Harlan Ellison, 1934-2018

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John A Arkansawyer
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Harlan Ellison, 1934-2018

Post by John A Arkansawyer »

The first autograph I ever got, the first stories I heard read aloud by a writer, the first writer to ever tell me I'd asked a stupid question. All that in one day. Plus I saw him make a kid cry, then stop his reading till he got the kid consoled. I figured that sort of thing happened in California all the time.

Goodbye to Harlan Ellison, 'America's Weird Uncle'
Harlan Ellison was, after all, one of the most interesting humans on Earth. He was one of the greatest and most influential science fiction writers alive (until yesterday), and now is one of the best dead ones. He was a complete jerk, mostly unapologetically, and a purely American creation — short, loud, furious, outnumbered but never outmatched — who came up in Cleveland, went to LA and lived like some kind of darkside Forrest Gump; a man who, however improbably, however weirdly, inserted himself into history simply by dint of being out in it, brass knuckles in his pocket, and always looking for trouble.
The sooner we put those assholes in the grave&piss on the dirt above it, the better off we'll be

beantownbubba
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Re: Harlan Ellison, 1934-2018

Post by beantownbubba »

That's quite a day, JohnA. I don't know anything about SciFi but Ellison has always sounded like quite a character.
What used to be is gone and what ought to be ought not to be so hard

John A Arkansawyer
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Re: Harlan Ellison, 1934-2018

Post by John A Arkansawyer »

beantownbubba wrote:That's quite a day, JohnA. I don't know anything about SciFi but Ellison has always sounded like quite a character.
I got to thinking about it, and for a short little Northern Jew who didn't drink and when on tour with the Rolling Stones told a groupie to leave his room without fucking her, he was a hell of a lot like Ronnie Van Zandt.
The sooner we put those assholes in the grave&piss on the dirt above it, the better off we'll be

blackwll
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Re: Harlan Ellison, 1934-2018

Post by blackwll »

This quote says it all. He was an unabashed asshole but a great writer.
Harlan Ellison was, after all, one of the most interesting humans on Earth. He was one of the greatest and most influential science fiction writers alive (until yesterday), and now is one of the best dead ones. He was a complete jerk, mostly unapologetically, and a purely American creation — short, loud, furious, outnumbered but never outmatched — who came up in Cleveland, went to LA and lived like some kind of darkside Forrest Gump; a man who, however improbably, however weirdly, inserted himself into history simply by dint of being out in it, brass knuckles in his pocket, and always looking for trouble.
[/quote]

Bill in CT
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Re: Harlan Ellison, 1934-2018

Post by Bill in CT »

This is a fitting tribute to Ellison by my friend Keith R.A. DeCandido.

https://decandido.wordpress.com/2018/06 ... -2018/amp/
The closer you get to the meaning
The sooner you'll know that you're dreaming

John A Arkansawyer
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Re: Harlan Ellison, 1934-2018

Post by John A Arkansawyer »

Bill in CT wrote:This is a fitting tribute to Ellison by my friend Keith R.A. DeCandido.

https://decandido.wordpress.com/2018/06 ... -2018/amp/
I've been reading him for a long time now. He's a good writer. I'm not surprised to learn Ellison was an influence on him. It's a shame the anthology series he mentioned didn't work out. I'm seeing the second one with a big "Fucking Brilliant!"--Harlan Ellison on the cover. I'll have to look for that one.
The sooner we put those assholes in the grave&piss on the dirt above it, the better off we'll be

Bill in CT
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Joined: Sat Apr 24, 2010 3:37 pm

Re: Harlan Ellison, 1934-2018

Post by Bill in CT »

J. Michael Straczynski - Hang with JMS
June 28 at 7:22 PM ·
I come from a background of absolute poverty. As a kid I lived in the Projects in Newark, in the roughest parts of Paterson and Watts, and for a while, Skid Row. In the areas where I lived, career options were limited to crime, pumping gas, bagging groceries, prison and death. So when I said I was going to be a writer, nobody believed me. Kids like me didn’t become writers. The popular conception was that writing was an ivory-tower profession practiced by well-educated folks in smoking jackets who wrote while reclining on Macassar couches. My world did not connect with that world at any two contiguous points. I was a street rat.
Then, one day, I stumbled upon an anthology by Harlan Ellison, a self-professed street rat who ran with a street gang, was bounced out of college, and told repeatedly by teachers and others that he would never be a writer.
It was the first time I was able to connect to someone who came from the world I lived in, who had – through perseverance, talent and sheer force of will – made it as a writer.
From that day on, I collected everything I could find by him. Every magazine article, every anthology, every essay, every introduction. His introductions reinforced the concept of writing as a job of work, and that it didn’t matter where you came from as long as the words were there and you never stopped fighting for the integrity of those words. Those pieces sustained and nurtured me through years when I might otherwise have given up.
Fifteen years after discovering that first book, I got to meet and gradually, slowly, become a friend to Harlan. I dedicated much of my life to paying back just a little of what he had, unknowingly and unwittingly, done for me. There are many stories I can tell, and some I cannot, about those years. But this one very small story I will tell because it illuminates the man behind so much myth.
Harlan and his wife Susan had taken several of us out to dinner in downtown Los Angeles. Later, with Harlan at the wheel and me riding shotgun because he always made sure I had that seat due to my height, we were driving back through some of the sketchiest and most gang-run parts of town because a) this was the fastest route and b) Harlan was fucking fearless. It was clear from the dealers and others eye-fucking us as we drove past that we weren’t supposed to be there, and wherever we were going, we’d best just keep going there.
Then, on the right, we passed a homeless woman sitting by herself on the curb, one hand covering her face, the other on the shopping cart that held her few possessions. She wasn’t looking for a handout or asking for money. Just exhausted and tired and, though you could not see her face, clearly in tears. At the speed Harlan was driving, it was only a glance as we passed.
Harlan hit the brakes. Glanced in the rear and side mirrors. “Goddamnit,” he said, “she’s all alone.” He punched the steering wheel, then – an inner decision made – got out of the car and walked the half block down to her. We didn’t know what the hell to do any more than the guys watching from the shadows.
I popped the door enough to hear what was being said, and to be ready to jump in if anything went wrong.
“Are you okay?” he said. “Do you need anything? Can I do anything?”
She shook her head, but I could not make out her words.
“It’s gonna be okay,” he said. “You’ll be all right.”
Then, with an economy of motion, so no one else would see what he was doing, he reached into his jacket, fumbled one-handed with his wallet, and pulled out some bills. Then he carefully slipped the money into her hand, sheltering the move from view.
“Don’t let them see you have this, okay?” he said. “Go get something to eat. Maybe a place to stay for the night. You’re not alone.”
Then he straightened and came back to the car. He didn’t acknowledge it but when I glanced over at him I could see that his eyes were moist. He didn’t say anything else, and we continued north into the valley.
I know many fine people, good and caring and charitable. But I cannot think of anyone else who would have had the perception to see her, the compassion to stop for her, or the courage to walk out into a no-man’s land where he could have been shot and robbed to make sure she was all right.
That was my friend Harlan.
“You’re not alone.”
That was what his words told me when I was fifteen and very much needed to hear it.
“You’re not alone.”
It’s what he told a complete stranger decades later, and in so doing gave her a moment’s light and hope.
“You’re not alone.”
It’s what he wrote about in every essay, every introduction, every television episode and every short story. Despite the night and the fear and the failure and the thugs and the danger and yes, the death we face: we are not alone.
Harlan is gone.
And those of us who knew him must try, very hard, to remember that we are not alone.
It’s not going to be easy. Not for a while, at least.
But we’ll get there. Because that’s what he would have wanted.
The closer you get to the meaning
The sooner you'll know that you're dreaming

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