

[Ran]

I think JMS has a point on this. Seems to be a lot of pressure in publishing to get shorter books out, and not surprised if this covers collections.

[Werthead]

I'm seeing a lot of anger about this, with some people having been fully expecting the 700,000-word, 100+ story edition of LDV they were "promised" decades ago, ignoring the fact that between a third and half of those stories were subsequently pulled in the intervening period anyway.

Other people have been waiting (and hoping, in some cases) for the project to die a humiliating death so they can dance on Ellison's grave over it.

Between those two positions, there is a reasonable number of people who seem happy it's going to be a relatively lean volume that won't take six months to read and will have a large contingent of new stories by contemporary authors.

[maarsen]

21 hours ago, Werthead said:

I'm seeing a lot of anger about this, with some people having been fully expecting the 700,000-word, 100+ story edition of LDV they were "promised" decades ago, ignoring the fact that between a third and half of those stories were subsequently pulled in the intervening period anyway.

Other people have been waiting (and hoping, in some cases) for the project to die a humiliating death so they can dance on Ellison's grave over it.

Between those two positions, there is a reasonable number of people who seem happy it's going to be a relatively lean volume that won't take six months to read and will have a large contingent of new stories by contemporary authors.

I have a waited this long. I have been reasonable, not once uttering bad words about Harlan Ellison. Dammit I am excited though, whatever size it is. 

[Lord Patrek]

To a certain extent, I feel that this project has become somewhat irrelevant in the greater scheme of things of the speculative fiction genre. Given the span of time it took for this anthology to see the light, I don't believe that it will be a big commercial success. Hence the reason why publishers would likely have steered clear of a doorstopper work.

112,000 words make it more likely to see it published in today's market.