"Greatest Hits" by Harlan Ellison

If measured by the short stories I enjoyed the most, this is the best book I’ve ever read. If measured by the stories I barely managed to stumble through, then it would be one of my least favorite pieces of media. It’s with that in mind that I’d wholeheartedly recommend this book, because the stories that I enjoyed were good enough that I still appreciated the stories which I did not.

“I have no Mouth and I Must Scream” is perhaps one of the most haunting, and well known, but it was just one of many stories in the collection that stuck with me. “Shatterday”, “The Deathbird”, “Jeffty is Five”, and “All the Lies that Are my Life” were particular standouts, with each deserving an honest and thorough dissection on their own.

I cannot be bothered, so instead I will just highlight my favorite story from the collection: “Paladin of the Lost Hour”. It was genuinely heartwarming and emotional in a way that I hadn’t expected, its impact emphasized and compounded by the melancholy and horror that surrounds it. As soon as I finished it, I knew that it would stick with me— and that it would be my favorite story in the book.