Approaching Oblivion

Approaching Oblivion
	First edition
Author	Harlan Ellison
Cover artist	Leo and Diane Dillon
Language	English
Genre	short stories
Publisher	Walker and Company
Publication date	1974
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (hardcover)
Pages	238
ISBN	0-8027-5541-0
OCLC	1134441

Approaching Oblivion is a collection of eleven short stories by American author Harlan Ellison. They had appeared in various magazines throughout the early 1970s with the exceptions of "Paulie Charmed the Sleeping Woman" which originally appeared in 1962 and "Ecowareness" which was previously unpublished.

According to the author's introduction, the book was originally conceived in 1970 as a call to action that would contain cautionary tales from Ellison's previous books. Over the ensuing protracted gestation period of four years, however, Harlan Ellison's personal outlook had gradually changed. This resulted in the inclusion of previously uncollected stories with underlying themes of disillusionment and futility in rebelling. Classic examples along these lines are the dystopian "Knox" and "Silent in Gehenna". Other notable stories include "One Life, Furnished in Early Poverty" which depicts a man meeting a younger version of himself as a child and finding himself unable to ease the pains of his own childhood. The encounter begins at Lathrop Grade School in Painesville, Ohio where the author himself attended elementary school and experienced many emotionally painful and physically brutal encounters with antisemitic prejudice recounted in the introduction.

The foreword by fiction author Michael Crichton paints a picture of Ellison as an energetic, eclectic, uncompromising, and sometimes obstinate individual. It also describes the resistance and resentment felt by many of the people who have worked with Ellison in the movie business.

v t e Harlan Ellison
Bibliography
Novels and novellas	Web of the City Spider Kiss A Boy and His Dog Mefisto in Onyx
Short story collections	The Deadly Streets Gentleman Junkie and Other Stories of the Hung-Up Generation Ellison Wonderland Paingod and Other Delusions Love Ain't Nothing But Sex Misspelled The Beast that Shouted Love at the Heart of the World Alone Against Tomorrow Approaching Oblivion Deathbird Stories No Doors, No Windows Strange Wine Shatterday Stalking the Nightmare Angry Candy Slippage Can & Can'tankerous
Short stories	”Adrift Just Off the Islets of Langerhans” “The Beast that Shouted Love at The Heart of the World” “Croatoan” “The Deathbird” “The Discarded” “The Dragon on the Bookshelf” “From A to Z, in the Chocolate Alphabet” “The Function of Dream Sleep” “How Interesting: A Tiny Man” “How's the Night Life on Cissalda?” “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream” “Jeffty Is Five” “Paladin of the Lost Hour” “The Prowler in the City at the Edge of the World” “"Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman” “Soldier from Tomorrow” “The Whimper of Whipped Dogs”
Collaborations	Phoenix Without Ashes Mind Fields
Television work	"Soldier" "Demon with a Glass Hand" "The City on the Edge of Forever" "Paladin of the Lost Hour" "Gramma" "Crazy as a Soup Sandwich" "A View from the Gallery" "Objects in Motion"
Consultant	Babylon 5 The Gathering In the Beginning Thirdspace The River of Souls A Call to Arms
Adaptations	I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream "The Human Operators" "One Life, Furnished in Early Poverty" "Shatterday" A Boy and His Dog (1975 film) "Djinn, No Chaser"
Anthologies edited	Dangerous Visions Again, Dangerous Visions Medea: Harlan's World The Last Dangerous Visions
Non-fiction	Memos from Purgatory The Glass Teat & The Other Glass Teat Harlan Ellison's Watching The Harlan Ellison Hornbook

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