Partners in Wonder: SF collaborations with 14 other wild talents

1971

As the title suggests, it's work by Ellison and others: Robert Bloch, Ben Bova, Algis Budrys, Avram Davidson, Samuel R. Delany, Joe L. Hensley, Keith Laumer, William Rotsler, Robert Sheckley, Robert Silverberg, Henry Slesar, Theodore Sturgeon, A.E. Van Vogt and Roger Zelazny. Some were literally jointly written; in others, the authors do variations on a theme or supply alternate endings.

Best reason to read Partners in Wonder: the chilling twin tales "A Toy for Juliette" and "The Prowler in the City at the Edge of the World" by Bloch and Ellison, respectively. (Both also appeared in Dangerous Visions, and "Prowler" was featured in Over the Edge, originally published just a few months earlier.) The section to avoid is "The Kong Papers," a collection of trite cartoon gags sketched by Rotsler.

Contents

• Introduction: Sons of Janus
• I See a Man Sitting on a Chair, and the Chair is Biting his Leg (with Robert Sheckley)
• Brillo (with Ben Bova)
• A Toy for Juliette (by Robert Bloch)
• The Prowler in the City at the Edge of the World
• Scherzo for Schizoids: Notes on a Collaboration
• Up Christopher to Madness (with Avram Davidson)
• Runesmith (with Theodore Sturgeon)
• Rodney Parish for Hire (with Joe L. Hensley)
• The Kong Papers (with William Rotsler)
• The Human Operators (with A.E. Van Vogt)
• Survivor #1 (with Henry Slezar)
• The Power of the Nail (with Samuel R. Delaney)
• Wonderbird (with Algis Budrys)
• The Song the Zombie Sang (with Robert Silverberg)
• Street Scene (with Keith Laumer)
• Come to Me Not in Winter's White (with Roger Zelazny)

  (Note: Each of the collaborations in this collection is preceded by an introduction by Ellison, except for "Up Christopher to Madness," which has both an introduction by Avram Davidson and an introductory essay, "Scherzo for Schizoids," by Ellison.)