Let’s take a trip back in time, shall we?
Back in the 1950s and early 1960s, the digests magazines, successors to the pulps, might have had racy covers (although not generally as racy as the pulps), but their content was pretty tame.
Along comes a young man named Harlan Ellison. Ellison was something of a troublemaker. I’m not trying to be disparaging by thay statement. He himself said as much on numverous occasions.
Ellison, along with some other writers, Silverberg comes to mind, felt that there were too many taboos in science fiction. This was before fantasy became the publishing juggernaut it is today. So in 1967, Ellison edited an anthology entitled Dangerous Visions. In it, Ellison published stories that were supposed to break the taboos of the day. Dangerous stories. Visionary stories.
Hence the title.
Dangerous Visions may have been groundbreaking for its time. I can’t say with any certainty because I wasn’t old enough to read back then.
I did read it about twenty years ago, as part of a reading group, and I found it to be mostly, well, humdrum. Over a quarter century had passed since the book’s publication and the time I read it, so that wasn’t surprising.
I didn’t find many of the stories to be that dangerous anymore, although I can see how they would have been back in 1967. For the remaining few, my response was mostly, “Yuck. Did you really have to go there?”
The book was met with critical and commercial succes. Five years later Ellison followed it up with Again, Dangerous Visions. I’ve got a copy of the two volume paperback edition, but I’ve not read it.
Things had loosened up in five years, and the visions weren’t as dangerous as they may have once been, even if the title of one of the stories did mention wanting to have unlawful carnal knowledge with Ronald Reagan. This was long before he became President. Both books received hardcover treatment and were selections of the Science Fiction Book Club. A few stories went on to win awards. Most have been forgotten today. They simply aren’t that transgressive anymore.
There was supposed to be a Last Dangerous Visions, but let’s not go there. It’s beyond the scope of this post. Entire books have been written on that subject. You’ve probably read a number of the stories that were slated to be included, since many of the contributors eventually pulled their stories in order to see them in print.
The point of these anthologies was that science fiction should push boundaries and make people uncomfortable. As a general rule, I don’t really have a problem with that idea, there are some boundaries and taboos that shouldn’t be broken and some lines that shouldn’t be crossed. Normalizing things like paedophilia is not something I will ever condone.
Fast forward to NOW. Time travel is over.
Let’s take a quick survey of things in the science fiction and fantasy fields for a moment. While fantasy wasn’t really included in Dangerous Visions, it can’t be ignored now. Fantasy outsells science fiction these days. By a lot.
How dangerous are today’s visions? What taboos are there?
On the one hand, there aren’t a lot left. On the other, there are plenty.
You can’t say anything that might offend someone. I realize there are exceptions to this, but I’m speaking in general terms here. There are certain demmographics that shouldn’t shown in a negative light or else you’re a bigot and exhibiting some type of “ism”. Never mind that people are not widgets. There are good people and bad people in most demographics.
That’s why people have senstivity readers. So they don’t write something that might be considered offensive.
Give me a break.
Writers should be able to write what they want. Let the market decide if their works are worth reading.
What much of traditional publishing is doing is creating literary safe spaces. Disagreeement is violence. I have to have a trigger warning. You hurt my feelings.
Grow up, people. Stop being a bunch of pansies.
That’s why I’m glad the indie author movement is going strong and shows no signs of stopping. We have no gatekeepers to tell us what to write. And our visions can be very dangerous.
We live in weird times.
I remember not to long ago on a comics message board somebody bemoaning the fact that writer Bill Willingham of the excellent comic Fables was a conservative because “conservatives were for censorship.” I made some sarcastic comment like “Not like good old Joseph Stalin.” It was sarcasm not a real argument, but Stalin, a left winger, was obviously big on censorship. He replied I “proved that conservatives were for censorship.” He apparently did not understand what “proved” meant. He’s probably out trying to cancel someone now.
Ellison was a big left winger, but I’d like to think he would have been appalled by what’s going on. He seemed honestly for free speech. A lot of people are only for free speech only when they agree with what is being said.
Weird times for sure. So many argumentss these days boil down to I don’t like it, so you are wrong. Actual rules of logic and evidence don’t come into play.
And I agree with you about Ellison. I’ve read quite a bit of his nonfiction and essays. Free speech was one of the hills he seemed willing to plant a flag on.
As for the Last Dangerous Visions–JMS is Ellison’s executor and is publishing, at long last, a version of LDV. We’ll see how much it resembles Ellison’s original.
Also, you may want to check out Andrew Fox’s Hazardous Imaginings and Again, Hazardous Imaginings. (Full disclosure: I have a story in the 2nd one). I can certainly say there are topics in there I wouldn’t have the nerve to write about.
I knew JMS was Ellison’s executor and was going to be bringing his work back into print. He announced on Twitter/X yesterday that Harlan Ellison’s Greatest Hits was up for preorder. It looks to be a “Best of” type of collection. The Zon doesn’t list the full ToC, but it looks like I already have at least most of the stories in it. I’ll probably get the ebook.
I didn’t know he was going to relase LDV. The ToC of that book has changed over the years, and a number of authors have either pulled their storeis or threatened to sue if it was published. I’ll keep an eye out for it.
And thanks for the tip on Hazardous Imaginings and Again, Hazardous Imaginings. I’ll pick them up.
Such timing . . . JMS just announced the pub date for LDV. 10/1/24.
https://www.blackstoneindie.com/the-last-dangerous-visions-fyhm.html
Perfect. Thanks for the link.
I read Dangerous Visions in the early 70s, when it was first published over here in Britain. I was a teenager, then and devouring whatever science fiction and fantasy I could get my hands on. I have to say that I was underwhelmed. Dangerous Visions had done its job by breaking down the boundaries so that some five or six years later these stories just didn’t seem that over the top.
Yes, the restrictions dropped very quickly once they started dropping.
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