author : Harlan Ellison

Contents

• Larry Niven. The Jigsaw Man. 1967

• Philip Jose Farmer. Riders of the Purple Wage. 1967

• Fritz Leiber. Gonna Roll the Bones. 1967

• Carol Emshwiller. Sex and/or Mr Morrison. 1967

• Poul Anderson. Eutopia. 1967

• Philip K. Dick. Faith of Our Fathers. 1967

• Robert Silverberg. Flies. 1967

• Roger Zelazny. Auto-Da-Fe. 1967

• Frederik Pohl. The Day After the Day the Martians Came. == The Day the Martians Came. 1967

• Lester del Rey. Evensong. 1967

• Miriam Allen DeFord. The Malley System. 1967

• Robert Bloch. A Toy for Juliette. 1967

• The Prowler in the City at the Edge of the World. 1967

• Brian W. Aldiss. The Night that All Time Broke Out. 1967

• Howard Rodman. The Man Who Went to the Moon --- Twice. 1967

• Joe L. Hensley. Lord Randy, My Son. 1967

• David R. Bunch. Incident in Moderan. 1967

• David R. Bunch. The Escaping. 1967

• James Cross. The Doll-House. 1967

• Damon Knight. Shall the Dust Praise Thee?. 1967

• Theodore Sturgeon. If All Men Were Brothers, Would You Let One Marry Your Sister?. 1967

• Larry Eisenberg. Whatt Happened to Auguste Clarot?. 1967

• Henry Slesar. Ersatz. 1967

• Sonya Dorman. Go, Go, Go, Said the Bird. 1967

• John Sladek. The Happy Breed. 1967

• Jonathan Brand. Encounter With a Hick. 1967

• Kris Neville. From the Government Printing Office. 1967

• R. A. Lafferty. Land of the Great Horses. 1967

• J. G. Ballard. The Recognition. 1967

• John Brunner. Judas. 1967

• Keith Laumer. Test to Desruction. 1967

• Norman Spinrad. Carcinoma Angels. 1967

• Samuel R. Delany. Aye, and Gomorrah.... 1967

Contents

• The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World. 1968

• Try a Dull Knife. 1968

• Are You Listening?. 1958

• The Waves in Rio. 1969

• Phoenix. == Phoenix Land. 1968

• Asleep: With Still Hands. == The Sleeper With Still Hands. 1968

• Santa Claus vs S.P.I.D.E.R.. 1968

• The Pitll Pawob Division. == The Pawob Division. 1968

• White on White. 1968

• Run for the Stars. 1957

• S.R.O.. 1957

• Worlds to Kill. 1969

• A Boy and His Dog. 1969

Contents

• Michael Crichton. Approaching Ellison. 1974

• Reaping the Whirlwind. 1974

• Knox. 1974

• Cold Friend. 1973

• Kiss of Fire. 1972

• Paulie Charmed the Sleeping Woman. 1962

• I'm Looking for Kadak. 1974

• Silent in Gehenna. 1971

• Erotophobia. 1971

• One Life, Furnished in Early Poverty. 1970

• Ecowareness. 1974

• Catman. 1974

• Hindsight: 480 Seconds. 1973

Anyone who knows anything about ST:TOS knows that fans consistently give the 'best episode' vote to the Hugo Award winning "The City on the Edge of Forever", by Harlan Ellison. Anyone who knows even a little more knows that Harlan Ellison was ... unhappy ... with the episode as aired, and that he and Gene Roddenberry ... disagreed ... over some of the historical details.

In this book, Ellison puts his side of the story, forcefully, pungently, and backed up by documentary evidence. He also includes the script as he originally wrote it, which was the version that won the Writers Guild of America Award for best teleplay, to let the reader see for themselves what changed.

I see three major changes that mangle the logic and depth of the story. Firstly, eliding the character of Trooper affects the depth. Secondly, in the original, the character who changed the timeline by saving Edith Keeler was not a temporarily demented McCoy, but a rotten-apple drug-dealing Starfleet officer. (No, not Scotty.) So the act that unintentionally dooms the world, the act that has to be prevented, is ironically a single out-of-character selfless moment by an otherwise evil person. Thirdly, in the original, Kirk fails to stop that act, because of his great love for Edith Keeler, and it is Spock who has to step in and save the universe.

It seems that two of these changes were made because no Starfleet officer could possibly be evil, and because Kirk could not possibly fail to be perfect. If that were all, the only problem would be the viewers' loss, that the episode was reworked into something so much less than it could have been. But, reading Ellison's story, it seems that there was an attempt to rewrite history, too, and snatch credit where credit wasn't due. This is shocking stuff, but essential reading for anyone who wants to know how things really are, not how things are retrofitted by deifiers.

Contents

• Pennies, Off a Dead Man's Eyes. 1969

• Try a Dull Knife. 1968

• Night Vigil. == Yellow Streak Hero. 1957

• The Time of the Eye. 1959

• Life Hutch. 1956

• Eyes of Dust. 1959

• In Lonely Lands. 1959

• Nothing for My Noon Meal. 1958

• Are You Listening?. 1958

• O Ye of Little Faith. 1968

• Lonelyache. 1964

• The Very Last Day of a Good Woman. == The Last Day. 1958