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Post by RiP, IMDb on Jun 29, 2018 7:34:35 GMT
Great writer, BUT an ASSHOLE of a human being.
Thoughts?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 29, 2018 20:45:03 GMT
Sad but not totally unexpected. I had seen an interview of him some years ago and he looked very ill. I didn't know much about him personally beyond that he was considered somewhat cranky and hard to get along with, and I am trying to be polite. I did see a few interviews on Youtube of him from many years ago and he definitely had a very strong personality, overpowering at times.
A brilliant writer. I would go so far as to say one of the very best SF ever produced, though I understand he did not like being called a 'science fiction' writer. He will no doubt be best remembered for writing The City on the Edge of Forever, arguably the best Star Trek episode (I would put it on my short list for sure) ever made. He also wrote a very popular novella called A Boy and His Dog, which was made into a popular cult film. I have not read it or seen the film.
My introduction to Ellison was his classic collection Deathbird Stories. I still have the Collier copy I bought, yellowed, aged. I remember picking it up and reading a warning by Ellison, a 'caveat lector', that the stories should not be read in one sitting because the overall effect could be too harmful, a sincere warning as it turns out. It hooked me right then and there. It is a beautifully written collection, often times hypnotic in its power, disturbing and shocking. I tend to agree with him on his warning. After having read all the Ray Bradbury I could get my hands on, reading Ellison was something of a jolt, putting it mildly.
He wrote many other stories. Some of them are just downright bizarre and hard to get through.
He also edited the classic anthology Dangerous Visions, which helped usher in the New Wave of SF in the late 1960s. I have been meaning to read it for a while now.
Anyways, RIP, Harlan.
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Post by amyghost on Jul 6, 2018 21:46:28 GMT
Sometimes brilliant, often veering a bit much into the purple for my taste; but his essays are great stuff (his two collections on television, The Glass Teat and The Other Glass Teat, although dated, are must-reads), and he's quite capable of hitting the homer on his short stories often enough: Jeffty is Five is one of the few that can make me tear up on each reading.
He was a real original, and though I suspect he was something of an SOB of heavy-duty caliber, he was the sort of unique persona who leaves a distinct and irreplaceable void by his passing.
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