Deal Me In, Week 41 ~ “Goodbye to All That”

Hosted by Jay @ Bibliophilopolis

“Goodbye to All That” by Harlan Ellison

Card picked: Ten of Spades

From: McSweeney’s Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales, ed. by Michael Chabon

Thoughts: Coleman is searching for the Core of Unquenchable Perfection. The Intellectual Center of the Universe. The Foci of Conjunctive Simultaneity. In lesser words, Shangri-la. Just when he thinks that he will die during a Himalayan storm, the weather calms and he sees above him

…what appeared to be a golden structure rising from the summit, its shape a reassuring and infinitely calming sweep of dual archlike parabolas.

Before Coleman is the ultimate test. One wrong word and the wisdom of ages will be withheld from him. The custodians also want to know, would Coleman like that super-sized?

“Goodbye to All That” is not a standout piece by Ellison, but it is far from being the least enjoyable story in this anthology. Trivia: Ronald Coleman played the lead in the 1937 film adaptation of The Lost Horizon, the novel which originated Shangri-la.