Love Ain't Nothing but Sex Misspelled (42 page)

And have a happy yourself.

With love, from us, a terrific object lesson in beating the odds. Or, as Thomas Kirlin Kane would put it, everything's copacetic.

--Los Angeles, 1975

Copyright © 1968, 1976 by Harlan Ellison. Electronic Edition © 1998 BiblioBytes.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Author or the Author's Agent, Richard Curtis Associates, Inc. 171 E. 74th St.; Suite #2, New York, NY 10021-3221.

Trident Press hardcover edition: June 1968

Any persons, places and organizations in this book--except those clearly in the public domain--are fictitious; and any resemblance to actual persons, places or organizations living, dead or defunct, is purely coincidental. These are works of fiction.

"Blind Bird, Blind Bird, Go Away from Me!"; "What I Did on My Vacation This Summer, by Little Bobby Hirschhorn, Age 27" "Neither Your Jenny Nor Mine"; and "Punky and the Yale Men" appeared in Knight magazine. Copyright © 1963, 1964 and 1966 by Sirkay Publishing Co. Copyrights reassigned to Author 1968.

"Riding the Dark Train Out"; "Daniel White for the Greater Good"; "The Universe of Robert Blake"; "Mona at Her Windows"; and "G.B.K.--A Many-Flavored Bird" appeared in Rogue magazine. Copyright © 1961 and 1962 by Greenleaf Publishing Co. Copyrights reassigned.

"A Prayer for No One's Enemy" appeared in Cad magazine. Copyright © 1966 by CAD Publishing Co. Copyright reassigned to Author, 1968.

"Battle Without Banners" appeared in the paperback anthology TABOO. Copyright © 1964 by New Classics House, a division of Novel Books, Inc.

"A Path Through the Darkness" appeared in Fling magazine. Copyright © 1962 by Relim Publishing.

"Valerie" and "When I was a Hired Gun" appeared as a series of installments of The Harlan Ellison Hornbook, a column of personal comment in the Los Angeles Free Press (November 3-24 1972 and June 1-6 1973). Copyright © 1972 and 1973 by Harlan Ellison.

"The Resurgence of Miss Ankle-Strap Wedgie" and "I Curse the Lesson and Bless the Knowledge" were written especially for this volume and appear here for the first time anywhere. Copyright © 1968 and 1975 by Harlan Ellison.