Blood’s a Rover

A simple idea, executed brilliantly, can become the stuff of legend. One poignant example is Harlan Ellison’s “A Boy and His Dog,” a short story where humans are bestial and a psychic dog is the civilizing force. Ellison returned to this world several times in his career, and now, the entire collection is available in one place.

Blood’s a Rover assembles every story connected to “A Boy and His Dog,” including the until-recently-unreleased teleplay from an aborted TV version of the story. Here you can follow the sinister adventures of Vic and Blood and meet Spike, a female solo who pairs up with Blood after he and Vic are separated.

Throughout the book, different bits of Blood’s wisdom are shared with the reader, bookending stories and offering brilliant counterpoints to the often brutal, selfish action in the tales themselves.

A peculiar mix of dystopian grittiness and weird humor about life, humanity, and civilization, Blood’s a Rover is a saga only Ellison could craft, juxtaposing the worst of humanity with the best of the animal kingdom.