Harlan Ellison, RIP

[gveranon]

I read and reread Ellison in massive doses when I was a teenager -- his stories and essays, his columns on movies, TV, and politics, and the countless story introductions in his own collections and in the Dangerous Visions anthologies he edited. I also listened to his albums of story readings and lecture-circuit performances. In addition to being a writer, he was a comedian/monologuist/mimic of major talent, at least as good as George Carlin (the closest comparison, I think, though he also had a range beyond Carlin's). His impact on my small-town, pre-internet, teenage mind cannot be overestimated. He was certainly a formative influence on me, probably in more ways than I even know. Sadly, his work seems more of the past than of the present, as we are now in a darker and stupider time. His work was wildly uneven, as one might expect from his force-of-nature prolificity, but the good stuff is really good, and I hope it will still be read in the future.

Here he is in fine form as a comic monologuist:

Harlan Ellisons Gopher Story - YouTube

[miguel1984]

Someone said Ellison's curse was that he was not going to be able to die before publishing The Last Dangerous Visions. I guess that is not the case anymore.

[mongoose]

Best episode Star Trek original series full account:

https://www.amazon.com/Harlan-Ellisons-City-Edge-Forever/dp/B01K0PMJM6/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1530227418&sr=1-4&keywords=the+city+on+the+edge+of+forever+ellison

 

https://www.amazon.com/Harlan-Ellisons-City-Edge-Forever/dp/B01K0PMJM6/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1530227418&sr=1-4&keywords=the+city+on+the+edge+of+forever+ellison

He has no mouth, and he must sleep.

[gveranon]

Here's an old thread about Ellison. GSC/Phil called him the Angry Candyman (one of Ellison's collections is titled Angry Candy), and that seems apropos.

Dreams with Sharp Teeth (2007) - THE NIGHTMARE NETWORK

[Michael]

I had no idea Ellison had passed away. This is so sad.

[Zaharoff]

Bummer.
Like others, I did not know he had died.
I reread a collection last year (Approaching Oblivion) and it felt dated, in some ways more so than 19th century books.
My files have some letters from him circa the 70s and 80s. Authors were more inclined to respond to fans then.
Nice article from the Register -
Science fiction legend Harlan Ellison ends his short time on Earth • The Register
Also an old interview with Tom Snyder on plagiarism.

Harlan Ellison On Tomorrow - Plagiarism and Hollywood. - YouTube

[gveranon]

Quote Originally Posted by Zaharoff

I reread a collection last year (Approaching Oblivion) and it felt dated, in some ways more so than 19th century books.

Yeah, some of those old collections are like time capsules, which is why I'm afraid much of his work won't last (and I hope I'm wrong about that). Approaching Oblivion was one my favorites, possibly as much for the long introductory essay, "Reaping the Whirlwind," as for any of the stories, though I do remember some of the stories with wonderment. I was reading Approaching Oblivion in the early eighties, when the book was less than a decade old, and it already seemed dated then. It was very much of its cultural context (the early seventies), and its cultural context had passed. You could say the same of strong earlier collections such as Gentleman Junkie and Other Stories of the Hung-Up Generation (1961) and Alone Against Tomorrow (1971) -- each a different time capsule of its own. But that was always a part of my fascination with his work, my curiosity about zeitgeists that slightly predated my own and were so near and so strange to me at the same time. He combined the broad existential horizons of science fiction (though he was in many ways a fabulist and never fit comfortably in the sf genre) with a relentless drive to be plugged in sociopolitically to his own shifting present. It was an awkward but powerful combination, and no other writer did it like he did. Sometimes dated writers are still worth reading, if one can manage to tune in to what they are doing.

[Robert Adam Gilmour]

Vandermeer, Doctorow and more
Harlan Ellison Tribute Roundup | File 770

Another Sadness | Not a Blog

Caitlin R Kiernan
For a Brief Time... - Dear Sweet Filthy World

Thread by Scott Lynch

Scott Lynch on Twitter:

Thread about Ellison mentioning his guy (Sandor?) he hired to frighten people

I Write Monsters on Twitter:

Wasn't aware he let so many writers stay at his house for so long.

[Acutely decayed]

my second favourite HE was The Whimper of Whipped Dogs - Wikipedia which is quite ligottian
but my favourite was " shattered like a glass goblin"

I read it pre-teen and puzzled but knew it was important, later I re-read it in a weird tales comic reprint and later in the original



"what do you groove behind?"

mainly I don't like these PM things - missed