Последние Опасные Видения: История Незавершенного Сборника

Unpublished science fiction short story anthology

The Last Dangerous Visions (often abbreviated TLDV, sometimes LDV) is an unpublished original speculative fiction anthology intended to follow Dangerous Visions (1967) and Again, Dangerous Visions (1972). Like its predecessors, it was edited by American author Harlan Ellison, with introductions to be provided by him. Ellison died in 2018 with the anthology unfinished. On November 13, 2020, the Ellison estate's executor J. Michael Straczynski announced his intention to publish it. In 2022 it was purchased by Blackstone Publishers and is planned for publication in September 2024.

The third anthology was started but, controversially, has yet to be finished. It has become something of a legend in science fiction as the genre's most famous unpublished book. It was originally announced for publication in 1973, but has not seen print fifty years later. Ellison came under criticism for his treatment of some writers who sold their stories to him, estimated to number around 120. Many of these writers have since died. British author Christopher Priest, whose story "An Infinite Summer" had been commissioned for TLDV in 1974 and withdrawn after four months without any response, wrote a lengthy critique of Ellison's failure to complete the project. It was first published by Priest in 1987 as The Last Deadloss Visions, a pun on the title of Priest's fanzine Deadloss where it appeared. It proved so popular that it had two more editions, expanded with reader letters and other events, later in 1987 and 1988. In 1994 it was further expanded as The Book on the Edge of Forever (an allusion to Ellison's Star Trek episode, "The City on the Edge of Forever") from American publisher Fantagraphics Books, this was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Related Work. Priest also released the final draft online. On June 28, 2018, Ellison died, with the anthology still unfinished.

On November 13, 2020, the Ellison estate's executor J. Michael Straczynski announced that he would oversee the project to publish the book. Straczynski's volume will not include withdrawn stories nor stories "overtaken by real world events", so the final length is just a sixth of the originally intended, but will include new stories from major contemporary science fiction writers as well as work from new authors, including one story from an unpublished writer. The book will conclude with "one last, significant work by Harlan which has never been published" which "ties directly into the reason why The Last Dangerous Visions has taken so long to come to light." The stories will be organized by theme and accompanied by artwork from Tim Kirk (who had been commissioned in the 1970s). The rights to all stories not used will revert to the authors. In the initial announcement, Straczynski stated his intention to market the book to publishers in March/April 2021. He then reported sending the finished manuscript to an agent on September 26, 2021, with an updated word count of 112,000. On July 10, 2022, Straczynski announced on Twitter that The Last Dangerous Visions will be published on September 1, 2024, by Blackstone Publishers.

The contents of The Last Dangerous Visions were announced on several occasions, beginning in the January 1973 issue #7 of the semiprozine Alien Critic. Stories were being added, dropped, or substituted between each announced version. The most complete version was announced in 1979; listed were 113 stories by 102 authors, to be collected in three volumes.

It was announced in the April 1979 issue of the Locus magazine that the anthology had been sold to Berkley Books, which planned to publish the 645,000 words of fiction in three volumes. A table of contents was published in the June 1979 issue (#222). Story titles are followed by an approximate word count (note that the totals given do not match the sum of individual stories; Ellison may have added his introductions to each volume). Authors marked with a '†' have died since submitting their work to Ellison. Stories marked with a '‡' have been published elsewhere by the author or their estate.

The following nine stories were not in the 1979 list but are listed in previous published contents, or known as submitted to Ellison – as Ellison kept on acquiring new stories long into the 1980s, this is the case with most of them. "Where Are They Now?" by Steven Bryan Bieler was sold to LDV in 1984 and withdrawn in 1988. "The Great Forest Lawn Clearance Sale: Hurry Last Days!" by Stephen Dedman, according to the author's website. "Squad D" by Stephen King was submitted to LDV in the late 1970s, but reportedly not accepted in its initial draft. "How Dobbstown Was Saved" by Bob Leman was sold to LDV in 1981. "The Swastika Setup" (10,000 words) by Michael Moorcock was withdrawn and replaced by "The Murderer's Song" between the 1973 and 1979 lists (see also below); it was published in a 1972 magazine and a 1976 collection The Lives and Times of Jerry Cornelius. "An Infinite Summer" by Christopher Priest was commissioned, ignored and withdrawn in 1974 and published in 1976. "The Sibling" by Kit Reed† was originally sold to LDV and published in 2011. "The Isle of Sinbad" (10,000 words) by Thomas N. Scortia† was listed in the 1973 Alien Critic but not in the Locus 1979 list. "A Thin Silver Line" by Steve Rasnic Tem was announced as "forthcoming in The Last Dangerous Visions" in 1994.