Sleepless Nights in the Procrustean Bed: Essays

Edited by Marty Clark
1984

Ellison's first mostly new compilation of essays in nearly a decade, and well worth the wait. Intended as a cross-section of the author's nonfiction writings in all their variety -- travelogue, media criticism, literary exploration, personal musing -- it succeeds on every level.

"Revealed at Last!" the introduction from the short-story collection Strange Wine, is here again; so is "A Love Song to Jerry Falwell," an expansion of "Blood/Thoughts," the introduction to the story anthology No Doors, No Windows. Most if not all of the rest appear here for the first time in book form.

If there's one book to introduce as evidence of Ellison's essay-writing mastery, this is it.

Contents

• Editor's Introduction (by Marty Clark)
• You Don't Me, I Don't Know You
• Stealing Tomorrow
• Down the Rabbit-Hole to TV-Land
• Revealed at Last! What Killed the Dinosaurs! And You Don't Look So Terrific Yourself
• Epiphany
• Rolling Dat Ole Debbil Electronic Stone
• A Love Song to Jerry Falwell
• Science Fiction: Turning Reality Inside-Out
• Defeating the Green Slime
• How You Stupidly Blew $15 Million a Week, Avoided Having an Adenoid-Shaped Swimming Pool in Your Back Yard, Missed the Opportunity to Have a Mutually Destructive Love Affair with Clint Eastwood and/or Raquel Welch, and Otherwise Pissed Me Off
• Fear Not Your Enemies
• Face-Down in Gloria Swanson's Swimming Pool
• From Alabamy, with Hate
• Leiber: A Few Too Few Words
• Serita Rosenthal Ellison: A Eulogy
• Centerpunching
• Voe Doe Dee Oh Doe
• Robert Silverberg: An Appreciation
• Cheap Thrills on the Road to Hell
• True Love: Groping for the Holy Grail
• Notes
• Index