Harlan Ellison
I actually got to meet Harlan Ellison last week. He is one of my favorite writers. He was in town and his stops included my local library. I was thrilled. A few weeks before his visit the library, in partnership with Border's books I think, ran a contest where you got to win a lunch date with Harlan Ellison! I was the first to sign up, and watched the box (it was clear glass) like a hawk. Days went by, and not too many people signed up for it so I figured my chances were good. I didn't win, though. I talked to one of the winners at the book signing and she said she just figured it would be a cool thing to do...it wasn't like she was a big fan or anything. Grrrrrrrrrr.
In case you don't know who Harlan Ellison is, he is best known for being a sci-fi writer. Actually what he writes isn't technically science fiction, but because it is of such a futuristic/explorative/alternate reality type nature it's been classified as science fiction. His website is at HarlanEllison.com, check it out. My favorites of his short stories are 'A Boy and His Dog' (this one was made into a movie, starring a young Don Johnson), 'I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream' and 'Repent Harlequin! Said the TickTock Man'.
He did a little talk for about 30 minutes and he was exactly like I imagined him: sharp, full of biting humour, and long-winded. While he was talking he would go off onto a million tangents, but every side story truly had relevance to the main point he was talking about. I had a blast, and got 3 of my books signed and the jacket cover to my ancient video copy of 'A Boy and His Dog'.
Best of all, a woman I know from when I was going to Cleveland State was there. She used to hang out with us down at school. She worked on the same newspaper that my husband did. The last time I saw her Todd was a baby, so we're talking over 5 years...long time. It was so good to see her! We went out for coffee afterwards and made plans to hang out further. It's amazing how much we have in common. In addition to our shared love of Ellison writing, we're both writers, small biz owners (she has a graphics design thing free-lance biz on), both dreadlocked, etc. That was such an awesome day, meeting Harlan Ellison and meeting again a former acquaintence. I hope that we'll become good friends.
In case you don't know who Harlan Ellison is, he is best known for being a sci-fi writer. Actually what he writes isn't technically science fiction, but because it is of such a futuristic/explorative/alternate reality type nature it's been classified as science fiction. His website is at HarlanEllison.com, check it out. My favorites of his short stories are 'A Boy and His Dog' (this one was made into a movie, starring a young Don Johnson), 'I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream' and 'Repent Harlequin! Said the TickTock Man'.
He did a little talk for about 30 minutes and he was exactly like I imagined him: sharp, full of biting humour, and long-winded. While he was talking he would go off onto a million tangents, but every side story truly had relevance to the main point he was talking about. I had a blast, and got 3 of my books signed and the jacket cover to my ancient video copy of 'A Boy and His Dog'.
Best of all, a woman I know from when I was going to Cleveland State was there. She used to hang out with us down at school. She worked on the same newspaper that my husband did. The last time I saw her Todd was a baby, so we're talking over 5 years...long time. It was so good to see her! We went out for coffee afterwards and made plans to hang out further. It's amazing how much we have in common. In addition to our shared love of Ellison writing, we're both writers, small biz owners (she has a graphics design thing free-lance biz on), both dreadlocked, etc. That was such an awesome day, meeting Harlan Ellison and meeting again a former acquaintence. I hope that we'll become good friends.
Labels: Writers
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