{"id":881,"date":"2023-09-28T07:13:18","date_gmt":"2023-09-28T15:13:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thejasondavis.com\/?post_type=product&p=881"},"modified":"2024-03-18T11:35:39","modified_gmt":"2024-03-18T19:35:39","slug":"can-cantankerous-by-harlan-ellison-subterranean-press-2015-trade-hardcover","status":"publish","type":"product","link":"https:\/\/www.thejasondavis.com\/product\/can-cantankerous-by-harlan-ellison-subterranean-press-2015-trade-hardcover\/","title":{"rendered":"Can & Can’tankerous by Harlan Ellison (Subterranean Press, 2015) – Trade Hardcover"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThis hefty and impressive collection from one of SF\u2019s leading authors showcases Ellison\u2019s versatility. Ellison can go from anguished to zany in an instant… Ellison seems somewhat mellower here than in the past, but his writing still memorable grabs and bites.\u201d –\u00a0PUBLISHERS WEEKLY<\/strong><\/p>\n

From the 1999 Chris Carter-prompted sf-noir, \u201cObjects of Desire in the Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear,\u201d to last year\u2019s enigmatic blend of fact and fiction, \u201cHe Who Grew Up Reading Sherlock Holmes,\u201d CAN & CAN\u2019TANKEROUS gathers ten previously uncollected tales from the fifth and sixth decades of Harlan Ellison\u2019s professional writing career, a work-in-progress now encompassing over 100 books.<\/p>\n

In the eighteen years since his last all-new collection, SLIPPAGE, Ellison\u2019s continued to expand the frontiers of his inimitable oeuvre with tales that force his readers\u2019 imaginations to the edge of conception while simultaneously plumbing the depths of their souls: a second entry in his (now) ongoing abcedarian sequence; a \u201clost\u201d pulp tale re-cast as a retro-fable; a melancholy meditation for departed friend and fellow speculative fiction legend, Ray Bradbury; a 2001 revision of a 1956 original; an absurdist ascent toward enlightenment (or its gluten-free substitute); a 200-word exercise in not following the directions as written (with a special introduction by Neil Gaiman that weighs in at four times the word count of its subject); a fantastical lament for a bottom-line world; and\u2014at no extra cost\u2014the 2011 Nebula Award-winning short story \u201cHow Interesting: A Tiny Man.\u201d<\/p>\n

Strokes be damned! Ellison\u2019s still here! HE\u2019s still writing! And with more new books published in the last ten years than any preceding decade of his career, his third act is proving to be the kind other living legends envy.<\/p>\n

Edited by Jason Davis.<\/p>\n

Contents:<\/strong>
\nHow Interesting: A Tiny Man [2011 Nebula Award, Best Short Story]
\nNever Send to Know for Whom the Lettuce Wilts
\nObjects of Desire in the Mirror Are Closer than They Appear
\nIntroduction to \u201cLoose Cannon\u201d by Neil Gaiman
\nLoose Cannon, or Rubber Duckies from Space
\nFrom A to Z, in the Sarsaparilla Alphabet
\nWeariness
\nThe Toad Prince, or, Sex Queen of the Martian Pleasure-Domes
\nIncognita, Inc.
\nGoodbye to All That
\nHe Who Grew Up Reading Sherlock Holmes<\/p>\n

7.25\u2033 x 10.25\u2033 Trade Hardcover with Dust Jacket and Two-Color Printing, 235pp. ISBN: 9781596067516. <\/em>Original Price: $45.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Harlan Ellison has been compared to an annoying gnat, a no-see \u2019em buzzing in your peripheral vision till you try to swat him, and he\u2019s gone.<\/p>\n

The great English writer Michael Moorcock\u2014and if his name does not leave you dumbstruck with awe, you should move on\u2014called Ellison a \u201cfox in the sf hen-coop\u201d whose presence will \u201cproduce a brighter, faster hen, with improved survival characteristics, laying a tastier, more nourishing egg\u201d and went on to say Ellison was \u201ca brave and lively little beast, who makes a great show of himself to the hounds, but remains too wary ever to lead them to his lair.\u201d<\/p>\n

The brilliant novelist Joanna Russ, in admiring frustration, opined that Ellison\u2019s stories \u201chave an assault on you,\u201d but complained that \u201cthey\u2019re not like a piece of sculpture that you can stop and walk around and look at from all sides.\u201d Ellison\u2019s reply: \u201cAbsolutely not; I want them to grab you by the throat and tear off parts of your body.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ellison\u2019s a double agent who lures you into the bush, and when you blink, he\u2019s gone; you don\u2019t know whether to turn left or right, or just dig a hole. He crafts enigmas set to entrap you. When Ellison sees where a story is going, he figures\u2014since he\u2019s writing for the smartest readers alive\u2014you do, too. So he stops and turns left. Or right. Or widdershins. Or digs a cave with 200 tunnels.<\/p>\n

Can & Can\u2019tankerous<\/em>\u00a0gathers ten previously uncollected tales from the fifth and sixth decades of Harlan Ellison\u2019s professional writing career: a written-in-the-window endeavor that invites re-reading from the start before you\u2019ve even finished it; a second entry in his (now) ongoing abcedarian sequence; a \u201clost\u201d pulp tale re-cast as a retro-fable; a melancholy meditation for departed friend and fellow legend, Ray Bradbury; a 2001 revision of a 1956 original; an absurdist ascent toward enlightenment (or its gluten-free substitute); a 200-word exercise in not following the directions as written (with a special introduction by Neil Gaiman that weighs in at four times the word count of its subject); a fantastical lament for a bottom-line world; the 2011 Nebula Award-winning short story; and Ellison\u2019s most recent offering, a fusion of fact and fiction that calls to mind Russ\u2019s frustration and Moorcock\u2019s metaphor while offering a solution to the story\u2019s enigma in plain view.<\/p>\n

Strokes be damned! Ellison\u2019s still here! HE\u2019s still writing! And with more new books published in the last ten years than any preceding decade of his career, his third act is proving to be the kind other living legends envy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":882,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"off","neve_meta_content_width":100,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"product_cat":[60],"product_tag":[68],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thejasondavis.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/881"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thejasondavis.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thejasondavis.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/product"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejasondavis.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=881"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejasondavis.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thejasondavis.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejasondavis.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat?post=881"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejasondavis.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_tag?post=881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}