First published in 1967 and re-issued in 1983, I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream contains seven stories with copyrights ranging from 1958 through 1967. This edition contains the original introduction by Theodore Sturgeon and the original foreword by Harlan Ellison, along with a brief update comment by Ellison that was added in the 1983 edition. Among Ellison's more famous stories, two consistently noted as among his very best ever are the title story and the volume's concluding one, Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes.
Since Ellison himself strongly resists categorization of his work, we won't call them science fiction, or SF, or speculative fiction or horror or anything else except compelling reading experiences that are sui generis. They could only have been written by Harlan Ellison and they are incomparably original.
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[Limp, the body of Gorrister hung from the pink palette; unsupported - hanging high above us in the computer chamber; and it did not shiver in the chill, oily breeze that blew eternally through the main cavern - I HAVE NO MOUTH & I MUST SCREAM]***
(Open Road Media, 29 April 2014, first published 1958, 152 pages, ebook, borrowed from @AmazonKindle via #PrimeReading)
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I've been a huge fan of Ellison since I read his story collection, Strange Wine (recommended by Stephen King) years ago. The stories in I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream are very different from Strange Wine. Strange Wine offers purely horror tales while these stories are more science fiction / fantasy. I enjoyed every story in this collection. The title story is one of the strongest, very dark and breathtakingly original. It disturbed the hell out of me. Ellison wrote many more stories so I will definitely check more of them out.
