I’ve been avoiding work today by surfing the net, and as a result have a couple of things I’m curious about. And, as always, someone on the Straight Dope knows the answers! So here goes:
Last Dangerous Visions Yes, I know this is the great unpublished masterpiece. (I remember reading DV and A,DV in the library, and arguing with the librarian about why the clearly discussed third volume hadn’t been ordered.) I ran across this article by Christopher Priest which seemed to be a rather objective statement of known facts. However, he seems to have stopped updating it around 1994. What’s the deal? Is this generally acknowleged as correct? Is it a complete fabrication? And has Ellison ever publicly admitted that LDV will never be published?
2)Teresa Nielsen Hayden/Robert Jordan I was poking around the archives at Making Light . Someone posted a comment/question about Jordan and how his books have gotten worse since his wife started editing them. Someone else commented that poster 1 had a lot of nerve, posting about Jordan on TNH’s blog. Shortly after, TNH responded, saying that Mrs. Jordan (whose name I forget) is a very skilled, knowlegable editor, and speaking professionally, she has nothing but respect for her. She then said that just because she had answered this comment should not be taken as permission for anyone to ask any more questions about Jordan.
So, there seems to be some unpleasantness between them, and it seems to be pretty public and widely known, but I don’t know it, and I’m curious. What happened?
Things stand pretty much the same with The Last Dangerous Visions as they have for the last thirty years. It hasn’t come out, no new stories are being solicited for it (apparently), no official statement has appeared saying that it won’t come out, Ellison isn’t doing any work on editing it (apparently), and Ellison doesn’t talk about it. There’s every reason to believe that the stories that Ellison has collected will stay in his possession till he dies without ever getting published.
Well, the point of Priest’s article is that Ellison was soliciting new material and also talking about it at conventions and in interviews all the time, so if he has stopped soliciting or talking, that’s a change. No one I know actually thinks it will be published. It seems to me that the ethical thing to do would be to return the stories to their authors, and let them re-write them, try to sell them elsewhere, or whatever. Hs Ellison ever talked about doing that?
Ellison has allowed writers to withdraw stories from TLDV for many years. A few have.
Most don’t, however, for the simple reason that the stories are probably now totally unpublishable. They were purchased in the early 1970s, at the height of the psychedelic postmodern weird-for-the-sake-weird era in sf. I know many of the writers whose first or very early stories were purchased and I thought that a lot of what they were doing was utter crap then, and would look hideous today.
Some of the bigger names undoubtedly did major stories, but again they would likely be in styles that they’ve abandoned decades ago and so hardly representative of what they want to public to see.
Ellison, BTW, managed to take back and resell the book two or three times, so the writers got paid two or three times for those stories, another reason why they’ve stayed loyal. Even besides the public bad-mouthing he would do of anyone who withdrew a story.
And I don’t believe for a moment that he was actively soliciting new material as late as 1994. Priest wrote that article in 1987, and the project had been dead for years by then. Ellison may have had one of his well-known enthusiasms for a writer after that time but I would be surprised if that involved more than one, possibly two people.
I usually defend Ellison against the moronic accusations hurled at him on the Internet by people who haven’t known him in person. (Not you, The Punkyova. You asked a polite and legitimate question.) However, I can’t comprehend how he could have screwed this project up so badly, and how he could have hurt so many people while doing so. There has to be a explanation that probably won’t be made public until after he dies, but it better be a damn good one.
Exapno, thanks for the reply. I have no strong feelings on Ellison one way or the other. I remember the Enemies/Victims of Ellison v. Friends of Ellison spat a while back, and it seemed to me from the stories I heard that he is either the best friend you could ever wish for, or the enemy of your worst nightmares, with almost no middle ground. Having never met him, I don’t feel like I should make any judgments here. It does seem, though, that he grossly mishandled this whole thing. I agree, the explanation had better be good!
In the meantime, what about the second question? Does anyone know anything? I know there are plenty of people with opinions on Jordan. Maybe I should repost this question in a couple of days with a title that references Jordan.
> Well, the point of Priest’s article is that Ellison was soliciting new material and
> also talking about it at conventions and in interviews all the time, so if he has
> stopped soliciting or talking, that’s a change.
Ellison quit soliciting new stories and talking about the anthology (except when pushed to by a questioner) about two decades ago.
Exapno Mapcase writes:
> However, I can’t comprehend how he could have screwed this project up so
> badly, and how he could have hurt so many people while doing so.
The Punkyova writes:
> I remember the Enemies/Victims of Ellison v. Friends of Ellison spat a while back,
> and it seemed to me from the stories I heard that he is either the best friend
> you could ever wish for, or the enemy of your worst nightmares, with almost no
> middle ground.
And you can go instantaneously from being his best friend to being his worst enemy by defying him on any small thing. He has no idea of how to deal with people on any ordinary basis. If you don’t agree with him, he turns on you immediately. He got himself into this mess with the anthology because he doesn’t even comprehend how offensive it is to other people.