This Book Needs No Introduction By Harlan Ellison

It needs no introduction because it is a book of nothing BUT introductions (and, to be fair, a few afterwords, prefaces, and similar such front- and back-matters). Given that I've published so many non-fiction collections filled with various Ellison introductions, you may well wonder, "What qualifies an intro to end up in THIS book rather than, say, FOE or WHY DO YOU CALL ME ISHMAEL WHEN YOU KNOW MY NAME IS BERNIE?" (Both of those essay collections are available for pre-order at HarlanEllisonBooks.com, by the way - order early to avoid disappointment!) THIS book is pretty much comprised of introductions that aren't terribly standalone, the sort of introductions where Harlan specifically discussed the content of whatever he was introducing in such a way that the reader might be annoyed at not being able to turn to page 45 to see the picture Harlan just described.Yes, THIS BOOK NEEDS NO INTRODUCTION by Harlan Ellison can be an annoying book in that respect, but this is a Preservation Project - we're going to have to annoy SOMEONE! What sort of introductions are we talking here? We're talking "lost" introductions to Ellison books like SPACEMAN ALONE (the book was never published), A TOUCH OF INFINITY (the book has never been reprinted), the second and third volumes of the paperback edition of DANGEROUS VISIONS, the UK-only collection TIME OF THE EYE, THE ILLUSTRATED ELLISON, the Swedish collection ENSAMVARK OCH ANDRA BERATTELSER (which incorporates the intro to the omnibus collection DREAMS WITH SHARP TEETH), JOKES WITHOUT PUNCHLINES (which borders on illegible in the printed version), and the Estonian collection KOLETIS, KES KUULUTAS ARMASTUST MAAILMA SUDAMES. There are also introductions to books by Gerald Kersh, Richard E. Geis, Michael Perkins, James Sutherland, Arthur Byron Cover, Terry Carr, Bruce Sterling, Richard A. Lupoff, Terry Dowling, Roberta Lannes, Jacques Futrelle, and a handful of artists Harlan admired. If you're one of those people who pitch Ellison books to your friends by saying, "Harlan's introductions are even better than his stories," this is the one for you.