Harlan Ellison | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Ellison in 1986 | |
| Born | Harlan Jay Ellison (1934-05-27)May 27, 1934 Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. |
| Died | June 28, 2018(2018-06-28) (aged 84) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Pen name | Cordwainer Bird, Nalrah Nosille, and 8 others[1][2] |
| Occupation |
|
| Period | 1949–2018[2] |
| Genre | Speculative fiction, science fiction, fantasy,crime fiction,mystery, horror,film and television criticism |
| Literary movement | New Wave |
| Notable works | Dangerous Visions (editor),A Boy and His Dog, "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream", "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman", "The City on the Edge of Forever" |
| Spouse | |
| Website | |
| harlanellison | |
Harlan Jay Ellison (May 27, 1934 – June 28, 2018)[3] was an American writer, known for his prolific and influential work inNew Wavespeculative fiction[4] and for his outspoken, combative personality.[5] His published works include more than 1,700 short stories,novellas,screenplays, comic-book scripts,teleplays, essays, and a wide range of criticism covering literature, film, television, and print media.
Some of his best-known works include the 1967Star Trek episode "The City on the Edge of Forever", considered by some[who?] to be the single greatest episode of theStar Trek franchise[6] (he subsequently wrote a book about the experience that includes his original teleplay), hisA Boy and His Dog cycle (which was made intoa film), and his short stories "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" (later adapted by Ellison intoa video game) and "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman". He was also editor andanthologist forDangerous Visions (1967) andAgain, Dangerous Visions (1972). Ellison won numerous awards, including multipleHugos,Nebulas, andEdgars.
Ellison was born to aJewish family[8] inCleveland, Ohio, on May 27, 1934, the son of Serita (née Rosenthal) and Louis Laverne Ellison, a dentist and jeweler.[9][10] His older sister Beverly was born in 1926. She died in 2010 without having spoken to him since their mother's funeral in 1976.[citation needed] Some time after Beverly's birth, his family moved toPainesville, Ohio, but returned to Cleveland in 1949, following his father's death. Ellison frequently ran away from home. In an interview withTom Snyder, he would later claim it was due to discrimination by his high school peers.[citation needed] According to Ellison, by age 18 he had completed a series of odd jobs as a "tuna fisherman off the coast ofGalveston, itinerant crop-picker down in New Orleans, hired gun for a wealthy neurotic,nitroglycerine truck driver inNorth Carolina,short-order cook, cab driver,lithographer, book salesman,floorwalker in a department store, door-to-door brush salesman, and as a youngster, an actor in several productions at theCleveland Play House".[11][better source needed] In 1947, a fan letter he wrote toReal Fact Comics became his first published writing.[12]
Ellison attendedOhio State University for 18 months (1951–53) before being expelled for verbally abusing a creative writing professor.[13] Over the next 20 or so years he claimed to have sent the professor a copy of every story he published.[14]
Ellison published twoserialized stories in theCleveland News during 1949,[2] and he sold a story toEC Comics early in the 1950s. During this period, Ellison was an active member ofscience fiction fandom. He published his ownscience fiction fanzines, such asDimensions, which had previously been theBulletin of the Cleveland Science Fantasy Society and laterScience Fantasy Bulletin.[15] Ellison moved to New York City in 1955 and lived withRobert Silverberg as they both pursued writing careers.[16] Over the next two years, he published more than 100 short stories and articles. The short stories collected asSex Gang — which Ellison described in a 2012 interview as "mainstreamerotica"—date from this period.[17]
He served in theU.S. Army from 1957 to 1959.[18] His first novel,Web of the City, was published during his military service in 1958, and he said that he had written the bulk of it while undergoing basic training atFort Benning, Georgia.[19] He served in the Public Information Office atFort Knox, Kentucky, where he wrote articles and reviews for the post's weekly newspaper.[16]
After leaving the army, he relocated to Chicago, where he editedRogue magazine.[3]
Ellison moved to California in 1962 and began selling his writing to Hollywood. Ellison sold scripts to many television shows:Burke's Law (4 episodes),Route 66,The Outer Limits,[20]The Alfred Hitchcock Hour,Star Trek,The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2 episodes),Cimarron Strip andThe Flying Nun.
Ellison's screenplay for theStar Trek episode "The City on the Edge of Forever" is often considered the best of the 79 episodes in the series.[21][22]
He co-wrote the screenplay forThe Oscar (1966), starringStephen Boyd andTony Bennett.
In 1965, he participated in the second and thirdSelma to Montgomery marches, led byMartin Luther King Jr.[23]
In 1966, in an article thatEsquire magazine later named as the best magazine piece ever written, the journalistGay Talese wrote a profile ofFrank Sinatra. The article, entitled "Frank Sinatra Has a Cold", briefly describes a verbal clash between Sinatra and Ellison, in which the crooner took exception to Ellison's boots during a billiards game Ellison was playing with Omar Sharif, Leo Durocher and Peter Falk.[24]
Ellison was hired as a writer forWalt Disney Studios, but was fired on his first day afterRoy O. Disney overheard him in the studio commissary joking about making a pornographic animated film featuring Disney characters.[25][26]
Ellison continued to publish short fiction and nonfiction pieces in various publications, including some of his best known stories. "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman" (1965) is a celebration of civil disobedience against repressive authority. "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" (1967) is a story where five humans are tormented by an all-knowing computer throughout eternity. The story was the basis of a 1995computer game; Ellison participated in the game's design and provided the voice of the god-computer AM.[27] Another story, "A Boy and His Dog", examines the nature of friendship and love in a violent,post-apocalyptic world and was made into the 1975film of the same name, starringDon Johnson.[28]
In 1967, Ellison edited theDangerous Visions collection, which attracted a "special citation at the 26th World SF Convention for editing 'the most significant and controversial SF book published in 1967.'" In his introductionIsaac Asimov described it as epitomising a "second revolution" in science fiction as "science receded and modern fictional techniques came to the fore."
From 1968 to 1970, Ellison wrote a regular column on television for theLos Angeles Free Press. Titled "The Glass Teat", Ellison's column examined television's impact on the politics and culture of the time, including its presentations of sex, politics, race, the Vietnam War, and violence. The essays were collected in two anthologies,The Glass Teat: Essays of Opinion on Television[29] followed byThe Other Glass Teat.
Ellison served as creative consultant to the1980s version ofThe Twilight Zone science fiction TV series andBabylon 5. As a member of theScreen Actors Guild (SAG), he had voice-over credits for shows, includingThe Pirates of Dark Water,Mother Goose and Grimm,Space Cases,Phantom 2040, andBabylon 5, and made an onscreen appearance in theBabylon 5 episode "The Face of the Enemy".
A frequent guest on the Los Angeles science fiction/fantasy culture radio showHour 25, hosted byMike Hodel, Ellison took over as host when Hodel died. Ellison's tenure was from May 1986 to June 1987.[30]
Ellison's short story "The Man Who Rowed Christopher Columbus Ashore" (1992) was selected for inclusion in the 1993 edition ofThe Best American Short Stories.[31]
Ellison, as an audio actor/reader, was nominated for aGrammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children[32] twice and won severalAudie Awards.[33]
In 2014, Ellison made a guest appearance on the albumFinding Love in Hell by thestoner rock band Leaving Babylon, reading his piece "The Silence" (originally published inMind Fields) as an introduction to the song "Dead to Me."[34]
Ellison's official website, harlanellison.com, was launched in 1995 as a fan page;[35] for several years, Ellison was a regular poster in its discussion forum.[36]
Ellison's voice is one of 80 used in the NPRmageddon podcast (which is unrelated to National Public Radio), which appeared after his death.[37]
Ellison married five times; each relationship ended within a few years, except the last. His first wife was Charlotte Stein, whom he married in 1956. They divorced in 1960, and he later described the marriage as "four years of hell as sustained as the whine of a generator."[38] Later that year he married Billie Joyce Sanders; they divorced in 1963. His 1966 marriage to Loretta Patrick lasted only seven weeks.[39] In 1976, he married Lori Horowitz. He was 41 and she was 19, and he later said of the marriage, "I was desperately in love with her, but it was a stupid marriage on my part." They were divorced after eight months.[40] He briefly had a relationship with actressGrace Lee Whitney, allegedly ending it when he caught her smokingcannabis in his house.[41] He and Susan Toth married in 1986, and they remained together, living inSherman Oaks, until his death 32 years later. He referred to his home as "The Lost Aztec Temple of Mars". Susan died in August 2020, age 60.[42]
Ellison described himself as aJewish atheist.[43][44]
In 1994, he had a heart attack and was hospitalized for quadruplecoronary artery bypass surgery.[45] From 2010, he received treatment forclinical depression.[46]
In September 2007, Ellison attended the Midwestern debut of the documentary about his life,Dreams with Sharp Teeth, at theCleveland Public Library in his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio. This would be Ellison's last public appearance in his hometown.[47][48][49]
On about October 10, 2014, Ellison had a stroke.[50] Although his speech and cognition were unimpaired, he sufferedparalysis on his right side, for which he was expected to spend several weeks in physical therapy before being released from the hospital.[51]
Ellison died in his sleep at his home in Los Angeles on the morning of June 28, 2018.[52][53] Hisliterary estate is currently executed byBabylon 5 creatorJ. Michael Straczynski.[54]
Ellison on occasion used the pseudonymCordwainer Bird to alert members of the public to situations in which he felt his creative contribution to a project had been mangled by others, beyond repair, typically Hollywood producers or studios (see alsoAlan Smithee). The first such work to which he signed the name was "The Price of Doom", an episode ofVoyage to the Bottom of the Sea (though it was misspelled as Cord Wainer Bird in the credits).[55] An episode ofBurke's Law ("Who Killed Alex Debbs?") credited to Ellison contains acharacter given this name, played bySammy Davis Jr.[56]
The "Cordwainer Bird" moniker is a tribute to fellow science fiction writer Paul M. A. Linebarger, better known by his pen name,Cordwainer Smith. The origin of the word "cordwainer" isshoemaker (from working withshell cordovan leather for shoes). The term used by Linebarger was meant to imply the industriousness of thepulp author.[citation needed] Ellison said, in interviews and in his writing, that his version of the pseudonym was meant to mean "a shoemaker for birds". Since he used the pseudonym mainly for works from which he wanted to distance himself, it may be understood to mean that "this work is for the birds" or that it is of as much use as shoes to a bird.Stephen King once said he thought that it meant that Ellison was giving people who mangled his work a literary version of "the bird" (given credence by Ellison himself in his own essay titled "Somehow, I Don't Think We're in Kansas, Toto", describing his experience with theStarlost television series).[57]
The Bird moniker became a character in one of Ellison's own stories. In his 1978 bookStrange Wine, Ellison explains the origins of the Bird and goes on to state thatPhilip José Farmer wrote Cordwainer into theWold Newton family that the latter writer had developed. The thought of such a whimsical object lesson being related to such lights as Doc Savage, The Shadow, Tarzan, and all the other pulp heroes prompted Ellison to play with the concept, resulting in "The New York Review of Bird", in which an annoyed Bird uncovers the darker secrets of the New York literary establishment before beginning a pulpish slaughter of the same.[58]
Other pseudonyms Ellison used during his career include Jay Charby, Sley Harson, Ellis Hart, John Magnus, Paul Merchant, Pat Roeder, Ivar Jorgenson, Derry Tiger, Harlan Ellis and Jay Solo.[59]
Ellison had a reputation for being abrasive and argumentative.[a] He generally agreed with this assessment, and adust jacket from one of his books described him as "possibly the most contentious person on Earth." Ellison filed numerous grievances and attempted lawsuits; during a contract dispute with Signet/NAL Books over binding cigarette ads into one of his paperbacks, he sent them dozens of brickspostage due, followed by a deadgopher.[61][62] In an October 2017 piece inWired, Ellison was dubbed "Sci-Fi's Most Controversial Figure."[63]
According to Ellison, his impending trip to Israel was cancelled by its sponsor, theUS Information Agency, after his irreverent comment on the Palestine-Israel situation to theJerusalem Post.[64]
AtStephen King's request, Ellison provided a description of himself and his writing inDanse Macabre (1981): "My work is foursquare for chaos. I spend my life personally, and my work professionally, keeping the soup boiling.Gadfly is what they call you when you are no longer dangerous; I much prefer troublemaker, malcontent, desperado. I see myself as a combination ofZorro andJiminy Cricket. My stories go out from here and raise hell. From time to time some denigrator or critic with umbrage will say of my work, 'He only wrote that to shock.' I smile and nod. Precisely."[65]
Ellison suffered health issues regularly through his life, including severe depression toward the end,[66] some of which he believed wasEpstein-Barr virus andchronic fatigue syndrome, the latter two of which he believed he had had for 40-50 years.[67][unreliable source][68][69] A few years before his death,Straczynski convinced him to seek psychiatric diagnosis for the depression, resulting in a diagnosis and treatment ofbipolar disorder; he commented, "Once you know he was bipolar, a lot of things that don't make sense suddenly make sense."[70] The treatment "had a salutary effect for a while, until the stroke hit".[67] Straczynski wrote a more detailed account of Ellison's struggles with mental illness, published in the posthumousLast Dangerous Visions.[71]
Ellison repeatedly criticized howStar Trek creator and producerGene Roddenberry (and others) rewrote his original script for the 1967 episode "The City on the Edge of Forever". Despite his objections, Ellison kept his own name on the shooting script instead of using "Cordwainer Bird" to indicate displeasure (see above).[72]
Ellison's original script was first published in the 1976 anthologySix Science Fiction Plays, edited byRoger Elwood.[73] The aired version was adapted for theStar TrekFotonovel series in 1977.[74][75]
At the start of an interview with Ellison entitled "Encounter with an Ellison", Sandra Cawson was interrupted when she said "Mr Ellison", and was told to address him as "Harlan". The interviewee stated "Mr Ellison was my father. He died in 1949". Cawson described the interviewee's home as a "calculated fall down a rabbit hole" and the author himself as "outgoing, charming, hospitable". In the course of the interview Cawson was given a long explanation about the process of television in omitting "small touches" and "special scenes" in favour of "straight action sequences" which "diminished the value of the script"[76]
In 1995, Borderlands Press publishedThe City on the Edge of Forever,[77] with nearly 300 pages comprising an essay by Ellison, four versions of the teleplay, and eight "Afterwords" contributed by other parties. He greatly expanded the introduction for the paperback edition,[78][79][80] in which he explained what he called a "fatally inept" treatment.[81]
Both versions of the script won awards: Ellison's original script won the 1968Writers Guild Award for best episodic drama in television,[82] while the shooting script won the 1968Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation.[83]
On March 13, 2009, Ellison suedCBS Paramount Television, seeking payment of 25 percent of net receipts from merchandising, publishing, and other income from the episode since 1967; the suit also names theWriters Guild of America for allegedly failing to act on Ellison's behalf.[84] On October 23, 2009,Variety magazine reported that a settlement had been reached.[85]
Ellison was among those who in 1968 signed an anti-Vietnam War advertisement inGalaxy Science Fiction.[86] In 1969, Ellison was Guest of Honor atTexas A&M University's first science fiction convention,AggieCon, where he reportedly[87] referred to the university'sCorps of Cadets as "America's next generation of Nazis", inspired in part by the Vietnam War. Although the university was no longer solely a military school (from 1965), the student body was predominantly made up of cadet members. Between Ellison's anti-military remarks and a food fight that broke out in the ballroom of the hotel where the gathering was held (although, according to Ellison in 2000, the food fight actually started in aDenny's because the staff disappeared and they could not get their check), the school's administration almost refused to approve the science fiction convention the next year and no guest of honor was invited for the next two AggieCons. Ellison was subsequently invited back as Guest of Honor for AggieCon V (1974).[88]
The Last Dangerous Visions (TLDV), the third volume of Ellison's anthology series, was originally announced for publication in 1973,[89] but not published until October 2024, six years after Ellison died.[90] Nearly 150 writers, many now also dead, had submitted works for the volume. In 1993, Ellison threatened to sue theNew England Science Fiction Association (NESFA) for publishing "Himself in Anachron", a short story written byCordwainer Smith and originally sold by his widow to Ellison for the anthology.[91] The NESFA later reached an amicable settlement after it was revealed that the story contract had expired, allowing them to legally acquire it for publication.[92]
British science fiction authorChristopher Priest criticized Ellison's editorial practices in an article entitled "The Book on the Edge of Forever",[89] later expanded into a book. Priest documented a half-dozen unfulfilled promises by Ellison to publishTLDV within a year of the statement. Priest claims that he submitted a story at Ellison's request, which Ellison retained for several months until Priest withdrew the story and demanded that Ellison return the manuscript. Ellison was incensed by "The Book on the Edge of Forever" and, personally or by proxy, threatened Priest on numerous occasions after its publication.[93]
In November 2020, the executor of the Harlan Ellison estate, J. Michael Straczynski, announced on Patreon that he was proceeding with the final preparations for the publication of TLDV with the proceeds to go to the Harlan and Susan Ellison Trust. The book was expected to be published in April 2021, as significant publisher interest was expressed.[94]
Christopher Priest was unimpressed, saying that Straczynski was "in the same sort of unenviable position asTrump's caddie", but as an experienced professional would possibly work something out. He added, "I kind of lost interest in all that years ago. Ellison clearly did too, along with everyone else. (Although I gather he went on with his magical thinking if anyone asked when he was going to deliver.) Many of the stories were withdrawn, because Ellison acted like a dick. Of the ones that remain, most of them are by writers who are now deceased, so the rights have expired and the estates would have to be traced. A lot of the writers have disowned their stories as juvenilia, or outdated, or simply because Ellison was acting like a dick."[95]
Despite early hopes of a 2021 release for TLDV, 2021 came and went with no book. An October 2021 'progress report' from Straczynski revealed that the book was still in preparation.[96] On May 2, 2022, Straczynski announced that the book would be published in 2023.[97] On July 10, 2022, Straczynski announced on Twitter thatThe Last Dangerous Visions would be published on September 1, 2024, by Blackstone Publishers.[98] The book was finally published on October 1, 2024, after half a century.
Shortly after the release ofStar Wars (1977),Ben Roberts contacted Ellison to develop a script based onIsaac Asimov'sI, Robot short story collection forWarner Bros.; Ellison and Asimov had been long-time friends, so Ellison may be presumed to have attached particular significance to the project. In a meeting with the Head of Production at Warner Bros.,Robert Shapiro, Ellison concluded that Shapiro was commenting on the script without having read it and accused him of having the "intellectual and cranial capacity of an artichoke". Shortly afterwards, Ellison was dropped from the project. Without Ellison, the film came to a dead end, because subsequent scripts were unsatisfactory to potential directors. After a change in studio heads, Warner allowed Ellison's script to be serialized inAsimov's Science Fiction magazine and published in book form.[99] The 2004 filmI, Robot, starring Will Smith, has no connection to Ellison's script.[100]
In 1985, Ellison allegedly publicly assaulted author, journalist and computer programmerCharles Platt at the Nebula Awards banquet.[101] Platt did not pursue legal action against Ellison and the two men later signed a "non-aggression pact", promising never to discuss the incident again nor to have any contact with one another. Platt claims that Ellison often publicly boasted about the incident.[102]
Ellison voiced strong support forEd Kramer, founder ofDragon Con, after Kramer was accused of sexual abuse of children in 2000.[103] Ellison and others disputed the evidence against Kramer, and also alleged Kramer was being held in jail in violation of his right to aspeedy trial.[104][failed verification]
When writerNancy A. Collins spoke up against Kramer, Ellison led a long-standing feud against her before Kramer entered anAlford plea in 2013.[105]
Ellison was presented with a special committee award at the 2006 Hugo Awards ceremony. When Ellison got to the podium, presenterConnie Willis asked him "Are you going to be good?" When she asked the question a second time, Ellison put the microphone in his mouth, to the crowd's laughter. He then placed his hand on her breast during an embrace.[106][107][108] Ellison subsequently complained that Willis refused to acknowledge his apology.[106]
On September 20, 2006, Ellison sued comic book and magazine publisherFantagraphics, stating they haddefamed him in their bookComics As Art (We Told You So).[109] The book recounts the history of Fantagraphics and discussed a lawsuit that resulted from a 1980 Ellison interview with Fantagraphics' industry news magazine,The Comics Journal. In this interview Ellison referred to comic book writerMichael Fleisher, calling him "bugfuck" and "derange-o". Fleisher lost his libel suit against Ellison and Fantagraphics on December 9, 1986.[110]
Ellison, after reading unpublished drafts of the book on Fantagraphics's website, believed that he had been defamed by several anecdotes related to this incident. He sued in the Superior Court for the State of California, in Santa Monica. Fantagraphics attempted to have the lawsuit dismissed. In theirmotion to dismiss, Fantagraphics argued that the statements were both their personal opinions and generally believed to be true anecdotes. On February 12, 2007, the presiding judge ruled against Fantagraphics' anti-SLAPP motion for dismissal.[111] On June 29, 2007, Ellison claimed that the litigation had been resolved[112] pending Fantagraphics' removal of all references to the case from their website.[113] No money or apologies changed hands in the settlement as posted on August 17, 2007.[114]
In a 1980 lawsuit againstABC andParamount Pictures, Ellison andBen Bova claimed that the TV seriesFuture Cop was based on their short story "Brillo", winning a $337,000 judgement.[115]
Ellison alleged thatJames Cameron's filmThe Terminator drew from material from an episode of the originalOuter Limits which Ellison had scripted, "Soldier" (1964).Hemdale, the production company and the distributorOrion Pictures, settled out of court for an undisclosed sum and added a credit to the film which acknowledged Ellison's work.[116] Cameron objected to this acknowledgement and has since labeled Ellison's claim a "nuisance suit".[20] Some accounts of the settlement state that anotherOuter Limits episode written by Ellison, "Demon with a Glass Hand" (1964), was also claimed to have been plagiarized by the film, but Ellison stated that "Terminator was not stolen from 'Demon with a Glass Hand', it was a ripoff of my OTHEROuter Limits script, 'Soldier'."[117]
In 1983,Marvel Comics releasedThe Incredible Hulk #286, entitled "Hero", written byBill Mantlo. Three issues later, Marvel announced that Mantlo had adapted "Soldier" for use as a Hulk story, but that they had forgotten to credit Ellison until this was pointed out by readers. In actuality, then-Editor-in-ChiefJim Shooter signed off on the story, not having seen theOuter Limits episode it was based on and not realizing Mantlo copied it wholesale. The day the issue went on sale, he was contacted by an angry Ellison, who calmed down after Shooter admitted the error. Although he could have claimed hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages, Ellison requested only the same payment Mantlo had received for the story, proper credit as writer, and a lifetime subscription to everything Marvel published.[118]
On April 24, 2000, Ellison sued Stephen Robertson for posting four stories to theusenet newsgroup "alt.binaries.e-book" without authorization. The other defendants wereAOL and RemarQ, aninternet service provider who owned servers hosting the newsgroup. Ellison alleged they had failed to halt copyright infringement in accordance with the "Notice and Takedown Procedure" outlined in the 1998Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Robertson and RemarQ first settled with Ellison, and then AOL likewise settled with Ellison in June 2004, under conditions that were not made public. Since those settlements Ellison initiated legal action or takedown notices against more than 240 people who have allegedly distributed his writings on the Internet, saying, "If you put your hand in my pocket, you'll drag back six inches of bloody stump".[119]
Ellison won eightHugo Awards,[120] a shared award for the screenplay ofA Boy and his Dog that he counted as "half a Hugo",[121][122] and two special awards from annualWorld SF Conventions;[120] fourNebula Awards of theScience Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA);[120] fiveBram Stoker Awards of theHorror Writers Association (HWA);[120] twoEdgar Awards of theMystery Writers of America;[123] twoWorld Fantasy Awards from annual conventions;[123] and twoGeorges Méliès fantasy film awards.[123][124] In 1987, Ellison was awarded theInkpot Award.[125]
In his 1981 book about the horror genre,Danse Macabre,Stephen King reviewed Ellison's collectionStrange Wine and considered it one of the best horror books published between 1950 and 1980.[126]
Ellison won theWorld Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 1993.[127] HWA gave him itsLifetime Achievement Award in 1996[128] and the World Horror Convention named him Grand Master in 2000.[127] He was awarded the Gallun Award for Lifetime Achievement in Science Fiction from I-CON in 1997.[129]
SFWA named him its 23rdGrand Master of fantasy and science fiction in 2006[130] and theScience Fiction Hall of Fame inducted him in 2011.[131] That year he also received the fourth J. Lloyd Eaton Lifetime Achievement Award in Science Fiction, presented by the UCR Libraries at the 2011Eaton SF Conference, "Global Science Fiction".[132]
As of 2013[update], Ellison is the only three-time winner of theNebula Award for Best Short Story. He won his other Nebula in the novella category.[127]
He was awarded the Silver Pen for Journalism byInternational PEN, the international writers' union, in 1982.[133][123] In 1990, Ellison was honored by International PEN for continuing commitment to artistic freedom and the battle against censorship.[123] In 1998, he was awarded the "Defender of Liberty" award by the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.[134]
In March 1998, the National Women's Committee ofBrandeis University honored him with their 1998 Words, Wit, Wisdom award.[135]
Ellison was named 2002's winner of theCommittee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal's "Distinguished Skeptic Award", in recognition of his contributions to science and critical thinking. Ellison was presented with the award at the Skeptics Convention inBurbank, California, on June 22, 2002.[136]
In December 2009, Ellison was nominated for aGrammy Award in the category Best Spoken Word Album For Children for his reading ofThrough the Looking-Glass And What Alice Found There for Blackstone Audio, Inc.[137]
In the 1970s, artist and cartoonist Gordon Carleton wrote and drew a scriptedslideshow called "City on the Edge of Whatever", a spoof of "The City on the Edge of Forever". Occasionally performed atStar Trek conventions, it features an irate writer named "Arlan Hellison" who screams at his producers, "Art defilers! Script assassins!"[149]
Justice League of America #89 ("The Most Dangerous Dreams Of All") 1971, written byMike Friedrich, is centered around a character named Harlequin Ellis. The character is smitten withBlack Canary, and injects himself into Justice League adventures, taking on the role of different heroes in his attempts to woo her. Ellison himself had written several comic book scripts.
Ben Bova's novelThe Starcrossed (1975), aroman à clef about Bova and Ellison's experience onThe Starlost TV series,[150] features a character, "Ron Gabriel", who is a pastiche of Ellison. Bova's novel is dedicated to Ellison's pseudonym "Cordwainer Bird", who was credited as series creator onThe Starlost per Ellison's demand. In the novel, "Ron Gabriel" requires the fictional series producers to credit him under the pseudonym "VictorLawrence TalbotFrankenstein".[151]
InMurder at the ABA (1976) by Isaac Asimov, the protagonist, Darius Just, was based on Ellison, as stated by Asimov in footnotes to the book itself and in his autobiographical volumeIn Joy Still Felt.
Robert Silverberg named a character in his first novel,Revolt on Alpha C (1955), for Ellison, who was Silverberg's neighbor in New York City at the time he was writing the book. This was confirmed in a special edition on the occasion of Silverberg's 35th year in the business.[152]
Sharyn McCrumb's mystery novelBimbos of the Death Sun (1987) features a cantankerous antagonist-turned-murder victim based on Ellison.[153] Fans of Ellison sent him copies of the book, and upon their meeting later that year at theEdgar Awards, Ellison told McCrumb he had read the book and thought it was good.[154]
Ellison is a recurring minor character in the animated television seriesScooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated (2010–2013), voicing a fictionalized version of himself modeled on his appearance in the 1970s.[155][156]
Ellison appeared as himself in an episode ofThe Simpsons ("Married to the Blob", 2014)[157] in which he meets Bart and Milhouse, and parodies his contention that the filmThe Terminator used ideas from his stories.[20][116]
Harlan Ellison wrote what is widely considered the best episode ever ofStar Trek: The Original Series.
This is Harlan's little breakfast nook at Webderland. When he's not here, we chat about him and his work. When he is, we act like we're guests in his home.
Over the 10 episodes, you'll hear some 80 voices, several of them familiar. Showing how long it's been in the works, the show features the late actor Fred Willard, who died in 2020, and sci-fi author Harlan Ellison, who died in 2018.
I have a busy social calendar in the remaining weeks of this month. On Friday, September 21, my dear friends Harlan and Susan Ellison will be in Cleveland for A Tribute to Harlan Ellison at the main library of the Cleveland Public Library: Join us in the Louis Stokes Wing Auditorium beginning with a reception at 6:30 p.m. followed with a Midwestern debut screening of Dreams With Sharp Teeth, a documentary on the writer and native Clevelander, Harlan Ellison. Screening will be followed by special guests with a special appearance by Harlan Ellison.
Ellison felt his story, which was aired in cut form, received a 'fatally inept' treatment.
His visit was culminated by a meal function at the Ramada Inn, recalled by many for a 'food fight' among other things. Cepheid was dissolved as a club, in part due to issues with the hotel.
He appeared on 'Babylon 5' and provided voice work for a number of animated series. Most recently, he appeared as a fictionalized version of himself on two episodes of 'Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated'.
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