Harlan Ellison

Writer

• Born: May 27, 1934
• Birthplace: Cleveland, Ohio
• Died: June 27, 2018
• Place of death: Los Angeles, California

Writer

A versatile writer, Ellison was noted for his award-winning science-fiction short stories.

Area of achievement: Literature

Early Life

Harlan Ellison was born on May 27, 1934, in Cleveland, Ohio, to Louis and Serita Ellison. Harlan Ellison’s family moved to Painesville, where he was the only Jewish student as well as the smallest student in his class. He was bullied and was also the victim of acts of anti-Semitism: At one point, while he was out of town with his family, neighbors had his dog put to sleep. Harlan used these experiences as topics for stories and essays, including one fantasy revenge piece. Ellison often ran away from home and worked in a variety of odd jobs, including a three-month stint in the circus when he was thirteen. His father died from a heart attack when Ellison was fifteen.

In 1953, Ellison began studies at Ohio State University (OSU), and eighteen months later he was expelled because of a disagreement with an English professor, who had questioned Ellison’s abilities as a writer. Ellison left OSU and went to New York City to become a full-time writer. He published 150 stories over the next two years. He wrote journalistic pieces and fiction in a variety of genres and eventually sent the professor a copy of each of his published stories. The science-fiction community fully embraced Ellison’s writing even though he never liked the label of science-fiction writer because he felt most of the contemporary science-fiction writers at the time were limited in writing talent, and Ellison never hesitated to express his opinion. Ellison is on record as preferring to describe his works as magic realism.

Ellison married in 1956. Shortly after, he began journalistic pieces about street gangs. In order to research the topic, he joined a street gang under the assumed name of Cheech Beldone. He used incidents from this experience in his future works and in his memoir. Ellison was drafted into the Army and served from 1957 to 1959. He divorced in 1959 and returned to New York City in 1960.

Life’s Work

Ellison’s works are noted for being open and honest. He commonly used violence and gore in his stories, although those elements were not for shock value as much as they were for highlighting the theme. Ellison developed a highly personal writing style that allowed him to express his opinion, even in his fictional works. His view of the future of the human race was grim, and he portrayed the universe as uncaring and occasionally cruel. He did not foresee technology saving mankind. The short story “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream” (1967), which won a Hugo Award for science-fiction writing, is a dystopian view of the future where an all-powerful computer leaves five humans alive in order to torture through the rest of eternity. Ellison was heralded as one of the “new wave” masters of science fiction, despite the fact that he wrote more mystery and mainstream works than science fiction.

Another theme that Ellison commonly visited was rebellion even in the face of overwhelming odds. The short story “Repent, Harlequin! Said the Ticktockman” (1965) deals with a person who rebels against a repressive society, even though it will cut short his life. This won a Nebula Award and a Hugo Award for best short story. It remains one of the most reprinted short stories in English in any genre. Ellison edited the collection Dangerous Visions (1967, 2002), which featured the works of some of the most notable science-fiction writers of the time. Both it and its sequel, Again, Dangerous Visions (1972), were highly acclaimed by critics. Ellison personalized each story with an introduction.

The multitalented Ellison also made a name for himself as a television writer. He sold scripts to science-fiction shows such as The Outer Limits and Star Trek. He also wrote screenplays for more mainstream shows such as the Man from U.N.C.L.E. and the Alfred Hitchcock Hour. His talent was evident and he won two best original teleplay awards for “The City on the Edge of Forever” (Star Trek) and “Demon with a Glass Hand” (The Outer Limits). Ellison was highly dissatisfied with the rewriting of his original script for “The City on the Edge of Forever,” but it is considered to be one of the finest of the original Star Trek episodes and won a Hugo Award for best dramatic presentation in 1968. Ellison elected to keep his name on the episode credits despite his tendency to have his name changed to “Cordwainer Bird” in the credits when he did not approve of the final result. Ever the contrarian, Ellison wrote a column for the Los Angeles Free Press that discussed the dangers of television, deploring the “dumbing down” of viewers and the degradation of culture.

Ellison’s story “A Boy and His Dog,” written in 1969, was made into a movie in 1975. “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream” was made into a well-received video game that he helped to develop. He also served as a creative consultant to the 1980 version of The Twilight Zone series and the award-winning Babylon 5. He wrote a short-lived, award-winning television series, The Starlost, in 1973. Ellison was named grand master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2006 and was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2011.

Significance

Ellison’s works have an astounding breadth and depth. He wrote more than seventeen hundred stories and wrote or edited more than seventy books. He was accomplished in various fiction genres, and he wrote nonfiction pieces, winning the Silver Pen for Journalism in 1988. He was a writer and a creative consultant for award-winning television shows. Although controversial, confrontational, and often experimental, his works are so compelling that he maintained a high readership. He also earned the respect of his peers, even though his strong opinions and his abrasive behavior alienated some of them.

He was one of the top short-story writers, with more than forty awards (among them eight Hugo Awards and four Nebula Awards) to his credit in this genre. He also received awards in other genres as well, including for mystery (the Edgar Allan Poe Award) and for horror (the Bram Stoker Award). He was also awarded the World Fantasy Award for lifetime achievement in 1996.

Ellison suffered a debilitating stroke in 2014, which paralyzed his right side. He continued to write using only two fingers to type but continues to produce short stories and essays. He published a new collection of short stories, Can and Can'tankerous in 2016. The following year, his long-awaited, approved biography, A Lit Fuse: The Provacative Life of Harlan Ellison, written by Nat Segaloff and containing multiple interviews with the author, was published.

Ellison died in his sleep at his home in Los Angeles, California, on June 27, 2018, at the age of eighty-four. He was survived by his fifth wife, Susan Toth.

Bibliography

Bould, Mark. The Routledge Companion to Science Fiction. Routledge, 2009.

Ellison, Harlan, editor. Dangerous Visions. Berkeley, 1972.

Ellison, Harlan, et al. The Essential Ellison: A Fifty-Year Retrospective. Kilimanjaro Corporation, 2001.

Perry, Douglas. "Harlan Ellison Suffers Stroke; Friend Says the Legendary Writer's Mind Is Still 'Moving at FTL Speed.'" Oregon Live, 13 Oct. 2014, www.oregonlive.com/books/index.ssf/2014/10/harlan‗ellison‗suffers‗stroke.html. Accessed 31 Mar. 2016.

Reinholz, Mary. "Close to the Heart." Pasadena Weekly, 25 Feb. 2016, www.pasadenaweekly.com/2016/02/25/close-to-the-heart/. Accessed 31 Mar. 2016.

Sandomir, Richard. "Harlan Ellison Dies at 84; Prolific, Irascible (Science) Fiction Writer." The New York Times, 29 June 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/06/29/obituaries/harlan-ellison-intensely-prolific-science-fiction-writer-dies-at-84.html. Accessed 2 Aug. 2018.

Sheehan, Jason. "Harlan Ellison Returns with a 'Can'tankerous' New Collection." NPR, 2 Jan. 2016, www.npr.org/2015/12/28/461281398/harlan-ellison-returns-with-a-cantankerous-new-collection. Accessed 31 Mar. 2016.