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]
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Yes, dear Lord, we ask it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ who alone can save.
LOL Graphic Novels...also known as comic books, use to sell for 10 cents. How much does a graphic novel cost....too much I’ll bet.
In the mid ‘60s I belonged to something called, “The Science Fiction Book Club” and one of the first books I got in the mail was a Harlan Ellison book. I think it was called, ‘The Beast Who Shouted Love At The Heart Of The World’.. I still have that book up in the attic somewhere. ...Along with a bunch of others I got through the club, like Asimov’s ‘Foundation’ trilogy and Heinlein’s ‘Past Through Tomorrow’.
His writing is kinda scary... sort of like you took Virginia Wolfe and sent her to Neptune.
Back in the 70’s and 80’s, I read alot. “A Boy and His Dog” is still one of my favorites.
He also edited a volume of short stories called “Dangerous Visions” which is, in my mind, to this date one of the most impressive collections of sci-fi ever put together.
Bradbury always struck me as what would happen if you took someone from the MSM and sent them to Mars.
Ellison is what you would get if you sent Charles Manson and Aleister Crowley to Mars!
thanks for posting this.
Huh, who’da thunkit? I think he wrote some outstanding stories. I recall a really neat one about a man who started fires with his mind. I read a lot of his stories in the 80s, but I don’t feel much interest now.
In my opinion, a very over-rated author, but a good editor and selector of other writers’ stories. His stories were, to me, forgetable; read them once, a few weeks later you couldn’t remember much about them. Later, he got lazy, and would publish his outlines, or story notes, or even just his story concepts, instead of finishing them. Became a hack-scriptwriter for Hollywood, and could churn out a treatment for a TV show, or even a movie, in record time; of course, they were unfilmable. His draft scripts never resembled the finished product much.
What’s amazing is that he had so many friends in SF Fandom. Some of his best friends were the writers he feuded with, and the Fans he insulted. Watching him on a panel at a Con was like watching a celebrity roast.
I disagree. There are some that I remember very well after nearly 30 years, and I expect I'd still be impressed by those today. I don't read SF much these days - usually only when something my kids have checked out is lying around.
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.
Bookmark.
Will have to learn more about Harlan Ellison. For now, it’s enough to know that he stood up to that jerk Sinatra.
Harlan Ellison is one of those folks that once stood before a writers’ symposium, and stated:
“When you finish reading an article, or a book, and stand up in shock, and shout, “This is crap! I can write better than that!”, you have just taken your first step towards being a writer!
And as for me, so it began.
Harlan Ellison, (Uncle Harlan to some), is a fountain pen afficianado. I have a printout from his Webderland site, “Harlan Ellison’s Watching”, 05/19/2006, discussing fountain pens.
Harlan Ellison, unknown to some, is a Korean War vet, and did train with the 1st generation of Special Forces, even with his height. It was shortly after his end of enlistment, that he became a member of a Brooklyn street gang, and then the book about same, thereafter.
Harlan Ellison, having such a great love for a NY publisher, sent said publisher, during a normal ‘dog days’ temperature range, through the USPS at what used to be called ‘book rate’, with the resultant slower handling times, a freshly harvested gopher from his hillside, in response to the publisher’s displayed love towards Ellison! (Talk about biowarfare!)
Harlan Ellison, during a conference with a publisher, who was being obstinate about business details with one of Ellison’s books, sat calmly, discussing these details, while field-stripping a Government Model 1911. Subtle, but effective.
lastly, his first exclamation of non-love towards someone, anyone, is recorded to be “bug-copulation”!
All of these little things make up the psyche that is, and always shall be, Harlan Ellison.
“Take no prisoners, leave none alive!”
bfl
Clevelanders in the news ping
Wasn't that idea ripped off by Stephen King?
I think it’s an obvious enough concept that more than one writer could come up with it.
I still think he’s a terrible writer. I guess that’s unfair, because I never read anything he wrote- except for one short story to help a non-native English speaker with homework.
I still think he’s a terrible writer. I guess that’s unfair, because I never read anything he wrote- except for one short story to help a non-native English speaker with homework.
Stephen King, or Harlan Ellison? In either case, I'd hesitate to go from, "I really disliked one story," to "He's a terrible writer."
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