I'm giving it five stars even though the two books in this omnibus are only three (Spider Kiss) and four stars (Stalking the Nightmare), just for the fact that the two books are excellent alone and are bundled together in a pretty nice package. Some top-notch genre-bending fiction and some good non-fiction is included here.

There are few cosmetic problems for a limited hardcover edition like this: typos, and text layout. The typos are less than Edgeworks #1 [b:Over the Edge/An Edge in My Voice|332274|Over the Edge/An Edge in My Voice (Edgeworks 1)|Harlan Ellison|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1173822197s/332274.jpg|1407442] but more than there should be. The flyleaf mars the white back of the dustjacket. These Edgeworks jackets however are some of the most stunning and original I've ever seen; somehow perfectly capturing the essence of two very different books. ( )

Edgeworks was a projected series of twenty definitive volumes comprising the complete works of Harlan Ellison. Only four were ever published. This first volume contains Over the Edge (originially published 1970) and An Edge in My Voice (originally published 1985).

Over the Edge is a collection of stories and a few essays. I read this part of the book several years ago, so my memory of most of its contents is fuzzy. However, I do remember "Xenogenesis," Ellison's shocking expose of science fiction fandom; it's pretty hard to forget. There used to be a ridiculous but persistent rumor that Ellison had once dropped a fan down an elevator shaft at a convention. After you read this piece, you wouldn't have blamed him if he had.

On the other hand, I've just finished An Edge in My Voice, a collection of editorial columns written for Future Life and later L.A. Weekly from 1981-1983. Ellison writes with passion about the ERA, NRA, the Middle East conflict, the moral majority, censorship, creationism and a myriad of other topics. Sadly, not much has changed since the chilly Reagan years; right-wing ignorance, misinformation and anti-intellectualism are still drowning out reason across the board. These writings are as relevant today as they were thirty years ago; only some of the names have changed. Someone needs to pick up the rights to this book and reprint it. People need to read it.

Harlan Ellison: writer, activist, conscience of a nation. We're going to miss him when he's gone. ( )