Dangerous Visions

Dangerous Visions is an anthology of science fiction short stories edited by Harlan Ellison and published in 1967. It gathers thirty-three original stories, none previously published, each accompanied by illustrations from Leo and Diane Dillon, and it is widely regarded as one of the most influential collections in the genre during the twentieth century. Its appearance coincided with the rise of the New Wave movement, whose ideas it helped to define.

The book set out to address subjects that the magazines of the period treated as taboo, such as sex and race relations, and to approach them with a literary seriousness greater than the genre usually offered. For this reason it is often credited with changing the way many readers understood science fiction. The roster of contributors reads like a catalogue of the decade's leading names. Ellison introduced the volume both collectively and through individual introductions, while each author wrote an afterword to their own story. Two forewords by Isaac Asimov open the book.

The anthology won a considerable number of awards. Fritz Leiber's "Gonna Roll the Bones" received both the Hugo and the Nebula for best novelette; Philip K. Dick's "Faith of Our Fathers" was a Hugo nominee in the same category; Philip José Farmer tied for the Hugo for best novella with "Riders of the Purple Wage"; and Samuel R. Delany won the Nebula for best short story with "Aye, and Gomorrah". Ellison also received a special citation at the 26th World Science Fiction Convention for editing the most significant and controversial science fiction book of 1967.

A larger sequel, Again, Dangerous Visions, followed in 1972 but did not achieve the same impact. A third volume, The Last Dangerous Visions, was announced for many years and had already acquired stories, yet it never appeared in Ellison's lifetime, and it has since become a legend as science fiction's most famous unpublished book.