I’m reposting this from January because thread reads are now tracked, and I’m curious as to how many reads this will get.
For your enjoyment, I’m giving the link to this piece by Harlan Ellison: The 3 Most Important Things in Life from Stalking the Nightmare, “Scenes from the Real World: I.”
The last part of the story is the account of how he was fired from Disney on his first day of work.
Met him once. He’s an asshole.
While I haven’t met him, I definitely pick up from his writing that he’s egotistical and arrogant. He is also, however, a brilliant writer. I’ve been a fan of his work since I was a kid (precocious reader). So I wouldn’t want to live with the guy, but I’ll read anything that he’s written.
As an avid science fiction reader, I recognised the name immediately.
Some time ago I read an anthology of his work which consisted completely of collaborations with other authors. Each story was accompanied by a background piece from each writer. All the stories were great, but I got the distinct feeling that each story was a one-off. Each collaborative author was less than generous about how pleasant Mr Ellison was to work with.
Thus I’m not surprised that dropzone has confirmed that for me in real life.
But he remains one of my alltime favorite writers. These 3 essays in particular are some of my favorites.
Every time I see the Chaucerian phuque, I laugh and remember Harlan’s essay.
dropzone
You say that like it’s a bad thing!
I spent an entire day with him and his wife in 1993 at the Philadelphia ComicFest (I was on staff, and the designated “Ellison wrangler”). He’s certainly opinionated, and abrasive, and doesn’t suffer fools gladly, but if you give him a reason to respect you, he will, and he’ll treat you well.
After a busy Saturday together, he invited me to supper with him, his wife and several other big-time sci-fi guests. He also gave me his business card with his home number on it, and invited me to call and chat anytime I wanted.
What was the question again?
bump
I have a friend who used to be really into going to cons. She told a story (probably apocryphal) about a con where Harlan Ellison was guest star. (I know, i know, that isn’t really what they call it, but I can’t remember the correct terminology)
Harlan is a fairly short individual, right? Well, he was quite inebriated, and he walked up to this tall, gorgeous redhead and said “Whatya say to a little FK?" She waved her hand dismissingly at him and said "Go away, little FK!”
I think that is hysterical!
Scotti
Personally, I’d approach Ellison very politely and respectfully!
As for other little people, here’s another apocryphal story. Michael Dunn went up to Sophia Loren and said “Gee, I’d sure like to f**k you!” She replied, “Well, if you did…and I ever found out about it…”
True story: Ellison once got a letter from a little person complaining that Ellison had spoken of someone as a “midget”, and that “little people” was the preferred term. Ellison wrote back, “Dear sir, I’m 5-foot-5. I am a little person. You, sir, are a midget.”
He doesn’t suffer fools gladly? NOW you tell me! That probably explains his reaction to me.
It was, what, '73. He’s touring colleges, talking about Bruce Lee and reading his latest work-in-progress, “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream.” I asked a stupid question. He was rude to me. Didn’t expect better, so that was cool. But I don’t cotton too much to kow-towing to every tight-assed, egotistical, pain in the ass just because he thinks he’s better, more developed, or whatever than me. Fame and power stopped impressing me years ago. In 1973 his fame was highly limited and his power nonexistent. Today they haven’t increased much.
All the negative and positive things said about him here seem to be true… Wouldn’t want to marry him. Seems like loads of fun to get drunk with–I’ve always been open-minded about assholes as friends, as they must be about me.
For those who don’t know, he does a monthly video commentary on http://www.galaxyonline.com .
I met him once, and he wasn’t an asshole at all, he was quite nice. He autographed that very book, Stalking the Nightmare. It was 1982. I thought it would be nice to have him autograph it to my wife. Bad move in retrospect. When the marriage broke up and she was packing her stuff, I handed her the book because it had her name in Harlan Ellison’s autograph. She got so happy–“For me? Really?” Arrghgh. Worst way to lose a good book.
(I have another story about my ex-wife & me reading Harlan Ellison, a truly cool story, which I’ll save for another time.)
The “Scenes from the Real World” were the highlight of that book for me. Two of them were side-splittingly funny, sandwiching the one in between that was awfully chilling and scary. Only Ellison could have come up with this.
just one more bump.