Harlan has been one of my favorites since I was a teenager. I'm 67 now. His stories and criticism shaped a lot of my world view .I never met him but I think about him and his work almost daily. The world is a poorer place without him.
I got a letter from Harlan Ellison dated Christmas Day of 1988. I wish I still had it. He had amazing stationery. It was a response to a letter I had written him. I only have a handful of his books now. Angry Candy is probably my favorite.
@williamjackson6705 I have that one, yes. I also have "Stalking the Nufhtm", which I love dearly. And I have "Harlan Ellison's Watching", which is a collection of his film columns from various magazines over the years.
I had a friend in college who had all of that Pyramid series of Ellison paperbacks, so I read a lot of odd stuff, like _Rockabilly_ (as Spider Kiss) and his TV criticism. He had such an engaging voice; the best part of some of his collections was sometimes the introductions he wrote to his stories and those written by others, as in _Dangerous Visions_ I saw an old documentary on Science Fiction from the 70's where Ellison preached that more authors needed to "write with their stomachs", but beneath the edgy persona, he often showed a wistful, almost Bradbury-like nostalgia for lost times, like in "Jeffty is Five."
This is, indeed, essential. I also have the 50 year retrospective collection too. Such a great volume of work. I love that you've included this in your videos.
The omission of A Boy and his Dog from Greatest Hits was a deliberate choice. The estate plans to publish it separately, so it gets the treatment it deserves. The idea of the Greatest Hits book was to give people exposure to Harlan not to give them so complete a book that no one ever buys Harlan again. After all, their goal is to get more people today to know who Harlan was, and to raise money to open his house as a museum. So go buy new books! 😊
I really enjoyed your video. I agree with you that Ellison should be in the Library of America. I just picked up the new collection "Harlan Ellison: Greatest Hits". Looks like he's coming back in vogue.
In the 80s I owned most of Ellison’s mass market paperbacks. Unfortunately I didn’t keep them. I remember when the 50 year volume was on the shelf at Border Books but didn’t pick it up. Shame on me.
When I started trying to read everything I can find by Ellison, nobody talked about anything but I Have No Mouth. I thought, hey, there are so many other stories that are just as good! Why is nobody talking about them? And you couldn't find his work in print. Since the Greatest Hits came out a lot of people have started talking again and I love that! Glad to watch your video. Really good. I hope he does get a Library of America volume, but I'm not holding my breath. They tend to only be printing feminist and black SF authors these days. That is good, but let's not forget the other great writers!
The estate is going to hold onto publishing his books for a while yet to raise interest (as they have been) and raise money for opening the museum, Which will not happen if they hand the rights over to the Library of America.
The Greatest Hits book rocked my world, just fantastic work. If I had found these stories at aged 14-15 I'd have been an absolute unstoppable menace of a child, the stories are angry and at times beautiful work. He has a truly distinct voice. The Greatest Hits may not be all of the stuff or the best collection, but it is the one I can get and for that I'm very happy. I knew very little about Ellison (not many copies of his books floating around in Australia I'd assume) but I picked up Greatest Hits literally because of the cover was great and I had played the video game for 'I have no mouth and I must scream'. I found out after the fact, looking at my shelf, I'd already read one of his books released by Hardcase Crime (Web of the City) and just forgot it was by him.
I always got the impression that Ellison was as known for his outspokenness as for his writing. He's a writer I really need to get into - his work had a breadth that not many SF and Fantasy authors could match. One of my favourite Ellison tales is Episode 16 of the early 70s anthology tv series "Ghost Story" (retitled "Circle Of Fear" from episode 14). He wrote the story with Dorothy Fontana of "Star Trek" fame and Fontana wrote the teleplay. It has remained lodged firmly in my mind since I first saw it as a pre-teen, a disturbing and eerie piece. It's available on RUclips.
I found about Ellison from the old Sci-Fi Channel. He would do rants for their news program. I was then and to certain extent still disagree with him a lot, but they were fascinating to my pre-teen self. He was a fascinating man. Sometimes in a train-wreck way and sometimes in an admirable way. He was if nothing else an authentic original. He was also a damn good writer which is probably all that matters. I Have No Mouth is twisted but brilliant. Tick-Tock Man is great. There are some duds but for a guy who wrote over a thousand stories he was pretty consistent.
I've noticed that when Harlan Ellison is mentioned on booktube, it's usually mentioned that he is a "problematic person." I'm not sure why the kids have a problem with: him marching with Martin Luther King for civil rights, or him subverting his own television interviews to give support to the ERA, women's rights, an equal pay. Oh, and that one other thing? If you watch the video you will see that it was nothing, a joke between friends, taken in stride, as intended. Did his persona show the obvious results of childhood trauma and abuse? Yes. Did he always direct his anger at bullies and injustice? Yes, as well. Followed him for years, spoke to him personally a number of times and I can say he always tried to use his platform to speak Justice to Power (as he saw it.) He also spent a lot of time calling out his own shortcomings and making fun of them.
I purchased the new book with Ellison's stories, but I have't read it yet. I just finished The Three Body Problem trilogy (Remembrance of Earth's Past) and I'm looking forward to Cimmerian September. I have never READ a story by Eliison but listened to "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream" on someone's podcast. It horrified me, but also made me more curious about his other writings. Thank you for this video!
In my copy of James Blish's "Star Trek One," he has this dedication: "To Harlan Ellison...who was right all along." I've always thought that a copy of this was framed and hanging somewhere in Ellison's office. In fact, he may have sent copies out in his Christmas cards. LOL
I only have the 50th anniversary edition. I believe it has the same content plus more. I was lucky to get a good deal for a used copy. It was my very first dive into Ellison and he was talented but a narcissist in real life. lol
Great video Michael! But I have a confession to make…I don’t like Harlan Ellison stories. Admittedly that’s based on a small sampling. I probably should give him another shot.
Thank you for doing this on Harlan Ellison. I have been reading his books since 1972.The 1st i read was The Beast That Shouted Love At The Heart Of The World. I have read him ever since. With you doing this epsiode i Hope more people will search out his books and read them. He will definitely make you think and you might come away maybe looking at things in a different way. I also recommend his Brain Movies books which publish all of his screenplays that were filmed and weren't filmed. They are worth reading. Thank you again for doing this epsiode on him.
I remember picking up the EDGEWORK editions White Wolf published in the 90's that attempted to collect EVERYTHING Ellison wrote up to that time (Would have been 20 Volumes!). They were riddled with spelling errors and at times entire paragraphs were missing (the same thing occurred with the Michael Moorcock editions WW published - I only kept those because they are all signed by MM) and they eventually dropped the series
I have wanted the 50-year version of this book for ages! Too bad the hardcover is only available in the 35-year version. I may eventually just settle for it, since you mentioned all his best stuff came out pre-1990s, anyhow.
Thanks for the heads up. I've got the 'Greatest Hits' collection, but the 'Essential' has a load more stories, so I've ordered a copy. I didn't know about it before this, so that's a result!
All right I seem to be slipping between realities; I could have sworn you held up Harlan Ellison's Greatest Hits a couple months ago and mentioned that someone got it for you, & I commented in support of you & Harlan.
I loved a few of HE's stories, and liked a bunch more, but my favorite stuff of his were his television criticism (collected in The Glass Teat and The Other Glass Teat) and his introductions to stories, his own and others.
Most of the stories in The Essential Ellison are somewhat older. He produced a large number of stories after this book's publication that were just as good, if not better - IMO. But this book is a good place to start if the reader is unfamiliar with Ellison's brilliant short stories. I have a large number of Ellison's short story collections, & I've learned to read the stories before the non fiction articles in the books for the most part, because the prefaces & articles can be so long-winded & distracting - many of them are interesting though, I'll have to admit. His three anthologies are interesting as well - Dangerous Visions, & the massive Again Dangerous Visions, which had to be split into two volumes due to it's length. There was supposed to be a final Dangerous Visions anthology, but oddly, it never saw print. I won't go into why, but there's a lot of info about it online for anyone interested. He also brought out a relatively unknown volume of short SF collaborations which was good, called Partners in Wonder - featuring his collaborations with Silverberg, Sheckley, Zelazny, Sturgeon, & many others.
I have the softcover edition. The front and back cover illustrations are signed “L.D. Dillon”, my magnifying glass reveals. It’s certainly the largest Harlan Ellison book I have. The shortest is the 91 page book _Mephisto in Onyx_ (1993). Another Ellison treat is his 482 page collection of film essays _Harlan Ellison’s Watching_ (1989). Then I have the four volume _Edgeworks,_ which collects eight of his earlier books, such as _The Harlan Ellison Hornbook._ These volumes came out in 1996 and 1997.
if you buy this don't leave it anywhere near the sun cos the dw spine fades really bad....... ! Ps. another book worth picking up is Slippage which contains many excellent uncollected stories........
I haven't read any of his stuff apart from his wiki page. Very interesting chap. Please tell me he wrote something with football and war in it. 😉 He seems to have that Matheson quality of being able to write in a lot of different genres and mediums.
I got my copy in a thrift store for $2.95, but it is a book club edition. Didn't really need it because, like your step-father, I bought most of the paperbacks, including anthologies and essay collections. I figured The Essential would be useful if I ever needed a loaner to force on a potential fan. One thing about Ellison -- he was constantly recycling his best stories in new collections, so a lot of The Essential I already had in two other books. 😆 Met the man a couple of times, and I'm afraid I was rude to him both times in a typical young fanboy way. The cover has to be Leo & Diane Dillon, who painted so many Ellison book covers, and other things besides -- one thing I really regret selling at a low point is a large format paperback (Ballantine, I think) of their work.
Yeah, not having A Boy and His Dog in that new anthology is a major mistake. Don't know what they were thinking. Probably my only nitpick, as far as inclusion is concerned. If they ever get around to doing an LOA volume... And they should. Right now. ASAP. I mean, you can't have Bradbury, Dick and Le Guin in there and NOT include Ellison, IMHO.
One of the best speculative fiction writers ever. His Deathbird Stories is one of my most treasured collections. Also, just to say: Ellison actually interviewed the editor of this collection Terry Dowling on his Harlan Ellison’s Watching show: WwPLERwmTWk?si=KsRWZReIW95uoIYG
"I have no eyes and I must read" -Rodger
Superb!
Bon mot of the year! Bravo!
Harlan has been one of my favorites since I was a teenager. I'm 67 now. His stories and criticism shaped a lot of my world view .I never met him but I think about him and his work almost daily. The world is a poorer place without him.
I got a letter from Harlan Ellison dated Christmas Day of 1988. I wish I still had it. He had amazing stationery. It was a response to a letter I had written him.
I only have a handful of his books now. Angry Candy is probably my favorite.
Do you have Shatterday ? The stories in that volume are great .
@williamjackson6705 I have that one, yes. I also have "Stalking the Nufhtm", which I love dearly. And I have "Harlan Ellison's Watching", which is a collection of his film columns from various magazines over the years.
I had a friend in college who had all of that Pyramid series of Ellison paperbacks, so I read a lot of odd stuff, like _Rockabilly_ (as Spider Kiss) and his TV criticism. He had such an engaging voice; the best part of some of his collections was sometimes the introductions he wrote to his stories and those written by others, as in _Dangerous Visions_
I saw an old documentary on Science Fiction from the 70's where Ellison preached that more authors needed to "write with their stomachs", but beneath the edgy persona, he often showed a wistful, almost Bradbury-like nostalgia for lost times, like in "Jeffty is Five."
This is, indeed, essential. I also have the 50 year retrospective collection too. Such a great volume of work. I love that you've included this in your videos.
The omission of A Boy and his Dog from Greatest Hits was a deliberate choice. The estate plans to publish it separately, so it gets the treatment it deserves.
The idea of the Greatest Hits book was to give people exposure to Harlan not to give them so complete a book that no one ever buys Harlan again.
After all, their goal is to get more people today to know who Harlan was, and to raise money to open his house as a museum.
So go buy new books!
😊
@@waltera13 I’m glad to hear A Boy and His Dog will be reprinted. Great news.
@@waltera13 Oh, that makes perfect sense. Thanks for the clarification.
@@michaelk.vaughan8617 Well, DV, ADV, Last Dangerous Visions and Greatest Hits have to do well first. . .
I really enjoyed your video. I agree with you that Ellison should be in the Library of America. I just picked up the new collection "Harlan Ellison: Greatest Hits". Looks like he's coming back in vogue.
I just got that book a couple weeks ago for 3 dollars at a vintage market. Perfect condition, in hardback. Weird timing.
I'm jealous! There are way more paperbacks of those volumes. And most of the hardcovers you find are book club editions.😢
In the 80s I owned most of Ellison’s mass market paperbacks. Unfortunately I didn’t keep them. I remember when the 50 year volume was on the shelf at Border Books but didn’t pick it up. Shame on me.
When I started trying to read everything I can find by Ellison, nobody talked about anything but I Have No Mouth. I thought, hey, there are so many other stories that are just as good! Why is nobody talking about them? And you couldn't find his work in print. Since the Greatest Hits came out a lot of people have started talking again and I love that! Glad to watch your video. Really good. I hope he does get a Library of America volume, but I'm not holding my breath. They tend to only be printing feminist and black SF authors these days. That is good, but let's not forget the other great writers!
The estate is going to hold onto publishing his books for a while yet to raise interest (as they have been) and raise money for opening the museum,
Which will not happen if they hand the rights over to the Library of America.
The Greatest Hits book rocked my world, just fantastic work. If I had found these stories at aged 14-15 I'd have been an absolute unstoppable menace of a child, the stories are angry and at times beautiful work. He has a truly distinct voice. The Greatest Hits may not be all of the stuff or the best collection, but it is the one I can get and for that I'm very happy.
I knew very little about Ellison (not many copies of his books floating around in Australia I'd assume) but I picked up Greatest Hits literally because of the cover was great and I had played the video game for 'I have no mouth and I must scream'. I found out after the fact, looking at my shelf, I'd already read one of his books released by Hardcase Crime (Web of the City) and just forgot it was by him.
I always got the impression that Ellison was as known for his outspokenness as for his writing. He's a writer I really need to get into - his work had a breadth that not many SF and Fantasy authors could match.
One of my favourite Ellison tales is Episode 16 of the early 70s anthology tv series "Ghost Story" (retitled "Circle Of Fear" from episode 14). He wrote the story with Dorothy Fontana of "Star Trek" fame and Fontana wrote the teleplay. It has remained lodged firmly in my mind since I first saw it as a pre-teen, a disturbing and eerie piece. It's available on RUclips.
The Artwork is by Leo Dillon (possibly in close collaboration with his wife Diane Dillon)
.........yes, the Dillons did a number of book covers including the magnificent Deathbird Stories !
I found about Ellison from the old Sci-Fi Channel. He would do rants for their news program. I was then and to certain extent still disagree with him a lot, but they were fascinating to my pre-teen self. He was a fascinating man. Sometimes in a train-wreck way and sometimes in an admirable way. He was if nothing else an authentic original.
He was also a damn good writer which is probably all that matters. I Have No Mouth is twisted but brilliant. Tick-Tock Man is great. There are some duds but for a guy who wrote over a thousand stories he was pretty consistent.
Most of those are up on RUclips BTW.
If you got any tapes of any see if you could add to the collection!😊
I really need to read more Ellison. I have a couple of his paperbacks and the first two Dangerous Vision anthologies he edited. Good video, Michael.
I've noticed that when Harlan Ellison is mentioned on booktube, it's usually mentioned that he is a "problematic person." I'm not sure why the kids have a problem with: him marching with Martin Luther King for civil rights, or him subverting his own television interviews to give support to the ERA, women's rights, an equal pay.
Oh, and that one other thing?
If you watch the video you will see that it was nothing, a joke between friends, taken in stride, as intended.
Did his persona show the obvious results of childhood trauma and abuse? Yes.
Did he always direct his anger at bullies and injustice?
Yes, as well.
Followed him for years, spoke to him personally a number of times and I can say he always tried to use his platform to speak Justice to Power (as he saw it.)
He also spent a lot of time calling out his own shortcomings and making fun of them.
Ellison autographed my 1987 copy of “The Essential Ellison” at a con in Charlotte, NC.
I purchased the new book with Ellison's stories, but I have't read it yet. I just finished The Three Body Problem trilogy (Remembrance of Earth's Past) and I'm looking forward to Cimmerian September. I have never READ a story by Eliison but listened to "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream" on someone's podcast. It horrified me, but also made me more curious about his other writings. Thank you for this video!
In my copy of James Blish's "Star Trek One," he has this dedication:
"To Harlan Ellison...who was right all along."
I've always thought that a copy of this was framed and hanging somewhere in Ellison's office. In fact, he may have sent copies out in his Christmas cards. LOL
“Jefty is Five” has stuck with me for some reason.
I only have the 50th anniversary edition. I believe it has the same content plus more. I was lucky to get a good deal for a used copy. It was my very first dive into Ellison and he was talented but a narcissist in real life. lol
Not read a lot of Sci Fi and none of Harlan Ellison. Seems I've been missing out. The never ending tbr. Best wishes.
Great video Michael! But I have a confession to make…I don’t like Harlan Ellison stories. Admittedly that’s based on a small sampling. I probably should give him another shot.
@@GrammaticusBooks well, he’s no Lin Carter.
Thank you for doing this on Harlan Ellison. I have been reading his books since 1972.The 1st i read was The Beast That Shouted Love At The Heart Of The World. I have read him ever since. With you doing this epsiode i Hope more people will search out his books and read them. He will definitely make you think and you might come away maybe looking at things in a different way. I also recommend his Brain Movies books which publish all of his screenplays that were filmed and weren't filmed. They are worth reading. Thank you again for doing this epsiode on him.
I absolutely love Harlan Ellison
I remember picking up the EDGEWORK editions White Wolf published in the 90's that attempted to collect EVERYTHING Ellison wrote up to that time (Would have been 20 Volumes!). They were riddled with spelling errors and at times entire paragraphs were missing (the same thing occurred with the Michael Moorcock editions WW published - I only kept those because they are all signed by MM) and they eventually dropped the series
Superb book, one of the best.
It is a Glorious cover, but incomplete if you only show the front half! His dreams taking flight are an important part. 😄
I have wanted the 50-year version of this book for ages! Too bad the hardcover is only available in the 35-year version. I may eventually just settle for it, since you mentioned all his best stuff came out pre-1990s, anyhow.
Thanks for the heads up. I've got the 'Greatest Hits' collection, but the 'Essential' has a load more stories, so I've ordered a copy. I didn't know about it before this, so that's a result!
Great video! I have that edition on my book shelf but the paperback version instead. I've never seen the hardback before. Now I want that one, Lol!!
All right I seem to be slipping between realities; I could have sworn you held up Harlan Ellison's Greatest Hits a couple months ago and mentioned that someone got it for you, & I commented in support of you & Harlan.
@@waltera13 your reality is better than mine.
I met him once, and spent several hours with him, and I liked him immensely.
I loved a few of HE's stories, and liked a bunch more, but my favorite stuff of his were his television criticism (collected in The Glass Teat and The Other Glass Teat) and his introductions to stories, his own and others.
I have the 2001 edition in softback. I don’t have the table of contents for the 35th anniversary but let me know if you want a compare and contrast
Correct, A Boy & His Dog is not in the Greatest Hits - which immediately voids the title of that book!
Most of the stories in The Essential Ellison are somewhat older. He produced a large number of stories after this book's publication that were just as good, if not better - IMO.
But this book is a good place to start if the reader is unfamiliar with Ellison's brilliant short stories.
I have a large number of Ellison's short story collections, & I've learned to read the stories before the non fiction articles in the books for the most part, because the prefaces & articles can be so long-winded & distracting - many of them are interesting though, I'll have to admit.
His three anthologies are interesting as well - Dangerous Visions, & the massive Again Dangerous Visions, which had to be split into two volumes due to it's length. There was supposed to be a final Dangerous Visions anthology, but oddly, it never saw print. I won't go into why, but there's a lot of info about it online for anyone interested.
He also brought out a relatively unknown volume of short SF collaborations which was good, called Partners in Wonder - featuring his collaborations with Silverberg, Sheckley, Zelazny, Sturgeon, & many others.
I have the softcover edition. The front and back cover illustrations are signed “L.D. Dillon”, my magnifying glass reveals.
It’s certainly the largest Harlan Ellison book I have. The shortest is the 91 page book _Mephisto in Onyx_ (1993). Another Ellison treat is his 482 page collection of film essays _Harlan Ellison’s Watching_ (1989). Then I have the four volume _Edgeworks,_ which collects eight of his earlier books, such as _The Harlan Ellison Hornbook._ These volumes came out in 1996 and 1997.
That thing is a weapon 😅
if you buy this don't leave it anywhere near the sun cos the dw spine fades really bad....... !
Ps. another book worth picking up is Slippage which contains many excellent uncollected stories........
I haven't read any of his stuff apart from his wiki page. Very interesting chap. Please tell me he wrote something with football and war in it. 😉 He seems to have that Matheson quality of being able to write in a lot of different genres and mediums.
I was a big fan of Ellison. I remember being horrified at some of his SS.
I got my copy in a thrift store for $2.95, but it is a book club edition. Didn't really need it because, like your step-father, I bought most of the paperbacks, including anthologies and essay collections. I figured The Essential would be useful if I ever needed a loaner to force on a potential fan. One thing about Ellison -- he was constantly recycling his best stories in new collections, so a lot of The Essential I already had in two other books. 😆 Met the man a couple of times, and I'm afraid I was rude to him both times in a typical young fanboy way. The cover has to be Leo & Diane Dillon, who painted so many Ellison book covers, and other things besides -- one thing I really regret selling at a low point is a large format paperback (Ballantine, I think) of their work.
Yeah, not having A Boy and His Dog in that new anthology is a major mistake. Don't know what they were thinking. Probably my only nitpick, as far as inclusion is concerned. If they ever get around to doing an LOA volume... And they should. Right now. ASAP. I mean, you can't have Bradbury, Dick and Le Guin in there and NOT include Ellison, IMHO.
I can see the importance of some of his work and still say he is not my cup of tea. Just "Harrison Bergeron" makes him a Prophet Laureate though.
this was released in two volumes in my country, I only read part 1, the best story was about antisemite Jew
Jeffty is five, Harlan is six... feet under.
@@w.adammandelbaum1805 😫
One of the best speculative fiction writers ever.
His Deathbird Stories is one of my most treasured collections.
Also, just to say: Ellison actually interviewed the editor of this collection Terry Dowling on his Harlan Ellison’s Watching show: WwPLERwmTWk?si=KsRWZReIW95uoIYG