Posted on 07/18/2013 9:01:44 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Edited on 07/19/2013 10:05:36 AM PDT by Sidebar Moderator. [history]
Click source link.
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What a complete maniac. Anyhow, here’s an interview with Isaac Asimov, Gene Wolfe and Harlan Ellison, from 1982.
Gene Wolfe rules.
Warning, a little bit of off-colour vocabulary is utilized.
Freegards
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I will say that 20 years ago Harlan made the Sci-Fi Channel “The Prisoner” Marathon very interesting.
Hunter Thompson was a wanna-be next to Harlan.
A brilliant, creative, difficult guy. In 2075 I want to take the Disneyland “Be Harlan Ellison for an Hour” ride.
Great article! Thanks for the post!
Ahh, yes, Harlan... Pure evidence of what can happen if you live your life with absolutely no care about anyone but yourself - all you end up with at the end is just living with the one person hardly anyone else can stand to be with.
There’s a saying: Acquaintances help you move, friends help you move the body. To add to that, Harlan at one time would have been that body. My boss was utterly enchanted from spending one evening having dinner with Harlan - who can be quite the charmer so long as someone else is footing the bill.
But for me, having observed him and encounters with him for far too much of my childhood, he serves as an absolute object lesson of how to drive anyone and everyone out of their life.
His frequent reminding of others what he wants his tombstone to say (and Harlan, really, you should just pay for it now) “For a while I was here and for a while I mattered.” It is a solo testament to his life: I care about me, and how impressed I am with me.
Hopefully in these twilight years Harlan will finally learn that there is more to humanity than the letter I.
Weird. I was just reading his “Shatterday.”
He’s indeed a messed-up individual. He’s the darkside of Bradbury. I see his talent, but... not my favorite author.
A Boy and His Dog was a great short story. But dark.
I became acquainted with the writings of Harlan Ellison in the 80s when I had a subscription to the, now defunct, “Twilight Zone” magazine. He was an editor of that magazine and frequent short story contributor. I liked his work for that magazine.
On Net Flicks, there is a movie adapted from one of his short stories called, “A Boy and his Dog”. It’s about a post apocalyptic world where some people live on the surface and some people live underground. It starred a very young Don Johnson. It is a kind of ridiculous and very politically incorrect story where a young man and his talking dog go about their daily activity of attacking other nuclear survivors for the their food and ravishing defenseless woman, etc. It’s the kind of story that could never be filmed today, much less published as a novel without NOW or some other feminist group making huge fuss about it.
Anyhow, based on the article, Harlan Ellison seems to be a bit of a narcissist who has problems caring about other people, something not uncommon for writers/actors/people in the entertainment industry. I guess you can enjoy someone’s work without necessarily liking the person who produced it.
Pretty much the impression his writing has always given me.
Sad that he lives up to it.
I wish his I, Robot screenplay could have been produced.
I have a VHS copy of The City on the Edge of Forever. I haven't watched it. Just had to have it. Wonder if it's still playable.
Sounds like Ellison is not ready for eternity and the Lord has been giving him plenty of time to get ready. He needs to cast his life upon the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. Else he may live unmoving cigarette on an ashtray forever.
Lord Jesus, please convict Harlan Ellison of sin and have him humble himself before You to receive You as his Saviour. We pray this in Your name, Amen.
...He keeps going and going and going.
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