The Last Deadloss Visions by Christopher Priest

This book length essay, available on multiple sites via an Internet search, is about the non-publication of The Last Dangerous Visions, vilifying Harlan Ellison as an Editor who started the project in the 1970s and never managed to get it published before he died in 2018.

His promotion of the anthology became a sad joke within the writing community, especially with writers not getting their manuscripts back when commitments from publishers failed, for whatever reason, to result in publication.  I think it sad that the publishers did not find alternative ways to produce the project, even if it meant producing multiple books for timeliness.  There could have been More Last Dangerous Visions, Last Dangerous Visions Again, etc. (just like the five volumes of the Hitchhiker Trilogy by Douglas Adams).

Personally, I am a huge fan of Ellison’s work.  I don’t include his incomplete projects in this opinion just like I don’t include any other writer/editor’s projects that have not come to fruition.  While I do know the frustration of waiting extraordinarily long times to hear back on whether or not a manuscript has been accepted, it’s simply part of a writer’s life.  For those writers who have been fortunate to hear quickly on their manuscripts, accepted or rejected, congratulations on your wonderful luck.

In July of 2022, Blackstone Publishing announced that Last Dangerous Visions will be released September 1, 2024.

Only time will tell if the ultimate anthology of science fiction will occur before the end of the Earth.