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Harlan Jay Ellison (born May 27, 1934) is a prolific American writer of short stories, novellas, essays, and criticism. His literary and television work has received many awards. He wrote for the original series of The Outer Limits and The Original Series, edited the multiple award-winning short story anthology series Dangerous Visions and served as creative consultant to the science fiction TV series The New Twilight Zone and Babylon 5.

Ellison's most famous stories were published within the science fiction genre, and he has won multiple Hugo and Nebula awards. He was also very active in the science fiction community (he was a founder of the Cleveland Science Fiction Society and edited its fanzine as a teenager) and gives colorful and confrontational talks at science fiction conventions.

Ellison's fantasy work, however, is usually better aligned with surrealism or magical realism than space opera-type science fiction. There is also a strong ethical current that runs through his work, half of which is nonfiction, which includes social activism and criticism of the arts.

He is fiercely protective of his work and has sought (and won) legal action against copyright infringements.

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Biography

Ellison was born in Cleveland, Ohio. His Jewish-American family subsequently moved to Painesville, Ohio, but returned to Cleveland in 1949 following the death of his father. Ellison frequently ran away from home, taking odd jobs — including by the time he was eighteen, by his own account, "a tuna fisherman off the coast of Galveston, itinerant crop-picker down in New Orleans, hired gun for a wealthy neurotic, dynamite truck driver in North Carolina, short order cook, cab driver, lithographer, book salesman, floorwalker in a department store, door-to-door brush salesman, and spent ten years as an actor (off and on) with the Cleveland Play House".

Ellison briefly attended Ohio State University before dropping out. A professor had told him that he would never become a writer, and all lovers of 'real' literature would ignore his pitiful efforts at scribbling. Harlan told him he could go * himself. For the next forty-and-some years, he sent this man a copy of every article, story, and book he turned out. In 1955, Ellison moved to New York City to pursue a writing career, primarily in science fiction. Over the next two years, Ellison published more than 100 short stories and articles.

In 1957, Ellison decided to write about youth gangs. To research the issue, he joined a street gang in the Red Hook, Brooklyn area, under the name "Cheech Beldone". His subsequent writings on the subject include the novel Web of the City/Rumble and the collection The Deadly Streets, and comprise part of his memoir Memos from Purgatory.

Ellison was drafted into the army and served from 1957 to 1959. Afterwards, living in Chicago, Illinois, Ellison edited Rogue magazine. As a book editor at Regency Books, he published novels and anthologies by such writers as B. Traven, Kurt Vonnegut, Robert Bloch and Philip José Farmer.

Also, early in his career, in the late '50s, Ellison wrote a number of soft porn stories, such as "God Bless the Ugly Virgin" and "Tramp", later reprinted in Los Angeles based girlie journals. This was the beginning of his use of Cordwainer Bird as a pseudonym. This name was later used in July and August of 1957, in two journals each of which had accepted two of his stories. In each journal, one story was published under the name Harlan Ellison, the other under Cordwainer Bird. Later, as discussed in the Controversy section below, he used the pseudonym on material when he disagreed with its use or editing.

He moved to California in 1962, and subsequently began to sell scripts to such television shows as Burke's Law, Route 66, The Outer Limits, The Original Series and Cimarron Strip. His Memos from Purgatory was adapted into an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Ellison's scripts "Demon with a Glass Hand" (for The Outer Limits) and "The City on the Edge of Forever" (for Star Trek) won Best Original Teleplay awards from the Writers Guild of America; both are often cited as one of the best of their respective series.

During the late 1960s, Ellison wrote a column about television for the Los Angeles Free Press. Titled "The Glass Teat", the column addressed political and social issues and their portrayal on television at the time. The columns have been reprinted in two collections, The Glass Teat and The Other Glass Teat.

He continued to publish short pieces, fiction and nonfiction, in various publications, and some of his most famous stories were written in this period. "'Repent, Harlequin!' said the Ticktockman" is a celebration of civil disobedience against repressive authority. "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" is an allegory of Hell, where five humans are tormented by an all-knowing computer throughout eternity. "A Boy and his Dog" examines the nature of friendship and love in a violent, post-apocalyptic world. It was made into the film A Boy and His Dog in 1975 starring Don Johnson. "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" was the basis of a 1995 computer game, with Ellison participating in the game's design and providing the voice of the god-computer AM.

He has won ten Hugo Awards, four Nebula Awards, and five Bram Stoker Awards (presented by the Horror Writers Association) including the Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996. He has also been honored with the Edgar Award of the Mystery Writers of America twice, the Georges Méliès fantasy film award twice, and the Silver Pen for Journalism by International PEN, the international writers' union. He was presented with the first Living Legend Award by the International Horror Guild at the 1995 World Horror Convention. He is also the only author in Hollywood ever to win the Writers' Guild of America Award for Most Outstanding Teleplay (solo work) four times, most recently for "Paladin of the Lost Hour" in 1987. In March 1998, the National Women's Committee of Brandeis University honored him with their 1998 Words, Wit, Wisdom award. In 1990, Ellison was honored by International PEN for continuing commitment to artistic freedom and the battle against censorship. The Board of Directors of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America inducted Ellison as the newest SFWA Grand Master at the Nebula Awards Weekend in May 2006.

The story for a rather famous and popular film can also be credited to Ellison, though he had to go to court to get the credit. Some aspects of the story for The Terminator were sufficiently similar to two episodes of the TV series The Outer Limits — both written by Ellison — that Ellison sued James Cameron. Ellison settled for several hundred thousand dollars, and the film's end credits now include the simple statement: "Acknowledgement to the works of Harlan Ellison." The episodes in question were called "Soldier" and "Demon with a Glass Hand".

He also edited the influential science fiction anthology Dangerous Visions (1967), which collected stories commissioned by Ellison, accompanied by his commentary-laden biographical sketches of the authors. He challenged the authors to write stories at the edge of the genre, and Dangerous Visions is widely considered the greatest and most influential SF anthology of all time. Many of the stories went beyond the traditional boundaries of science fiction pioneered by respected old school editors such as John W. Campbell, Jr. As an editor, Ellison was influenced and inspired by experimentation in the popular literature of the time, such as the beats. A sequel, Again Dangerous Visions, was published in 1972. A third volume, The Last Dangerous Visions, has been repeatedly postponed (see Controversy).

The screenplay for his projected television series The Starlost was also given a Writers Guild Award, though the actual series was so altered by the producers that Ellison had his name removed from the credits. Ellison was the first writer to win this award three times.

Ellison served as creative consultant to the science fiction TV series The Twilight Zone (1980s version) and Babylon 5. As a member of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), he has voiceover credits for shows including The Pirates of Dark Water, Mother Goose and Grimm, Space Cases, Phantom 2040, and Babylon 5, as well as making an onscreen appearance in the Babylon 5 episode "The Face of the Enemy".

For two years beginning in 1986, Ellison took over as host of the radio program Hour 25 on KPFK after the death of Mike Hodel, the show's founder and original host. It has been reported that his inadvertent use of an expletive on air caused his departure from the show.

Ellison's 1992 novelette "The Man Who Rowed Christopher Columbus Ashore" was selected for inclusion in the 1993 edition of The Best American Short Stories.

Ellison was hired as a writer for Walt Disney Studios, but was fired on his first day after being overheard by Roy O. Disney in the studio commissary joking about making a pornographic animated film featuring Disney characters. He recounted this incident in his book Stalking the Nightmare, as part 3 of an essay titled "The 3 Most Important Things in Life".

He does all his writing on a manual Olympia typewriter, and has a substantial distaste for personal computers and most of the internet.

Harlan Ellison has provided vocal narration to numerous Audiobooks, both of his own writing and others. Ellison has helped narrate books by authors such as Orson Scott Card, Arthur C. Clarke, and Terry Pratchett.

Ellison is currently married to Susan, his fifth wife, and they live in Los Angeles, California. In 1994 he suffered a heart attack and was hospitalized for quadruple coronary artery bypass surgery.

In 2006, Harlan Ellison received the title of Grand Master from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.

Controversy

Ellison has a reputation for being abrasive and rude (a dust jacket from one of his books described him as "possibly the most contentious person on Earth") and he is fiercely litigious. These traits have attracted a degree of controversy, especially among science fiction and fantasy fans. His friend Isaac Asimov remarked of Ellison that "Harlan uses his gifts for colorful and variegated invective on those who irritate him—intrusive fans, obdurate editors, callous publishers, offensive strangers." His outspoken reputation earned him a spot on the fledgling Sci-Fi Channel where he was given an opportunity to express his views on whatever he chose to talk about. Ellison's segments, of which some transcripts are available, were broadcast from 1994 to 1997. Some found this ironic, as Ellison has derided the term "sci-fi" as a "hideous neologism" that "sounds like crickets fucking." (Forrest J. Ackerman, who coined the term, responded by producing buttons bearing the slogan, "I love the sound of crickets making love.")

As Guest of Honor at the 1978 WorldCon (Iguanacon) in Phoenix, Arizona, Ellison vowed that he would not spend a penny in a state which had not ratified the Equal Rights Amendment. During the convention, he used a recreational vehicle instead of staying in a convention hotel. He was also a participant in the 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, led by Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Last Dangerous Visions, the third volume of the anthology series, has become something of a legend in science fiction as the genre's most famous unpublished book. It was originally announced for publication in 1973, but other work demanded Ellison's attention and the anthology has not seen print to date. He has come under criticism for his treatment of some writers who submitted their stories to him, of which some estimate to be nearly 150 (many of the authors have died in the subsequent three decades since the anthology was first announced). In 1993 Ellison threatened to sue New England Science Fiction Association (NESFA) for publishing Himself in Anachron, a short story written by Cordwainer Smith and sold to Ellison for the book by his widow, but later reached an amicable settlement. Noted British SF author Christopher Priest has critiqued Ellison's editorial practices in a widely-disseminated article titled The Book on the Edge of Forever. Priest documented a half-dozen instances in which Ellison promised TLDV would appear within a year of the statement, but did not fulfill those promises. Ellison has a record of fulfilling obligations in other instances, including to writers whose stories he solicited, and has expressed outrage at other editors who have acted unprofessionally.

In the 1980s, there was a widely-publicized incident in which Ellison allegedly assaulted author and critic Charles Platt at the Nebula Awards banquet. Platt did not pursue legal action against Ellison, and the two men signed a "non-aggression pact" later, promising never to discuss the incident again or have any contact with one another. In the following years, however, Ellison often publicly boasted about the incident. Platt, too, has been less than absolute in adhering to their agreement.

Ellison has on occasion used the pseudonym "Cordwainer Bird" to alert members of the public to situations in which he feels his creative contribution to a project has been mangled beyond repair by others, typically Hollywood producers or studios. (See, e.g., Alan Smithee.) The "Cordwainer Bird" moniker is a tribute to fellow SF writer Paul M. A. Linebarger, better known by his pen name, Cordwainer Smith. The origin of the word "cordwainer" is shoemaker (from working with cordovan leather for shoes). The term used by Linebarger was meant to imply the industriousness of the pulp author. Ellison has said, in interviews and in his writing, that his version of the pseudonym was meant to mean "a shoemaker for birds". Since he has used the pseudonym mainly for works he wants to distance himself from, it may be understood to mean that "this work is for the birds". Stephen King once said he thought that it meant that Ellison was giving people who mangled his work a literary version of "the bird".

Ellison again came into the public eye with his April 24, 2000 lawsuit against Stephen Robertson for posting four of his stories to the newsgroup "alt.binaries.e-book" without authorization. Included as defendants in the lawsuit were AOL and RemarQ, internet service providers whose only involvement was running Usenet servers carrying the group in question, who Ellison claimed had failed to stop the alleged copyright infringement in accordance with the "Notice and Takedown Procedure" outlined in the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Robertson and RemarQ settled the lawsuit with Ellison, though he pressed on with his suit against AOL. The AOL suit was settled in June 2004 under conditions that were not made public.

Short stories collections

Novels

Published screenplays and teleplays

See also Phoenix without Ashes, the novelization by Edward Bryant of the screenplay for the pilot episode of The Starlost, which includes a lengthy afterword by Ellison describing what happened in the production of that series.

Nonfiction

Anthologies edited

Selected short stories

Computer games

Audio Recordings

Awards won

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He has won the Hugo Award eight and a half times; the Nebula Award three times; the Bram Stoker Award, presented by the Horror Writers Association, five times (including the Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996); the Edgar Award of the Mystery Writers of America twice; the Georges Méliès fantasy film award twice; and was awarded the Silver Pen for Journalism by International PEN, the international writers' union. He was presented with the first Living Legend Award by the International Horror Guild at the 1995 World Horror Convention. He is also the only author in Hollywood ever to win the Writers' Guild of America Award for Most Outstanding Teleplay (solo work) four times, most recently for "Paladin of the Lost Hour" in 1987. In March 1998, the National Women's Committee of Brandeis University honored him with their 1998 Words, Wit, Wisdom award. In 1990, Ellison was honored by International PEN for continuing commitment to artistic freedom and the battle against censorship. Some of the specific occasions are listed below.

Bradbury award

The Bradbury Award in 2000 went to Harlan Ellison and Yuri Rasovsky.

Bram Stoker Award

Hugo Award

Locus Poll Award

  • The Region Between (best short fiction, 1970)
  • Basilisk (best short fiction, 1972)
  • Again, Dangerous Visions (best anthology, 1972)
  • The Deathbird (best short fiction, 1974)
  • Adrift Just Off the Islets of Langerhans: Latitude 38° 54' N, Longitude 77° 00' 13" W (best novelette, 1975)
  • Croatoan (best short story, 1976)
  • Jeffty Is Five (best short story, 1978)
  • Count the Clock That Tells the Time (best short story, 1979)
  • Djinn, No Chaser (best novellette, 1983)
  • Sleepless Nights in the Procrustean Bed (best related non-fiction, 1985)
  • Medea - Harlan's World|Medea: Harlan's World (best anthology, 1986)
  • ''Paladin of the Lost Hour]] (best novelette, 1986)
  • ''With Virgil Oddum at the East Pole]] (best short story, 1986)
  • Angry Candy (best collection, 1989)
  • The Function of Dream Sleep (best novellette, 1989)
  • Eidolons (best short story, 1989)
  • Mefisto in Onyx (best novella, 1994)
  • Slippage (best collection, 1998)

Nebula Award

Additional reading

Parodies and pastiches of Ellison

Ellison's prose style is highly regarded and distinctive; many have tried to mimic or parody it, with varying degrees of success. Ellison himself is such a distinctive personality that many other science-fiction authors have inserted characters into their works who are thinly-disguised parodies of Ellison the man; some of these parodies are good-natured, while others are definitely hostile.

One of the more benevolent parodies of Ellison is the main character in a mystery novel by an author who is better known for science fiction: Murder at the A.B.A. by Isaac Asimov. (This novel's title refers to the annual convention of the American Booksellers Association.) The novel's main character and narrator is an author named "Darius Just", who finds himself serving as an amateur sleuth to solve the murder of a fellow author at the convention. Asimov intended the name "Darius Just" as a pun on "Dry As Dust", and the protagonist is a slightly exaggerated pastiche of Ellison himself. Ellison has objected to the depiction: Darius Just is only five feet (1.52 m) tall, whereas Ellison is four inches (10 cm) taller at about 5 ft 4 in (1.63 m).

Ben Bova's comic-SF novel The Starcrossed was inspired by Ellison's and Bova's experience on the Canada-produced miniseries The Starlost. In Bova's novel, a 3D television projection system has been developed, and a new show is produced to encourage people to buy the new sets. The producers hire a famous writer named Ron Gabriel to write the show; the character is a thinly-disguised Ellison. Although Bova is a friend of Ellison's, and his portrayal of Gabriel is admiring and sympathetic, the novel is broad comedy, and should not be read as a true roman a clef. Ellison has given his own non-fiction account of his Starlost experience in a lengthy essay titled "Somehow, I Don't Think We're in Kansas, Toto".

In his most famous work, The Dark Knight Returns, Frank Miller featured Ellison by name as a television talking head. His only dialogue is elliptical, prophesying a world where "we'll be eating our own babies for breakfast." Ellison and Miller are friends, the latter drawing the cover and writing the introduction for the stand-alone publication of Mefisto in Onyx.

In a somewhat less sympathetic vein, Ellison serves as a partial basis for a composite character in Sharyn McCrumb's Bimbos of the Death Sun. The novel is a satirical look at Science Fiction and Fantasy fandom and Conventions.

David Gerrold, in his 1980 Star Trek novel The Galactic Whirlpool, makes mention of "Ellison's Star," a particularly unpredictable "angry" White Dwarf star.

In an episode of the animated television show Freakazoid! entitled "And Fanboy is His Name," Freakzoid offers Fanboy "his very own Harlan Ellison" in an attempt to convince Fanboy to stop following him.

References

External links

1934 births | American horror writers | American fantasy writers | American science fiction writers | Star Trek script writers | Babylon 5 cast and crew | People from Cleveland | Hugo Award winning authors | Jewish American writers | Literary critics | Living people | Nebula Award winning authors | Nebula Grand Masters | Ohio State University alumni | People from Ohio | Science fiction fans

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