Critics also appreciated the story, and it won the 1969 Nebula Award (awarded by Science Fiction Writers of America) for Best Novella. Six years later, it was adapted as a Hugo Award-winning film, with Don Johnson starring as Vic. "A Boy and His Dog" is considered one of Ellison’s most compelling stories, and the author expanded it into a novel in 1989.In post-apocalyptic America, the surface is the province of the roverpaks, bands of feral human males teamed with intelligence-enhanced dogs, descendants of those bred for military use in the war that drove civilization underground. A lucky encounter with a thrill-seeking female from the world below draws Vic and his telepathic mutt Blood "down the rabbit hole" to an encounter with the remnants of pre-war civilization. But like Huck Finn, Vic doesn't much like being civilized... Originally published in the collection The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World, New York: Avon, 1969.