Harlan Ellison was born today in Cleveland, Ohio on this day in 1934.  I’d like to wish him a Happy Birthday.

Ellison is a writer’s writer.  He’s best known as a science fiction writer (although fantasist is a better term), but  he’s written in multiple genres.  His works include mystery, mainstream, screenplays, teleplays, and essays.  It’s hard to point to something representative of his work because is oeuvre is so varied.  There are the classic stories such as “The Deathbird”, “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream”, “Jeffty is Five”, and so many more.  There are the essays in The Glass Teat, The Other Glass Teat, and Harlan Ellison’s Watching.

If you’ve not read him, give him a try.  Then give him another try, because chances are good that the second thing you read by him won’t be anything like the first.

Anyway, Happy Birthday, Harlan!