The Top of the Volcano Kindle Edition

Looking for a top shelf fiction that ISN'T formulaic? Look no further than THE TOP OF THE VOLCANO!"A Boy and His Dog" is set in an apocalyptic future wherein a telepathic dog named Blood has formed a symbiotic relationship with a survivalist "rover solo" named Vic. "The Whimper of Whipped Dogs", a story that mixes crime fiction with dark, urban fantasy, uses the horrific real-life murder of Kitty Genovese as its starting point. "Adrift Just Off the Islets of Langerhans" is a tale of existential longing and soulful searching that involves one Lawrence Talbot (a man with a decidedly dual personality) and Victor Frankenstein. A Midwestern man discovers his childhood friend literally never grew up in, "Jeffty is Five". A homeless woman who has suffered a horrendous loss crosses paths with a mobster in "Soft Monkey". And a man's incalculable pain from the death of friends and loved ones takes a physical form that must be dealt with in "The Function of Dream Sleep".The stories herein run the gamut from science fiction to fantasy and crime fiction; hard-boiled, light-hearted and surrealist post modernist. There's even one story -- "The Region Between" -- that, because of the illustrations necessary to its telling, qualifies as "graphic novel" fiction.Harlan Ellison made his bones as a writer of genre fiction, but he also made a mark on the mainstream fiction field (influencing guys like James Ellroy, Neil Gaiman and Michael Chabon), and the stories in this collection show why. Not a dull piece in the nearly two dozen titles. THE TOP OF THE VOLCANO is DEFINITELY an Essential volume of Ellison fiction!Sciinne

Harlan Ellison is one of my favorites, and these stories are some of his best. However, as a Kindle product, this isn't great. The story 'The Region Between' is not in standard Kindle format, but appears to be a 'fixed size' PDF or other graphic format. You can only view it at full page size. I use the Kindle to upsize text so I can read, and the format for this story doesn't allow changeable fonts or re-sizing at all.

It has been decades since I last read or reread Harlan Ellison and that is far too long. To call what he writes science fiction is to name a world by its islands. Ellison's fiction is experimental and old school, horrific and tender, forgiving and merciless, profoundly serious and wickedly snarky. This collection of prize-winning "stories" contains some of the best work of a truly great writer. But be careful. There will be no return to where you once were.

Harlan Ellison has been one of my favorite authors since high school. Reading this collection brought back memories from every decade of my life. He has one of the most unique styles of telling the story. If you're not familiar with him, buy this book. If you're an old fan but it's been a while since you've read his stuff, Buy this book.

best of the best, always provocative, every story is new and different, all of them extraordinarily well written, this is a book any fan of good writing should read, if you also are on with SCI, horror or fantasy the better reason to go for it.

Harlan Ellison is one of my all time favorite author and he does not disappoint in this collection of short stories. I had read most of them as a young woman and am pleased to have them again in kindle form. Many hours of pleasant reading. Looking forward to rereading this one again.

This collection found me. Laughing , crying and contemplating at the absurdities of living . Where his words walk we will examine the imprint.

This is a re-purchase of an old classic from an enfante terrible' of the 1960s. It can take a little effort on the part of the reader to make sense of these stories but there is a reward for the effort.