Wow. Just found out about this. Weird, cause I was wondering how Ellison re-read today, and how his angry-young-old-man schtick stacks up today. I enjoyed all of his street stuff, as well as his sci-fi and fantasy growing up. Towards the end, I actually looked forward to his intros and editorials more than the fiction. Definitely a mover-and-shaker with the New Wave of SF.

Kicks, huh? Wow, small world, man...

Yeah, Stag Preston was based on Elvis and Jerry Lee. Apparently, they had Elvis slated for the role for a film version but canned it because they thought it would destroy his rep. Pulling a Train is good - early stuff - but still proves why and how Ellison is a master. 

You are right on with the Schitzles ref, too. 

Just burned through e-book Spider Kiss. Author's intro said it was originally released as a Gold Medal book entitled Rockabilly in 1961. Interesting subtext about the hipster phenomenon back then. On another note, Schitzles Der Cat from the recent Bibliodiscoteque podcast reminds me of the unholy offspring of Rat Fink and Krazy Kat. Cool stuff. Now I have to order Pulling a Train to support Kicks Books. 

Bibliodiscoteque said:

Ellison not only went that far back, he actually joined the gang, got initiated, was in a rumble, and then, when he left to resume his life, was arrested and served time in the Tombs in NYC. 

Check out Web of the City as well and, if you haven't already, you should read Spiderkiss...the only work of fiction in the Rock''n'Roll Hall of Fame.

Ellison not only went that far back, he actually joined the gang, got initiated, was in a rumble, and then, when he left to resume his life, was arrested and served time in the Tombs in NYC. 

Check out Web of the City as well and, if you haven't already, you should read Spiderkiss...the only work of fiction in the Rock''n'Roll Hall of Fame.

I did not know Harlan Ellison went so far back. William S. Burroughs' Junkie was 1953 so I guess Ellison was pretty young when writing for the men's mags. I enjoyed Ellison's Deathbird Stories (1975) and the ending to the film A Boy and His Dog (based upon an Ellison short story then novella apparently) is one of the most sardonic in the history of film.

Sun Ra's great......

Makes me think of Blackboard Jungle :):):)


KICKS BOOKS PRESENTS HARLAN ELLISON!

Kicks Books NYC prepares for fireworks with its publication of the controversial collection PULLING A TRAIN, the explosive first volume of twisted early street fiction from noted scribe HARLAN ELLISON. 

Known worldwide for his landmark speculative fiction, Cleveland-born ELLISON initially rumbled onto the newsstands hell-bent for leather-- jackets, that is, and zipguns, and shivs, and brass knuckles, and all the accoutrements necessary for basic teen gang violence circa 1957. 

Inspired as a teenager in seeing a familiar placement of consonants in the byline of author Hal Ellson's novel DUKE, young Ellison began pecking out his own gritty tales about street kids, the forgotten flotsam of society. 

With a taste for printers ink, he would soon be selling stories with a vengeance to crime digests like Guilty, Trapped, Terror, and Web Detective Stories,  and men's magazines including Rogue, Caper, and Knave. Sometimes he used his given name, but most often, he traveled incognito onto the newsstands, passing as Ellis Hart, Derry Tiger, Cordwainer Bird, Lee Archer, and many more.  

A paperback collection of his street-wise crime tales saw proper issue in 1959 as THE DEADLY STREETS, as did his groundbreaking first novel RUMBLE, written from first person experience when Ellison (using his nom de guerre, Cheech Beldone) passed initiations into a pack of under-age Red Hook pagans on the Brooklyn waterfront. 

Also in 1959, a brown-paper wrapper collection of his men's magazine stories turned up unannounced (and under the counter) as the paperback SEX GANG,  the title of its novella-length lead story. The set of eleven stories was credited to "Paul Merchant", and went unclaimed by Ellison for decades.

Over the years, all of Ellison's books have enjoyed reissue, over and over again, and numerous collections of his short fiction have continued to see print. His adult-audience material, however, has remained unavailable-- until today.

For the uninitiated, we recommend consumption in very small doses. A damp towel and bed rest may be necessary. 

For the lively set, prepare to blast into orbit with blade-wielding ferocity as Ellison takes you into a cobblestone wilderness fraught with hate and violence, a street level cosmos where shadowy creatures are hard, and blunt, and malicious, and where hope hangs a shingle that reads, "GET LOST".

In the realm of 1950's juvenile delinquent fiction, it was Ellison who dragged the unnamed genre from the gentle hands of the social workers into a filthy basement, where he worked it over, with great satisfaction, into an alternate universe of hate and pain. Ellison is the king of JD fiction. Of this, there can be no debate.

PULLING A TRAIN by Harlan Ellison (KB4) Kicks Books, NYC. 176 pages. Publication date: May 27, 2012 $14.95 ISBN 978-09659777-5-3 Order NOW!