Can & Can'tankerous

Can & Can'tankerous

Author	Harlan Ellison
Language	English
Genre	Speculative fiction
Publisher	Subterranean Press[1]
Publication date	December 31, 2015[2]
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print
Pages	236[1]
ISBN	978-1-59606-751-6
Preceded by	The Last Person To Marry A Duck Lived 300 Years Ago

Can & Can'tankerous is a 2015 collection of previously uncollected short stories written by Harlan Ellison.^[1] The collection includes the story "How Interesting: A Tiny Man", which won the 2011 Nebula Award for Best Short Story alongside "Ponies" by Kij Johnson.^[3] The collection was edited by Jason Davis and includes an introduction to the story "Loose Cannon" written by Neil Gaiman.

Contents

• "How Interesting: A Tiny Man"

Originally published in Realms of Fantasy, February 2010 issue. Also reprinted in 2010 in Unrepentant: A Celebration of the Writings of Harlan Ellison, edited by Robert T. Garcia.

• "Never Send to Know for Whom the Lettuce Wilts"

First published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, January 2002 issue. A heavily revised, expanded and retitled version of an Ellison story originally published in 1956. It was also included in the 2001 reprint collection Troublemakers.

• "Objects of Desire in the Mirror are Closer than They Appear"

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, October/November 1999. Later included in the 2001 revised and expanded edition of The Essential Ellison.

• "Harlan Ellison's Loose Cannon" (800-word introduction by Neil Gaiman)
• "Loose Cannon; or, Rubber Ducks from Space"

Amazing Stories, issue 603, 2004. A 200-word piece of flash fiction, written as part of the magazine's series of 1,000 words inspired by a painting.

• "From A to Z, in the Sarsaparilla Alphabet"

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, February 2001. Later included in Deathbird Stories: Expanded Edition, released in 2011 by Subterranean Press.^[4]

• "Weariness"

Published in Shadow Show: All New Stories in Celebration of Ray Bradbury (2012).

• "The Toad Prince; or, Sex Queen of the Martian Pleasure-Domes"

Amazing Stories issue 600, 1999. A novelette that, according to the author's afterword, was originally written in the early 1990s. Reprinted the same year in Realms of Fantasy (August 2001).

• "Incognita, Inc."

Hemispheres, the Inflight Magazine of United Airlines, January 2001 issue. Also reprinted in 2001 in The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Fourteenth Annual Collection, edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling and, in 2007, in Summer Chills, edited by Stephen Jones.

• "Goodbye to All That"

Appeared in McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales, a 2002 anthology edited by Michael Chabon. Originally written in the mid-1990s for the Harlan Ellison's Dream Corridor comic series but not included at the time due to a publication hiatus, it was finally incorporated into the series in March 2007 as part of Harlan Ellison's Dream Corridor: Volume Two.

• "He Who Grew Up Reading Sherlock Holmes"

Published in Subterranean Magazine, The Final Issue, August 2014, online.

References

1. Sheehan, Jason (January 2, 2016). "Harlan Ellison Returns With A 'Can'tankerous' New Collection". NPR.
2. n/a (2015-12-10). "Fiction Book Review: Can & Can'takerous". publishersweekly.com. Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 2017-04-05.
3. n/a. "2011 Nebula Awards". isfdb.org. Internet Science Fiction Database. Retrieved 2017-04-05.
4. Deathbird Stories (expanded edition, 2011) publication contents at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database