Harlan Jay Ellison
pen names: Cordwainer Bird, Nalrah Nosille, Lee Archer, Wallace Edmondson, Ellis Hart, E. K. Jarvis, Ivar Jorgensen, Paul Merchant, Clyde Mitchell, Pat Roeder, Jay Solo and others.
born Cleveland, Ohio: 27 May 1934
died Los Angeles, California: 28 June 2018
Harlan Ellison was an American author of all genres but known for science fiction (new wave speculative fiction), as novels, short stories, novellas, screenplays, comic-book scripts, teleplays, and also an essayist, an editor and a critic of literature, film, television, and print media. His published works include more than 1,700 items.
He was involved in fandom from an early age. Earlier in his career he insisted that he was a non-fantastic writer but his SF short stories, and non-fiction on the subject of science fiction had an enormous impact. He was known for his for his outspoken, combative personality as much as for his prolific and influential works. He was asked to leave Ohio State University, partly for being accused of rudeness to a creative-writing professor who told him he had no talent.
His first professional SF work was the short story Glow Worm (1956) in Infinity Science Fiction.
Ellison assumed a false identity and ran as a member of a New York gang in order to gain material which he used directly in his first novel, Rumble (1958). This urban imagery and violence that he also used in SF short works, would anticipate the cyberpunk works of a generation or more later.
His first SF books were a fix-up, The Man with Nine Lives (1960) and collection A Touch of Infinity (1960) and his novels were very infrequent.
In 1967, Ellison edited the first of three Dangerous Visions, new wave anthologies, the last posthumously in 2024. These were influential in the changes taking place within the genre as a whole.
His novella A Boy and His Dog (1969) (and a series of short stories) was adapted into a film. Notable amongst his other short stories are Blank… (1957), Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman (1965), I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream (1967), The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World (1968), The Deathbird (1973), The Cheese Stands Alone (1982) and The Man Who Rowed Christopher Columbus Ashore (1991).
Ellison is probably best-known for his TV work. He contributed scripts to Route 66, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, The Untouchables, Burke's Law, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Outer Limits, and Star Trek: TOS. Among these are The Outer Limits episode, Demon with a Glass Hand (1964), the Star Trek episode, The City on the Edge of Forever (1967). He served as creative consultant to the 1980s version of The Twilight Zone and Babylon 5.
He is another author who has occasionally been the answer to queries within our SFF Chronicles Book Search forum.
A list of his works is to be found here: Summary Bibliography: Harlan Ellison
SFF Chronicles Bibliography here: Harlan Ellison Bibliography
Wikipedia page: Harlan Ellison - Wikipedia
pen names: Cordwainer Bird, Nalrah Nosille, Lee Archer, Wallace Edmondson, Ellis Hart, E. K. Jarvis, Ivar Jorgensen, Paul Merchant, Clyde Mitchell, Pat Roeder, Jay Solo and others.
born Cleveland, Ohio: 27 May 1934
died Los Angeles, California: 28 June 2018
Harlan Ellison was an American author of all genres but known for science fiction (new wave speculative fiction), as novels, short stories, novellas, screenplays, comic-book scripts, teleplays, and also an essayist, an editor and a critic of literature, film, television, and print media. His published works include more than 1,700 items.
He was involved in fandom from an early age. Earlier in his career he insisted that he was a non-fantastic writer but his SF short stories, and non-fiction on the subject of science fiction had an enormous impact. He was known for his for his outspoken, combative personality as much as for his prolific and influential works. He was asked to leave Ohio State University, partly for being accused of rudeness to a creative-writing professor who told him he had no talent.
His first professional SF work was the short story Glow Worm (1956) in Infinity Science Fiction.
Ellison assumed a false identity and ran as a member of a New York gang in order to gain material which he used directly in his first novel, Rumble (1958). This urban imagery and violence that he also used in SF short works, would anticipate the cyberpunk works of a generation or more later.
His first SF books were a fix-up, The Man with Nine Lives (1960) and collection A Touch of Infinity (1960) and his novels were very infrequent.
In 1967, Ellison edited the first of three Dangerous Visions, new wave anthologies, the last posthumously in 2024. These were influential in the changes taking place within the genre as a whole.
His novella A Boy and His Dog (1969) (and a series of short stories) was adapted into a film. Notable amongst his other short stories are Blank… (1957), Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman (1965), I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream (1967), The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World (1968), The Deathbird (1973), The Cheese Stands Alone (1982) and The Man Who Rowed Christopher Columbus Ashore (1991).
Ellison is probably best-known for his TV work. He contributed scripts to Route 66, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, The Untouchables, Burke's Law, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Outer Limits, and Star Trek: TOS. Among these are The Outer Limits episode, Demon with a Glass Hand (1964), the Star Trek episode, The City on the Edge of Forever (1967). He served as creative consultant to the 1980s version of The Twilight Zone and Babylon 5.
He is another author who has occasionally been the answer to queries within our SFF Chronicles Book Search forum.
A list of his works is to be found here: Summary Bibliography: Harlan Ellison
SFF Chronicles Bibliography here: Harlan Ellison Bibliography
Wikipedia page: Harlan Ellison - Wikipedia
Would highly recommend his short collection Deathbird Stories , Stalking the Nightmare , Strange Wine, Angry Candy . Also his Novella Mefisto in Onyx. There is alos the anthology The Essential Ellison A 50 Year Retrospective which has his best stories introductions and essay . His original Screenplay for The City On the Edge of Forever which was adapted as hardcover Graphic novel. For me, reading his was also an education because I picked up and read quite number of writers , books and stories that I otherwise would've have read or known about. 
