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Find sources: "Approaching Oblivion" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (April 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message) Approaching Oblivion First edition Author Harlan Ellison Cover artist Leo and Diane Dillon Language English Genre short stories Publisher Walker and Company Publication date 1974 Publication place United States Media type Print (hardcover) Pages 238 ISBN 0-8027-5541-0 OCLC 1134441 ***Approaching Oblivion*** is a collection of eleven short stories by American author [Harlan Ellison](/source/Harlan_Ellison).[1] They had appeared in various magazines throughout the early 1970s with the exceptions of "Paulie Charmed the Sleeping Woman" which originally appeared in 1962 and "Ecowareness" which was previously unpublished. According to the author's introduction, the book was originally conceived in 1970 as a call to action that would contain cautionary tales from Ellison's previous books. Over the ensuing protracted gestation period of four years, however, Harlan Ellison's personal outlook had gradually changed. This resulted in the inclusion of previously uncollected stories with underlying themes of disillusionment and futility in rebelling. Classic examples along these lines are the [dystopian](/source/Dystopian) "Knox" and "Silent in Gehenna". Other notable stories include "One Life, Furnished in Early Poverty" which depicts a man meeting a younger version of himself as a child and finding himself unable to ease the pains of his own childhood. The encounter begins at Lathrop Grade School in [Painesville, Ohio](/source/Painesville%2C_Ohio) where the author himself attended elementary school and experienced many emotionally painful and physically brutal encounters with [antisemitic](/source/Antisemitic) prejudice recounted in the introduction. The foreword by fiction author [Michael Crichton](/source/Michael_Crichton) paints a picture of Ellison as an energetic, eclectic, uncompromising, and sometimes obstinate individual. It also describes the resistance and resentment felt by many of the people who have worked with Ellison in the movie business. ## Contents - "Forward: Approaching Ellison" by [Michael Crichton](/source/Michael_Crichton) - Introduction: "Reaping the Whirlwind" - "Knox" - "Cold Friend" - "Kiss of Fire" - "Paulie Charmed the Sleeping Woman" - "I'm Looking for Kadak" - "Silent in Gehenna" - "Erotophobia" - "One Life, Furnished in Early Poverty" - "Ecowareness" - "Catman" - "Hindsight:480 Seconds" ## References 1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ["Approaching Oblivion: Road Signs on the Treadmill Toward Tomorrow | ISBNdb"](https://isbndb.com/book/0802755410). *isbndb.com*. Retrieved April 6, 2025. 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" "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" Adaptations I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream "Shatterday" A Boy and His Dog (1975 film) 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 Related The Voice From the Edge --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Approaching Oblivion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Approaching_Oblivion) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Approaching_Oblivion?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). 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