I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream and Other Works

By: Harlan Ellison

Narrated by: Luis Moreno

The following books are included: Paingod and Other Delusions, I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream, and From the Land of Fear.

©2021 Harlan Ellison (P)2021 Recorded Books

I had not heard of Harlan Ellison before this.

I had zero idea what I was getting into with this book. I added it after seeing/hearing something about the title at work and downloaded it, forgot about it and then listened to it. I should not have waited. This book of short stories was a solid listen.

The unbridled imagination of a cantankerous mind

Harlan Ellison (1934-2018) was a loudmouth. He was combative (or call it outspoken) - about just about everything. His attack-mode seems to have been the default (and sometimes that also led to physical altercations). Call him brutally honest, or garrulous, or stuck-up, or abrasive or cantankerous … he was all of that and more and, from what I’ve read and seen, I think all of that friction actually supercharged him into writing, according to his own calculation, around 1’800 stories, essays and scripts.

When you look up the word ‘prolific’ you’ll likely find a picture of Harlan Ellison next to it. Well, you’ll probably see a picture of Isaac Asimov first - but Harlan Ellison would be right there with him. Ellison is not as known as Asimov (who is currently introduced to a new generation with Apple TV’s awesome Foundation series) … but if you’ve never heard of him, he’s definitely worth discovering.

This collection of short stories attest to Ellison’s exuberant - and dark - imagination. Not all stories will equally grab you - but they are all truly rich in creative power, insight and language. No doubt among the most famous ones are ‘I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream’ (a nightmarish trip if ever there was one) and ‘Repent, Harlequin! Said the Ticktockman’ (a dystopian future story about time, control and freedom). He wrote stories about a god whose job is to deliver pain and suffering (Paingod), about crazy peple who are actually geniuses (The Crackpots), the end of humanity (Bright Eyes), genetically deformed humans exiled on a spaceship (The Discarded), a world where surgery is exclusively done by machines (Wanted in Surgery), about a ghost in a Vegas slot machine (Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes) and ever so much more. The width and breadth of the man’s imagination was staggering - for us readers/listeners, it's often mind-expanding.

Really good

Good stories with amazing narrator. Really solid overall, would highly recommend listening to the whole thing however just browsing and finding a story you would like is something that would definitely happen.

good but..

the same reason I will not buy a brave New world on audible I've heard at the very least I have no mouth and I must scream being narrated by the original author I thought the original was a far better edition not to say that this narrator was bad by any means but they're simply something lost when you compared to each other

Classic Sci Fi from a Master

Great stories from an accomplished Sci-Fi writer. I only wish they had all been read by the author, his narration was much better than Luis Moreno’s.