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Harlan Ellison

Harlan EllisonAKA Harlan Jay Ellison

Born: 27-May-1934
Birthplace: Cleveland, OH
Died: 27-Jun-2018
Location of death: Los Angeles, CA
Cause of death: unspecified

Gender: Male
Religion: Atheist
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Author, Novelist

Nationality: United States
Executive summary: I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream

Military service: US Army

Author Harlan Ellison is known for his popular speculative fiction, as showcased in such collections as Strange Wine, Shatterday, and Love Ain't Nothing but Sex Misspelled, as well as his forays into a broad array of media. The creator of a dozen motion pictures and twice that number of teleplays, Ellison has additionally authored a host of essays, articles, and reviews as well as a staggering number of short stories (note that he had already generated 150 by 1958). He has edited a number of significant anthologies, including various installments in the excellent Dangerous Visions series as well as Medea: Harlan's World which features contributions from such science fiction and fantasy legends as Frank Herbert and Ursula K. Le Guin.

Ellison has worked in television at various capacities. As a writer he has contributed to such varied programs as The Twilight Zone, Star Trek, Logan's Run, The Flying Nun, and more recently Babylon 5, to name but a few. He has also served as conceptual consultant, story editor, made cameo appearances, and appeared as voice talent in such roles as "Sparky the Computer" in Babylon 5 ("Ceremonies of Light and Dark") and the evil supercomputer "AM" in the post-apocalyptic computer game I Have No Mouth, And I Must Scream, the latter based on Ellison's own short fiction. His collected essays on television and related topics, The Glass Teat and The Other Glass Teat, are used in media classes at more than 200 American Universities.

Ellison's fictional work is generally intelligent and edgy and shows the author's lack of fear at treading into dark or difficult subjects. His ability to go beyond pat storylines can lead to some strange, yet perversely enjoyable, tales and to some unusual filmography, when Hollywood is not afraid to follow. To illustrate we have A Boy and His Dog in which Don Johnson, as Vic, joins his dog in devouring the female lead. Often however, directors and producers (as well as publishers and other unfortunates) do not see things his way and the result has been a mixture of stinging invective, from Ellison, and iron-fisted enforcement, from those in authority. One example comes from Ellison's Stalking the Nightmare in which he recounts that he was fired by Disney Studios for joking with fellow writers about creating a "Disney porn flick". Ellison's rendition of the various character voice parts was not so amusing to Disney execs: he returned from lunch to find a pink slip waiting on his desk.

Harlan Ellison is probably one of the few authors of speculative fiction whose list of awards and recognition is of proportional length to his list of projects and published works. He has won a staggering eleven Hugo Awards, five Nebula Awards, and 18 Locus Poll Awards as well as the Bradbury Award, 6 Bram Stoker Awards, two Edgar Allan Poe Awards, 2 Georges Méliès fantasy film awards, 2 Audie Awards, and the the Silver Pen for Journalism. Ellison was a frequent guest on Bill Maher's Politically Incorrect, and is an outspoken advocate for gun control.

Father: Louis Laverne Ellison (dentist, d. 1949 heart attack)
Mother: Serita Rosenthal
Sister: Beverly
Girlfriend: Grace Lee Whitney
Wife: Charlotte B. Stein (m. 1956, div. 1960)
Wife: Billie Joyce Sanders (m. 1960, div. 1963)
Wife: Loretta Basham Patrick (m. 1966, div. 1966)
Wife: Lori Horowitz (m. 1976, div. 1977)
Wife: Susan Ann Toth (m. 1986, until his death)

    High School: East High School, Cleveland, OH
    University: Ohio State University (attended 18 months, expelled)

    Hugo 1966, Best Short Fiction, for "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman"
    Nebula 1966, Best Short Story, for "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman"
    Hugo 1968, Best Short Fiction, for "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream"
    Hugo 1968, Best Dramatic Presentation, for Star Trek episode "City on the Edge of Forever"
    Hugo 1968, Special Award, for Dangerous Visions
    Hugo 1969, Best Short Fiction, for "The Beast that Shouted Love at the Heart of the World"
    Nebula 1970, Best Novella, for A Boy and His Dog
    Hugo 1972, Special Award, for Again, Dangerous Visions
    Edgar Allan Poe Award 1974, Best Short Story, for "The Whimper of Whipped Dogs"
    Hugo 1974, Best Novelette, for The Deathbird
    Hugo 1975, Best Novelette, for Adrift Just Off the Islets of Langerhans
    Hugo 1976, Best Dramatic Presentation, for A Boy and His Dog
    Hugo 1978, Best Short Fiction, for "Jeffty Is Five"
    Nebula 1978, Best Short Story, for "Jeffty Is Five"
    Hugo 1986, Best Novelette, for Paladin of the Lost Hour
    Edgar Allan Poe Award 1988, Best Short Story, for "Soft Monkey"
    World Fantasy Award 1989, Best Collection, for Angry Candy
    World Fantasy Award 1993, for Lifetime Achievement
    Nebula 2006, Grand Master, for Lifetime Achievement
    Nebula 2011, Best Short Story, for "How Interesting: A Tiny Man"
    International PEN
    Ran Away From Home
    Expelled from School
    Heart Attack 1994
    Vasectomy
    Stroke 9-Oct-2014
    Paralyzed right side (9-Oct-2014)
    Risk Factors: Depression

    TELEVISION
    The Pirates of Dark Water Voices (1991-93)
    Babylon 5 Creative Consultant (1994-98)

    FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
    With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story (24-Jul-2010) · Himself
    Harlan Ellison: Dreams with Sharp Teeth (May-2008) · Himself
    'Tis Autumn: The Search for Jackie Paris (1-Apr-2006) · Himself

Official Website:
http://www.harlanellison.com/

Author of books:
Run for the Stars (1957, novel)
A Touch of Infinity (1958, collected stories)
The Deadly Streets (1958, collected stories)
Rumble (1958, novel, a/k/a Web of the City)
Sex Gang (1959, collected stories, as Paul Merchant)
The Man With Nine Lives (1960, novel)
Spider Kiss (1961, novel, a/k/a Rockabilly)
Gentleman Junkie and Other Stories of the Hung-Up Generation (1961, collected stories)
The Juvies (1961, collected stories, a/k/a Children of the Streets)
Memos from Purgatory (1961, non-fiction)
Ellison Wonderland (1962, collected stories)
Paingod and Other Delusions (1965, collected stories)
Doomsman (1967, novel)
From the Land of Fear (1967, collected stories)
I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream (1967, collected stories)
Love Ain't Nothing but Sex Misspelled (1968, collection, fiction and non-fiction)
The Beast Who Shouted Love at the Heart of the World (1969, collected stories)
A Boy and His Dog (1969, novel)
The Glass Teat: Essays of Opinion on Television (1970, essays)
Over the Edge (1970, collected stories)
Alone Against Tomorrow (1971, collected stories)
Partners in Wonder (1971, stories, in collaboration with other writers)
Approaching Oblivion (1974, collected stories)
Deathbird Stories (1975, collected stories)
No Doors, No Windows (1975, collected stories)
The Other Glass Teat (1975, non-fiction)
The Book of Ellison (1978, non-fiction)
Strange Wine (1978, collected stories)
The Fantasies of Harlan Ellison (1979, collected stories)
Shatterday (1980, collected stories)
Stalking the Nightmare (1982, collected stories)
Sleepless Nights in the Procrustean Bed (1984, non-fiction)
An Edge in My Voice (1985, non-fiction)
The Essential Ellison: A 35-Year Retrospective (1987, collected stories)
Angry Candy (1988, collected stories)
Harlan Ellison's Watching (1989, non-fiction)
The Harlan Ellison Hornbook (1990, non-fiction)
Dreams With Sharp Teeth (1991, collected stories)
Mefisto in Onyx (1993, novel)
Mind Fields (1994, collected stories)
Edgeworks (1996-97, collected stories; four volumes)
Slippage (1997, collected stories)
Troublemakers (2001, collected stories)


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