Mary JL's Reviews > Deathbird Stories

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 was horrid" For me the last two lines are exactly how I feel about his work. When he hits, it's dead on--but when he misses, for me, it is a complete miss.

I seldom feel "so so" about his stories; I like them or I hate them.

But, Ellison is a unique and widespread influence in science fiction; you owe it to yourself to read at least one collection of his short stories.