"I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" is a postapocalyptic science fiction short story by Harlan Ellison. It was first published in the March 1967 issue of IF: Worlds of Science Fiction. It won a Hugo Award in 1968. The name was also used for a short story collection of Ellison's work, featuring this story. One of the ten most reprinted stories in the English language, "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" was recently reprinted by the Library of A...
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"I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" is a postapocalyptic science fiction short story by Harlan Ellison. It was first published in the March 1967 issue of IF: Worlds of Science Fiction. It won a Hugo Award in 1968. The name was also used for a short story collection of Ellison's work, featuring this story. One of the ten most reprinted stories in the English language, "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" was recently reprinted by the Library of America, collected in volume two (Terror and the Uncanny, from the 1940s to Now) of American Fantastic Tales (2009).
Ellison wrote "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" in a single night in 1966, making virtually no changes from the first draft. He derived the story's title, as well as inspiration for this story, from a drawing by a friend, William Rotsler.
The story takes place 109 years after the complete destruction of human civilization. The Cold War had escalated into a world war, fought mainly between China, Russia, and the United States....
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