This horror story from Harlan Ellison uses magical realism to explain a crime: the 1964 murder of Kitty Genovese. Newspapers at the time (incorrectly) reported that 38 people, none of whom did anything to help, witnessed her stabbing. Here, a witness to a particularly brutal murder senses an evil presence. She later learns that it was a form of black mass, and joins the demonic cult as a means of survival. Themes include negative aspects of city life (competitive pressure, lack of connection, loneliness), behavioral effects of city life (depression, insensitivity, anger, rudeness, aggression, violence), supernatural (demonic) forces, and cultism. More…
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Repent, Harlequin! Said the Ticktockman
This story by Harlan Ellison takes a satirical look at the way people can become slaves of time. In a future dystopian world, everyone and everything must be on time. The Master Timekeeper (aka the Ticktockman) is responsible for policing this. He has a special power: if someone is late to work or causes something to be delayed, that person has the lost time deducted from their lifespan. Only one man stands against him: a disruptive rebel who calls himself the Harlequin. When the Harlequin is finally caught, the Ticktockman goes to great lengths to try to make him repent. More…
I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream
This story from Harlan Ellison is an example of New Wave Science Fiction, a literary movement that flourished in the 1960s and 1970s. Distinguishing features are storylines that are intellectually implausible, and disturbing themes that would not normally be included in traditional science fiction. A sentient supercomputer has destroyed the human race other than five ‘specimens’. With no creative outlet for its powers, it has kept these alive and subjected them to torturous challenges for over one hundred years as revenge against humanity for creating it. Themes: humanity vs. technology, godhood, individualism, revenge, cruelty, violence, misogyny, self-sacrifice More…
A Boy and His Dog
Written at the peak of the Cold War, this Harlan Ellison story takes place in a dystopic, post-apocalyptic world. ‘Civilized’ people have retreated to secure underground cities, leaving the desolate surface to ‘solo’ wanderers and lawless gangs who survive by foraging, violence and murder. The plot involves a young solo, his genetically manipulated telepathic dog, and an attractive young woman from the underground who almost comes between them. Despite the title, there is nothing “boyish” about the protagonist given what he and the girl get up to! Themes: anarchy, division, violence, loyalty, manipulation, betrayal, love. More…
Jeffty is Five
This story by Harlan Ellison is said to be an allegory of the power of childlike fantasy. The protagonist’s childhood friend remains “frozen in time”. As those around him age, the boy retains the body and mind of a five-year-old. Things get stranger when the protagonist discovers the boy is also living in the past. He tunes into new episodes of long discontinued radio shows, “sees” old movies when watching modern ones, and receives products from mail-order companies that no longer exist. Themes include childhood, friendship, nostalgia, past vs. present, desperation, the supernatural. More…