The Time of the Eye

Ellison's collection Alone Against Tomorrow was divided by Panther (in Britain) into two collections: All the Sounds of Fear and this one. I bought this in order to go with my copy of the former (the first Ellison book I ever actually owned).

"Are You Listening?" and "Try a Dull Knife" are in the collection The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World, which I've already read, and "O Ye of Little Faith" is in Deathbird Stories, which is my favourite book by him and was consumed beforehand, so considering what remains:

"In Lonely Lands" is a fairly dull and dusty tale of planetary colonisation that never really gets going and whose overall meaning is obscure to say the least.

"Eyes of Dust" is a disturbing tale of parental abuse set on an alien world, and is fairly effective even if, to be honest, it needed another edit.

"Nothing for My Noon Meal" is a very "Analog" tale of survival and interstellar colonisation (again), but it was also heartfelt and enjoyable.

"The Time of the Eye" is completely different from all the other stories and stands out as probably the best in the collection. Set in a mental hospital, it lacks speculative content, and instead focuses on a PTSD-suffering Korean War veteran and his unfortunate dalliance with a beautiful young woman involved in a cannibalistic cult.

"Life Hutch" is a very welcome return (for me anyway) to the universe in which one of my favourite Ellison tales, "Run for the Stars", is set. A space adventure story, and fairly riveting at that.

"The Very Last Day of a Good Woman" is the weakest story in the collection, which Ellison wrote as basically filler for a men's mag (and boy, it shows).

"Night Vigil" is also fairly dull and nonsensical, being a story of a man doomed to spend his life watching out for intergalactic invaders.

"Lonelyache" is also very different from the others, being mostly a 'dirty realist' story of an intelligent but bum-ish man whose wife leaves him (obviously based on the author's real life experiences), and whose humiliation and anger grows into real existence as a bedroom-dwelling monster (or, maybe not). It's one of the best here.

Finally we get to "Pennies, Off a Dead Man's Eyes", a story of segregated America and a strange being just trying to survive and honour his saviour: a black Baptist preacher murdered in a racist terrorist attack. It really gives "The Time of the Eye" a run for its money.

All in all, if you see it, pick it up, its worth your time, but if you're still new to Ellison, there's no better intro than it's companion volume, married with The Beast That... collection.