I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream

I understand this book has made a  historical change in the way the world see sci-fi horror but it just wasn't a very enjoyable read for me. I read half the stories, and obviously the iconic one which is the title of this book but I feel no motivation to read the rest.

written like a true spastic

- this guy does NOT like women

- liked i have no mouth and world of myth

- big sam was lame

- did not pay attention to eyes of dust

asked alexa to turn on the audiobook..

I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream- I read this so long ago and didn't really think it was that great. The IHNMAIMS audio has been making it's rounds on tiktok AND Harlan Ellison was in the episode of Scooby-Doo I was watching. No, Seriously! The episode is called “The Shrieking Madness” in the mystery incorporated series. So, I thought I would read it again and a few others.

It's much better on my second read, probably because I'm older and the current state of AI makes this story particularly more impactful. The conversations we are having about AI now and that development ages this really well. I've even seen AM's monologue been put on tiktok's text to voice feature and that completely captured me - it got me thinking about a more modern day version of this (aside from maybe portal). It's big topic right now, which is why I think this is connecting with a lot of people.
Combining sort of religious perspective and a cynical kindness ending really it what makes this story a big draw for me.

Harlan Ellison's hatred to everyone isn't really apparent to me completely here because our particular characters have be tortured so long - it kind of makes since they will not be at their best or think their best about each other. However, the more I read the more tiresome this take starts to get in his other works.

Big Sam Was My Friend - A space circus story. A teleport person choosing death - this seems like he had the premise but not a great follow up with the story. imo

Eyes of Dust - Pretty privilege, but by someone who hates everyone. I loved the explanation of the government of planet spends more on cosmetics than educations. I thought it was really an interesting idea to make beauty a branch of the government.

World of the Myth- Telepathic space ants. - this one was my least favorite.

Lonelyache- Harlan Ellison going through a hard divorce and you can tell.

Delusion for a Dragon Slayer-

Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes -

this is how it feels driving to work every morning.

The world if I don't say "Thank you" to ChatGPT after every question I ask it.

It was definitely... something

Ellison manages to really depict his eerie, slimy, distorted visuals in this body horror meets mental anguish psychological horror short. All in all, not as disgusting as I had expected, but a brisk intriguing read regardless.

достаточно просто, но страшно. написано отрывочно, передает состояние персонажей. отсылки на данте и страх перед идеей ИИ тоже выглядят более менее к месту.

it was a really cool idea and scary at the same time almost all of the time reading it I was expecting and intrigued but I wasn't enough for me I expected something longer but it was a good history again good but short

I have no brain and I must think

This collection of short sci-fi stories (almost always dark and depressing) left me with a mixed taste after I finished it.
The titular short story is one of the best sci-fi stories I've ever read, period (tied, for me, with The Last Question by Asimov). It makes HAL, from Kubrick's 2001:A Space Odyssey look like a cuddly teddy bear in comparison. Since all of them are extremely short stories, any detail will just be a spoiler, but let's just say Ellison attention to mental torture is much more unsettling than it has any right to be.
The rest of the stories are all over the place, much to my disappointment, the best amongst them being ‘Delusion of a Dragon Slayer', which describes a person for whom heaven is hell, and the worst being ‘Eyes of Dust', which is just plain boring, and has a premise which intends to shock but just dulls instead.
What struck me after finishing the work though, were three things.
Firstly, Ellison is a magnificent writer, with his writing, prose and his ideas making him a sheer delight to read.
Secondly, Ellison has one of the worst egos I've ever encountered in writing, and his ego practically oozes from every word of the story (along with not-quite-humble remarks in his prefaces to every story, in which he describes himself as a magnificent ‘man of Stature', whatever that means). If egoistic writing is unsuited to your tastes, it's not a bad idea to skip this.
Thirdly, Ellison is also the brand of extreme misogynist that would be labelled as an incel nowadays. If there are any women in the story, you can rest assured that nothing good will happen to them (even considering he writes dark tales, the fates of women in his stories range from bad to horrific). His prefaces are littered with women being treated as objects again and again, and at some point you want to just tell him to get on with the story. His three-page preface to his last story straight up said that his story was based on a woman he met in Vegas (guess what - the woman has a bad ending, and gets a good ending by manipulating the naive man).
So there's a lot of good (prose, ideas, wackiness) and a lot of bad (misogyny, ego). If you can stomach the bad, this is a beautiful sci-fi collection.

I have only read the titular story, likely the greatest one. It was a terrific springboard for stories on human suffering, the nature of hell and loneliness.

Sadistic machine
you broke his favorite toys
suffer in silence.

A completely haunting and surreal read.

Even though this book is composed of several short stories, the titular story “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream” is a fucking trip.

First read this when I was pretty young after first being exposed to this work from an old video game.

I don’t typically care for sci-fi anything really but this story blew me away. It’s sick and disturbing but in such a provocative way.

I have to reread soon.

5 STARS

I grabbed this one off the shelf because I was on my way to Comic Con and I wanted a lightweight paperback to read in and out of various queues. I first read it at least 10 years ago, and I've been a Harlan Ellison fan ever since. The way he weaves a story in a very limited number of pages is mystifying, and it's easy to see why he remains a king of SFF short stories.

The only story that really stuck with me through the years is the title one. I remember being absolutely terrified the first time, and the added years of personal experience coupled with acceleration in the field of artificial intelligence make this story relevant even long after the Cold War that inspired it. While I have mixed feelings on the way women are treated in this story and others (misogynist characters to don't make a misogynist writer, but they are deeply troubling), I think their core stands the test of time.

A common theme in this collection is death and what happens after. From the deathless prisoners in the title story, to the afterlife challenge of “Delusions of a Dragon Slayer” to the tragic tale of Maggie Moneyeyes and the men who follow her, each story shows Ellison approaching the idea of death from a different angle, no two interpretations alike. It's a remarkable degree of variation on one of the oldest themes in literature.

I've been away from Ellison for a while, but rereading this collection makes me want to dig out a few more. Summer means lots of quick trips where a good short story is the brain's best friend.

A collection of horror/sci-fi short stories. The title story is excellent and most of the rest very good. Visceral writing.