Tag Archives: Harlan Ellison

I Thought It Would Never Happen

OK, so back a few months ago we had a discussion about how science fiction and fantasy have changed. I titled that post “From Dangerous Visions to Safe Spaces”. Part of the discussion revolved around Harlan Ellison’s Dangerous Visions anthology series. One of the things mentioned was Last Dangerous Visions, which was announced in 1973.

Last Dangerous Visions also came up in the tribute post to Christopher Priest, because he wrote a history of it entitled The Book on the Edge of Forever. Before Harlan died, I would joke that we should take bets on which book would be published first, Last Dangerous Visions or George R. R. Martin’s next sequel to A Game of Thrones.

Well, now we know the answer, and it’s not the one I would have expected since Harlan Ellison, the editor of the anthology, was dead. But… Continue reading →

From Dangerous Visions to Safe Spaces

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Let’s take a trip back in time, shall we?

Back in the 1950s and early 1960s, the digests magazines, successors to the pulps, might have had racy covers (although not generally as racy as the pulps), but their content was pretty tame.

Along comes a young man named Harlan Ellison. Ellison was something of a troublemaker. I’m not trying to be disparaging by thay statement. He himself said as much on numverous occasions.

Ellison, along with some other writers, Silverberg comes to mind, felt that there were too many taboos in science fiction. This was before fantasy became the publishing juggernaut it is today. So in 1967, Ellison edited an anthology entitled Dangerous Visions. In it, Ellison published stories that were supposed to break the taboos of the day. Dangerous stories. Visionary stories.

Hence the title. Continue reading →

Hammett and Harlan

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Today, May 26, marks the birth of two of the most important writers of the 20th Century, Dashiell Hammett (1894-1961) and Harlan Ellison (1934-2018).

Hammett, of course, was one of the founders of the hardboiled school of detective writing. Ellison was primarily a short fiction writer, but he will long be remembered as the author of the classic Star Trek TOS episode “The City on the Edge of Forever”. If you ever get a chance to hear a performance of his original script, do. It’s different than the filmed version in some key respects. Continue reading →

Hammett and Harlan

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Today,, May 27, marks the births of two of my favorite writers, Dashiell Hammett (1894-1961) and Harlan Ellison (1934-2018). We’ll take a quick look at one of their stories each. Continue reading →

Cornell Woolrich and “Tired Old Man”

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Cornell Woolrich

Cornell George Hopley-Woolrich was born on this date (December 3) in 1903. He passed away in 1968. He wrote most of his novels and stories under the name Cornell Woolrich, but a few, such as my favorite, Phantom Lady, were published under the by-line of William Irish. A number of his works were adapted for film and television, often under other titles. The most famous of these was the Alfred Hitchcock film, Rear Window.

So why am I doing this birthday post here rather than at Gumshoes, Gats, and Gams? Well aside from the fact that that blog is currently dormant, Woolrich did write a few stories involving the fantastic.

But I want to do something a little different. Harlan Ellison has a story entitled “Tired Old Man“, which he says is based on something that happened to him. Ellison had gone to a party and got to talking to an older gentlemen there. Ellison didn’t get his name. Later when he described the man to his host and some other friends, they all insisted that the person Ellison had been talking to was Cornell Woolrich. Only none of them saw him there.

Ellison explains all this in his introduction to the collection No Doors, No Windows, which is where the story was first published. “Tired Old Man” is worth a read. Ellison adds some fantastic elements and a surprising amount of emotional depth to what is a brief story. I first read it years ago, and it’s stuck with me ever since.

I checked this morning to see what is available by Woolrich in ebook form. I’d bought the Centipede Press editions when they came out a few years ago, but I wanted something a little more portable.

There’s a lot that’s been published in recent years. I bought five short story collections. Here’s one of them, An Obsession with Death and Dying. And if you want a novel, start with Phantom Lady or Night Has a Thousand Eyes.

Of Editorial Greatness

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Earlier today I was reading a post on a site I don’t normally read these days (I was lured by the temptation of a free ebook). The post made the argument that John Campbell was the greatest editor the science fiction and fantasy fields have seen.

That got me to thinking, which usually gets me in trouble. I began wondering who would be the greatest editor, greater being defined as having the most impact over time. The original post didn’t include fantasy other than a passing reference to Unknown. So I thought I’d throw the question open to anyone who wanted to voice an opinion. Below is a list I compiled off the top of my head. I didn’t include any living editors. If I had, Ellen Datlow would be on it. My rationale is that the impact of living editors on the can’t be accurately assessed because they are still having an influence and their greatest influences may still be to come.

So in alphabetical order are ten editors. I’ll provide a brief explanation as to why they have been included. Some will be quickly eliminated. Others, not so much. Continue reading →

RIP, Harlan Ellison (1934-2018)

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The Los Angeles Times is reporting that Harlan Ellison has died. Initial reports are that Ellison died unexpectedly in his sleep.

Ellison was a much loved and much loathed figure in the science fiction and fantasy field. I’ll not try to list all of his award-winning work. Others will do that far better than I can.

I met Harlan only once, at an Aggiecon in the early 2000s. He was everything I’d heard he was.

Harlan had pretty much stopped writing after he had a stroke a few years ago. A Kickstarter last year (which I pledged) is going to be bringing a lot of his work back into print.

Adventures Fantastic would like to extend condolences to Harlan’s widow Susan as well Harlan’s many friends and fans.

I really don’t know what else to say. Harlan’s life was too big to be summed up in a blog post. I picked up duplicate copies of several of his books last week when I was in Dallas. I’ll read one this evening and raise a glass in his memory.

A Brief Report on ConDFW XIII

Again? Really!?

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You may remember the controversy last summer over the SFWA bulletin, which encompassed, among other things, people being offended by some things said by Mike Resnick and Barry Malzberg, some other articles deemed sexist, and of course, the cover you see on the left. I discussed the situation in this post.

Well, now there’s another controversy brewing. Steve Davidson of Amazing Stories does a fine job of summarizing it here.

I’ll hit the high points, but you’ll have to track down some of the details on your own. During last summer’s fiasco, publication of the Bulletin was suspended. Plans are for it to resume. A few things need to happen first, like a new editor has to be hired. And there’s some sort of oversight committee that will be put in place to see to it that the Bulletin doesn’t publish anything that isn’t up to SFWA standards.

And that’s got some people upset. Continue reading →