Harlan Ellison Isn’t Dead Yet (Still Has the Boots He Wore Standing Up to Sinatra)

New York Magazine ^ | July 18, 2013 | Jaime Lowe

[nickcarraway]

Click source link.

[nickcarraway]

I meant Stephen King. Well, that's why I said it might be considered unfair. I disliked his writing before I read that story, which I only did as a favor. I have read the back of many of his books and flipped through enough to get a sense of his style.

He did have one essay on writing that was okay but not great.

[nickcarraway]

I meant Stephen King. Well, that's why I said it might be considered unfair. I disliked his writing before I read that story, which I only did as a favor. I have read the back of many of his books and flipped through enough to get a sense of his style.

He did have one essay on writing that was okay but not great.

[ez]

Repent, Harlequin, said the Tick-Tock man.

[OneWingedShark]

He did have one essay on writing that was okay but not great.

That okay seems to be a lot better than most [IMO]; I read that (it was titled On Writing) and thought it was pretty good, honest, and generally positive/encouraging about writing-as-a-craft. Granted, I'm not a well written [or even published (Yet!)] author, by any means.

[OneWingedShark]

Thanks for posting that; it was a good listen.

[tang-soo]

He's given "writer's" credit for the original terminator movie. I understand that credit was the result of a settlement of a lawsuit he filed against Cameron claiming The Terminator infringed on his story, "Demon with a Glass Hand". Never read the story, but I did see the hour long episode on the Outer Limits with Robert Culp. I never saw the connection. Demon With a Glass Hand

[tang-soo]

The Terminator credit has been changed to ...

Thanks
Harlan Ellison .... acknowledgment to the works of

imdb link

[tang-soo]

From imdb profile: An outspoken gun control advocate, he is responsible for the removal of B-B gun ads from DC Comics. According to a convention transcript printed in The Comics Journal, on a Friday he made a phone call to DC publisher Jeanette Kahn, suggesting that such ads were inappropriate for children. She called him back before the weekend was out assuring him that there would never be another B-B gun ad in a DC comic. In the same transcript, when prompted by Marvel Comics executive Stan Lee (also an advocate of gun control), Ellison admits that growing up with these ads didn’t do him any harm.

[eldoradude]

Wasn't that idea ripped off by Stephen King?

Screamen Queen ripped off everything he did from old drive-in movies. He's the guy that said people only join the military because they didn't learn how to read in school. Another insane liberal who can't let reality get in the way of his beliefs.

[marktwain]

“I’m glad to hear he’s still kicking. All the great old masters of science fiction are dying off, and they don’t make writers like that anymore. I grew up reading his stories. He wrote as an angry ultra-liberal who had a seething contempt for both Humanity and God, and he always expected the worst from the human race. A brilliant and highly imaginative writer nonetheless. I found his short stories very entertaining.”:

I think you nailed it.

[Kip Russell]

He was heavily involved in Babylon 5, which remains (IMHO) the greatest SF television series ever made.

[VietVet]

“De gustibus non disputandum.” If you liked them, and found them memorable, than they were for you. I did not.

I was much more active in SF Fandom back in the day, when the “New Wave” was still new, and still making waves. I even reveiwed books and movies for our local fanzine (the same way Harlan got his start). I recall not everybody agreed with my tastes then, either.

[Tax-chick]

I actually had the same experience with Stephen King: I read one short story, in an anthology of stories about cats, and detested it. I’ve never read anything else of his. Life is too short to read stuff you don’t like, unless it’s for a grade, and even then sometimes you can fudge it!

[Tax-chick]

Oh, I really liked that one.

[Tax-chick]

Yep, everyone likes different stuff. For example, you probably don’t care for Regency Romances ;-).

[VietVet]

Not usually, but I really enjoyed “Pride and Prejudice”. :-)

[Tax-chick]

My sons and I quote grammatically-challenged purple prose from “The Scarlet Pimpernel” at each other. It was in their high school English curriculum. Made some good movies, but the writing? ACK!

[VietVet]

Ah, the literary (British) English of the early 19th Century. :-D

[Tax-chick]

The author was extremely prolific, but only the one novel has remained popular. The plot is strong enough to overcome the ghastly prose.