Paingod and Other Delusions

Short story collection by Harlan Ellison

Paingod and Other Delusions
First edition cover
Author	Harlan Ellison
Cover artist	Jack Gaughan
Language	English
Genre	Science fiction
Publisher	Pyramid Books
Publication date	1965
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (paperback)
Pages	178
ISBN	0-515-03646-3
OCLC	4317819

Paingod and Other Delusions is a collection of short stories by American writer Harlan Ellison. It was originally published in paperback in 1965 by Pyramid Books. Pyramid reissued the collection four times over the next fifteen years, with a new introduction added for a uniform edition of Ellison books in 1975. Ace Books issued an edition in 1983. The collection's only hardcover edition is The Fantasies of Harlan Ellison, which compiles it together with Ellison's "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream".

The general theme that runs through each of these stories is the rejection of the establishment and the fight of the individual against a corrupt authority. "Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman", winner of the 1966 Hugo Award, the 1965 Nebula Award and the 2015 Prometheus Hall of Fame Award, as well as being one of the most reprinted stories in the English language, "Wanted In Surgery", and "The Crackpots" are particularly famous examples of this theme in Ellison's work.

Introduction (1965): "Spero Meliora: From the Vicinity of Alienation"
New Introduction (1975 and later editions): "Your Basic Crown of Thorns"
"Paingod"
""Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman"
"The Crackpots"
"Sleeping Dogs"
"Bright Eyes"
"The Discarded"
"Wanted In Surgery"
"Deeper Than the Darkness"

Reception

Spider Robinson, reviewing the 1975 reissue, noted that the stories came from an early stage of Ellison's career, describing the concepts as "striking and brilliant" but finding that "the craft, the execution of those ideas, might best be described as impulsive".

References

ISFDB bibliography
"Galaxy Bookshelf", Galaxy Science Fiction, July 1977, p.93

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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