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52nd out of 67 books
—
7 voters
Deathbird Stories
Harlan Ellison, prolific and powerful writer for motion pictures and television, has been one of America's finest short story writers for more than fifty years. Deathbird Stories is his most daring collection of dangerous visions, each tale a gem that peels back layers of human emotions to reveal a dark dream inspired by the madness that finds us in unprotected moments. Fr...more
Mass Market Paperback, 297 pages
Published
April 1990
by Collier Books
(first published February 1975)
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Jun 04, 2007
Sarah Keliher
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
readers who found american gods not quite dark enough
Shelves:
sfthatdoesntsuck,
sf-fantasy-general
I somehow discovered this book when I was a kid. As dark and violent as it was, I found it weirdly hopeful. Finally, I thought, an adult who won't fucking lie to you, someone who will just say yes, everything sucks and people are screwed up and the only thing you can do in the face of all this misery is fight, even though you'll probably fail. Fight, and remember that everyone else is in pain, and never lose your outrage or your compassion. Not to pile more melodrama onto this paragraph, but it...more
i remember when this came in the mail from the science fiction book club when i was twelve. it was like having someone tear out my stomach.
6 likes · like · see review
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I had to give up on this collection around page 183, in the middle of a story that meant nothing to me.
Now, I’ll be the first to admit that I’m bad at reading anthologies (with the exception of The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny, of course). The problem is that anytime I hit a story I’m not a big fan of, it makes it harder and harder to pick the book back up. I do all right with short story collections on the Kindle, but part of that is because it’s harder to tell how many pages are left dur...more
Now, I’ll be the first to admit that I’m bad at reading anthologies (with the exception of The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny, of course). The problem is that anytime I hit a story I’m not a big fan of, it makes it harder and harder to pick the book back up. I do all right with short story collections on the Kindle, but part of that is because it’s harder to tell how many pages are left dur...more
Nov 14, 2007
Patti
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
can't recommend
I think I'm might be in a minority on this book. It has had many good reviews on many venues and was a bookclub pick by one of our more adventurous members.
While this may not be my cup of tea - there are a couple of things specifically that bothered me about the book.
1. Many of the stories are firmly set in their era - the book was published in 1975 and you can tell by all of his branded references. Maybe this would be cool if you were reading it in 1975 and you could relate to the brands and tr...more
While this may not be my cup of tea - there are a couple of things specifically that bothered me about the book.
1. Many of the stories are firmly set in their era - the book was published in 1975 and you can tell by all of his branded references. Maybe this would be cool if you were reading it in 1975 and you could relate to the brands and tr...more
Dec 18, 2009
Mary JL
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
sf fans; fans of short stories, those seeking something "different"
Shelves:
main-sf-fantasy
Harlan Ellison is a passionate writer with a unique style. I've have read many of his story stories, including these in this book.
Like most of Ellison's work, these stories are aiming for an emotional effect. Ellison has a great deal of anger in some stories, also he has very little optimism.
I often think of this child's poem when I read Ellison: "There once was a girl And she had a curl Right in the middle of her forehead And when she was good, she was very, very good And when she was bad she w...more
Like most of Ellison's work, these stories are aiming for an emotional effect. Ellison has a great deal of anger in some stories, also he has very little optimism.
I often think of this child's poem when I read Ellison: "There once was a girl And she had a curl Right in the middle of her forehead And when she was good, she was very, very good And when she was bad she w...more
Harlan Ellison is one of my consistently favorite writers of all time. I have a rotating list of favorite writers in my top 10 list at any given time, mainly because I am always trying to read new authors, so from week to week the list is always different, but Ellison has always remained firmly at the top of that list, next to Mark Twain and William Shakespeare (who, to be honest, have occasionally been superseded by the latest "phase" authors that I am into. For example, I am currently in a Lee...more
I first read this book when I was probably around 15 years old, and it certainly changed my life forever. This collection of short stories presented a new way of thinking that I had not encountered before, and the reader is certainly rewarded to read the entire collection, for the last story is nothing if not mind-blowing.
The overall theme of the book (gods and belief) is one that I would not encounter again until I was introduced to Neil Gaiman's work, for Mr. Gaiman was also influenced by the...more
The overall theme of the book (gods and belief) is one that I would not encounter again until I was introduced to Neil Gaiman's work, for Mr. Gaiman was also influenced by the...more
As usual, Harlan Ellison's introduction to the book is just as fascinating as the stories themselves. He also included a disturbing quote:
"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 Heinlein, 1973
In my better moments, I see religion as humanity reaching for something that is THERE. Something that exists and is perfect, despite our imperfect understanding.
In my darker moments, I see religion the way Ell...more
"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 Heinlein, 1973
In my better moments, I see religion as humanity reaching for something that is THERE. Something that exists and is perfect, despite our imperfect understanding.
In my darker moments, I see religion the way Ell...more
for me this books represents one of those rare moments in life where you can point to a single instant and say, "that moment changed me".
i was around thirteen years old, and, as a lot of young teenagers, really struggling with Christianity, social expectations, parental smothering, etc. and so on. lets just say the box was feeling particularly small and i was feeling the squeeze.
enter a fateful trip to the local flea market/second hand emporium.
imagine a flea market booth so full of worthless i...more
i was around thirteen years old, and, as a lot of young teenagers, really struggling with Christianity, social expectations, parental smothering, etc. and so on. lets just say the box was feeling particularly small and i was feeling the squeeze.
enter a fateful trip to the local flea market/second hand emporium.
imagine a flea market booth so full of worthless i...more
I enjoy reading Harlan Ellison. This three star review is aimed strictly at the collection “Deathbird Stories”, and not directed at the author himself, as I will continue to read Ellison in the future. “Deathbird Stories” simply didn't do it for me. It was hit and miss. Half the stories moved me, inspired me, and the other half fell flat.
Take, for instance, "Shattered Like A Glass Goblin". I can only assume this story was a response to the time period in which it was written, when many American...more
Take, for instance, "Shattered Like A Glass Goblin". I can only assume this story was a response to the time period in which it was written, when many American...more
Writing a review for a book filled with short stories is trying. It’s difficult to judge the book as a whole. When it comes to writing a review for a book of short stories published before I was born… it becomes maddening.
It’s hard for me to establish the mindset that would have been rampant before my birth. I think this work should have been perceived as a great gathering of insight into the human mind and soul when it was published. Each of the stories was well written, but lacked indulging i...more
It’s hard for me to establish the mindset that would have been rampant before my birth. I think this work should have been perceived as a great gathering of insight into the human mind and soul when it was published. Each of the stories was well written, but lacked indulging i...more
Profane and unsettling, Deathbird Stories will stay with you long after it has collected dust on your bookshelf. Never apologetic, Harlan Ellison’s words resonate with passion and precision, taking the reader to a chaotic and godless view of who we are and where we will be. Deathbird Stories is the inkwell of our psyche; the altar of despair.
This was such a varied work. The message behind each story, the style of prose, and even the format changes wildly. The common thread is that they deal with gods - though often this is in a very imaginative, unique interpretation of the word.
The first story, 'The Whimper of Whipped Dogs', absolutely astounded me; it was so very unexpectedly brutal and blunt. I don't mean this in the sense that the clamorous gore of 'American Psycho' was brutal and blunt, but in that it depicts so viscerally the...more
The first story, 'The Whimper of Whipped Dogs', absolutely astounded me; it was so very unexpectedly brutal and blunt. I don't mean this in the sense that the clamorous gore of 'American Psycho' was brutal and blunt, but in that it depicts so viscerally the...more
Some of the stories were good, some were okay, and a few were terrible. The whole book does manage to keep its emotional intensity from beginning to end. Ellison's writing is shocking and vivid, and sometimes seemed like he threw in a few words from the thesaurus to seem smart, but that died down halfway through. Every story is a bit horrorific and terrible, but not necessarily depressing. Most are nihilistic or at least unhopeful, but a number end with a happy note through all of the pain and m...more
Deathbird Stories is a short story cycle surrounding the idea of gods new and old interacting with everyday America. Yeah, it wasn't Neil Gaiman's idea. Throughout all of the stories Ellison maintains a consistent dark energy in his narrative voice that grips the reader and drives the story forward. This beautiful and agressive style manages to keep even the less successful stories enjoyable.
Like any story collection, the quality varies, but Ellison (or his publishing company) is smart enough to...more
Like any story collection, the quality varies, but Ellison (or his publishing company) is smart enough to...more
A collection of fantasy stories.
The stories are supposedly connected God, gods, and religion. In reality, they cover lots of things: belief, power struggles, perception. I've liked a lot of Harlan Ellison's writing, but this collection was tough for me to get through. Most of the stories seemed like they had a singular basic point to make -- but the point is often trite, and the writing to get to that point was clumsy.
I know some people think these stories are dark, or insightful. I don't think...more
The stories are supposedly connected God, gods, and religion. In reality, they cover lots of things: belief, power struggles, perception. I've liked a lot of Harlan Ellison's writing, but this collection was tough for me to get through. Most of the stories seemed like they had a singular basic point to make -- but the point is often trite, and the writing to get to that point was clumsy.
I know some people think these stories are dark, or insightful. I don't think...more
Harlan Ellison is one of my favorite short story writers but his output can be inconsistent. Deathbird Stories is easily his finest collection. These works are unflinchingly cynical and brutally honest about the human condition yet it is apparent that the writer hopes that mankind will rise and find something about it that is noble. If there is one repeating theme it is that man must create gods for itself even though those gods always fail us. Ellison's warning that these stories should not be...more
Oct 04, 2011
!Tæmbuŝu
marked it as to-read
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
fantasy-scifi,
ebook-available
A masterpiece of bleak, modern not-quite-horror.
The Deathbird is a series of short stories that I damn near required all my friends and lovers to read. They are bleak, bitter, angry ... and fascinating. Like a car wreck you can't help but rubberneck at as you drive past it, Deathbird left me a little weak in the knees and sometimes, a little sick to my stomach from the emotional wreckage of the characters-- and the window they opened into my own psyche.
Read it alone, in a well-lit room.
Wait and...more
The Deathbird is a series of short stories that I damn near required all my friends and lovers to read. They are bleak, bitter, angry ... and fascinating. Like a car wreck you can't help but rubberneck at as you drive past it, Deathbird left me a little weak in the knees and sometimes, a little sick to my stomach from the emotional wreckage of the characters-- and the window they opened into my own psyche.
Read it alone, in a well-lit room.
Wait and...more
Harlan definitely has good writing but his ideas are much to be desired. Many of these stories are sick and disturbing - please don't read "Bleeding Stones". Like many authors of the 60s and 70s, his stories are influenced by the rampart use of DRUGS and violence. And because of this, a lot his ideas easily lose focus and never finish what he starts (maybe they make sense if you are under the influence). I don't really have a favorite in the book because I don't really identify with any of the t...more
I read this for 12 Grandmasters in 2012 challenge. I had heard of Ellison, of course. I know who he is, I’ve heard the rumors, the gossip, the cool talk about him. He’s rough. He’s crude. He’s a blazing asshole. He’s brilliant. This is, however, the first time I’ve actually read anything by him (of course I’ve seen things that he’s written screenplays for). He’s definitely unique, and I don’t think I’ve read anything that touches him.
This is a compilation of short stories, whose theme seems to b...more
This is a compilation of short stories, whose theme seems to b...more
Reading this left such a bad taste in my mouth. A couple of other reviewers here have mentioned that the stories are obviously a product of their time. That's true, in the same sense in which your racist, sexist grandad** is a product of his time. I was going to put a couple of short quotations here to illustrate how Ellison talks about (for instance) women and black people, but the first several that I thought of are so horrifyingly offensive that they'd violate the site's terms of use. I could...more
Dec 27, 2012
Mharper Harper
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
grand-masters-of-science-fiction
I really wanted to like this book because of Dangerous Visions series. Ellison's introductions and editor choices in that series make it rise above the ocean of S-F story collections.
The story based on the killing of Kitty Genovese, in which a girl was murdered in front of her neighbors that didn't help her- didn't even bother to phone the police, is a little hard to swallow. It reads more as someone who has certain ideas on the murder and about the city at large and tried to frame them into a...more
The story based on the killing of Kitty Genovese, in which a girl was murdered in front of her neighbors that didn't help her- didn't even bother to phone the police, is a little hard to swallow. It reads more as someone who has certain ideas on the murder and about the city at large and tried to frame them into a...more
Apr 18, 2012
Simon
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
short-story-collections,
2012-wwe-grand-master
I didn't know quite what to expect from this volume, especially after reading the author's caveat at the beginning:
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.
Not that this is an issue for me, I never read books in one sitting. But after finishing these stories I can see what the author means and agree that it is not...more
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.
Not that this is an issue for me, I never read books in one sitting. But after finishing these stories I can see what the author means and agree that it is not...more
Harlan Ellison provides us with a pantheon of new gods for the modern age and - after we have been assaulted, kicked, lectured at, enlightened, kicked some more (this time when we're down), astounded, offended, unsettled, dazzled, and kicked again - we realise that there are good stories, there are great stories, and then there are Harlan Ellison stories.
Ellison's gods are, perhaps, the ones we deserve in this modern world of ours. Gods of random violence, of social alienation, of war crimes, of...more
Ellison's gods are, perhaps, the ones we deserve in this modern world of ours. Gods of random violence, of social alienation, of war crimes, of...more
I read about half of the short stories in this collection before I had to return the book to the library. I would have kept it longer, but it was an ILL, so no go. A lot of them were terribly violent, and almost none of them were optimistic, but they all had a vitality that kept me turning the pages. Sections out the short stories "The Deathbird," and "Basilisk" truly awed me. The theme of the book was modern and future gods, and what may have become of old ones. The first story was about a god...more
http://nhw.livejournal.com/903992.html[return][return]A 1975 collection of stories by Ellison (mostly published elsewhere previously) loosely linked by themes of godhood and religion. Ellison's sheer pride in his work is a bit overwhelming; he warns the reader not to do the whole book in one sitting, as "the emotional content of these stories, taken without break, may be extremely upsetting". I dunno. What I felt was that the style was unrelentingly similar, and that the misogyny was off-putting...more
Picked this off my shelves after watching Harlan Ellison: Dreams with Sharp Teeth on Netflix streaming - was surprised to learn Neil Gaiman was friends w/ Ellison.
I think this is a re-read for me, but am not quite sure, as I've read & own multiple anthologies/compilations of Ellison's work. I know I've read "Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes" before & "Along the Scenic Route" also seemed familiar - perhaps anthologized in Car Sinister.
Is it just me, or is Ellison's work feel dated at times to ot...more
I think this is a re-read for me, but am not quite sure, as I've read & own multiple anthologies/compilations of Ellison's work. I know I've read "Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes" before & "Along the Scenic Route" also seemed familiar - perhaps anthologized in Car Sinister.
Is it just me, or is Ellison's work feel dated at times to ot...more
This book has three stories out of eighteen that I enjoyed... They were "The Whimper of Whipped Dogs," "Paingod," and "Deathbird." All of the others ranged from boring to uninteresting. Ellison has a cynicism to most of his stories that I found really off-putting. Also, his characters and themes are so firmly rooted in the 70s that they have little to offer a modern audience. ONce again this is with the exception of the about three which were interesting in different ways.
"The Whimper of Whipped...more
"The Whimper of Whipped...more
Overall, I enjoyed Harlan Ellison's writing in this collection. Almost all of the social commentary aspects of his stories still hold up well today. And few authors can create macabre imagery like he can (and I do read quite a bit of horror). However, I found most of his depictions of women to be sorely lacking and one-dimensional, even in the few stories where they were the main character or one of the main characters. The women are either completely spineless, or they are completely manipulati...more
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Harlan Jay Ellison is a prolific American writer of short stories, novellas, teleplays, essays, and criticism. His literary and television work has received many awards. He wrote for the original series of both The Outer Limits and Star Trek as well as The Alfred Hitchcock Hour; edited the multiple-award-winning short story anthology series Dangerous Visions; and served as creative consultant/writ...more
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“Posing the question: does the god of love use underarm deodorant, vaginal spray and fluoride toothpaste?”
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