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'''Harlan Jay Ellison''' (born ], ], ]) is a writer. '''Harlan Jay Ellison''' (born ], ], ]) is a prolific ] writer of short stories, novellas, and criticism. His work has been influenced by a number of literary genres, especially science fiction, fantasy, horror, and psychological drama.


Ellison left home in his youth and became a drifter, working various jobs. He briefly attended The Ohio State University. In the mid ], he began to sell ] stories to ]. He was drafted into the army and served from ] to ]. Afterwards, he briefly edited ''Rogue'' magazine. He subsequently began to sell scripts to television and publish short pieces, fiction and nonfiction, in various publications. He moved to California in ].
In a career spanning more than 40 years, he has won more awards for the 75 books that he has written or edited, the more than 1700 stories, essays, articles, and newspaper columns, the two dozen teleplays and a dozen motion pictures he has created, than any other living fantasist. He has won the ] 8½ times, the ] three times, the ], presented by the Horror Writers Association, six times (including The Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996), the ] of the ] twice, the Georges Méliès fantasy film award twice, two Audie Awards (for the best in audio recordings), and was awarded the Silver Pen for Journalism by P.E.N., the international writer’s union (this prestigious accolade was presented for his columns in the ], titled "An Edge in My Voice", in defense of the ]). After writing the columns for only 29 weeks, he beat out candidates from the ], ], and ]. He was presented with the first Living Legend award by the International Horror Critics at the 1995 World Horror Convention. He is also the only author in Hollywood ever to win the Writers Guild of America award for Most Outstanding teleplay (solo work) four times, most recently for "Paladin of the Lost Hour" his ''Twilight Zone'' episode that was ]'s final role, in 1987. In March (1998), the National Women’s Committee of ] honored him with their 1998 Words, Wit & Wisdom award.
Ellison has traveled with rock groups such as ], and his novel of the scene, ''Spider Kiss'', is called by music critic Greil Marcus "…the finest novel about the world of rock in the past quarter century."


He was hired and worked ''very'' briefly as a writer for ], but was fired on his first day after being overheard by ] in the studio commissary joking about making a ] animated film featuring Disney characters.
In a 1980 landmark lawsuit he sued and beat ] and ] for $337,000 when they plagiarized a ] series he had created. This was the famous Brillo/Future Cop case.


Ellison has written for several science fiction ], including the original '']'' series, the original '']'' series, and the ] revival of '']''.
Among his most recognized works, translated into more than 40 languages and selling in the millions of copies, are ''Deathbird Stories'', ''Strange Wine'', ''Approaching Oblivion'', ''I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream'', ''Web of the City'', ''Love Ain't Nothing But Sex Misspelled'', ''Ellison Wonderland'', ''Memos From Purgatory'', ''All the Lies That Are My Life'', ''Shatterday'', and ''Stalking the Nightmare''; and as creative intelligence and editor of the all-time bestselling ''Dangerous Visions'' anthologies and ''Medea: Harlan's World'', he has been awarded two Special Hugos and the prestigious Milford Award for lifetime Achievement in Editing.


He has received many awards for both his fiction and television work. He served as creative consultant to the science fiction ] series '']'' (1980s version) and ''].'' The screenplay for his projected television series '']'' was given a ], though the actual series was so altered by the producers that Ellison had his name removed from the credits.
His latest publications include: ''The Essential Ellison'' (Nemo Press, 1987; Morpheus International, 1991), an enormous 1,000+ page, thirty-five year retrospective of his work (this year, ''The Essential Ellison'' has been expanded to reflect a fifty-year career in writing); ''Angry Candy'' (Houghton Mifflin, 1988), winner of the 1989 ] for best Short Story Collection and listed in the ''Encyclopedia Americana Annual'' as one of the major works of American literature for 1988; ''Harlan Ellison's Watching'' (Underwood–Miller, 1988) a compilation of 20 years of film criticism; ''The Harlan Ellison Hornbook'' (Penzler Books & Mirage Press, 1990); ''Harlan Ellison's Movie'' (Mirage Press, 1990); ''Dreams With Sharp Teeth'' (Book-of-the-Month Club, 1991); ''Mefisto in Onyx'' (Mark V. Ziesing, 1993); ''Mind Fields'' (Morpheus, 1994) with Polish artist Jacek Yerka; ''I, Robot: The Illustrated Screenplay'' (based on ]'s story-cycle; Warner Books, 1994); ''The City on the Edge of Forever'' screenplay (Borderlands Press, 1995, and White Wolf, 1996); ''Slippage'' (Mark V. Ziesing, Houghton Mifflin, 1997); and the coffee table edition of ''"Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman" (Underwood Books, 1997) with paintings, rendered by Rick Berry.


One of his most famous stories is "'Repent, Harlequin!' said the Ticktockman", a celebration of ] against repressive authority. He has also written large amounts of non-fiction, including a book about his experience joining a gang (as research for a novel) in the late ], ''Memos from Purgatory'' (which was adapted as an episode of the ''Alfred Hitchcock Hour'' in the early 1960s and featured ], later of ''Star Trek'' fame), and several collections of essays about the TV and film industries. For many years college media studies programs have used '']'' in television criticism classes.
May (1996) saw the publication, by White Wolf Publishing, of ''Edgeworks: The Collected Ellison (Vol. #1)''. This first of a series of 20 volumes of the collected fiction, essays, teleplays and columns contains the books ''An Edge in My Voice'' and ''Over the Edge'', with completely revised, updated and expanded manuscripts…the variorum texts! November (1996) saw the publication of the second ''Edgeworks'' omnibus, containing the books ''Spider Kiss'' and ''Stalking the Nightmare''. In rapid succession White Wolf Publishing also released volumes 3 and 4 of the ''Edgeworks'' series.


He also edited the extremely influential science fiction anthology '']'' (]), which collected stories commissioned by Ellison, accompanied by his commentary-laden biographical sketches of the authors. He challenged the authors to write stories at the edge of the genre, and ''Dangerous Visions'' is widely considered the greatest and most influential SF anthology of all time. Many of the stories went beyond the traditional boundaries of science fiction pioneered by respected old school editors such as ] As an editor, Ellison was influenced and inspired by experimentation in the popular literature of the time, such as the ]. A sequel, ''Again Dangerous Visions,'' was published in ].
Ellison served as Creative Consultant on the revival of the CBS-TV series '']'' until late November of 1985, at which time he resigned (to considerable media attention) due to network censorship of a script dealing with ] that he had written and was in the process of directing. From 1993 until 1998 and the end of the series, Ellison also served as Conceptual Consultant on the popular syndicated hit series '']''. Recently, Ellison adapted his short story "The Face of Helene Bournouw" for a Showtime cable series.


A projected third book in the series, ''The Last Dangerous Visions'', has become something of a legend in science fiction as the genre's most famous unpublished book (Ellison mentioned the book in the introduction to ''Again Dangerous Visions''). Ellison himself has come under harsh criticism for his treatment of writers who submitted their stories to him, of which there are estimated to be nearly 150 (many of those authors have died in the subsequent three decades since the anthology was first announced). Ellison owns the stories until their publication in ''The Last Dangerous Visions'', and they cannot be seen until that book is published or without Ellison's permission (he has refused several of the authors' requests). Many consider this to be highly ironic since Ellison himself has criticized the TV and movie studios for buying his scripts and then filing them away, never to be seen again. Noted British SF author ] has become Ellison's most prominent critic over the book, extensively cataloguing Ellison's dubious editorial practices in a widely-disseminated article titled ''The Book on the Edge of Forever'' .
"The Human Operators" (based on a short story co-written with A.E. van Vogt), aired early in 1999 as part of the ] series.


Ellison has a reputation for being outspoken and abrasive. His friend ] remarked of Ellison that, "he has no sense of tact whatsoever." As many people, including Ellison himself, have said, he does not suffer fools gladly. This reputation obtained a spot for him on the fledgling ] where he was given an opportunity to express his views on (presumably) whatever he wanted. It was eventually dropped.
Also a member of the ] (SAG), Ellison has voiceover credits on many shows including ''Pirates of Darkwater'', ''Mother Goose & Grimm'', ''Space Cases'', ''Phantom 2040'', The Sci-Fi Channel and ''Babylon 5'' (in the episode titled "Ceremonies of Light and Dark" Harlan plays the Voice of the B5 computer, and in the episode "Day of the Dead" you can hear him as "Zooty"). Ellison's first TV appearance as a fictional character was also on ''Babylon 5'' in the episode "The Face of the Enemy". He played a ] opposite ] as "Bester". His latest acting role was as the mysterious "Grifter" in the series '']''. Mr. Ellison has also done many spoken word recordings (most recently for Audio Literature's series of recordings; including Mr. Ellison's short story collection ''Midnight in the Sunken Cathedral'') and has received ] nominations for his recordings. For six years, he was the weekly commentator on The USA Network's ''Sci-Fi Buzz'' show. He continued in the role of weekly commentator for ''Galaxy Online'' with his on-screen series "Working Without a Net®".


In the ], there was a widely-publicized incident in which Ellison physically assaulted author and critic ] at the ]s banquet over some critical commentary of Platt's. Platt did not pursue legal action against Ellison, and the two men signed a "non-aggression pact" later, promising never to discuss the incident again or have any contact with one another. In later years, however, Ellison often publicly boasted about the incident. This story is, of course, apocryphal and without any substantiation by those who claim it happened; i.e., court case numbers, documentation, etc.
On 30 April 1999, Mr. Ellison won two Audie Awards (presented by the Audio Publishers Association to honor the best in audio recordings) in the categories of Solo Narration, Male, for reading ]'s ''City of Darkness'' (published by Dove Audio) and Multi-Voiced Presentation, as part of an all-star cast reading ''The Titanic Disaster Hearings: The Official Transcript of the 1912 Senatorial Investigation'' by ] (published by Dove Audio).


Ellison is active in the ], sometimes appearing at ]s.
Ellison won a Bram Stoker award for his collection of stories ''The Voice From the Edge (Volume 1)''. A follow-up collection titled, ''Midnight in the Sunken Cathedral'', is currently available.


Ellison has on occasion used the ] "Cordwainer Bird" to alert members of the public to situations in which he feels his creative contribution to a project has been mangled beyond repair by others, typically Hollywood producers or studios. (See, e.g., ].) The "Cordwainer Bird" moniker is a tribute to fellow SF writer Paul M. A. Linebarger, better known by his pen name, ]. The origin of the word "]" is shoemaker (from working with cordovan leather for shoes). The term used by Linebarger was meant to imply the industriousness of the pulp author. Ellison has said, in interviews and in his writing, that his version of the pseudonym was meant to mean "a shoemaker for birds." Since he has used the pseudonym mainly for works he wants to distance himself from, it seems appropriate -- in that it can be understood to mean that "this work is for the birds". ] once said he thought that it meant that Ellison was giving people who mangled his work a literary version of "]."
Mr. Ellison worked as a consultant and host for the radio series ''2000X'', a series of 26 one-hour dramatized radio adaptations of famous SF stories for The Hollywood Theater of the Ear. The series was broadcast on National Public Radio (NPR) in 2000 & 2001. Ellison's classic story "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman" was included as part of this significant series, starring ], with the author in the role of Narrator. Harlan Ellison was awarded the Ray Bradbury Award For Drama Series: For Program Host & Creative Consultant: NPR Presentation of 2000X.


Ellison recently gained attention for his ], ] lawsuit against Stephen Robertson for posting four of his stories to the ] newsgroup alt.binaries.e-book without authorization. Included as defendants in the lawsuit were ] and ], ]s whose involvement was running Usenet servers carrying the group in question and for failing to stop the alleged copyright infringers in accordance with the "Notice and Takedown Procedure" outlined in the ] ]. Robertson and RemarQ settled the lawsuit with Ellison, though he pressed on with his suit against AOL. The AOL suit was settled in June 2004 under conditions which were not made public.
Harlan Ellison can be heard as the voice of the insane god-computer AM in the CD-ROM computer game, the bestselling ''I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream". Though Mr. Ellison doesn't even own a computer, he has amazed the world of electronic entertainment by creating and implementing a cutting edge "ethical scenario" that one reviewer lauded as "…a game that challenges both intelligence and wisdom, and in this longtime gameplayer's experience, it stands practically alone in the gaming landscape". Ellison reprised his role as the voice of the evil computer AM in the broadcast adaptation of ''I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" for the ] radio series ''Chillers''.

In 1990, Ellison was honored by P.E.N. for his continuing commitment to artistic freedom and the battle against censorship. He lives with his wife, Susan, inside the Lost Aztec Temple of Mars, in Los Angeles.

Harlan Ellison's 1992 novelette "The Man Who Rowed Christopher Columbus Ashore" was selected from more than 6,000 short stories published in the U.S. for inclusion in the 1993 edition of ''The Best American Short Stories''.

After three years in production, January 1995 saw the debut of Ellison's own ongoing, monthly comic book from Dark Horse called ''Harlan Ellison's Dream Corridor''. In its first year of publication the graphic narrative magazine garnered such overwhelming and unanimous rave reviews—and the original stories Ellison wrote for each issue won so many awards—that in August of 1996 the magazine was re-launched in book-style format, with more pages, as ''Harlan Ellison's Dream Corridor Quarterly''.

"Chatting with Anubis", an original short story written especially for ''Harlan Ellison's Dream Corridor #4'', won The Deathrealm Award for The Best Short Fiction of 1995 and the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in Short Fiction which was given out by The Horror Writers Association in June 1996. At the same awards ceremony, Harlan Ellison was also given The Lifetime Achievement Award. His latest collection, ''Slippage'', won the 1998 Locus Poll Award as Best Story Collection.

On 22 June 1998, Ellison's career reached a dizzying summit when he became the answer to a clue in the "Double Jeopardy" round of that evening's broadcast of the television game show, ''Jeopardy''.

He is a frequent guest on ABC's Politically Incorrect with ].

In January 2001, Mr. Ellison signed to develop his award-winning ''Outer Limits'' script, ''Demon With a Glass Hand'', for ]'s Dimension Films as a theatrical feature. He is working with director ] whose previous credits include: ''The Arrival'', ''Pitch Black'', ''G.I. Jane'', and ''The Fugitive''. Other Ellison works currently in the pipeline for film and TV include: "Along the Scenic Route," optioned by Paramount Pictures.

Mr. Ellison's first Young Adult collection, ''Troublemakers: Stories by Harlan Ellison'', was released in November 2001.


== Books of Short Stories == == Books of Short Stories ==
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== Novels == == Novels ==
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*'']'' (essays on television, 1968-1970) *'']'' (essays on television, 1968-1970)
*'']'' (essays on television, 1970-1972) *'']'' (essays on television, 1970-1972)
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Revision as of 22:52, 19 November 2004

Harlan Jay Ellison (born May 27, 1934, Cleveland, Ohio) is a prolific speculative fiction writer of short stories, novellas, and criticism. His work has been influenced by a number of literary genres, especially science fiction, fantasy, horror, and psychological drama.

Ellison left home in his youth and became a drifter, working various jobs. He briefly attended The Ohio State University. In the mid 1950s, he began to sell science fiction stories to pulp magazines. He was drafted into the army and served from 1957 to 1959. Afterwards, he briefly edited Rogue magazine. He subsequently began to sell scripts to television and publish short pieces, fiction and nonfiction, in various publications. He moved to California in 1962.

He was hired and worked very briefly as a writer for Walt Disney Studios, but was fired on his first day after being overheard by Roy O. Disney in the studio commissary joking about making a pornographic animated film featuring Disney characters.

Ellison has written for several science fiction television series, including the original Outer Limits series, the original Star Trek series, and the 1980s revival of The Twilight Zone.

He has received many awards for both his fiction and television work. He served as creative consultant to the science fiction TV series The Twilight Zone (1980s version) and Babylon 5. The screenplay for his projected television series The Starlost was given a Writers Guild Award, though the actual series was so altered by the producers that Ellison had his name removed from the credits.

One of his most famous stories is "'Repent, Harlequin!' said the Ticktockman", a celebration of civil disobedience against repressive authority. He has also written large amounts of non-fiction, including a book about his experience joining a gang (as research for a novel) in the late 1950s, Memos from Purgatory (which was adapted as an episode of the Alfred Hitchcock Hour in the early 1960s and featured Walter Koenig, later of Star Trek fame), and several collections of essays about the TV and film industries. For many years college media studies programs have used The Glass Teat in television criticism classes.

He also edited the extremely influential science fiction anthology Dangerous Visions (1967), which collected stories commissioned by Ellison, accompanied by his commentary-laden biographical sketches of the authors. He challenged the authors to write stories at the edge of the genre, and Dangerous Visions is widely considered the greatest and most influential SF anthology of all time. Many of the stories went beyond the traditional boundaries of science fiction pioneered by respected old school editors such as John W. Campbell, Jr. As an editor, Ellison was influenced and inspired by experimentation in the popular literature of the time, such as the beats. A sequel, Again Dangerous Visions, was published in 1972.

A projected third book in the series, The Last Dangerous Visions, has become something of a legend in science fiction as the genre's most famous unpublished book (Ellison mentioned the book in the introduction to Again Dangerous Visions). Ellison himself has come under harsh criticism for his treatment of writers who submitted their stories to him, of which there are estimated to be nearly 150 (many of those authors have died in the subsequent three decades since the anthology was first announced). Ellison owns the stories until their publication in The Last Dangerous Visions, and they cannot be seen until that book is published or without Ellison's permission (he has refused several of the authors' requests). Many consider this to be highly ironic since Ellison himself has criticized the TV and movie studios for buying his scripts and then filing them away, never to be seen again. Noted British SF author Christopher Priest has become Ellison's most prominent critic over the book, extensively cataloguing Ellison's dubious editorial practices in a widely-disseminated article titled The Book on the Edge of Forever .

Ellison has a reputation for being outspoken and abrasive. His friend Isaac Asimov remarked of Ellison that, "he has no sense of tact whatsoever." As many people, including Ellison himself, have said, he does not suffer fools gladly. This reputation obtained a spot for him on the fledgling Sci-Fi Channel where he was given an opportunity to express his views on (presumably) whatever he wanted. It was eventually dropped.

In the 1980s, there was a widely-publicized incident in which Ellison physically assaulted author and critic Charles Platt at the Nebula Awards banquet over some critical commentary of Platt's. Platt did not pursue legal action against Ellison, and the two men signed a "non-aggression pact" later, promising never to discuss the incident again or have any contact with one another. In later years, however, Ellison often publicly boasted about the incident. This story is, of course, apocryphal and without any substantiation by those who claim it happened; i.e., court case numbers, documentation, etc.

Ellison is active in the science fiction community, sometimes appearing at science fiction conventions.

Ellison has on occasion used the pseudonym "Cordwainer Bird" to alert members of the public to situations in which he feels his creative contribution to a project has been mangled beyond repair by others, typically Hollywood producers or studios. (See, e.g., Alan Smithee.) The "Cordwainer Bird" moniker is a tribute to fellow SF writer Paul M. A. Linebarger, better known by his pen name, Cordwainer Smith. The origin of the word "Cordwainer" is shoemaker (from working with cordovan leather for shoes). The term used by Linebarger was meant to imply the industriousness of the pulp author. Ellison has said, in interviews and in his writing, that his version of the pseudonym was meant to mean "a shoemaker for birds." Since he has used the pseudonym mainly for works he wants to distance himself from, it seems appropriate -- in that it can be understood to mean that "this work is for the birds". Stephen King once said he thought that it meant that Ellison was giving people who mangled his work a literary version of "the bird."

Ellison recently gained attention for his April 24, 2000 lawsuit against Stephen Robertson for posting four of his stories to the Usenet newsgroup alt.binaries.e-book without authorization. Included as defendants in the lawsuit were AOL and RemarQ, ISPs whose involvement was running Usenet servers carrying the group in question and for failing to stop the alleged copyright infringers in accordance with the "Notice and Takedown Procedure" outlined in the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Robertson and RemarQ settled the lawsuit with Ellison, though he pressed on with his suit against AOL. The AOL suit was settled in June 2004 under conditions which were not made public.

Books of Short Stories

Novels

Published screenplays and teleplays

See also Phoenix without Ashes, the novelization by Edward Bryant of the screenplay for the pilot episode of The Starlost, which includes a lengthy afterword by Ellison describing what happened in the production of that series.

Nonfiction

Anthologies edited

Selected Short Stories

  • The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World
  • A Boy and his Dog (made into a film)
  • The Diagnosis of Dr. D'arqueAngel
  • From A to Z, in the Chocolate Alphabet
  • I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream
  • Jeffty Is Five
  • The Prowler in the City at the Edge of the World
  • "Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman
  • Shattered Like a Glass Goblin
  • Soldier: filmed as an Outer Limits episode. The film The Terminator had sufficient story element similarities that Ellison filed a lawsuit against James Cameron. Later prints of the film acknowledge the debt to Ellison.
  • The Whimper of Whipped Dogs

Awards won

Bradbury award

The Bradbury Award in 2000 went to Harlan Ellison and Yuri Rasovsky.

Bram Stoker Award

Hugo award

Locus poll award

Nebula award

Additional reading

External links

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