Author Topic: Writers, other notables react to the death of Harlan Ellison  (Read 2041 times)

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Online WilliamVA

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Stephen King, Neil Gaiman and other notables react to the death of writer Harlan Ellison:

"Harlan Ellison: There was no one quite like him in American letters, and never will be. Angry, funny, eloquent, hugely talented. If there's an afterlife, Harlan is already kicking ass and taking down names." — Stephen King, via Twitter.

"My friend is dead and I am so sad." — Neil Gaiman, via Twitter.

"Feisty, furious, yet extraordinarily kind and generous; Harlan Ellison was one of a kind. He was family to us Maltins and our hearts go out to his incredible wife Susan. The world will be a duller place without him. #RIPHarlanEllison" — Film critic and historian Leonard Maltin, via Twitter.

"RIP Harlan Ellison one of the all-time great sci-fi writers (though he hated the abbreviation!)" — Former writer for "The Simpsons" Al Jean, via Twitter.

"Calling Harlan Ellison a titan of SciFi doesn't seem to do him justice. His work on comics, film, & novels, including Twilight Zone, Star Trek and Babylon 5, an architect of our imaginations. Our heartfelt condolences go out to his friends & family, he will be sorely missed." — San Diego Comic-Con, via Twitter.

"RIP the incomparable Harlan Ellison." — Michael McKean, via Twitter.

"Ellison and Star Trek went together like hellfire and holy water." — Staff of StarTrek.com, in a statement.

"My heart is broken. Off to gather what few thoughts I can for awhile. What an awful day. Harlan Ellison is dead." — Patton Oswalt, via Twitter.

"Harlan was a very gifted writer. I am sorry to hear of his passing." — William Shatner, via Twitter.
 

Online Pandora

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Re: Writers, other notables react to the death of Harlan Ellison
« Reply #1 on: June 29, 2018, 11:44:59 AM »
I don't know who he was.
"Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer." - Mark Twain

"Let us assume for the moment everything you say about me is true. That just makes your problem bigger, doesn't it?"

Online WilliamVA

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Re: Writers, other notables react to the death of Harlan Ellison
« Reply #2 on: June 29, 2018, 01:32:31 PM »
He is classified as a "controversial" SciFi writer,  Overall I think he did short stories, worked on
screen productions (Star Trek) etc.  He did win one Hugo, and one Nebula award,  Overall his
primary output was anthologies, which is to say; He was best known for assembling other peoples
short stories into anthologies. 

I am a SciFi/Fantasy buff, been reading since I first found a "Gray Mouser" book under my Dad's
bed, when I was about 9.    I was familiar with Ellison's work, didn't particularly care for it much.

Still,he was one of  the notables, no where near the level of Heinlein, Norton, or Zelazny. 

Just my opinion.

Online patentlymn

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Re: Writers, other notables react to the death of Harlan Ellison
« Reply #3 on: June 30, 2018, 08:26:48 AM »
I was never a huge SciFi fan, although I read Asimov as a kid and heinlein much later.
I recall harlan wrote a good Star trek episode City on the Edge of Forever.
Also, I think he wrote A Boy and His Dog, made into a movie.

I caught a weird SciFi move Predestination (2014), based on Heinlein. A time travel paradox movie I had to watch a couple times to figure it out. Starred Sarah Snook, a weird name.

A review starts at 1:00 min.  I think there are not spoilers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5riGjpQ2Rlw
« Last Edit: June 30, 2018, 08:31:19 AM by patentlymn »
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Online WilliamVA

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Re: Writers, other notables react to the death of Harlan Ellison
« Reply #4 on: June 30, 2018, 01:24:52 PM »
I was never a huge SciFi fan, although I read Asimov as a kid and heinlein much later.
I recall harlan wrote a good Star trek episode City on the Edge of Forever.
Also, I think he wrote A Boy and His Dog, made into a movie.

I caught a weird SciFi move Predestination (2014), based on Heinlein. A time travel paradox movie I had to watch a couple times to figure it out. Starred Sarah Snook, a weird name.

A review starts at 1:00 min.  I think there are not spoilers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5riGjpQ2Rlw

That was based on Heinlein's "All You Zombies" short story.  Heinlein played with the time travel theme off and on.  I used to read a bit
of Heinlein, from his early "sand in my spacesuit days".  Asimov was good.  Asimov, Heinlein, and what's his name from the Scientology gig, were
all "by the word, production writers"  in the beginning.  Asimov wrote the Foundation as a magazine serial, and it pretty much paid his way through
college.   

Ellison wrote a lot of short stories...to me a lot of them just left you going "huh>".  He wrote articles, and  edited and assembled a bunch of
anthologies.  I think he was most popular among his peers.  His greatest claim to fame was a short story titled "I have no mouth and I must scream", titles like that make me cringe, thinking he musta been off his meds.  lol.   

Offline Libertas

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Re: Writers, other notables react to the death of Harlan Ellison
« Reply #5 on: June 30, 2018, 03:01:16 PM »
Asimov and Heinlein were Titans, I rank Herbert high too with others stacking in.  Ellison has some cred, maybe a bit less unduly docked for show writing, but that doesn't make him a bad writer, just a bit more ecletctic.  City of the Edge of Tomorrow (Joan Collins) was good, but I still flinch at the "socialists for peace & ahead of its time" BS, which is also a glimpse into this guys politics.  I liked Babylon 5 bit at times some of the episodes were plodding and pointless...not sure if that is all his fault.
We are now where The Founders were when they faced despotism.

Online WilliamVA

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Re: Writers, other notables react to the death of Harlan Ellison
« Reply #6 on: June 30, 2018, 08:12:38 PM »
Asimov and Heinlein were Titans, I rank Herbert high too with others stacking in.  Ellison has some cred, maybe a bit less unduly docked for show writing, but that doesn't make him a bad writer, just a bit more ecletctic.  City of the Edge of Tomorrow (Joan Collins) was good, but I still flinch at the "socialists for peace & ahead of its time" BS, which is also a glimpse into this guys politics.  I liked Babylon 5 bit at times some of the episodes were plodding and pointless...not sure if that is all his fault.

"The City on the Edge of Forever" was an Ellison idea, however the original script had to be heavily rewritten by Fontana, Coon, and
Roddenberry.  Allegedly Ellison had "Scotty" dealing drugs in his original script, and Roddenberry went ballistic on him, unto death.
I don't know about Ellison's relationship to Babylon 5, it was okay, plodding and pointless to equals soap operish.   Only 18 episodes
were not written by the shows creater "J. Michael Straczynski".  Very unlikely that Ellison provided more then one episode.
(show  had 110 episodes)

Asimov & Heinlein were my early favorites, Then I added Herbert and Roger Zelazny (Lord of Light, Roadmarks, and Amber in that order)

Online patentlymn

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Re: Writers, other notables react to the death of Harlan Ellison
« Reply #7 on: June 30, 2018, 09:04:45 PM »

A friend of mine said that at his college they showed A Boy and His Dog and the feminists demonstrated and picketed the theatre.  I  like happy endings.

A Boy and His Dog is a 1975 American science fiction comedy thriller film produced, written (with Alvy Moore), and directed by L. Q. Jones, starring Don Johnson, Susanne Benton, Ron Feinberg, and Jason Robards.
When the law becomes a ruse, lawlessness becomes legitimate. -unknown

Online WilliamVA

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Re: Writers, other notables react to the death of Harlan Ellison
« Reply #8 on: July 01, 2018, 07:15:16 AM »

A friend of mine said that at his college they showed A Boy and His Dog and the feminists demonstrated and picketed the theatre.  I  like happy endings.

A Boy and His Dog is a 1975 American science fiction comedy thriller film produced, written (with Alvy Moore), and directed by L. Q. Jones, starring Don Johnson, Susanne Benton, Ron Feinberg, and Jason Robards.

If nothing else, that alone gets my applause.

Offline Libertas

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Re: Writers, other notables react to the death of Harlan Ellison
« Reply #9 on: July 02, 2018, 09:05:27 AM »
Hairy-legged loud-mouthed man-hating FemiNazi's screaching like owls?

Damn, that's just good free publicity there!
We are now where The Founders were when they faced despotism.