This work by the late Harlan Ellison is a combination of a new prequel of A Boy and His Dog and a screenplay he created for it. This is an expansion on the groundbreaking story that put Harlan Ellison on the map and would inspire other post-apocalyptic sci-fi. However, it isn't for me. I never liked the story. It was backward and misogynist and terrible even a long time ago. I like how the dog is the only civilized creature, but the rest is too predictable. Give me I have No Moutna nd I must Scream or Tik Tok Man any day.

I was reading both this book, and one other book by Harlan Ellison, when Harlan passed away. While I am always reading more than one book at a time, it's rare that I am reading more than one by the same author (that other book is Ellison's original teleplay of "City on the Edge of Forever" ... review to come), so there was some strange sort of kismet happening here for me.

<em>Blood's a Rover</em> is a collection of stories featuring Vic and Blood, together chronologically so that they tell a novel-length story. Perhaps Ellison's most famous short story is "A Boy and His Dog" about the intelligent, telepathic dog Blood and his human cohort, Vic, scrounging and surviving a post-apocalyptic world. (Yes, there was a movie featuring Don Johnson [of <em>Miami Vice</em> fame] but you probably saw it only if you've spent much time at sci-fi conventions or browsing YouTube for B movies.)

Though I've read a lot of Ellison's work over the course of many decades, I don't think I've read all of these stories, so it was nice to get the full story, from start-to-end in one volume this way.

However...!

Though billed as a novel, this is NOT a novel. This is most clearly and obviously a collection of material put together sequentially. It may tell one long story ("may"), but it is definitely not a novel, which is what I was hoping for since that was how it was advertised. I'd hoped that Ellison (or someone of his approving) had filled out the spaces between stories to really make this one long story. But not only is this not a novel, but the final story is included as a film script - the way Ellison wrote it, hoping for it to be filmed.

Fortunately I don't mind reading scripts - I read them all the time for work - but not everyone who reads stories and novels is accustomed to the format of film or television scripts. And the inclusion of a script as part of our story really serves to remind us that this is not a novel of Vic and Blood, it is a collection of their adventures. As such (a collection of adventures), it is well worth reading. Some of the work definitely feels dated, especially given the volume of post-apocalyptic novels and stories available today, and at times Ellison goes a little over the top trying to remind us how smart he is (Blood) and how stupid the rest of us are (Vics), but I'd still rather read some works of Ellison than just about any other author today.
In the introduction, editor Jason Davis writes about the reissue of Richard Corben's visual adaptation of Vic and Blood:
In his introduction, the creator of the dystopian duo noted that "The final, longest section is in screenplay form...and one of these days before I go through that final door, I'll translate it into elegant prose, and the full novel will appear."
If only we could hold Ellison to those words.
How sad that when I began this book, I had some hope that there might be some new Vic and Blood stories on the horizon but as I finished the stories Ellison's death closed the book on any future stories by the master.

Looking for a good book? <em>Blood's a Rover</em> by Harlan Ellison gathers together his collection of stories and screenplays about the adventures of Vic and Blood (from "A Boy and His Dog") and provides the opportunity to read the stories sequentially, which is well worth doing.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Published by Subterranean Press on June 30, 2018

The introduction of Blood’s a Rover explains how Harlan Ellison’s brilliant novella, “A Boy and His Dog” (eventually filmed as a pretty good movie starring Don Johnson) was followed by some other stories in the same universe, and a treatment for a television show that NBC decided not to pick up, and an eventual full-length novel that Ellison started to write before suffering a stroke. This volume collects much of that material. The series is set in a post-apocalyptic world reduced to “radiation and rubble,” overseen by “the new masters of desolation: vicious roverpaks of parentless young boys … and their telepathic dogs.”

Placed in chronological order (as opposed to the order in which Ellison wrote them), the volume starts with “Eggsucker.” Blood, the dog who narrates the story, has been with Vic for about two years when the story starts. By the end, they’re thinking of splitting up, each blaming the other for an incident that will definitely require them to leave town. But they need each other even if Vic’s refusal to listen to reason (Blood being the reasonable one) sometimes impairs their partnership.

“A Boy and His Dog” sends Vic in search of a girl Blood found for him. After a harrowing experience together, the girl flees, and Vic pursues her over Blood’s objection. She lives in an underground version of Topeka, which Ellison uses to lampoon the notion that Midwestern Christian “values” make their adherents superior to people who are less judgmental and more open to experience (and I say that as someone who lived most of his life in the Midwest). The story is gripping from its inception until Vic makes his way out of Topeka with the girl, but the story saves its best moment for a gut-punch surprise in the very last sentence. One of the story’s themes involves the meaning of loyalty, and how true friendships are those that survive adversity (as opposed to plastic “use you and lose you” friendships). One of the story’s messages — a classic Ellison message — is, if you find security in living a dull and uneventful life, that’s your choice, but don’t force conformity to your social ideals on people who understand that freedom begins with the freedom to disagree. “A Boy and His Dog” might be Ellison’s best story. It’s certainly in the top three.

“Run, Spot, Run” takes place a few days after “A Boy and His Dog.” Vic is having some trouble coping with his actions, and Blood is having some trouble coping with Vic’s dreams. I don’t want to spoil the story so I’ll just say that it comes with the kind of gut-punch ending that was Ellison’s trademark.

“Blood’s a Rover” is the unproduced screenplay. The story brings back Vic and introduces a new character, a girl named Spike. Unsurprisingly, Vic doesn’t like Spike much, but Blood plays peacemaker because a girl and a boy and his dog have a better chance of survival than a boy and his dog — as Blood eventually proves. The screenplay doesn’t have the same bite as the original story, and certainly isn’t as compelling as Ellison’s best teleplays, but it would have been fun to watch.

Scattered throughout the volume are snippets of Blood’s wit and wisdom.

The volume was released shortly before Ellison’s death. It is something a true Ellison fan (in the sense of fanatic) will want to have. Other readers might be better served by picking up Ellison’s The Beast that Shouted Love at the Heart of the World, an excellent story collection that includes “A Boy and His Dog.”

RECOMMENDED

I received a free Kindle copy of Blood's A Rover by Harlan Ellison courtesy of Net Galley  and Subterranean Press,, the publisher. It was with the understanding that I would post a review on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes and Noble and my fiction book review blog. I also posted it to my Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google Plus pages.

I requested this book as iI have read several of the author's books and thought I would give this one a try.

I must admit that I am a fan of Harlan Ellison's early work, but his writing of the past several years has left me somewhat disappointed. This book holds true to that observation.

The book is based on a good premise, but the story literally drags at times and is completely engaging at others. Other reviewers have raved about the book so you may find it more your cup of tea than I did.

In the future, I will stick with rereading Ellison's earlier works as they are much more engaging than this one.

Definitive edition of Ellison’s “A Boy and His Dog”, including all the sequels, prequels, and without equals. Lots of background info and if I understand correctly, the final version will have cover art by Corbin. With the author’s consent and participation. What else but historical?

"Blood's a Rover" eBook was published in 2018 and was written by Harlan Ellison (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlan_Ellison). Mr. Ellison has published only nine novels or novellas, but has published over 1,700 short stories since 1958. He has received numerous awards for his writing over the years.

I categorize this novel as ‘R’ because it contains scenes of Violence, Mature Language and Mature Situations. The story is set in a post apocalypse world. The primary characters are the young man Vic and his enhanced dog Blood.

Vic and Blood struggle to survive in the desolate wasteland of the future. Blood, his dog, has been enhanced allowing them to communicate telepathically, and Blood is clearly the more strategic thinker of the two.

After being separated, they find themselves together again. Soon, Vic is confronted with adding a third member to their team, Spike. Spike is a survivor like Vic. Reluctantly Vic lets the young woman join them and the duo becomes a trio.

I thought the 2.5 hours spent reading this 232 page novella was interesting. I had not read any of the prior works in the series, but this novella read pretty well on its own. That is not too unexpected since the last work in the series was published in 1980. I think the cover art is good as it both depicts the flavor of the story as well as having a vintage look. It is adapted from a screenplay, so the format is a little hard to read. I give this novel a 4 out of 5.

Further book reviews I have written can be accessed at https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/.

My book reviews are also published on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/31181778-john-purvis).

A Boy And His Dog was one of the great classic shorts of late sixties science fiction and it’s shock value put Harlan Ellison on the map. Long before all the modern fantasies about a post-apocalyptic world, such a theme was extraordinarily popular in fifties and sixties science fiction with the idea being that there would be an atomic war and few survivors fending for themselves. A Boy and His Dog postulated a savage survival universe where the earth’s surface was populated by teenage rover gangs and their telepathic dogs. The dogs were necessary to sniff out radiation monsters and to find females who were quite scarce. There were also solos who traveled without gang protection, dependent on their dog partners. Vic and Blood were one such partnership with Blood having the brains and Vic being little more than a dumb teenager barely smart enough to survive without the smarts and instincts of his canine partner. The relationship between these two is at the heart of the story, particularly when a young woman comes between the two:

“She didn’t know what it was to trust somebody like Blood so much that he was a part of you. She didn’t know what friends meant, because down there in that phony Topeka nobody was really friends. It was all bullshit down there; fat, happy liars, turning their fat, happy faces away from the real trouble.”

The story is also a product of the Sixties, juxtaposing the freedom of the surface (albeit a world of savagery, casual rape, and starvation) with life beneath the surface where middle class squares lived, surviving without sunlight in artificial crops and phoniness.

Apparently over the years, Ellison has also penned additional chapters to the story, and this volume collects all four Vic and Blood stories together in one volume in chronological order. Two additional short stories, one (Eggsucker) taking place as a prologue perhaps to A Boy and His Dog and one as an epilogue (Run Sot Run) are narrated through Blood’s voice, not Vic’s and give a rather unique perspective. The final selection is a screenplay (Blood’s A Rover) which features a strong female rover, smart, feisty, tough, wholly unlike the controversial role of women in the original story.

None of the newer stories have quite the impact of the original shocking story, although they are interesting for someone who is familiar with the original story.

Many thanks to the publisher for providing a copy for review.

Confession time: I've never read a Harlan Ellison book before.


I've read the handful of comics that he's written, and I'm well aware of his status as a living legend, a titan or the written word.....but I'm also aware of the tons of stories floating around about what a jerk he can be, and that has most certainly colored my perception of the man. I've dipped in and out of his work through the years, and nothing has ever particularly grabbed me. That, coupled with my personal impression of the man, has caused me to set aside, unfinished, everything of his that I've ever started.


I have vivid memories of stumbling across a bizarre film on channel 9 in New York City called A BOY AND HIS DOG. I was probably 10 or so, and, while I didn't get to watch the whole thing, what I saw stuck with me for over three decades. As I grew older, I became aware of the genesis of that film, but I never sought out the stories that introduced the teen-aged scavenger Vic and his telepathic dog, Blood. Their status as parts of a whole that would, in all likelihood, never be completed, kept my interest from sparking.


Enter Subterranean Press, and the as-complete-as-we're-likely-to-get hardcover BLOOD'S A ROVER. Editor Jason Davis' introductory note, NEARLY FIFTY YEARS IN THE POST-APOCALYPTIC WASTES, gives readers a brief history of the Vic & Blood stories, and explains the genesis of each tale. A novella, a short story or two, a script for an aborted television adaptation, bits and pieces from a comic-book adaptation, a brief conversation between our main characters, the wit and wisdom of the titular telepathic canine....all this and more has been masterfully complied into a beautiful package by Ellison, Davis, and Subterranean Press, and I'm happy to say that not only did I finish this book, I thoroughly enjoyed it.


Having never really encountered Vic and Blood before, I was a little surprised to see just how ruthless and savage Vic, a teen-aged scavenger in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, can be. He thinks nothing of murdering and raping as he, led by the much smarter Blood, roams the land in search of weapons, food, and sex. Ellison populates their world with a colorful cast of background characters, but the relationship between this boy and his dog overshadows everything. The banter, the love/hate relationship...all pitch perfect.


If I had any complaints with this book, it would be the exclusion of the Richard Corben graphic adaptation (Which I wasn't really expecting to see here, but it would have been nice.), and the fact that, after all we go through with Vic and Blood, their story is still incomplete, and will likely stay that way. I could easily have read another five hundred pages, and I closed the book thinking "And what happened next???" Don't get me wrong: This is a complete book. There is no cliffhanger....but, as any true storyteller will, Ellison left me wanting more. Excellent stuff, highly recommended.


BLOOD'S A ROVER earns eight out of ten telepathic dogs:

🐕🐶🐕🐶🐕🐶🐕🐶


Subterranean Press provided a review copy.

Solid character building.
The plot moves well, never really wavers or comes to a complete stop which isn't always easy. I liked the characters and their interaction, none really got on my nerves, which again, isn't always easy.

by Harlan Ellison

M 50x66
Lou Jacobs's review
Apr 24, 2018 · edit

it was amazing
Read 2 times. Last read April 16, 2018 to April 24, 2018.

Finally!!! The best award winning post apocalyptic story is told in it's full glorious context. The story of Blood, the telepathic dog and "his" boy Vic and eventually his girl Spike and their struggles to survive in a post World War Four wasteland.
This marvelous adventure first came to my attention in 1969 while reading a UK digest magazine: New Worlds ... and then reread later in a 1969 US hardcover collection of Ellison stories. I was hooked and hoped for more from these intriguing characters. I had to wait until 1977 when Ellison wrote the prequel story, "Eggsucker" ... an origin type of story that I gobbled up in the SF/Fantasy magazine: Ariel, Vol #2. The continuation of the story of Vic & Blood then popped up in an obscure media magazine: Mediascene Prevue in 1980 as "Run,Spot, Run" .... then we were left dangling for almost 40 years for the conclusion. Thanks to editor: Jason Davis and Ellison we are now treated to publication of Ellison's unpublished and unproduced NBC TV teleplay of: "Blood's A Rover". The final script was finished in August 1977 but never saw the light of day. The final novel is now assembled in prose format for the first time.
For a complete experience search out the cult movie "Boy And His Dog" from 1975 ... this visualizing the portion of this story where Vic stumbles upon the "banal" underground community, only to be seduced by the leader's daughter: Quilla June Holmes to abandoning Blood - with the object of him supplying "stud service" to the community.
For further visualization don't miss Richard Corben's adaptation of part of the story in his two issue comic adaptation: "Vic & Blood" by Mad Dog Comics in 1988.

It's worth the price of admission to experience the telepathic interplay between Blood and Vic, and later Spike. Blood is truly the more advanced and mature being, and not Vic or the marauding gang of "rovers" that have survived the nuclear holocaust. It's rather comical how Blood has to correct the grammar of Vic ... he is truly his teacher, historian and finder of chicks. Together they form an ideal partnership - until unforeseen events unfold.

Blood is an ancestor of the "skirmisher dogs" of the Third War . Scientists retrieved Dolphin spinal fluid and experimentally injected it into dogs. The first near success occurred in a dog named, Ahbhu (which also happens to be the name of Ellison's beloved dog) ... followed by further crossbreeding and experimentation leading to the development of the Skirmisher dog ..... when linked telepathically with his human controller was able to detect poison gas and radiation.
The ultimate dream and goal is to rebuild civilization ... to be able to grow their own food from the soil ... and to live like rational civilized beings.
Thanks to Netgalley and Subterranean Press for providing me with an advanced proof of this gem in exchange for an honest review. # @SubPress

Harlan Ellison is a great writer and this book is very much in line with his novella "A Boy and his Dog". There really are no surprises here. The underground cities seem to be a convenient story subplot but are out of place. The last part of the book is written from the viewpoint of a screen writer as though it was being prepared for a movie or television. It was disconcerting and unnecessary. This was a good read but not overwhelmingly great.

I have been a fan of Harlan since discovering his work in the early 60's and coming across works such as "Ellison Wonderland", "I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream" were nothing more than brilliant lights in a atmosphere of dullness.

I read this in one sitting, enthralled to return to the world of Vic & Blood.

I read the original "A Boy & His Dog" in the anthology "The Beast That Shouted Love At The Heart Of The World" that I received as a birthday gift way back in July of 1969. It remains as powerful today as it did then. The added joy of the expanded tales is more than I could have hoped for. Blood is, in all senses, the hero of these stories. Without him, neither Vic nor Spike would be much more than thugs. More likely dead than not. How unfortunate that we may never find out what is "Over the Hill".