Approaching Oblivion

Approaching Oblivion
First edition
Author	Harlan Ellison
Cover artist	Leo and Diane Dillon
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	short stories
Publisher	Walker and Company
Publication date	1974
Media type	Print (Hardcover)
Pages	238
ISBN	0-8027-5541-0
OCLC	1134441

Approaching Oblivion is a collection of eleven short stories by American author Harlan Ellison. They had appeared in various magazines throughout the early 1970s with the exceptions of "Paulie Charmed the Sleeping Woman" which originally appeared in 1962 and "Ecowareness" which was previously unpublished.

According to the author's introduction, the book was originally conceived in 1970 as a call to action that would contain cautionary tales from Ellison's previous books. Over the ensuing protracted gestation period of four years, however, Harlan Ellison's personal outlook had gradually changed. This resulted in the inclusion of previously uncollected stories with underlying themes of disillusionment and futility in rebelling. Classic examples along these lines are the dystopian "Knox" and "Silent in Gehenna". Other notable stories include "One Life, Furnished in Early Poverty" which depicts a man meeting a younger version of himself as a child and finding himself unable to ease the pains of his own childhood. The encounter begins at Lathrop Grade School in Painesville, Ohio where the author himself attended elementary school and experienced many emotionally painful and physically brutal encounters with antisemitic prejudice recounted in the introduction.

The foreword by fiction author Michael Crichton paints a picture of Ellison as an energetic, eclectic, uncompromising, and sometimes obstinate individual. It also describes the resistance and resentment felt by many of the people who have worked with Ellison in the movie business.

Forward: Approaching Ellison by Michael Crichton
Introduction: Reaping the Whirlwind
Knox
Cold Friend
Kiss of Fire
Paulie Charmed the Sleeping Woman
I'm Looking for Kadak
Silent in Gehenna
Erotophobia
One Life, Furnished in Early Poverty
Ecowareness
Catman
Hindsight:480 Seconds

Harlan Ellison

Novels & novellas	Web of the City Spider Kiss A Boy and His Dog Mefisto in Onyx

Short story collections	The Deadly Streets Gentleman Junkie and Other Stories of the Hung-Up Generation Ellison Wonderland Paingod and Other Delusions I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream Love Ain't Nothing But Sex Misspelled The Beast that Shouted Love at the Heart of the World Alone Against Tomorrow Approaching Oblivion Deathbird Stories No Doors, No Windows Strange Wine Shatterday Stalking the Nightmare Angry Candy Slippage Can & Can'tankerous

Short stories	Adrift Just Off the Islets of Langerhans The Beast that Shouted Love at The Heart of the World The Deathbird The Diagnosis of Dr. D'arqueAngel The Discarded The Dragon on the Bookshelf From A to Z, in the Chocolate Alphabet Grail How's the Night Life on Cissalda? I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream Jeffty Is Five The Prowler in the City at the Edge of the World "Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman The Beast that Shouted Love at the Heart of the World Soldier from Tomorrow The Whimper of Whipped Dogs Paladin of the Lost Hour

Collaborations	Phoenix Without Ashes Mind Fields

Television work	"Soldier" "Demon with a Glass Hand" "The City on the Edge of Forever" "Paladin of the Lost Hour" "Gramma" "Crazy as a Soup Sandwich"

Adaptations	I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream "The Human Operators" "One Life, Furnished in Early Poverty" "Shatterday" A Boy and His Dog (film) "Djinn, No Chaser"

Anthologies edited	Dangerous Visions Again, Dangerous Visions Medea: Harlan's World

Non-fiction	Memos from Purgatory The Glass Teat & The Other Glass Teat Harlan Ellison's Watching The Harlan Ellison Hornbook

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Approaching Oblivion

Contents