Weariness
A reprinting of Harlan Ellison's story "Weariness" that originally appeared in the short story collection Shadow Show: All-New Stories In Celebration Of Ray Bradbury, edited by Sam Weller and Mort Castle (2012, William Morrow). The introduction to the original anthology, written by Sam Weller and Mort Castle, describes the story as "a soul-stirring tale of galactic proportions as the entire universe goes dark, a science-fictional metaphor for the author's own fading mortality." Ellison describes it himself in the afterword as "very likely his last published story."
Unlike other stories included in the limited series Shadow Show: Stories In Celebration Of Ray Bradbury, "Weariness" is not adapted into comic form, but is printed in just its original text. The main difference is that the comic prints in color the painting "Nirvana" by Hubert J. Daniel, which inspired the story. The original anthology only printed a thumbnail sized, black-&-white image of the painting. The comic prints the painting across the first page of the story. Additionally, a quote by Pablo Picasso appears at the beginning of the story in the comic, while it appears after the story in the original anthology.
The story is followed by a second piece by HE, "Harlan Ellison Talks About Weariness," also appeared, in a longer version, in the original anthology.
This short story is based on the painting "Nirvana" by artist Hubert J. Daniel, which is used as the wrap-around cover for this issue (one of two covers produced) and is also printed on the first page of the story. PERSONAL COMMENTARY: I wonder if this story might have originally been a "story behind the cover" originally meant for an issue of Harlan Ellison's Dream Corridor Quarterly. It is a very short story, based on the painting, as might have appeared in HEDC. And the copyright page of the original anthology lists "Nirvana" as ©2005 as well as 2012, the year the anthology was published, so we know that it was originally painted in the early 21st century. No other editorial comments in the book mention what the origin of the story/painting relationship might have been.
This story first appeared in the book "Shadow Show: All-New Stories in Celebration of Ray Bradbury" (William Morrow, 2012)
