Harlan Jay Ellison (May 27, 1934 – June 28, 2018) was an American writer, known for his prolific and influential work in New Wave speculative fiction[2] and for his outspoken, combative personality.[3] 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 1967 Star Trek episode "The City on the Edge of Forever", which is regarded as one of the best episodes in the Star Trek franchise[4] (he subsequently wrote a book about the experience that includes his original teleplay), his A Boy and His Dog cycle (which was made into a film), and his short stories "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" (later adapted by Ellison into a video game) and "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman". He was also editor and anthologist for Dangerous Visions (1967) and Again, Dangerous Visions (1972). Ellison won numerous awards, including multiple Hugos, Nebulas, and Edgars.
Biography
Early life and career
Ellison was born to a Jewish family[6] in Cleveland, Ohio, on May 27, 1934, the son of Serita (née Rosenthal) and Louis Laverne Ellison, a dentist and jeweler.[7][8] His older sister Beverly was born in 1926. She died in 2010 without having spoken to him since their mother's funeral in 1976. Some time after Beverly's birth, his family moved to Painesville, Ohio, but returned to Cleveland in 1949, following his father's death. Ellison frequently ran away from home. In an interview with Tom Snyder, he would later claim it was due to discrimination by his high school peers. Throughout Ellison's childhood, antisemitism was widespread throughout America, which led to his early life spent in isolation[9]. According to Ellison, by age 18 he had completed a series of odd jobs as a "tuna fisherman off the coast of
Pseudonyms
Ellison on occasion used the pseudonym Cordwainer 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 also Alan Smithee). The first such work to which he signed the name was "The Price of Doom", an episode of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (though it was misspelled as Cord Wainer Bird in the credits).[60] An episode of Burke's Law ("Who Killed Alex Debbs?") credited to Ellison contains a character given this name, played by Sammy Davis Jr.[61]
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" is shoemaker (from working with shell cordovan leather for shoes). The term used by Linebarger was meant to imply the industriousness of the pulp author. 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 the
Controversies and disputes
Temperament
Ellison had a reputation for being abrasive and argumentative. He generally agreed with this assessment, and a dust 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 bricks postage due, followed by a dead gopher.[66][67] In an October 2017 piece in Wired, Ellison was dubbed "Sci-Fi's Most Controversial Figure".[68]
According to Ellison, his impending trip to Israel was cancelled by its sponsor, the US Information Agency, after his irreverent comment on the Palestine–Israel situation to The Jerusalem Post
Works
Awards
Ellison won eight Hugo Awards,[121] a shared award for the screenplay of A Boy and his Dog that he counted as "half a Hugo",[122][123] and two special awards from annual World SF Conventions;[121] four Nebula Awards of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA);[121] five Bram Stoker Awards of the Horror Writers Association (HWA);[121] two Edgar Awards of the Mystery Writers of America;[124]
Parodies and pastiches of Ellison
In the 1970s, artist and cartoonist Gordon Carleton wrote and drew a scripted slideshow called "City on the Edge of Whatever", a spoof of "The City on the Edge of Forever". Occasionally performed at Star Trek conventions, it features an irate writer named "Arlan Hellison" who screams at his producers, "Art defilers! Script assassins!"[144]
Justice League of America #89 ("The Most Dangerous Dreams Of All") 1971, written by Mike Friedrich, is centered around a character named Harlequin Ellis. The character is smitten with Black 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 novel The Starcrossed (1975), a roman à clef about Bova and Ellison's experience on The Starlost TV series,[145] 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 on The Starlost per Ellison's demand. In the novel, "Ron Gabriel" requires the fictional series producers to credit him under the pseudonym "Victor Lawrence Talbot
Informational notes
Further reading
- A small press biography of Ellison.
External links
- (ISFDB)
- Ellison Webderland Official website
- Video of Harlan Ellison at Cleveland Public Library, September 21, 2007: The author's last public appearance in his hometown, included extended remarks by Les Roberts, Tony Isabella, Mark Dawidziak, and Ellison himself. For additional details on the 2007 event, see the Ohio Center for the Book article.
References
- Elisa Kay Sparks. Harlan Ellison Clemson University English Department^
- Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) Locus Online, June 28, 2018, retrieved June 28, 2018^
- Dennis McLellan. Harlan Ellison dies at 84; acclaimed science fiction writer was known for combative style