Unca Harlan's Art Deco Dining Pavilion

Archive - 04/03/2010 to 07/09/2010

Unca Harlan's Art Deco Dining Pavilion

If HE drops in sporadically, all to the good.

If HE gives up on the muddy Internet hell entirely, all to the good.

But his legacy is the sharp-witted, pithy, talented, dogged people who count his work as a major inspiration. In my arrogance, I like to hope I qualify for that group. And therefore I suggest that it's --WE-- to whom the job falls to rail against the ever-downward pull of the mooing masses.

Some years ago, I had another of those damned dreams. Honest to ghod, I was in full Crusader getup, in a milling bunch of soldiers, with the crenellated enemy stronghold at the top of the hill, a couple hundred yards away.

Back in Real Life, I was trying to pull together a bunch of yobboes in a political organization.

Per the dream, I got tired of the Brownian shuffling & the idle chitchat & the doubtful downglances. I whacked my sword against my shield & raised it over my head, shouting "Let us triumph!!"

I turned & started trudging up that hill, ready to kick some serious ass. There was a shocked silence behind me, then a huge massed cheer went up. I was heartened & my pace somehow became easier with all that excited shouting.

...and, after a hundred paces, it dawned on me that the noise was getting quieter. Oh, just as enthusiastic, but slowly declining.

I stopped, turned around... & there they all were, lined up where I'd left them, cheering me on.

I shook my head, then waved my sword, & the shouting redoubled.

But, y'know, not one of those idiots moved forward.

After a moment of disbelief, I turned left, sword in the muck, I stomped away. The cheering continued, though sounding more & more tentative, as they started to wonder why I wasn't rushing to win their war for them.

I doubt Ellison wants a cheering-section of helpless nimrods.

What David said.

I admit I'll be disappointed if Harlan never comes 'round these parts again, but I know he's doing what's best for him, and that's the most important thing. And he's only part of what makes this a cool place. Lots of interesting, talented, mostly civil people here, united by a common interest but wildly different from one another. A fine refuge from ... well, pretty much anywhere else these days. I'm in for the duration.

Amparion wrote:

"The villain in WOMAN IN THE MOON looks like Hitler, down to the vulgar nose and sweeping forelock, though no Charlie Chaplin moustache. It was probably too dangerous to be THAT obvious."

Interesting. I suppose there is a resemblance, although I believe the Nazis were still something of a fringe group when the film was made.

I thought it interesting that the character, "Mr. Walt Turner" (If indeed that was his name), an operative of the EGC (Evil Gold Cartel), was an American. Fritz Rasp, who played the character, resembled William Randolph Hearst, at least to me. The Kino edition of Frau im Mond is about 30 minutes shorter than the original run time, and it seemed to hurt the film not at all, except for a few scenes that could have been about 30 seconds longer.

If you want to see the French version of Testament Des Dr. Mabuse, I suggest the Criterion edition DVD, which not only has the fullest restoration of the German version to date, but the complete French version as well. Lots of informative extras, as well. A veritable cornucopia of Langism. Highly recommended.

Chuck

"Whether Harlan is able to stick to his promise to go away permanently is neither here nor there, and though encomia and thanks to him are always in order, it would not behoove us to beg him to stay or return. What we should do is make this a place (or continue to keep it a place) that honors his standards of ethics, thoughtfulness, and passion, and where he would be pleased to participate if he had the time and energy to do so. That way, even if he were never to return, it will be a space where WE will continue to enjoy hanging out, rather than a repetitious chorus of regret and disappointment; and a place where newbies will continue to be inspired to read more Ellison."

Like Rob, I agree this nicely frames out my feelings.

Yeah, some people will leave, but this is a pretty extraordinary place. If Rick elects to continue I will be sitting here at my customary place at the table, thanking the stars that I'm part of such a very interesting place on the web.

Thanks, David.

To David's point: "What we should do is make this a place (or continue to keep it a place) that honors his standards of ethics, thoughtfulness, and passion, and where he would be pleased to participate if he had the time and energy to do so. That way, even if he were never to return, it will be a space where WE will continue to enjoy hanging out, rather than a repetitious chorus of regret and disappointment; and a place where newbies will continue to be inspired to read more Ellison."

That wasn't my own sentiment until you framed it that way. You're right! There's lots to explore and share in the Ellison oeuvre, and it's also a potential way to network in the long-run.

I feel a little like stranded castaways on a South Sea island, who just found a way to survive!

Catching up wit da gang

Hey, everybody!

I've been away for a week because my grown-up show ("The King and I," in which I play the villain, such as there is one in the story -- The Kralahome) opened last weekend, and I'm now simultaneously in rehearsals for a children's theater production of "Aladdin" (in which I play the considerably more sprightly and energetic Snodgrass, Genie of the Ring, and Bubba, Genie of the Lamp), so I've been spending a minimum of 12 hours a day at the theater (thankfully air-conditioned in this unusual week of 95-plus Portland weather). I'm writing to you during the afternoon break between the two.

Susan called me two days ago to ask if I REALLY wanted to bid on the big-ticket item I wrote in as my first choice -- probably not even being aware that I lost my full-time day job nearly a year ago and our annual household income has dropped roughly 20k -- and my wife made me see reason, so I scaled back my commitment to a handful of lovely items that Susan selected from my back-up wish list. I'm quite satisfied (as long as there isn't another damn leak in my storage closet; still gotta file an insurance claim on those damaged goods -- fortunately not including my most treasured Ellison possessions).

Whether Harlan is able to stick to his promise to go away permanently is neither here nor there, and though encomia and thanks to him are always in order, it would not behoove us to beg him to stay or return. What we should do is make this a place (or continue to keep it a place) that honors his standards of ethics, thoughtfulness, and passion, and where he would be pleased to participate if he had the time and energy to do so. That way, even if he were never to return, it will be a space where WE will continue to enjoy hanging out, rather than a repetitious chorus of regret and disappointment; and a place where newbies will continue to be inspired to read more Ellison.

TIM RAVEN: Whenever I look seriously at the available evidence -- what we are doing to each other and the planet, how we have behaved in the past, the nasty stuff we have produced and released into the environment over the past 65 years -- I pretty much have to conclude that yes, the species is doomed and on a fairly short trajectory. Five to seven generations may be too optimistic.

My wife Carole saw a new documentary last week called "Deep Green," a self-financed project by a local rare-mushroom magnate who put more than a million of his own money into the thing. She said he stresses all the good things an individual can do to diminish his or her carbon footprint, but much of the dire information on what's happening out there (he was first inspired to tackle what he thought would be a weekend project that ended up taking 5 years to finish by the things he saw happening in the forests where his company collects its product) is pretty sobering, she reported.

And I just don't see my fellow humans getting on the stick even to the small extent I have (giving up car ownership, ceasing to eat land-based meats, and going childless) until things have gotten a lot worse, and therefore beyond the point of no return.

Incidentally, I also have a sneaking suspicion that I personally am not immortal, and that bugs the hell out me too, but I insist on trying to face the truth of the matter, whatever it appears to be.

BRIAN PHILLIPS: Couldn't quite make out whether you were ultimately discussing -- and asking us about -- philately or leaving a stamp on the world, but would love to discuss both further. I was a stamp collector as a kid and did some oddball things in that area. Haven't done anything of that sort in years, but I still have most of the stuff I ever collected and probably should think about where it ought to go, ultimately. It was stamp collecting that educated me as to the nature and location of the Trucial States (from Sharjah to Ras Al-Khaima), Bhutan, and Maluku Selatan. Brief word about my favorites: space program stamps, Rwanda, and Estonia. I also got a kick out of flashy and goofy revenue generators that had no real value like 3D stamps.

PHIL NICHOLLS: You can't generate cedillas, accent graves, and that sort of thing in HTML, but if you open Word or a similar word processing program and type the term there first, then cut and paste it here, that should do it. In Word you'll find these things under Insert - Symbol.

Next week I have something like six shows of "Aladdin" and five shows of "The King and I," and on Monday night I'll be doing the sixth annual Beowulf and Grendel show for my "Story Time for Grownups," in which a buddy who's a retired prof of Old and Middle English reads, translates, and discusses some key passages of Beowulf in the original Anglo-Saxon, and I do an excerpt from John Gardner's Grendel (probably the conversation between Grendel and the dragon, which is the highlight of the novel, as far as I'm concerned).

This is how I pass the time while awaiting the dreaded inevitabilities, TIM RAVEN. I recommend to everyone a similar regimen of enjoying oneself and doing good works. Amassing goodies and employing artificial stimulants and depressants is too costly and doesn't work all that well.

Pay the Writer

Graham --

Fine to have a hobby, I don't begrudge you that; but if you would rather be paid for your hobby than not, I wouldn't begrudge you that, either.

Because you get paid doesn't mean you can't do it from the heart. And if you get paid, that might allow you to do more -- and maybe better -- work, because you can concentrate on it and not have to have a Real Job.

People who disdain commercialism to claim that they are Artists can do that, but as often as not, it's an excuse because they couldn't produce work an audience is willing to pay for.

And I stand on the statement that the best book (or movie, or TV show, or play, or rock concert or other entertainments) that most folks will point to when asked will be those that sold tickets. If you think Simon and Garfunkel's Concert in the Park was free, you are missing Heinlein's Dictum: TANSTAAFL.

If you are a full-time actor, painter, writer, whatever, you can spend your time and energy to make that craft better by practicing it at a professional level. If you write Trek fanfic because you love Kirk and Spock, that's fine, have at it. But the standards aren't quite the same as when people are plunking down their beer money for your work.

If you do something that makes other people money, why wouldn't you feel good about making money on it yourself?

Perry

Harlan quitting the web? Holy shit, that takes serious gonads. I've tried myself on a few occasions, with only the occasional email excursion, but I've finally given in to the fact that I'm a member of the Y Generation.

Maybe it's for the best that Harlan is bailing out, assuming it's really for good. There are increasingly creepy articles cropping up in recent years about how the digital age is slowly but surely rewriting the circuitry in our brains, and I'd rather see something as insidious as that happen to one man's fandom than the man himself.

Buh bye, for now
Harlan, I'll leave you a quote attributed to our elder God, Ted Sturgeon,

"Live long, and prosper."

------------------------

As for the interweb: To me, it has been and ever will be a tool. No more or less. I hate it no more than I hate language or a hammer or an automobile. Nevertheless, my improper use of same has caused me some distress, physical and otherwise.

peace,
Rick

Emmys
Sorry for the second post, but I was perusing a list of the Emmy nominations... and besides the obvious ones that all the newscasts are talking about, I found a few that made me, well, joyful. And I wanted to pass those on -- because some of you may share a fondness for these nominees...

ELI WALLACH is nominated for Guest Actor in a Comedy for "Nurse Jackie". Eli freaking legendary Wallach.

ROBERT MORSE is nominated for Guest Actor in a Drama for "Mad Men". Robert freaking Broadway legend Morse.

Both still around and still kicking it, as they say, hugely.

SHIRLEY JONES is nominated for Guest Actress in a Drama for "The Cleaner". C'mon some of you had a crush on her, right? And she's a very nice lady.

ANN-MARGRET is nominated for Guest Actress in a Drama for "Law & Order: SVU". I know I had a crush on her.

BRENDA VACCARO is nominated for Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie for "You Don't Know Jack"
(and, yes, Al Pacino is up for the same movie and he was brilliant)

Does my heart good to know these artists are still being recognized.

And for you Python fans, the special 'MONTY PYTHON: ALMOST THE TRUTH (THE LAWYER'S CUT)' special that aired earlier this year and which I enjoyed tremendously is up for best Nonfiction Series and Direction for Nonfiction Programming.

So there you go.

Ok, enough of this guff. The "web" is a vast place. If you want to look you can find cobwebs and dead spiders, but if you look around more you will see many really good things:

Huffington, Talking Points Memo, Zmag, Grooveshark, Hulu, Youtube, C-Span.org, Prince.org, Alternet, Commondreams, Politifact, The Daily Howler, Yes, Wiki, Chomsky.info, National Security Archives, Haaretz, Norman Finkelstein's site, The Onion, Venezuela Analysis, Google, Yahoo, SweetJesusIHateBillO'Reilly, Craigslist....

A few million more.

---------

Dorman, why don't you go away? See, we can't get rid of the right ones.

haha. Love ya Dorman.

Down Under is goooood.

-------------

Ann Coulter is against the Afghan war now. Gak.

Here is my precursor in the whole bullshit 'writing is only done for money' (which invalidates everything written in A Love Song For Jerry Falwell, which is a great piece) mass debate:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRkA6zugNMQ&feature=related

I will return later to write naive nonsense. Look for it on this channel.

I have nowhere near Harlan's talent as an essayist; hell, there are days I have no where near YJ's talents, either. With that in mind, I have put up a new piece on my site discussing last week's critique firing squad. http://sandramodell.com/

Lang
Amaparion:
I'm with you on the Fritz Lang bandwagon. If you get into his American films, I think SCARLET STREET is one of the greatest movies ever made.
Enjoy!

Will He Be Back? Can't Help But Wonder...
Back in the late 1970s, Harlan swore never to write for, or even watch, television again. How long did THAT last?

Against Stupidity
If the Gods themselves battle stupidity in vain, it's a bit of hubris for me or other mortals to think we'll win.

And yet we try.

Just remember: it's basic physics that nothing is created, nothing destroyed, and it can all be recreated no matter how blown to the winds.

And it seems to be a rule of the universe that what can be, is. Somewhere. Sometime.

Just maybe not here, maybe not now.

Not that you can ever know for sure.

It works for me.

On a Fritz Lang kick. Have watched the restored 2010 METROPOLIS, followed by DAS TESTAMENT DES DR. MABUSE (THE TESTAMENT OF DR. MABUSE), FRAU IM MOND (WOMAN IN THE MOON), and now ready to take on the original Peter Lorre starring M.

I note tht Lang lived until 1976, passing away in Beverly Hils. Leads me to wonder if Harlan Ellison ever met or perhaps even worked with him? Lang was reportedly still working on movie ideas in his last years. The thought of a Lang directed Ellison script, wow.

Despite it's silly points, WOMAN IN THE MOON is a pretty good SF film. The fact it predates almost every other space movie by twenty or more years just blows me away. Some if its visuals are stunning.

THE TESTAMENT OF DR. MABUSE is a thriller with a brain, and that brain is diseased. It's crystal clear why the Nazis, who took power shortly after the film was in the can, banned it. It predicts the course of German history for the next twleve years, and is stunning in its analysis of the Human Condition, warts and all.

I must track down the French version, also directed by Lang, with a different cast. The chance to compare the same director with the same script, but different actors in a different language, tres cool.

The villain in WOMAN IN THE MOON looks like Hitler, down to the vulgar nose and sweeping forelock, though no Charlie Chaplin moustache. It was probably too dangerous to be THAT obvious.

Genius, pure and simple. Forget D. W. Griffith. Fritz Lang, Ladies and Gentlemen, Fritz lang.

"I'm glad Harlan has left for good"

If I were an Idealist I might agree, but as a Rationalist who feels every light in a dark brier patch is crucial, Harlan's occasional presence is vital; the Net mirrors the human race for the cognitive gas bubble that it is. You can step out your door and run into the same tribal ill-informed idiots who post their shit all over the Web.

As one who combats depression every time I hear the news, I wish I had the sibylline book with the answers about what to do or WHERE to go to seek a more encouraging future. I haven't found it yet. The ignorance is pervasive, and the consequences we bring to our own planet are inescapable. There is NO exit from this painful reality.

So what do we do? We look for the few portals of creativity, inspiration, intellect, and humor that allow us to go on. That's how I find resolve, anyway.

Here, Harlan knows us. We LIKE him. We understand him pretty well. We understand his quirks a tad, as some of us share similar issues. Popping in here for a few minutes each week - to say hello, to share a passion OR a gripe, to inform, to reminisce, to connect, or even just to let out some steam - adds color to an otherwise dispiriting scape.

No. If I can't at least occasionally sit down and have coffee with a guy a like, I'd at least like to enjoy his presence and personality here once in a while.

Harlan got along just fine for decades without the internet. And I can't say I blame him for telling it to go fuck itself. It certainly seems like every article or blog post I read that mentions Harlan is followed by somebody whining, "Harlan sucker-punched my grandma and ate my puppy!" Were I Harlan, it would tire me out. Hell, it does tire me out.
If it increases the blood pressure, makes the head throb, and makes the eyes bulge from your sockets, to little or no purpose... you're better off walking away and doing something else with your time.

No Doors, No Windows
As much as I've enjoyed the Pavilion, I'm glad Harlan has found an exit and, perhaps, surcease from the madnesses in the monitor.

But...Cyberia done got a little colder.

One last question: Does this mean Rabbit Hole becomes a monthly?

Heh. Ahem. Erm. I, uh...

Richard Halasz

HARLAN:
Having this line to you has been wondrous and marvelous, and I will miss it. I would like to say, though, that you are not the only reason I spend too much time reading here; I've made some good friends, and I hope to continue chatting with them even if you're not here (you don't really mind us sitting at your dining table after you've gone to bed, do you?).

I hope you will eschew the rest of the internet and grace us, from time to time, with your presence. I look forward to seeing you, and whoever else from here is there, at MadCon in September. It would be a lovely thing if we could find a big dining table and sit together for a time.

Harlan's Leavetaking, another Deep Shag Recording, and...
ALL (including, HARLAN, of course): I'M GLAD HARLAN HAS LEFT FOR GOOD!!!

I've said it before (to Harlan, here on this site) and I'll say it again: It's a VERY GOOD THING for Harlan to leave the Web behind him. Forget the fact that it'll keep him from seeing the absolutely inane, pschyo-babble of idiots who live to torment (him and anyone they can), and forget that it will keep him from getting frustrated by the rumors and misinformation and sometimes mean-spirited reviews (all of which will be forgotten, sooner rather than later) which are often innocently passed on by his friends here on Webderland.

None of us knows the number of stars in the sky or the number days left on our personal, biological calanders. Better we spend our time admiring the stars, rather than counting them, and enjoying our days with loved ones (in Harlan's case, Susan and his many friends within walking -- or driving; forgot it's L.A. -- distance. Besides, those closest to him have his phone number).

Even without all of those considerations, the internet is largely one big DISTRACTION for anyone wanting to write (I know, I'm too often distracted when planning to only check on the news, a coupla sites -- like this one -- and the weather and....before long, I've wasted more than a couple of hours).

Recently, most of us here learned that Harlan is...what?...8000 words or more into a brand new essay for a brand new book (and he just published a couple of other new essays)...and not long ago he mentioned that he is working on new stories and essays all the time, as well as gearing up to publish another two or three books.

Fuck the internet.
Harlan's doing the smart thing by spending his time with Susan, his writing and his nearby friends (knowing the habits of a writer, not necessarily in that order on any given day).

I'M GLAD HARLAN HAS LEFT FOR GOOD!!

DEEP SHAG: Thanks for the announcement! I only love me some Harlan Ellison Audio Collections, so I can't wait.
(All that's needed now is an announcement that my already recorded faves -- "On the Downhill Side" and "The Whimper of Whipped Dogs" -- will be included in volume 4 of THE VOICE FROM THE EDGE)!

FINALLY: Although I dearly love the majority of people I meet in Melbourne (neighbors and just the odd acquaintence), ocassionaly there is the infrequent asshole (like the semi-crazy drunk I had to confront on a train last night, because he worked his way toward bothering my daughter) and the less-than-enlighted ignoramous. In the case of the latter, she took the form of an older lady (who was with a friend of the same age, first time we met), who I bumped into while walking my somewhat large, but always friendly, and always brilliant dog (a mix of boxer and staffie). After assuring her that he didn't need a muzzle (and that the local council didn't demand it), I was clued into just how ignorant a person can be throughout the entirety of their life (because she was 80 to 85 if she was a day), when -- after seeing my dog, who has very fine, very short hair, roll over on his back -- she declared that my dog was a girl, because, "He has nipples!" I assured her that my dog is, indeed, a boy, who was neutered, and that _all_ male dogs have nipples. Walking away, shaking my head, I wondered if she was a virgin or one of those women who might have actually made love in the dark, with her eyes closed, when conceiving any children with husband.

Oy to the world!

Cheers to all from Down Under,

DTS

"their worth the copper dropped"

Or even They Are -- They're -- in the non-English challenged worlds.

Dep't Of Continuity

Folks. Amidst the well-intentioned and well-earned kudos for our patron was an update from our friends at Deep Shag.

Seriously, if you have not availed yourselves of their recordings -- of which I own three soon-to-be-four copies of Harlan's readings/commentaries -- you need to avail yourselves of this new recording. I get not a penny, not a "scintilla", but will tell you their worth the copper dropped.

Harlan may have moved on, but it's my hope that items like this continue to energize Webderland.

Good stuff, Maynard.

Just sayin'.

On The Road With Ellison Volume Four
On The Road With Ellison Volume Four is the latest report from Harlan Ellison and a life lived on the road. Featuring an exclusive new essay, Volume Four finds the author lecturing on the merits of Graham Greene to fast food fry cooks, packing heat for a wealthy neurotic, and perhaps blasting The Little Rascals into space – leaving his wife wondering if going to family barbeques are a good idea. Follow Harlan on the road and get inside the head of America's most outspoken wordsmith. This is Ellison live on stage and anything goes.


AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER NOW - RELEASED AUGUST 24
www.deepshag.com

Thanks For The Last 12 Years
I got my first computer in 1998, which was about the time that I first began reading science fiction. A friend had introduced me to Harlan's works, and from there I was able to discover many more fantastic writers like Fritz Leiber, Alfred Bester, and Theodore Sturgeon by paying attention to which writers Harlan himself championed in his essays. The thirteenth and final book in the complete collection of Theodore Sturgeon's short fiction comes out this fall, and once it arrives, I will have all hardcover first editions of all of them. Of course, I keep reading them, so they aren't staying in pristine, unread shape! This website has been one of the few that I have read regularly every day for the last 12 years, and I want to commend everyone who posts regularly here for forming one of the most unique and interesting online communities that I have ever come across. I always enjoy being a fly on the wall here, and I believe that the finest single thing that I have ever read on the internet was when Young Jackanapes brought the jelly beans to school one day and brought my favorite moment from my favorite story by my favorite writer to life! I too am looking forward to seeing Harlan at Madcon this September, and I hope that the anonymous trolls of the internet don't permanently scare him away from sharing his observations here with us in the future.

Thank you, Brad Haupt M666

Hospice
I got off the phone with my stepmom about fifteen minutes ago.

She told me that they were looking at putting Dad into hospice care. At this time, the doctor believes Dad has about six months left.

The last time I saw him, he barely recognized me. I try to see him once a week, but it takes all my strength to go there.

I have such mixed feelings. On one hand, Dad's long downhill slide may be coming to an end. Two old friends of his, Carmen and Al Rodriguez, came by to see him a few weeks ago and he didn't recognize them. At all. He and Al knew each other since boyhood.

On the other hand it means Dad will be gone before too long. That's hard to take. I now have to decide whether to tell my sister now or wait a little while.

Oh Kali, you bitch.

The world is pain.


Chuck

Harlan's leaving...?
Harlan, sorry you feel you have to leave but, like others here, I respect and understand your decision. When people have an opportunity to say things anonymously, it brings out the worst in some immature, meanspirited people. Most people do not act like that, even on the Internet. But it only takes a few to make a weary Internet user feel like he or she is dodging mud balls. Years ago, when I got into an argument with a nasty flame thrower on a medical website, she put a virus in my computer and, for years, I did not even use a computer, let alone the Internet. Now I do. I decided I was willing to risk running into the occasional asshole; after all, I do it everyday at work.

I hope you will relent at some point but, for now, I will respect your silence here as much as I have respected your fine words.

Hi, Harlan and Susan and everyone,

Harlan, I am so sorry that you got caught in the rain of idiot gossip on the net and in the culture. I think it a good idea to absent yourself from the fury. For selfish reasons, I hope that one day you shall return your voice here, for it is a wise, kind and jolly one.

Everone else, I hope we can continue as a community. I have cyberly met so many great and noble souls through this site. It has become a valuable and cherished part of my life.

Kafka, read your story. Like the changes. Will follow thru with more detailed comments later. Just really busy with class and family.

Diane

Take heart people, Harlan is watching.
.
his words may not return to THIS place, but his words will come.
and they will likely live on.

Place Marked

For Mr Steve Perry

It is my understanding that Mr Ellison is writing (Do Not Disturb) and sympathetic magic being what it is, I can't help believing that this is a wondrous boon to writers/artists hereabouts.

However, since I have many pages unfinished, should your paths cross, would you please forward this message.

That he either write more slowly, or continue indefinitely...

Many thanks.

J.

Leaving
I have no fear of losing contact with Harlan (or Susan); we speak from time to time. What I'll miss is the, for lack of a better word, casual aspect we have here; being in the room during an ongoing conversation, and thus not needing a specific excuse on one side, or the other, as impetus for communication. (Harlan: I have one, in fact, though not today.)

If this really is it, it's been fun.

Like removing my hand from a bucket of water...
Well good. It's been a fascinating (if not always fun) decade plus and I was here for all but about three weeks of it. I made some friends and some enemies. A few of you even stayed in my home. It was a pretty good run. I'll miss Harlan playing whack-a-mole here or explaining the way of things or updating us on projects. But I'll enjoy the silence also. So, it's a wash.

Everyone here has my e-mail. Some of you have my phone number. There is still the H.E.R.C. for the updates.

I'm removing this site from my taskbar. A minimum of 15 minutes of my day (and sometimes an hour) has just been returned to me. Over 10 years that equals... I don't even want to know.

Best regards to almost all of you - Barney

History is a vast early warning system.
- Norman Cousins (1915-1990)

Regret, regret, regret
I've been so damned busy lately, I've only been able to stop into the pavilion for a few minutes here and there to skim the conversation. I haven't participated nearly as much as I would've liked and now...well, now that Harlan's snapped off his digital umbilical and taken his leave of networked inanity, I can't help but feel a great swell of regret gurgling up from the acidic cauldron of my gut.

I got the news last night, when I checked into the pavilion just before sitting down to write the regularly scheduled Thursday essay for my site. In an unsurprising twist to the plot, I didn't write about what I'd planned to write about. Instead, I wrote this: http://tinyurl.com/3576afe

So long, Unca H. On behalf of an entire generation bred, fed and bled by TV, videogames and now the Internet, I apologize for the words and deeds of people who don't know any better.

I hope the winds of fate will lead you back around this way someday, because the binary dunderheads of the Web need your voice. I mean that. Once the smart people stop talking, the paste-eaters get promoted and the world moves one step closer to a point where the King is the one guy left who just doesn't shit himself.

You'll be missed.

-Kristian

Mossad took our Harlan away. Can I prove it? Give me time.

Hello, I Must Be Going.

Unca Harlan,

I will certainly miss your daily dose of wit and wisdom. However, I understand your decision. As the venerable Larry Lujack has said on more than one occasion, "The internet is the tool of Satan."

On the other hand ...
If Harlan leaves the internet, the terrorists win.

The Purge goes on
Another article on the Great Book Purge -- and this writer actually made the effort to talk to Harlan (and why didn't they all, I might ask?):

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2010/07/harlan-ellison-reluctant-book-sale.html

bad news.
The entirety of Italy seems to be covered with graffiti. so far I have not seen one ketchup packet. More reports of value later. Harlan, what everyone else said, times 5. please don't stop putting your brand here from time to time. Do you know how hard it is to not only read this site on a blackberry, and post here? I come here to see what my friends are saying. And join in from time to time.

Thank You
I understand, Harlan...believe me I do. And I'm a little bit sad tonight.

But thank you for your posts, your words...

And thank you can't quite seem to cover that one day...it'll stay with me forever. You and Susan are the best. I hope to see you again in person sometime...

In person always works better for me...I'm always wondering what kind of watch you'll be wearing that day :D...

I understand completely where HE's coming from. I mean, I ain't nothin' in respect to nothin' -- penny-ante writer, local musician, sporadic artist -- but I've hit my fair share of episodes where some ass-hat simply Did Not Get It & took me to task (often poorly).

My publisher has encouraged me for a decade to have a public blog or something, but I've dodged this because I simply don't want to (facing facts here) waste all that time for little positive return.

I like this site because it's so loaded with the stray thoughts of bright & often talented people. The fact that The Ellisons waft through is something I deeply appreciate... but not why I visit.

Don't go.
Please--
don't.

If you stay, I'll quit with my happy faces.
They'll just be implied.
Cindy

Oh, man.

My desert island Harlan book is “An Edge in My Voice” and though I’m sure other people have said the same thing, I haven’t heard it. No matter the subject of the essays, reading them feels like there is a direct line from Harlan’s typewriter to my brain. Like Dickens, his writing makes you feel like you actually know the author on a level beyond the page. This is crap, I know, complete and utter fallacy. The point is, though, that this is how the writing makes you *feel*. That’s the real truth of it.

At the Pavilion, Harlan has continued to dole out these bits of magic and its heartbreaking to think that may no longer happen. I’ve responded to a few Flying Blue Monkey requests, pointed out a pair of typos, made a remark here and there, and got a response from Harlan regarding the late great Peter Rabe.

When I get onto the internet, I check my e-mail accounts and a few other sites, including, almost invariably, the Pavilion. No matter what Harlan’s opinion is, he’s been part of *my* internet experience. There are only a few places I visit every day and this has been one of them for years.

I just wanted to stick my beak in and say thank you, Harlan, for being around and as accessible as you’ve been, and to quote a movie: You can’t go, all the plants are going to die.

But of course, you can, and I wish you the absolute best.

I would like to thank Harlan Ellison and Rick Wyatt for their presence at The Art Deco Dining Pavilion. In this age of fill-in-the-blanks, fragmented "written" bites, avatars and nom de plumes, The Pav has been incredibly thought-provoking and refreshing. Unlike other web message boards / forums / guestbooks, people here actually communicate with each other. Imagine that!

I owe an apology to Harlan for "blurting in" last week as he was responding to Pav posts. I think my stomach was calling, but I should have waited until HE was finished dialoging to mention Amtrak and Jaron Lanier's YOU ARE NOT A GADGET, which I now highly recommend -- I modify from "worth investigation."

Q: So, what does Jaron Lanier write about?
A: The Web 2.0., "Google World" internet, clouds, hive mind, anonymous sniping, violations of people on message boards and blogs, the early internet, Usenet and much more (in a critical way). He is a computer programming insider.

All of this is relevant to the July 6th posting responses to Purge III news at io9. If that comes from the future, then I'm running away. And yet, as I look at that site and don't see much that interests me -- a place where I would spend any quality time -- I find I'm picking around Lanier's book to find information about the contemporary internet. We all know what happens behind a fake name on the internet, usually. It's been discussed here numerous times, and after reading of the impersonal, dehumanizing effects, I believe it is time for me to pull off the "concentricfridays" moniker. Although I've been a 2010 newbie here, I think we have generally taken the high road in regards internet social community. I thank you all for being you. You're a great group; perhaps it's time to ride a bike for a fortnight, attempt a return, and see if any Dining Pavilion remains. I sure hope it does.

Sigh
There's an Eric Hoffer quote Harlan often cites: "What monstrosities would walk the earth, were some people's faces as unfinished as their minds." Welcome to the internet.

adieu
So, does Harlan's absenting himself mean we will be seeing more
of Susan around here now? We can only hope.

I truly believe that if we pick up the level of conversation here, and stop pointing out the curiosities out there in the hinterlands and causeways, that HE will return. (very small: please?)

Thanks
Well, this is a bit of a roller coaster--I'm very pleased to have some new Harlan goodies on my way thanks to the Purge, and very down to think that Himself may no longer be among us. Like everyone else, though, I'm grateful for all the time Harlan and Susan have given us over the past few years; it's been a true privilege to see.

Jack Skillingstead is quite right. Harlan is absenting himself from the 'net for sound reasons.

If you hate soap operas you don't watch daytime TV. If the assholes on the internet get to you, switch off the computer. It's really that simple.

Like the rest of you I treasure the time he spent with us here, and am looking forward to "Yr Pal Harlan" should it see the light of day.

Otherwise -- if Rick wills it -- we'll almost all converge here again tomorrow and jump on Frank for something or other; scritch our heads at some sage comment from Adam-Troy; or gently calm Kafkahead and reassure him the world holds a bright future for him.

And if it rolls the other way and truly comes to an end (I purely hope is not the case), we were all part of a pretty cool spot on the net and made a lot of friends in the process.

Just sayin'.

I understand your decision and am glad you know what's best for you. Thought of you and JLB today in the state hall of the national library.

By the way, they have in their catalog the esperanto translation of Bleeding Stones and an Austrian diploma thesis from 2000 by Angelika Kleber: "The human wish to play God as reflected in American literature (The Birth-mark" by Nathaniel Hawthorne; "I have no mouth, and I must scream" by Harlan Jay Ellison; "Survival of the fittest" by Jonathan Kellerman).

Thanks
I came here looking for a reccomendation, and I stayed because I found a group of like minded people led by one of the most kind and compassionate souls on the planet.

Your writings here and else where have given me a chance to examine myself and my thoughts and beliefs in ways I don't think I'd have gotten to if I wasn't a fan.

Even when you were chiding me for one thing or another I never felt anything worse than a bad case of "How Dare HE!" But when I sat back and calmly thought about what was said, and the words with which it was said, I usually had to admit that you were right.

Hopefully this examination has made me a better person. If it hasn't I cannot blame anyone but myself. I've had a bunch of good role models, and I thank you for unknowingly being one of them!

Your wit, wisdom and intelligence will be missed. If at all possible please come back when you are ready.

Off-Line
You know, Harlan isn't disappearing off the face of the Earth, mearely off the face of the net. It's not a half bad idea, in general.

A humble (or perhaps very nervy) request
Dear Harlan and Susan,

I know you're out there--also know you're bogged down at the moment, so I'm not calling now. But Ben and I would like to say goodbye. We're hoping that we're still a part of your circle, though we don't have much of an online presence for many reasons. I don't think we're going to be able to go to Madcon (extremely complicated and private reasons), so either an uncomfortably intimate post sent out into the ether which you might or might not see or a simple telephone call seem to be our only options.

If this is okay, say nothing. I hope you don't mind, though. Ben's been wanting to talk with you for some time, and for him, I'll put myself on the front lines and absorb any ill will or embarassment this post might bring, though you've never been anything but kind and gracious to both of us.

With our deepest affection,
Amy and Ben

Au revoir, Harlan. And thank you.

D.

A reluctant farewell
Well, Harlan, I got to ask you about a dozen questions in the last four or five years that I never thought I'd have the chance to ask. Most of them you answered, for which I'll always be grateful. Maybe, after a cooling off period, you'll change your mind and return. Maybe not. We'll see.
But, if you don't, please know that you'll have my respect and admiration for the rest of my life, both for your talent and for your countless acts of kindness. As you often say, "All best."

Harlan your presence will be missed greatly here. You have been very kind to answer our questions and you have given us a fountain, a virtual plethora of information about the start of the writing of your stories and many other life stories about the events in your life. I am very much looking forward to seeing you and the lovely Susan in Wisconsin at Madcom.

The bird story has ended.I had not gone out on my deck for a couple of days. I went out tonight and the last baby bird has disappeared along with the mother. At most it has been only two weeks since they hatched, I hope the mother relocated them safely.

For Steven A.

Check or money order (it doesn't matter) made out to THE KILIMANJARO CORPORATION, Post Office Box 55548, Sherman Oaks, CA 91413. Don't worry about the extra postage. Do let us know your address (pplease print).

With much kindness--Susan

Transaction
(clears throat self-consciously)

Can someone directly involved in the sales-and-shipping of the scrolls I've bagged please contact me via email? It's a little unnerving doing *all* of this on a message board read by tens-of-thousands of people! (laugh)

I realize that Mrs. Ellison is probably swamped but is there a freckled intern or a laconic guy in a turban I can interface with...?

Thanks and until then,

S

Greetings and thanks
Hi Harlan:

Christopher Moore, author guy here.

I've hit that internet wall, several times. I understand. You have to leave before your entire take on humanity is that they are hopeless little wankers, stewing in a kettle of their own petty vitriol. (Is vitriol a thing? Seems I had to put vitriol in my old 240Z.It used like a quart a week. Anyway...) It appears I have impeccable timing, showing up just as you're sliding down the internet wall, Wile E. Coyote style. Sorry.

I'm stopping by to tell you personally, kind of, and publicly, kind of, that your work and your presence has been really important to me as I've tried to learn this craft. I learned what narrative voice is from your work, and I spent a lot of late nights writing immitation Harlan stories, which never saw the light of day (sweet mercy for everyone), but which also taught me how to develop my own voice. Even now, sometimes, when I'm working, I'll hear those eloquent, Harlan, Tick-tock cadences in my head and think, "Oh yeah, I remember now, that's what you do, you write the fuck out of it." So thanks for that, Harlan.

When I was starting out, back in the early 80s, I once drove all night from Sacremento to Santa Barbara to hear you speak with Robert Silverberg and Frederick Pohl. Then afterward, I stood in front of your signing table, as fragile as a dried leaf, a harsh word would have crushed me. And you were very kind to me. I was one of a couple of hundred in line that day, but for me it was a big fucking deal. Maybe a tipping point, who knows? But now, when I'm on book tour, and I'm hungry and jet-lagged, and I'm signing my 200th book for the night, I try to remember being that kid on the other side of the table, and just how important that thirty seconds or so was to me, and I try to give that person their due respect and attention, give them their moment, because someone did that for me. So thanks for that.

Thirty years later, I'm doing well, have steered clear of being shelved with the elves and aliens because someone warned me about that, and amid my fumbling with the language and fighting with the suits, I try to remember that this is a holy thing we do, this storytelling, because someone taught me that. Thanks, Harlan.

I hope you and Susan are well.


Your pal,
Chris

Thanks for putting up with us this long, I fully understand and respect you decision.
It's been great hearing from someone that's been one of my favorite authors since I first read your work all those years ago.
And thanks for trying to talk some sense into one of the most illogical species that ever crawled from primordial ooze. We could use a million voices like yours.
Farewell friend.

HARLAN -

Thank you for walking this way with us a spell. We've received more stories, banter, and general camaraderie than we might have hoped when you first popped in and asked us to ask questions of you, six hundred years ago. Given that your words and your time are the two most valuable bits of gelt in your purse, you've been excessively generous with both. Toodles for now, and unless you hear from me sooner, we'll pinch claw and talk out of school at MadCon.

Don't leave, I implore you!
Dear Harlan

I'm not the only one requesting this, and Heaven and Hell strike me if I have the wrong reasons for asking you this, but please don't leave! You are the life of the party, in this house of good brothers and connoisseurs of the arts and politics...From a more personal perspective, I've known you (and I use the verb "know" rather loosely: only the people closer to you know you, and as Exempoator Prima, I suggest Susan as one such person), while most people had decades to speak with you and discuss many topics over the World Wide Web. Forgive me for my "greed", so to speak, but it is in these cases that expression "not fair" can be used...
Still, if my request, ranked now among the others, cannot be considered along with the others, then all I can say "Good Luck out there".

K.

Unca Harlan, you're the best. Thank you very much for allowing me to prowl here, for decades worth of priceless work, and for the doing us the courtesy of existing.

All the best in your future endeavors.

-Steve E. Dylag,
Bucks UK.

Hasta la Vista
Unk --

Your life, your choice, and none of our business if you choose to join Prince in bagging the internet. But it isn't going away, the future, and to still your voice upon this forum to offer amendments, corrections, and pithy-and-sometimes-eloquent-observations to counter some of the dross probably won't make it better. At least when you toss out something here, there are ripples that others of us in the pond can help spread. One candle, cursing the darkness, and all like that.

Salinger shut the door, but that didn't stop anybody from talking about him, and making shit up to fill in the blanks.

No, man, I can say to somebody who offers up the tit-squeeze or elevator story, that's not how it happened. No, he didn't say that, he said this, and I got it right from his own pen.

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil that that good men do nothing. You've been fighting the good fight all your life, why stop now? There aren't any more idiots than there used to be, they are just more visible.

I have your number somewhere, from long ago when we had occasion to speak telephonically, but I've always thought that something of an imposition. I don't want to be the guy what breaks your concentration in the middle of writing a new story. Even if you let the machine collect the call, the ring can be enough ...

With a bulletin board such as this, you can speak to a comment or not as the fancy strikes you. A lot of folks would like to talk to you, or listen to you, and if they all dial up to do so, you'll spend a lot of time on the horn ...

Perry

I...I don't want you to disappear!

Harlan, I hope you reconsider, or make this a leave of absence rather than a permanent farewell ... but I certainly can appreciate your desire to be free of the Internet booboisie.

If this is it, I thank you for the pleasure of your virtual company, for your insights and discursions here, and most of all for the work - the stories and essays and books, where I hope and trust we will continue to see you for a long time to come.

And thank you too, profusely, to Susan for all she does, and to Rick for his work to make this a place where we all want to gather.

Harlan,

All the best to you and Susan.

--tr

Dear Harlan,

If you feel you have to leave, I won't try to disuade you. I do want to thank you, though, for your presence here. I came here out of curiosity several years ago and stayed because I discovered that you're a Very Nice Man with very nice friends.

Might we hope that you or Susan might pop in from time to time when there's news to impart?

Best regards,
Jan S.

PS: Many thanks to Rick also.

THAT WEBSITE
Perhaps when Scott posted that link he didn't notice (or perhaps it wasn't there at the time) that it also featured a link to the Outer Limits episode SOLDIER which is posted in its entirety on YouTube (which does take such things down when it is brought to their attention).

Well, darn it…
My peers have expressed the feeling better than I ever could. And I join them in thanking you for taking time to exchange ideas, recommendations and opinions with us. In other words what passes these days as camaraderie in this bright corner of the dark internet woods. Will see you in Madcon in September (just reserved my hotel room). I will be the guy with glasses and the multi-Latino accent sitting in the corner of the hotel restaurant speaking Spanish to his wife and asking questions about your favorite Latin American writers at one of your panels/presentations…wait I did that in MadMedia in Madison oh so many years ago. Better come up with new questions!

(FYI: I'll be in Spain before then, so if there is anything you want from the Motherland –cds, books, European graphic albums In Spanish– let me know).

Well Harlan, I'm sorry to see you go. I've enjoyed the interaction with you and with the other webderlanders I've met here.

I hope Scott doesn't feel badly, since he obviously provided the link in the spirit of showing something positive, as you surmised.

I do hope you change your mind, but if you don't it's still a nice place here with fine people. I'll still hang around for the fine company of the folks here in the Pavilion.

Chuck

Thanks

Harlan,

In pre-internet days, for those of us outside North America "Harlan Ellison" was a name attached to wonderful stories, books and essays. Occasionally, if lucky, we would see "Harlan Ellison" pictured on book jackets; photographically posed with a pipe, perhaps, or beautifully Barclay Shawed into a cover illustration. Never did we get to see or hear this creature in real life.

Now, in internet days, we have had the opportunity and privilege of engaging with you directly via the Pav, and what fun we've had. I suspect you might have had a soupcon* of fun as well, just occasionally.

This Pavilion, she is a wonderful thing, and shows us what an internet could be used for.

I hope we see you back here, and soon.

- Phil


* How do I get a cedilla on this thing?

"Pay The Writer"
finally breaks 400,000 individual views on "You Tube"!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj5IV23g-fE

Attention must, and apparently HAS, been paid!!

Thanks
Dear Mr. Ellison,

Please know that your posts here have been read with as much joy as have the many introductions, afterwords, and in-betweens that have accompanied your wonderful published writings; a glimpse of the man before the typewriter, as it were. Surprised I was to find you here years ago, and now sad but not surprised that internet twaddle has finally driven you away. If the communications will now only travel one way, so be it. You are appreciated.

All the best,

David

Mr. Ellison –

In case you didn’t know and would like to: _The Museum of Eterna's Novel_ by Macedonio Fernandez, a mentor of Borges, has recently been published in English.

Mr. McKinley –

You say you feel ill. You shouldn’t. You Shouldn’t. YOU SHOULDN’T. The piss-ant comments by others in the linked article is something you have no control over. You were doing a nice thing. You were doing something normal that is done quite often on this site.

Harlan,

While I hope that your removal from the Internet is but a temporary leave (and please remember you have a legion of Flying Blue Monkeys at your disposal should you wish to obtain information from any other websites), I can certainly understand your rationale for doing so.

Should this be the end, I would also like to publicly thank Rick Wyatt for all of his tremendous work in the Pav, and Steve Barber for his equally impressive work in the Forums. There have been friendships that were formed on this site that will far outlast the ephemeral nature of a website.

Harlan, it has been a true pleasure to converse with you here, and I am very glad I got a chance to meet you at MiniCon a few years ago. I look forward to seeing you and Susan again at MadCon in September.

All the best,

Mark

Harlan, just never forget that we all have real affection for you and Susan. It aint just internet hokum.

I have never met you but I know you--from your words, from your interviews, from your sheer force of nature.

We all do really like and adore you.

It's not the internet, it's human beings gone bad.

Love ya.

Thank you
Thank you, Harlan, for taking the time to communicate with us. It meant a heck of a lot to me, being able to have direct contact with one of my literary idols.
Take care.

An Apology
Harlan; I apologize for posting the link to the article that ticked you off. The post was a way to let the group know that word of the Purge was spreading, and I meant nothing more than that. I feel ill about it.

Your writings and opinions mean quite a bit to me. I am grateful and mindful for how much you have given us over the years. I hope you will reconsider your decision to leave off writing here.

Sincerely,
Scott

HARLAN: Don't stay away too long. We'll keep a kettle on the boil for both you and Susan.

Be safe,
Sandra

Thank you.
Thanks for answering my question about the 35 year vs. 50 year retrospectives.

Thank you, also for the access we've had to you for these past years and also a huge, huge thank you to Rick Wyatt for facilitating said access.

Thanks also to Susan Ellison for being who she is and doing all that she does.

When I was in the neighborhood of sixteen or seventeen, I started reading Harlan Ellison's work, which also meant I read some of the things that he recommended and watched movies and TV shows that he liked. In all that time, which is to say, thirty years, I was thrilled to read his work, able to meet him at a book-signing, however, I never thought that I would ever have the ability to ask questions of and make recommendations to Harlan without ever meeting him again.

Thank you for giving all of us the time that you did and I cannot thank you enough for being one of the inspirations to write many years ago, but showing your appreciation for those who have posted on the pavilion. Because of you, I have also had the pleasure of corresponding with several of the people on the list, which has been a joy as well.

Brian Phillips

Say it aint so...
Harlan,

Im sure Im not the only one who will say this but Please... Rethink your leaving. Yours is a strong confident voice in a sea of utter madness. But if you are done here. I for one will miss your posts.


Best To All... Come Back Unca Harlan

J. Hitchcock

Goodbye, but not farewell... uh, or somethin' like that...
I wish that I could abandon the internet myself but I freely admit that I am a slave to it. For the past five years, it seems like every time I find something of interest to join in a discussion with, I'm cast out or at the very least resented for stating my opinion on the matter at hand (whatever that issue--or rather, non-issue--may be). Most recently, it's in relation to my last book. In fact, I pissed off those fans with my first venture into their realm. Record time! In some cases, this type of social rejection been a minor irritation. In others, it has impacted directly on my career choices, my income and, yes, even my mental health.

The internet distorts people's sense of the real world and suddenly whatever is going on in their heads overrides what is REALLY happening around them. Common sense and general observation are swept aside in favor of the scenarios that they perceive are going on, and in taking action against those perceptions.

On the internet, a minor issue can suddenly explode into a big palaver (or palava, if you prefer), and there are many casualties as the details are analyzed to death and wrongful conclusions are reached, with each side insisting that THEY are in the right and that they are not above hurting another person to prove the point. My traumatic 'net-related incident is over three years past now, yet I and my damaged psyche still live in its shadow. So good on you, Harlan. Step back and keep yourself to yourself, because the internet is a vicious, relentless little world where nobody wins. It's tough enough to live our little lives out in the real world without investing too heavily in the cyber one.

HARLAN - Saw your post after putting up my own. Did not mean any disrespect.

You Are Not Alone

Yes, I tried multiple times to get through, only to be thwarted by the nasty lady who insisted that Susan had neglected to initiate a voicemail box. Little did she, the anonymous lady, know. A voice who tested me, time and again, as I dialed and redialed. Speed-dialed.

Hah. The prerecorded lady dost not know howeth she tests me.

I WILL get through. If it take the full power of the "Phone Company" telemarketing department, I SHALL get through.

Hah.

GOODBYE
I've finally had as much of the internet as I can bear. The "news site" to which (I'm sure innocently) Scott McKinley of Landing, NJ referred you earlier today, has actualized my worst dread nightmare of web involvement. Henceforth, I will only be monitoring this site. Do not go after Mr. McKinley, he did nothing wrong. I just gotta get the hell away from this awful thing. Rick, let us one or the other speak on Friday, so you can hear my boundless thanks for your stewardship.

You have been a terrific bunch, and I've enjoyed some of our times together over the last decade. Those of you who need it have my phone number. But I abominate the public footprint being left for me by caitiff like the journalistically-knobheaded toddlers whose names are emblazoned on their editorial side-bar.

Yr. Pal, Harlan

A Cartoon History of Economics
My goodness, how could we have MISSED it!

Of -course-, the way to Utopia is to educate the masses about Economics using cartoon slides!

Simply Brilliantine. Literally!

Egads, sir, eureka, etc.

How for centuries we MISSED this egregiously obvious chance to further lower the collective wisdom of the race, well. it is BEYOND me.

Though not yourself, wise guy that you are.

I remain, sir, simply agape at your sagacity.

No, really.

Recently I was incited (sic) to attend something called "The Great American Pitchfest", held in El Lay a coupla' weekends back.

I was apprised that I might avoid the tariff if I volunteered to help with the running of the event. For example, if I had a clean, late model automibile I could ferry VIP's to and from airports.

Instead of paying

wait for it

Five hundred dollars.

They can't afford limos though. Cab's? Forget about it! No airport shuttle service even.

Imagine the "VIP" arriving for his gig at "The Great American Pitchfest", greeted and hauled forth by a desperate screenwriter manque.

Hey, I bet I could pitch THAT: "The Freshman" meets "After Hours"!

These scum suckers charge five hundred simoleons for the privilege of pitching to a bored intern present only because the Sammy Glick's behind this scam paid off the agency/production company to send a "representative".

And they staff the event with "volunteers".

"My God, how the money rolls in", eh?

Five hundred dollars...

Where's my bullwhip?

reply to Harlan
Harlan --
I couldn't find an email or phone number for Tom, but I left him a comment at the site, which I imagine will be forwarded to him. I'll continue searching, but that's what I've done for now...

SHOUT OUT TO DENNIS C.:
Thank you for bringing Tom Mason's piece to my attention.

A small addendum (I hope not an imposition) to said Glendalian graciousness: both these "viral" pieces (Onion AV Club and Mason's) about Susan's endeavour have referred to it as MY purge.

My Pavilion post of June 20th (18:41:42) was something I wanted prefacing the various link-postings, because I am a...uh... trifle...well...conflicted about being in the agora, thus.

But I suspect said Ellison Exculpation was included nowhere, and of course it'll be moot in a day or two, but, well, if you could let Mason know in all this upheaval, it's been a while since I've even SEEN his phone number! So I cannot call him, nor the AV Club guy, to ask them to copy and add my 20 June message wherever they've linked to the catalogue...

Am I saying this coherently? Can you get the date of that post to Mason so he can amend if he cares to...or just ask Mason to phone me and I'll do the scutwork?

Yr. Pal, Harlan

Aha! Mr Morgan...
To Tom Morgan:

I missed your post when I first skimmed the thread; I'll be emailing you pronto...

Thank YOU Susan
Due to your kindness I now have fulfilled a long standing dream!

I am soon to be the proud owner of an autographed, first edition of my favorite collection of your husband's non fiction.

I promise that as soon as I get done paying for it, a HERC membership request will be on its way!

10 out of 12: pretty good!
Dear Mrs Ellison:

Many thanks, I'm quite pleased! I'm going to have my child-festooned operative in the US send you a check or money order (any preference?) as I haven't got the guts to put 340 dollars in an envelope and ship it overseas; I'm going to do the milquetoasty thing and Paypal my pal instead.

(PS I'm quite willing to pay a wee bit more to have the books shipped on something which isn't oar-propelled, if there are options...)

REPLY TO JASON KUROSHIMA


Nice to have you back. The deponents hereabouts continue to be lively and sapient and only once in a while demented to the point of incarceration.

Thank you, as to the FOWLER'S END, but I have in my Kersh collection everything I need or want. In fact, a UK first hc and its American counterpart. But it was a very nice gesture, and I thank you.

Yr. Pal, Harlan

FOR STEVEN AUGUSTINE

You've won:

108 Shatterday $15.00
101 Partners in Wonder $20.00
98 Paingod $80.00
72 I Have No Mouth $75.00
62 Gentleman Junkie $20.00
56 Ellison Wonderland $20.00
51 Deathbird Stories $10.00
34 Beast $45.00
32 Approaching Oblivion $20.00
19 DV/ADV $30.00
Shipping $5.00

Total $340.00

Thank you! Susan

Will wait to hear from you.

THE KILIMANJARO CORPORATION
Post Office Box 55548
Sherman Oaks, CA 91413 USA

world wide orders
To Steve Augustine in Berlin and others:
I thought this might be a good time to repeat an offer I have made here prvioulsy (long time regulars, nothing new here):
If you live in a location or situation that makes it difficult to obtain US money orders or checks I may be able to help. If you or someone you trust has a PayPal account and you wish to order something from, or subscribe to, the HERC or I can act as a go-between for making payments. I have done it many times in the past for Harlan fans all over the world, and Susan and her customers have been happy with the results. I don't charge anything, the only extra you pay is what PayPal charges me, which is not much.
If you are interested send me an e-mail. You may get a message back that my email address doesn't exist. It does exist and the messages go through, my ISP is an idiot.
A good day to all here.

Question market: when will America get beyond the whole tedious old school old fool no-rule liberal-versus-conservative hatebreeder dichotomy and realize that that sort of 20th century non-incisive divisive thankless think-tank tick-thinking is too-late outdated and annihilated, that moneyburner public-unrepresentative corporations run everything and that politicians are merely the present representatives of their bastard stringjerker puppetmasters, straw dogs for the world-raper raw dogs of industry, that as Americans on 'both' sides my side your side their suicide homicide suicide genocide...wait black out back up rewind reword...attack each other here there neverywhere that they're shadowboxing the earth-runners-and-ruiners out of supposed-sedition-tradition when they never read the new media-shun edition of the never-gonna-be-a-revolution catalog blogged logged slogged out of the sweet sweat of workers now outbreeded superseded by spindustry and cybershit the hits you get in cyberspace being the new voting straw polls and booths and we all now vote with our cash politrix is dead-flesh-flash trash flushing the world down the toilet of truth and time and tides waiting for no man or myth or legend or availability of future profits and prophet and loss of the world as we knew and know it and new lifeforms come to take it over and over and over again in a fertile inevitable evolutionary revelationary revolutionary volitionary loop we will be the sixth extinction without race-distinction and well you know that's just the way that it goes and comes and goes again forever and ever and never to part from the aging-earth atom-smasher script.

Just wordplayboying, is all or nothing, and I brashly thrashed it out in a few minutes for the cash-in.

:)

Catching up on a conversation from 34 years ago . . .
Hi again, Harlan. kind regards from the UK of E ! You may not remember but I certainly do . . .I had the pleasure of your company in August 1976 at Words & Music bookstore in London's Charing Cross Road. Part of our long conversation touched on the fact that your books were and always had been largely out of print in the United Kingdom.

Well . . .and here's the point . . .I recently re-read some of your collections and found the stories to be as outstanding now as they ever were back in the 60s/70s but it occurs to me that, to my knowledge, your work is STILL out of print here and STILL always was !!

So, I just gotta know - why can I buy sub-Tolkienesque bollocks in my local bookshop but no Pohl, Asimov or Ellison. Most of the fantasy fiction now reads like Anne McCaffrey on helium gas and it really boils my piss.

Hope you can clear up this little anomaly for me after all this time.

Still spreadin' the word . . . (and I still got all those books you signed for me - sod ebay)

Your cockney geezer matey, Ken 'Owes

This is some genius stuff here: David Harvey, who is a radical economist, gave a lecture, the lecture was animated, with some great and clever as hell drawing. The lecture is called The Crisis of Capitalism--Animated:

http://www.zcommunications.org/crises-of-capitalism-animated-by-david-harvey

This could be a great way to introduce radical ideas to a general public. Takes away the boredom of a lecture to a visual culture.

-----------

So is Michael Steele now the liberal? We live in the twilight zone, folks.

Re: Obsessive fans
This isn't a nice short come-back but I'm fond of the post that J. Michael Straczynski wrote in response to fans carping about the end of the Babylon 5 series:

http://jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1-10886

Jan S.

previous email addy wrong
autofill had my email wrong and I didn't catch it when I posted. Me and tech don't get along well. Thx.

Personalization
Greetings all, particularly HE and Susan

A friend and I have our fingers poised to punch your digits and order from The List this a.m. but I have a question. My friend believes that HE will generously pen a brief greeting to the buyer in whichever books, magazines etc they purchase. Is this true? Now I'm in quite the pickle. Being an admirer of HE, I'm honestly drawing a blank on what to ask for by way of a personalization (should such a boon be granted us buyers). Seriously. Suggestions? Or does HE have a standard note he employs at signings and such?

To Harlan:
Have just acquired an MP3 of your readings. I concur with your introduction; Grail is a superior work. I read it years ago, loved it, loved it all over again care of your reading.

Anyhoo, must return to the grind. Thanks in advance to any and all who offer suggestions.

Morgan

Natural Selection

Bird nests:

Chances are in the case of the disappearing baby birds that they were gotten by a predator. They wouldn't seem old enough to have fallen out of the nest, though that is also a possibility, and once on the ground, easier prey for all kinds of hunters.

We had a potted plant hung under our eaves a few weeks ago wherein an Oregon Junco made her nest. She began to lay eggs and after we spotted the first one, we raised the plant so the cat couldn't get at it. She laid two more eggs and began sitting on then nest to hatch them.

A few days later, we found bits of the shells on the walk.

What one bird can reach, another can, and we have crows flitting about. Crows eat other birds eggs -- they'll even eat each others' eggs, and baby birds, as well. We also have squirrels, and anybody who puts out a bird feeder knows how adept they are at climbing places you wouldn't believe they could climb.

Crows, squirrels, rats, cats, et all put a big dent in the songbird population.

Nature of nature.

Perry

To Jason in Ontario
Fella,

First I have to admit that I’m going to be no help at all in answer to your question because, for the life of me, I can’t remember which of Harlan’s essays you’re talking about.

However, on the same topic of those somewhat obsessive fans and their unhealthy devotion to their favourite shows, let me point you in the direction of Alan Sepinwall’s television reviews and interviews on Hitfix:

http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/whats-alan-watching

and his old blog

http://sepinwall.blogspot.com/

from when he was back writing for New Jersey’s The Star-Ledger.

Root around and look for his interview with David Simon in regard to the first season of HBO’s Treme and the interviews with Chuck co-creators Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak regarding fan reactions to the third season.

Although I can’t provide the exact link for you, Mr Simon, if I remember rightly says that he can’t be having with the audience niggles over various episodes. It is only until they have seen the whole run, and the bigger picture finally becomes clear to them, will he finally consider any criticism or observations. And any balanced individual would agree with him, but since we’re talking about obsessive fans, they don’t always fall into that category.

I think David Simon has created outstanding pieces of television drama with The Wire and Generation Kill. As for Treme, here in the United Kingdom/Great Britain/England we’re still waiting for one of the channels to pick it up, so I skimmed the interview without wanting to take much in. I don’t run away from “spoilers” but then I don’t actively embrace them. If I read something, I read something. If I don’t, I don’t. After all, in the grand scheme of things, it’s only TV. Years ago I went to see Fincher’s Seven knowing the contents of the box. It didn’t spoil my enjoyment of the film.

Some years back Mr Simon was over here in London being interviewed at either BAFTA of the BFI. It was one of those events where you’d have to sell not just your organs but those of your firstborn to get a ticket. Still, he was also interviewed for the BBC’s main arts programme to help lessen the disappointment for those who didn’t get a seat. Unfortunately he was interviewed by the worst presenter on the show, but that’s by the bye. When she said that The Wire was a difficult show for “the casual viewer”, his immediate response was, “fuck the casual viewer.” His dramas are for people who are willing to invest the time and effort and be in for the long haul. If you can’t be bothered, switch over or switch off.

In the case of Mr Schwartz and Mr Fedak, they had to deal with the fans who had campaigned to get the show renewed not liking the way the story was going during the recent run and start call for everyone to boycott it. Smell that? That’s the wild and crazy aroma of complete and utter looney tunes! For those poor guys slogging their guts out to get each episode out, they were completely bemused by it, if I remember rightly.

Nowadays, when I read of fans going off on one, the one thing I’d really like to know is their age. If they could print that I’d get a handle on where they were coming from. I may be totally off track on this but now that I’m in my mid-forties I’m more interested in what happens to the characters that I have invested in over the course of a season or more.

Take Lost for instance. When it was announced that the final episode was extended to two and a half hours I whooped for joy because, like the finale of Battlestar Galactica before it, it said to me that it was going to be about the characters rather than typing every plot point up with a neat bow. Whereas younger folk who don’t have enough life experiences want to know who built the giant statue or where the Gaia character originally came from, I had gleaned enough information to reach my own conclusions.

In the end I simply wanted all those wonderful characters to get the resolution they deserved. Once I saw the Look on Hurley’s face when the motel room door opened I knew I was only a winner. And from getting misty eyed then by the time the credits rolled I had been sobbing like a child for well over an hour.

Some fans don’t get that it’s not about easy answers to difficult questions. Things don’t work like that. It’s not ultimately about what’s in the box. When Jack had his epiphany it was made clear that there’s NOTHING in the box.

Okay, I might have wandered off the point here, but let me leave you with one more example. I never got why people were so cock-a-hoop over Doctor Who coming back. There were some great episodes sprinkled throughout the first few years but on the whole, meh!

I don’t know where the US is with the latest run, so I’m not going to say anything to spoil it for you, but the one thing I have to say about the show, now that Steven Moffat is in charge and the new guy is playing the lead role, is this: one or two of the episodes didn’t completely work for me, while the rest ranged between damned good and excellent. But having seen the two parts that make up the finale and seen the whole picture, this latest 13-episode run is a work of staggering genius. We should be erecting statues of Mr Moffat the length and breadth of the country. And damn, the new guy can act!

So, to keep this short and sweet, fans getting bent out of shape over the minutiae should take a step back and get to grips with the bigger picture.

The Great Book Purge of 2010
FYI: io9.com has just posted an article on the purge at
http://io9.com/5580343/harlan-ellison-is-selling-his-rare-books-and-he-wants-you-to-buy-them

Purge
Hi Susan,

I hadn't sent in a request. I was always going to try by phone. And by try I mean possibly have someone call for me since I'll be at work. I was mainly confused by other posts is all. I get confused a lot, so I apologize if I caused any worry. If I get through today I can update my contact info for you (sorry about the phone number) and possibly spend more than my wife is aware of.

Thank you,
Tony Adams

Noting
That was once a much longer post, as it degenerated into the angry tale of my own intimate experience with writing something the fans deserved. A publisher run like a Ponzi scheme was involved. Oy, don't ask.

The Fans Deserve Better
Harlan has his own acerbic answer to "The Fans Deserve Better," but I like what Isaac Asimov once said, when told that a fan writer had wondered why he hadn't made his "Lucky Starr" novels as good as Heinlein's juveniles.

First he acknowledged, yes, that fan is right, insofar as I agree that the Lucky Starr novels aren't as good as Heinlein's juveniles. And then he said, but the idiocy of a question can be measured by the ridiculousness of its premise. He went on: I believe that fan thinks I sat at my typewriter one day, about to start typing the first few sentences of my first Lucky Starr novel, and before I began wondered to myself, "Hmmm. Should I make these books as good as Heinlein's juveniles?" (The Good Doctor paused, allowing the pregnant silence to carry its rhetorical child to term). "NO! I REFUSE!"

(

Slusser
Barney:

The cover on the eBay page is the one on my 2006 printing of Unrepentant.

I suspect the Amazon version is F.P.O.

Zuz

More Purge
And another article on the Great Book Purge (and this guy says Harlan has his phone number):

http://comics.gearlive.com/comix411/article/q308-harlan-ellisons-book-purge/

Good luck with the Purge. It's going to be a crazy couple of days.

Titles of Desired Books
Dear Mrs. Ellison:

Thank you very much! Here is the dreamlist (I'm going for maximum postmodern text impact rather than fetish value):

19) Again, Dangerous Visions and Dangerous Visions 2 trade paperbacks-$30
32) Approaching Oblivion, hardcover $20
34) The Beast That Shouted Love… hardcover- $45
51) Deathbird Stories paperback $10
53) Earthman, Go Home… paperback $20
56) Ellison Wonderland paperback $20
62) Gentleman Junkie, paperback $20
72) I Have No Mouth... $75
81) Love Ain’t Nothing But… paperback $20
98) Paingod and other Delusions, paperback $80
101) Partners in Wonder, paperback $20
108) Shatterday, paperback $15

Thanks and I look forward to finding out which of these I can actually have,

S

Typical Spiritual Talk At The Dinner Table

MIKE: Arch, if there is a god why is there so much unhappiness in this world?

ARCHIE: If there is a god why is there so much unhappiness in this world? I'll answer THAT question for ya, buddy...

Hey, EDITH!! Why did God put so much unhappiness in the world?

Edith: Oohhhhhhhhhhhhh. Well, Maybe so's when we get to heaven we'll notice the improvement.

Archie: Good! Ya hear that, Meathead? So's when we get to heaven we'll notice the improvement there...See, I wanna tell ya somethin', buddy...heaven is what you call yer very delirious place...I mean, everybody's happy, and they're singin'...there's music n'people LUVIN' N' HUGGIN' each other, n' always sayin' lovely things to each other.

Edith: Yeaahh...like the Dinah Shore Show.

question and an offer
It's been ages since I've been here I really need to fix that.

To any one in general. On another site on an unrelated topic someone was ranting about the fans deserve better, in response to what they felt was a sub par episode of a TV show. I know Harlan has a wonderful reply as to the idea of what fans deserve, but I can not find it. I thought it might be in Xenogenesis but it's not what I was looking for.

I'm hoping someone knows what I'm talking about and can point me in the right direction. If I remember correctly it was something alone the lines of you paid for the book and that's what you deserve.

To Harlan.

I have recently come into possession a copy of Fowler's End. It's a first edition from 1957. The dust cover is torn and ragged and the corners of the book itself are scuffed and worn. It belonged to my Grandmother and I recently inherited it along with most of her library.

I know it's not on the list of things you were looking for, but if you want it I would be happy to send it to you along with my Money Order for any purchases I make for the Purge.

(I am aware that offering to send you a book while you're in the middle of a book purge is possibly a very stupid thing to do.)

You probably don't remember this, but about 15 years ago I as a college student had said to Rick that I was doing a project on A Boy and his Dog comparing the story and film. You were kind enough to call me and answer my questions. I was a little surprised and probably unprepared and in rereading Xenogenesis I realise I may have fallen a little further to the side of fan experience that makes you shudder than I ever would have wanted to.

So I wanted to thank you again for your kindness and apologise for any inconvenience.

"Ashes to Ashes" by David Bowie
This comes from Bowie's "Scary Monsters" album, and it is one my favorite songs. It is so haunting and mesmerizing; I have listened to it countless times over the years, yet I can't pretend to understand what it's about.

The music video is exceptional-- equally enigmatic and full of striking, surreal images. The setting appears to be Mars.

As a fun exercise, I invite others hear to weigh in on what they think this song is about....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAzUm13etFI&feature=youtube_gdata

Roger G

Robins do not abandon their young. Robins do relocate nests; for example, when said nest is discovered by a predator.

Ratiocination leads us, therefore, to postulate...

You're the man, Roger.

REPLY TO BRIAN PHILLIPS

Here's the best answer I can figure, to your 35-year vs. 50-year question: when the 50th was in the last stages of pre-production (as per all my contracts) I was offered all remaining copies of the 35th at "best price" by the former publisher, who wanted rid of the storage costs. So we got them.

The 50th has done so well for Morpheus International, that they've sold out. And now, the only copies of EITHER (including limiteds and book club) that are available, are from us, via The Kilimanjaro Corporation.

Hoping that serves, Harlan

BOOK PURGE

Tony:

Since you seemed very concerned about ordering "goodie" items, I personally checked all the envelopes we have received at the HERC postal address as of this morning, and all previously received envelopes waiting to be opened. I couldn't find an order from you. Because you seemed inordinately upset that you wouldn't get a chance to score the items you desired, I also tried to call you just a few minutes ago. Apparently, the number has been disconnected. So, will talk to you tomorrow.

All best, Susan

REPLY TO STEPHEN AUGUSTINE IN BERLIN

Dear Mr. Augustine:

Hmmmm. Okay, let me try to accomodate you.

Since calling in on the special line from Berlin would involve more problems and time than either of us would like to imagine, why don't you simply do this:

Immediately post HERE what items you desire, and I'll put aside what you want, that is available simultaneously with receipt of your request here. Then, I will post back--HERE--what has been set aside for you, and you can pay The Kilimanjaro Corporation the money due by an (admittedly small-risk) payment in US cash, sent by securely-registered mail.

All best, Susan

Tony: We have lots o' stuff. The room looks like a book exploded--pages everywhere. If you're really interested in an item, give us a call tomorrow.

All best--Susan

You's a mean ole' thing
My great-uncle Don died yesterday at 9:05 p.m. Iowa time. I got the call in the morning that he had lost consciousness and continence; Mom had gone out to Hospice to be with him. My Uncle was manning the phone at their home in Iowa. I called the Hospice nurses and asked if they could hold the phone up to his ear.

I told him how much I loved him, that he was surrounded by love and going to a gentle place with Jesus. (My uncle is a very observant Baptist Christian, and had said that he wasn't afraid of dying, he had been a believing Christian and "when the Lord wants to take me He will")

Mom called me six hours afterward to let me know he died.

As a bilingual German-English speaker, Uncle Don was a translator and a foot soldier in WWII. He survived D-Day landing on Normandy Beach. He translated for displaced people from the concentration camps. He negotiated a surrender of a village with General Eisenhower and helped film the atrocities of the camps. He had war trophies from Berchtesgaden (all of which he sent to the Eisenhower Museum last month to avoid falling into the hands of modern neo-Nazi nuts.)

This is a man who worked his whole life as a factory worker in an ammunition plant, battery plant, and a brief stint as a security guard. He never owned a car, but kept his driver's license current. He taught me how to drive and showed nerves of steel in doing so. He rode a bike to work every day, whether during -50 degree wind chill Iowa winters with ice and snow on the roads or 90 degree summers with 70 percent dewpoint.

He is directly responsible for my getting my college degree. When I had to go under the knife and into treatment for a second round of liver tumors in 1989, Bryn Mawr's financial aid department promised (verbally) that they would hold my scholarships for me. They lied, or at least went back on their word. I had one semester left to go.

I remember Uncle Don coming to my bedside in the hospital and patting my head. "It's a crime that this bright girl shouldn't finish college." he said. Then, he withdrew his entire life savings, $17,000 to pay for my last semester. He told me to pay him back as best I could, when I could.

I sent him $50 a month from then on in, and we wrote back and forth. Four years later, he inherited a windfall from my Great-Uncle Karl and was able to retire very comfortably. He immediately wrote off my debt to him. "I have enough to live on and I'm set for life," he said.

He was very artistic and used to create art objects from found things that other people discarded. He made sculptures of wood, refinished and refurbished old furniture to look new and interesting. He made mobiles from bike tires, restored and hung a large discarded chandelier in his living room. (The fact that it looked out of place made it so interesting.) He painted his bathroom with footprints coming in the door, then going up the walls and dancing (a la Murray Dance School diagrams) among the Mondrian-like colors he had used to paint the ceiling.

He was a devotee of yoga and would spend 20 minutes every day in a head stand in the corner of his living room. He was a very calm and kind man. He never married and had no kids.

He is donating his body to the University of Iowa and is leaving the family with the choice of having a memorial service, or not. "I won't be there." he said laughing. Last week he wrote his own obituary. He stayed compos mentis all the way until Saturday -- Sunday he died.

He died of cancer, which came from his one vanity -- he liked to lie outside, drink iced tea and get a tan every summer. Apparently the cancer was eating away his face.

I can't and couldn't afford to go home to Iowa to see him. We spoke on the phone and I wrote him a letter about a funny incident here in San Francisco.

One small life, well lived, is gone. I will tend my memories of him with care.

Harlan Ellison: Unrepentant Harlequin (multiple editions)
So, here's the question. There was talk on this board a while back (2009/2010 - it all runs together) of a re-release of the old Slusser examination of Harlan's works done in the 1970's;

Harlan Ellison: Unrepentant Harlequin by George Edgar Slusser
(Popular Writers of Today ; V. 6)

a perfectly fine bit of academic work. I have the old edition with the kinda ugly pink & black cover. I'm good. So this morning I'm on eBay creep-stalking the Harlan and Twain pages with a big salad bowl of cocaine and other folks credit cards next to me and I run across this;

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Harlan-Ellison-Unrepentant-Harlequin-Slusser-/380208371389?cmd=ViewItem&pt=US_Nonfiction_Book&hash=item58862f56bd

ISBN-10: 0893702099
ISBN-13: 9780893702090
Publication Year: 1977

but it has a new graphic design on the cover and features a black and white photo of Harlan with his sabre-tooth. Maybe 2009/2010 but nothing on the eBay page to indicate a date of release.

But where it gets tricky for me was that I comparison shopped those two ISBN's over on Amazon and got these;

http://www.amazon.com/Harlan-Ellison-Unrepentant-Harlequin-Popular/dp/0893702099/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278346499&sr=1-1

Which is the 2008 Wildside Press edition that (I believe) was previously discussed here - with a different cover.

So, I suppose the question(s) become, are there two newer editions from Wildside - or, is one of those a sort of dummied up cover for the internet page and the other an actual copy. Otherwise poor Tim's head may explode over two editions (or variant states) of this being released - without his bibliographical permission.

And really, I've got my original so I'm already falling asleep typing this... where's my salad bowl...

Also, I missed a blocked call two days ago during a phone upgrade. May have been nothing, but I only have one friend who blocks his number. So, umm...noted.

SNIFF

- Barney

Onehundreddegrees, PA.

The Purge
I feel a bit confused. Some folks have said they've already received items, but the instructions say that any orders by mail won't be opened until an hour before the phone line is open. Did I miss something?

With the news of this event becoming, yes, viral, it feels like (I have no real proof, natch) there won't be much left if you're even able to get through by phone.

Anybody already hip to Izzo?
I don't think I've mentioned a writer named Jean-Claude Izzo in this forum before. However, the long holiday gave me time to dip back into the last volume of Izzo's famous "Marseilles trilogy" and I thought that the fiction lovers here might appreciate knowing another author whose themes, tone, and well...pure soulfullness...nicely dovetail those of our host here.

Like Harlan, Izzo writes about realistically flawed characters facing impossible situations in ways so emotionally accurate that a particular scene, section, or lyrical turn of phrase can make you cry. He is also another example of a nominally "white" writer who routinely writes about "non-white" characters in ways that avoid and challenge offensive stereotypes.

The independant press Europa Editions set up shop in the US almost specifically to bring first-edition translations of talented European *noir* novelists to American readers. So reading Izzo is not only a genre pleasure of the first water, but it also supports a smart indie publishing venture.

Quote O' The Day
"Filmmaking violates the old adage that what is wanted is a system designed by geniuses to be run by idiots. It has always been the other way around with films.
--Stanley Kubrick"

BRIAN P.: Right. Back to the floggings for you.


shagin

Response to Amparion
In light of the Clarion controversy that Sandra just waded through, I find your choice of language quite irresponsible. Being African-American myself, I can...

Oh!

You said you are the self-appointed "niggLer"...

Pardon.

Brian Phillips

P.S. I saw it on the Book Purge list, but why is the Ellison Fifty Year Retrospective so much harder to find than the thirty-five anniversary edition?

Purchasing Ellisoniana
Humble plea for information: I'll be phoning in to place an order for 5-10 items on the list, but I'm based in a city beyond the edge of the hemi-cube and I can't send American checks or money-orders. Anyone here know how I can send money to Mr. Ellison from Berlin?

(If there are no other options, I can command an operative in the US to phone in and send the payment on my behalf... but this minion has c. 27 kids and I'm not super-confident that he can handle the task.)

I Predict!
I'm apparently the self-appointed niggler here.

Sorry Tony, but the war had been going on for one year and eleven weeks when the Declaration of Independence was released on July 4, 1776. You know, Lexington and Concord, April 19, 1775?

We're all Americans here except for those of us who aren't.

I agree, predictions are difficult, especially about things that nave not yet happened.

You ought not marry Mr. Steve Perry
For his legs are very much too hairy

And not Adam-Troy, that slyly cute boy
He's much too coy, and besides, he's a goy!

No, not Peter David, much too gravid.

There's only one darlin' for dear Unca Harlan

If we must be chooisn', it must be Susan!

Turn out the lights, the party's over.

A questiom for you bird watchers. I have a second floor comdo with a deck attached outside a sliding and a screen door. I had a robin build a nest above the outside light there and three baby robins hatched a week ago approximately. I have taken a peek from time to time but touched neither the nest nor the birds. First one disappeared and then a second with just one remaining. The mother has stayed pretty close, is it possible that a preditor got them or if they died would the mother remove them from the nest quickly to keep the one(s) alive healthy. I was curious so any help is appreciated. Thanks.

Making predictions about the future far enough away so that no-one who reads them will be around to verify them is pretty silly.

Humans will be gone in 5-7 generations...you might as post here that humans will be here for two million more years, or sprout wings in a hundred. All are equally useless talking points.

The internet ate my joke
Damn. The subject line was supposed to read, "The Tibetans are different from you and me."

Happy 4th of July everyone. Hope u all have a good one. Diane

"Yes. They've got hypoxia-inducible factor 2-alpha."

The last couple of posts about the fate of the human race got me to mulling over science reporter Nicholas Wade's recent New York Times piece in which he discussed findings suggestive of a genetic adaptation to very high altitude undergone by the Tibetans over a shockingly brief span of time, perhaps as little as the last three thousand years.

If this research holds up, the change in the Tibetan genome will turn out to be more rapid than even the development of lactose tolerance among Neolithic Europeans. That would make it the fastest known case of human evolution on record.

This serves as a valuable reminder that despite what some anthropoligsts contend, the pressures of natural selection on our species did not cease fifty thousand years ago. If we manage to avoid extinction (and I suspect that even in the event of asteroid bombardment or nuclear war we will cling to life with all the tenacity of kudzu), we must inevitably change into some other form of being.

So at some point, probably sooner than any of us realize, we will no longer be human, at least not as we now understand the term.

We are fated into transform into something else. But what?

*Finally notices that everybody in the room looks bored.*

Say, who wants to watch some TV? I've got beer in the fridge, and "Idiocracy" is on...

Harlan: "I WILL MARRY STEVE PERRY"

I wonder what Susan might have to say about this!

On July 4th, let's not forget that there are plenty of other free countries in the world, and they have plenty of brave people in 'em. America has no monopoly on these qualities, though it sometimes, ludicrously, seems to think it does. Then again, I would say that, cos I'm a (boospithiss) foreigner, eh?

"This is the greatest country in the world! Europeans think they're better than everybody else!" A sentence that was actually said (along with other xenophobic epithets) to me by a white trash redneck (who had never even left the mainland United States) piece of shit supervisor in my last job. I couldn't even point out the irony of the juxtaposition of those sentences because well, she wouldn't even have understood what irony is.

This country has plenty of good things going for it. And plenty of bad things too. Just like anyplace else. This is not the greatest country in the world. That's a ludicrous concept.

Just sayin'.

You Have But to Ask

Harlan,

I'm in Cleveland for the next two weeks -- before I come out to California for Comic Con on July 15. If I can do anything for you here in Cleveland vis-a-vis your sister, you have but to ask.

Best.

Bob Ingersoll

I just wanted to wish all you a happy and safe 4th of July. And a belated Canada Day to all who hail from there. May we remain good neighbors.

And I still think we're not absolutely doomed as a species. Not yet. We can still decide to get through the 21st century alive, or not. As I pointed out before, our survival isn't guaranteed, but neither is our demise.

Chuck

TO EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU (including the fur-ners): Have a Happy, Safe and Sane Fourth of July. As I noted on my Facebook page:

(I feel) the need to remind some Americans of the inscription upon the Statue of Liberty: ""Give me your tired, your poor,Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

We have, I fear, lost sight of the unity of the country and the unity of our purpose. Today ought to be a reflection on American values -- but many will see it as a reinforcement of the politics of hate, vilification and demonization.
________________________________________

Vis a vis Tony's excellent post (whcih may also be found on his Blog)

There is a Gallup Poll which will shock no one, but it confirms that the Tea Party -- named for an historic action the current Partiers do not appear to understand -- are largely just a rebranding of conservative Republicans and not an across the board "new movement". In the movement, 79% consider themselves Republicans, 15% Democratic, and 6% independent. (The 6% independent is the true revelation, here. The Tea Party is not appealing to swing voters.)
_______________________________________

TIM RAVEN -- It may shock you to know that there are some scientists and sociologists who will tell you Loftus is being optimistic.
_______________________________________

SANDRA - Others have strongly weighed in, and it's largely a done conversation, but I would like to add one more comment to the who "misinterpretation" thing.

Some years ago, during the worst of the Bush years -- right after the Patriot Act -- I shot a photograph of the American Flag. Situated in front of the flag was a copy of the Preamble to the Constitution. It was in flames. The message, of course, was that the Constitution was in danger.

Many -- many -- people saw it online where it had been published as part of an editorial (not mine). The outcry over the photograph far exceeded that of the editorial itself, and had my address been published I might have worried about our safety.

But, to virtually a person -- and there were several who leapt to my defense -- they took the photograph to be the attack on the Constitution. They had an inability to see it as an editorial comment, and instead felt that I was stating that the document itself ought to be trashed. Never mind that the editorial column made the meaning clear, I was *against* the Constitution.

(Some of you have seen this picture and can attest to its clarity.)

I republished it on a photographic website where it was equally controversial, but fortunately more people "got it". You (hopefully) can see it here: http://www.photosig.com/go/photos/view?id=1777346&forward=user

The point I am making is that you are responsible for your art. If YOU are unhappy with it, then YOU make the decision to pull or edit it. Others may offer opinions, but that's all they are. You control it, you either stand by it or let it go.

My very late two cents, but the subject of this picture came up this morning (Happy Fourth) in an email exchange with a friend and it crystalized my own thoughts as someone who is NOT a writer.
_______________________________________

Two days until The Purge.

Feeling Feisty Today
Here's wishing a very happy Independence Day to all my Harlan Ellison board buddies.

Here's hoping the next elections will see America freed from the ignorance of the extreme right represented by the lock-step Republicans, the liars at Fox News, and the woefully under-informed Tea Party followers.

Here's hoping the months to come free the more progressive voices in our country and government from their hesitation to forcefully expose the lies of the extreme right and fight the right's bigoted attempts to roll back our nation to the days when straight white men and only straight white men ruled.

Today, we honor those who opposed actual tyranny and built a free nation.

We do those patriots a disservice when we fail to oppose the illogical fears propagated by the right, the greed and heartlessness of the rich and the powerful, and the mean-spirited dishonesty that is the cornerstone of Fox News.

When true and thoughtful conservatives lie down with dogs, they do, indeed, get fleas.

What? You expected warm-and-cuddly from me today?

We're celebrating the declaration of a war that changed the world for the better!

It's time to live up to that pivotal moment in time and go forward, ever forward.

Tony Isabella

Book in vs. books out
HARLAN--

I sent a copy of my son TIm's Wally Gropius book to you via Amazon. I was going to drop it off, but when I called Susan said you were indisposed. A visit here reveals that your books are now being purged, and I hope that my binge didn't collide with your purge, and that said volume was received in the spirit in which it was sent. Best wishes...

David Loftus
I went through the last three months of posts.....I was not proud of some of my writing...But I could not ignore your post, David....Do you really believe that Humanity has only five to seven generations left? I can’t believe that.I refuse to believe that. No, I refuse!

4th Of July!
A Happy and Joyous 4th Of July to all!
Hug a Vet today!

Concentricfridays!
Concentricfridays – Your points all make sense and I believe we are five by five in our perceptions and responsibilities regarding sampling. Hell, with your broad definition I utilize the technique myself regularly. I’m currently using Propellorhead Reason as a sequencer when composing new songs. The Bass and Drum refills are note by note samples of real analog instruments. It’s like I’ve purchased an aural instrument from a digital craftsman!

My beef is with people who lift entire phrases (usually the most recognizable phrase from an existing original work) and paste it into their own cobbled together endeavor, serving as the backbone of their new POS song. Adding insult, it’s not even a re-performance of the phrase; it is actually the original performance that gets lifted, as well as the idea.

You have an encyclopedic knowledge of music; my hat is off to you, sir!

I was amazed that you sussed me out; I’m assuming you have impressive Google skills. The band you mentioned, that is mine. I haven’t played the UnUrban for quite a few months because we’ve been focusing on our first album. Tell your friend Mark to keep a lookout for us; we should be hitting the local venues again soon.

Thank you for your admirable and informed response; you are a gentleman and a scholar, Chief! I would be honored to keep up our dialogue via email.

Tim Raven

Ray Bradbury at 90

Harlan and other Californians,

please be advised that Ray Bradbury will be celebrating his 90th birthday in Glendale, CA, next month. It seems we're all invited:

http://tinyurl.com/90thday

Despite the thousands of miles of ocean (and land) separating us, I'm aiming to be there. Anyone else going?


(I'm tempted to write "How Interesting: a Tiny URL", but I've a feeling it's been done.)

- Phil

HERC Address Change
SUSAN --

Yet another address change for me:

Steve Olle
5327 Strathmore Ave.
Kensington, MD 20895

HERC # M1359

Look forward to yet another change in the coming months, as my current landlady/roommate is a virago of the first water.

--Steve

SEMI-WRITER: Damn skippy, lady! Good on you for not giving up!

HARLAN: The yearbook was waylaid by the "gotta get ready" madness, but am having hubby send it to you this coming week. You're not the only one asking. YJ insists that we get it done "because Harlan needs to sign it so we can be cool together".

Going to bed now. Word count good, sleep better.


shagin

Hacky Art
Steve: In the words of the 10th Doctor, "OH, YES!" I'm going through a bit of a thing about art vs. money at the moment myself. Fans of the actor (Tennant, that is) have accused me of trying to "capitalize" on the actor. Yea, me and the $10.50 that I've made off my SIX book sales will be sure to wave as we drive by in our Mercedes...

But I'd be damned if I was going to throw away five months of my life on researching the failed TV pilot that he was in (the subject was of interest to ME), then just forget about it when said pilot didn't make it to air and when the network and the producers refused to grant me interviews. Yea, let's dismiss the daily effort and all that information--just chuck it out the window because writing about it might upset the fans. Fuck that. My goal was to wrap up my research in book form, and I accomplished that goal. Either they'll read it or they won't, and if they're going to get an attitude off the concept alone, then that's their problem.

I've got a month of reprieve from my current living situation--I'm house sitting for someone in a rather nice location, looking after the cats and the plants, and living the kind of comfortable home life that I haven't known for years. Between getting paid for this task and renting out my efficiency apartment, I've got a short leg up on my finances for August. (September is not looking good, but August should be all right.)

I WILL MARRY STEVE PERRY


Your post of earlier today. The Dr. Sam Johnson, and the Astrid, comments. If only the dumbest person on Earth were as smart as you!

Admiringly, Yr. Pal, Harlan

NOT A FAIR COP !!!!!


So I'm diligently sitting here, minding my own goddam business, trying to catch up on your blitherings, when I collide with the post from earlier today by way of Dennis C., who cheerily notes that my wife's bestial gnashing of the contents of my private vault (said outrage now smarmily referred to as "The Purge")has become ripple-worthy or, to speak in YOUR native tongue, "gone viral." And I wobble hellwards to said link, and its the AV Club in THE ONION, and I say, "Oh, wow! Tres kewlll, Dude"

Then I read the headline: HARLAN ELLISON LAUNCHES THE GREAT ELLISON BOOK PURGE. It is a dandy, well-written, innocently goodhearted piece by one Sean O'Neal. And I begin shrieking, rending my garments, tearing at my ashen flesh!

IIIIIII am not staging this auctorial infama, it is She!

She who caused me to post the plea-bargain here in the Pavilion (Sunday 20 June at 18:41:42) whining about people messing with My Stuff! Now, this nice guy, this O'Neal chap, has made it a case of not only aiding and abetting, but of masterminding the whole caper! NOT a "fair cop" as the Pythons useta say.

I don't know how to do it, but would someone out there--ANYONE out there--give Mr. O'Neal the proper wherewithal to bring my lament to his attention?!? P-p-puh-LEEZ?!?!

At least Dreyfus had Zola to stand up for him.

Crushed and j'accused, Yr. Pal, Harlan

Harlan,

Tell Susan I RECORDED THE BAT WHISPERS...gorging myself on them visuals! Like the Ying Yang Twins, I couldn't get ENOUGH!!

Thanks to Turner also, I watched the FIRST of the Boston Blackie films earlier in the year. Didn't see the others in the series, but I WILL.

THE BIG HOUSE (the daddy of the modern prison genre) was my intro to Chester Morris...AGAIN, thanks to Turner.

RESPONSES TO A COUPLE/or three FRIDAY POSTS


That would, of course, be yesterday. It is hard to realize yesterday was just a day ago. Much has transpired.

1) PETER DAVID: If I were not married and utterly besotted by Susan, I would marry Peter David. You are so smart, kiddo. Tell 'em your observation about reinventing telegrams. And mention to Kathleen and your 1400 girl-children (especially the one I talked to a few days ago) that yes, I know I couldn't marry you, because you're married to HER and...

2) ADAM-TROY CASTRO: If I were not already married to Peter David, I would marry you. You, too, are so smart, kiddo. Your remarks directed to Shagin were right on target! And tell Judi I know I can't marry you because...ah how painful, to see a Great Mind like mine turning to yak-shit.

Trying to press the flesh and pay attention to each and every one of Your MassMind Garrulousnesses, trying to catch up, I remain, just barely,

Yr. Pal, Harlan

one if by land, two if by sea
Highly recommending Amtrack for trips across the USA. Madconners? Joe Biden abides. "Ridin' low and goin' slow ... " Sit a spell. Worth an investigation: YOU ARE NOT A GADGET by Jaron Lanier (Alfred A. Knopf, 2010).
For the record, my first hearing a of an audio sample, of sorts, in music was "I Am The Walrus" followed by "Revolution 9" under the guidance of John Lennon, not Steve Reich's "It's Gonna Rain."

Just the facts, ma'am. Joe Friday

REPLIES TO THURSDAY POSTS

1. ROGER GJOVIC: thanks, old friend, but I have one.

2. ODELL: jeezus, kid, why didn't you just call me!?! Shine it on, we'll talk about it later. The "Clarion Experience" is no way 100% enriching or final. Sometimes, dammit, it's the lame opining about the halt. We'll talk about this. Be tough, hang in.

3. BEN WINFIELD: as I'm catching up, I don't know if you survived. If not, at least you got some fresh fruit and vegetables to shore up your chops.

Yr. Pal, Harlan

REPLYING TO ROB'S POST OF LAST WEDNESDAY
WHICH WOULD'VE been June 30th.

Two odd little path-crossings.

1) Did I ever tell you, and the rest of you, about the time I was entreated by Jack Wrather (the Wrather Co. at the time owned The Lone Ranger, Lassie, Dr. Who, a mess of stuff) to accompany him to have a meeting with the then-head of Disney Film Productions, to explain Dr. Who to said head, because Disney was contemplating such a movie?

This's gotta be thirty years ago. Before Susan, but after I'd written some introductions to the American paperback reprints of UK-authored DR. WHO paperback novels. I think Tom was The Doctor at that moment.

And as I sit here, I swear--I SWEAR--this is almost dead-on the way the conversation went. The guy was top dog at Disney, was thinking of licensing from Wrather for a lot a lot -- A LOT -- of heavy sugar, the DOCTOR WHO kit&kaboodle, and Wrather'd schlepped me in to do my famous "pitch" presentation...

(Wrather had sought me out because I was the ONLY American scenarist--as far as his inadequate research could manifest--who even KNEW about the series, and The Doctor, onaccounta those little paperback come-ons I'd written.)

So Wrather says to this Emperor of the North Pole, "Take it awaaaay, Harlan!" and he spreads his palms up, and I launch into an explanation of a series/concept that had been world-famous for decades (assuming, like the schmuck I was/am, that this fiscally-responsible Ruler of the Universe had done at least minimal research with potentially such a big payday), and I do the dog&pony full-out, and when I finish, about eight minutes later, with this Khan Of All Khans staring with wine-bright eyes, the first words out of his mouth are:

"So what's his name?"

Me: "Who?"

Him: "Him."

Me: "Him? Who?"

Him: "Yes, him."

Me: "Who. Doctor Who."

Him: "Yes, his name..."

I could go on at dreary length recounting this one-step-beyond-Abbott-and-Costello interchange, SO HELP ME YAHWEH ALL DEAD SERIOUS, he didn't have a fuckin' inkling of what we were talking about...

But y'all saw it coming, as IIIIIII should've but didn't, so when you start talking about Whom should be Him, I start laughing and need handlers to tighten the straps on my jacket.

That was the first odd little offshoot of your last Wednesday post, Rob.

The second is that when you were watching THE BAT WHISPERS, so were Susan and I. She is the cutest little obsessive about old b&w films, most of which she could match memories with Maltin in conjuring. I, of course, was dragged along on her viewing of this 1929 mystery starring Chester Morris, because...

I'm a big Chester Morris fan. Because...

He made all the "Boston Blackie" films, which I saw as a kid, and because Chester Morris was, in my head, from always, the REAL Boston Blackie, whose adventures I'd followed on the radio, and because...

The tag-line of the intro to each week's episode was this:

"Boston Blackie...friend to those who have no friends...enemy to those who MAKE him their enemy."

That has been my credo since the 1940s.

Yr. Pal, Harlan

And
Michael Caine once called the execrable JAWS III one of his favorites among his movies. Michael Caine. Said that. Why? It bought him a nice house.

Ben--thanks for the vote of confidence.

Steve--that attitude is hardly limited to writers. Lord Laurence Olivier was once asked why an actor of his immense talents was wasting them on a piece of fluff called "The Prince and the Showgirl." (It's actually been attributed to several of his films, but we'll use this one for the anecdote.) And the greatest actor of his generation smiled and said, "For the money, dear boy."

PAD

Michael: You did the Book Purge thing correctly. An invoice will be on the way to you. For those people who would like to order via the phone, the cell phone line will be open on Tuesday (& Wed. & Thurs.). I should be able to tell you there and then if we still have an item.
Have a quiet 4th. -- Susan

Hack R Us
Whoa, Tracy. Let's not knock little hacks. Or even big hacks. I mean, forget not Samuel Johnson's dictum: "No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money." (The first five words of which coincidentally happen to be the title of an ebook I wrote, available on Amazon.com, you should go buy ten copies right now, bazinga!)

If you consider the best book you ever read, or, if you can't winnow it down, the best three or five or twelve books you ever read, chances are pretty good they were all books that were published and sold in the market place for publick consumption.

Almost nobody ever points at a trunk book and proclaims it the best. A book that good finds it way out of the trunk sooner or later.

You know the story that Astrid Anderson Bear tells about when she was taking a science fiction class in college? Question on a quiz was, "Why did Robert A. Heinlein write 'Stranger in a Strange Land?'"

So Astrid put down, "For the money."

Teacher marked it wrong. She went up to talk to him about it. Why on earth would she write something like that? And she said, "Well, he was at my house last week and I asked him why he wrote it and that's what he *told* me ..."

The marriage of commerce and art isn't always smooth, but marriage it is. If you are of a mind that anybody who seeks to get paid for art is a hack, you can think so, but "Art" with the big ole A up front is as much a quacking canard as "hack" when one waves it at books.

You do recall the phrase, "Pay the writer!" don't you?

Perry

Shagin, did you ask them what they thought of Huckleberry Finn? If they think that is racist then you will know just how idiotic they are.

Black paranoia makes complete sense, but common sense is a good thing as well.

-------------

Tim Wise was on Tavis Smiley. He says that there are several studies that prove that racism is actually a form of PTSD, that is helps create disease and depression in African Americans. It leads to heart disease, cancers, violence, self hate.

Question for Susan
Please clarify an aspect of the Purge ordering instructions which I fear I may have misunderstood:

I sent my order by mail, but I did NOT enclose a check. I was under the impression that those ordering by mail don't send payment initially; we send the order, you send back an invoice with the items we've won, and THEN we send you the check with a copy of the invoice.

Is that correct? If not, please let me know and I will get a check in the mail to you post-haste for the full amount of my order. Thanks.

Fatal Deviation
Oh my fucking god.

The Great Book Purge
The Purge is making ripples beyond this board:

http://www.avclub.com/articles/harlan-ellison-launches-the-great-ellison-book-pur,42796/

I have already received my items. Thank you, Susan. The check is indeed in the mail.

You know what? If the guy who wrote FUTURE IMPERFECT says Alexis Denisof would be a great Doctor, then Alexis Denisof would be a great Doctor. Peter's still the professional, and I'm still the fan. I'm learning to choose my battles.

--------------------------------------------------

SARA,

re: The GREMLINS debacle

Not much to add really, except some people will always refuse to admit a cigar is just a cigar. Always.

Shagin's question
"I wonder how many of the class will take offense to the stereotype of the young black woman who gets knocked up, ruins her life, and ends up in jail for working as a drug runner for her boyfriend? Or will stop reading at the point one character refers to another as 'nigga' in the derogatory sense."

Nary a one.

Call it a hunch.

Happiness Pill Of the Day
Out of frustration at not being able to address what we've been asked not to address -- of which I note only that I would if I could and that I understand why we've been asked to refrain -- a purely random happiness pill.

Here are the final ten minutes of FATAL DEVIATION, the only irish martial arts movie ever made (if you don't count THE QUIET MAN). It also happens to be one of the worst martial arts movies ever made. Not a single stunt in this ten minutes is even remotely persuasive, and many are downright laughable. You will want to quit watching during the opening fight in a dungeon, which is merely incompetent -- but trust me, keep watching, the zany awfulness of it all gets INTENSELY worse, and therefore more entertaining, as soon as our hero busts out and begins to take on a truly random series of henchmen in a junkyard. You get a naked man who shows up and leaves for absolutely no reason, an army of bad guys whose plan for taking out the lone hero is to pop up randomly, like cutouts in a Hogan's Alley video game, and thugs who are clearly showing the hero great consideration in putting themselves in position to be beaten up. And then it gets EVEN BETTER THAN THAT after our hero rescues the rather shopworn lady fair. The evil mastermind -- a very old man -- appears in the last few seconds of the film, and the last two lines of dialogue he exchanges with our are so forehead-slammingly awful that better filmmakers would almost kill to have come up with them, in order to use them comedically. This is the same intersection between absolute awfulness and absolute genius that Ed Wood once occupied. Watch this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9SCorKGx8o&feature=player_embedded

The Workshop Disease
Shagin-

The consensus seems to be "I am an artist, and shoulf be exempt from shit."

I think personal attacks based on what we write are "shit", and thus fall under this rule.

"We in the writing profession have a technical term for those who attribute a character's opinions to the author himself: we call them idiots." Larry Niven

I have a lot of respect for Clarion, but a workshop is always fraught with this sort of ad hominem crapola. Artists don't always have the best people skills.

Just ask their spouses.

Keep writing. You can always name a villain after some idiot. I did that with one ex-wife, and her best friend. They got eaten by aliens.

Still makes me all warm and fuzzy.

Addendum (sorry fir a second post): I really don't give a fuck WHO plays Dr. Who or their nationality; it's mercurial to me, just like his shapeshifting powers. Do they care about accents in space? Tom Baker was my doctor, and nobody will ever beat him. To me. Each generation has their doctor. And long may it continue. To Gallifrey and beyond!

W. Owen Paul, fair enough comment on the Trainspotting quote (always wondered if Harlan read that book, and if he did what he made of it), but if you remove that quote from its book-text context, where it's a Renton rant (ranton?) after Begbie batters somebody, and get an English director who sticks it in an outdoors-celebrating scene that's not even IN the book...it loses a lot of its meaning.

Thought for the day 1: people don't read books, books read people.

Thought for the day 2: Hinckley had a vision...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rMXtUSuDK8

Shagin,

It's nice to see that you rebounded. Always remember the writers rule of thumb: write for yourself. There is one person in your audience--you. This is the way of things. The general public can be disloyal; unaware; often cruel; minus taste.

In truth, I think they're a bunch of fuck wads.

It took four decades for the Abe Lincoln alter to manifest itself in me, but now that it's here, I wouldn't trade it for a gallon of Thorazine. What it came down to is do I want to be a good, little hack, or do I want to achieve something.

All best wishes,

Tracy

Harlan Ellison
I just like the guy. Not sure exactly why, but I do!

Shagin - Don't Forget That You Rock!
Shagin, consider this - the fact that you came up with an original story, sat still and wrote it down, with a beginning, middle and end, is amazing. It's shocking achievement. You can print that thing, hold it in your hand and shake it at the world. It Has Weight, and it has significance for one big reason and here is why:

Almost every swinging dick and pussy on this planet thinks that they have a great idea for a story. They bleat over and over again at parties while drunk that they could actually write it down if they only had the time. A very small percentage of that sub-group actually attempts it. Let's see, they get about, let's be generous here, maybe three pages in and then give up. Forever! They have the courage to try...Once! I have best friends that I love to death that fall into this category!

But you. You actually finished what you started. Sat your butt in a chair and slogged through it, with no real incentive to finish other than the fact that you had the iron will to just do it, just finish it, goddamit!

Shagin, you are in the top 0.001000 percentile of the entire Human Race. I'm not exaggerating; it's probably even more exclusive than that. Almost No One on this spinning Earth can weave an original story and immortalize it in a form that will live beyond their death. You became a member of the elite by dint of your unflagging will.

So start forming that thick skin to deflect the criticism. The greatest authors this reality has ever birthed probably at best got a thirty percent approval rate.

If it comes from your heart and it moves you, excites you, makes you think, makes you cry, floats your boat, than that is the only true encouragement you need. Your art is YOUR art, you are the master of your own shit, everybody else can fuck off. That's why it's so cool to be an artist. :)

Tim Raven

shagin: the only thing I can tell you is KEEP WRITING. The worst thing a writer could produce is stuff that gets NO reaction. The second-worst is stuff that gets only posies. I mean, what the heck is being learned?

A decade ago at Convergence, Eric Heidemann (editor/founder of _Tales of the Unanticipated_) held a discussion about Clarion, & we had maybe twenty surviv... er, graduates in attendance. It was a lively & informative session. But I hung around after the end, & got to chatting with no less than five who agreed with the phrase "I haven't written anything since."

That always struck me as being a scratch golfer (maybe 5 handicap), going to an extended golfing camp, & heading home with a case of chronic yips, forever doomed to overthink every shot.

In _Tennis for Blood_, I learned a bit of true (if humorous) evil. It's called "The Caterpillar's Dilemma," where a caterpillar starts thinking about how all his feet move in such perfect concert, & thereafter can never walk again.

You're faced off on the tennis court against a guy who totally smokes the first serve past you. And then another. And another. So you jog up to the net, wiping sweat from your eyes, & with a huge grin complement him on his shots. Then you ask, "But I'm wondering if you could give me a little advice. When you serve, do you inhale before you loft the ball, or after?"

It almost always guarantees that his serves are shot for the rest of the day.

Wish I could tell ya how to fit that to workshopping...

...but stick with it. Take the wheat, let the wind deal with the chaff. And don't doubt yourself.

Just to mention that I have made my contribution to the "viralling" of the big sale by posting about it over on my website, putting up both the cataloge and Harlan's posting from the 20th.

PAD

NO CONDOLENCE POSTS please
My sister, Beverly Charlene Ellison Rabnick, age 84, died today after a long bout. In a hospital in Cleveland. Got the call at 5:30 PM Los Angeles time from Beverly's daughter, my niece Lisa, and her son, my nephew, Loren. Lisa said Beverly left "an hour ago" which on Ohio time would've made it something like 7:30 PM.

Please, kindly, post me no condolences. I'll handle this one on my own, with Susan.

Otherwise, have a good one. Sorry to harsh yer buzz.

Doing okay, Yr. Pal, Harlan
---------------------------------------------------------------
CIRCULATION OF ABOVE OKAY, BUT PLEASE POST NO CONDOLENCES HERE
----------------------------------------------------------------

the greatest publishing venture in the history of science fiction
ebay item 2004 8993 9017

unearth anniversary dinner boston '79
(far)left field update:
ostrowsky-lantz got divorced so he could finally stop being a douche editor with a hyphenated last name. That move freed up so much space in his brain, he heard an echo just changing his mind. Now he's running a vast consulting empire called pine forest group dot com and i'm still a bum architect. if your wife is more than 16 years, 297 days younger than you are, you win. love-
L.W.Dewhirst

On this date 51 years ago, at Maimonides hospital in Brooklyn, I made my grand entrance into this world. I don't feel a day over 40. Looking forward to the expanded Deathbird Stories and The Discarded.

David

What I said at Toastmasters last night or "Stamp Collecting"
I belong to a local Toastmasters club. My speech was about "Stamp Collecting". I showed the picture of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing that my Cousin Sarah gave me. Before her passing, she told me, "If anyone asks you what I did, show them that".

I honored her wish that night, as I have done many times before, but I put the picture down and said, "That is absolutely NOT what this speech is about. I then went on to speak about what kind of stamp you leave on people. I love a good collection of stamps.

I have some bad ones in my collection, too. Like the strident TA at UCSD who read a critique I wrote and tore through it with both hands and feet. It was more about the ability to find my errors than to suggest any solutions. Not that there weren't some good points made, but I left the TA's parents out of my writing, I wrote proper English, but as a younger, stupider fellow I did the one thing I should not have done. I believed the TA. I didn't stop writing, but I did stop writing with the same ardor and determination. It took a while to get it back.

I'd like to dump that one from the old stamp book.

All that to say this: what stamps are you leaving? Which ones do you keep?

I don't have the weight of being a published writer to buoy my words any further than "one who talks good stuff", but I do know this: Sandra can write and I will Greyhound out to any locale and biff anyone on the nose that believes she is a racist or just generally uncaring.

Then, after you've been properly biffed, let's look at the Bible for a bit. I kinda gotta.

Brian Phillatelist

Stay strong, shagin.

--

Anybody else look upon the 4th of July like Harlan looks up Christmas? (I do, at least to an extant.)

Mark, Mark, now I'm sure you remember a perfectly nice essay our host wrote in THE HARLAN ELLISON HORNBOOK called WITH BLOCH AND BORMANN IN BRAZIL?

What he did not tell us in that tale (in my mind) was the part about HE storming the embassy in Rio de Janeiro brandishing his kukri and screaming, "I'm Simon Wiesenthal and I'm here for some scalps, Motherfuckerrrrrrs!!!!"

Really good sir, we must keep au courant.

Sandra, you are doing great and please keep checking in to tell us how things are going

My Con started last night and I had my panel on Harlan yesterday afternoon. Because it was right at the beginning of the Con, I was a lttle worried no one would show, but we had about 15 people attend the panel. I was a bit disappointed that no one attended who absolutely hated Harlan, or believed some of the more outre stories told about him but everyone was very gracious. The usual suspects were brought up (Harlan throwing a fan down an elevator shaft, Connie Willis incident, etc.) but there was a new one I had not heard previously. One guest asked if it was true that you caused an international incident of some kind while in South America. I asked him for specifics but he could not provide any, he just relayed that it was something he heard second or third hand. I assured him that the story was not true. Regardless, it was a new one to me; Harlan you ever heard that particular legend before?

Mark

Workshops are Deadly
Once upon a time I was the head judge for a short story writing contest at a convention. As such, the con committee sent me all ten stories that were submitted. The other judges got only the three the concom thought were the best.

Those three were "no award." Not stories, but nicely-done slices-of-life.

One of them they didn't like was a disturbing, push-the-baby-carriage downstairs kind of thing. A punch to the gut. At panel, I voted "no award" and asked to see the guy who had written this one. Told him it was good and that he should send to a zine that was out then, Twilight Zone. He did, where it sold.

When Dean and Kris were doing Pulphouse, they had some of us write how-to chapbooks. I wrote one called "Workshops: The Minefields of Science Fiction."

Good workshops can be helpful. Bad ones can kill a budding writer. But even the good ones can screw you up -- if you aren't careful, you'll start writing to please the participants, for reasons that have to do with taste and not content.

I used to go to Damon and Katie's Mini-Milford at their house in Eugene years ago. He was one of the guys everybody looked at when they said "Workshop." Clarion arose from Milford, if I recall correctly (Unk you was there, ain't that how it went?)

If Damon Knight, one of the cannons of the field says, "Well, this story has a flashback in it, and I hate flashbacks, so it doesn't work for me." the echoes of that shot will resound from the lesser guns -- as fire the cannon, so fire the muskets -- "Me, too, me, too, I don't like them, either!"

You get real tired of, "I agree with Damon ..."

As a writer, you might be then tempted to avoid putting flashbacks into your next story, so as to avoid the salvos.

The proper response to this is, however, is: "Fuck you, Damon. I like flashbacks and this one works. Besides which, you've used them, and I can show you stories you wrote where you did."

I was already a pro selling stuff and I knew; budding writers might not have the wherewithal to go there when it is Damon Fucking Knight telling them it's not good.

The woods of full of stories that were trashed at workshops that went on to sell, win awards, and make the writer really smug. Terry Carr once told Vonda McIntyre not to send him the story she submitted to the workshop. Said story won the, Nebula, got expanded into a novel that won the Nebula and the Hugo, and got the best comment from a fan I have ever heard: Your book saved my sister's life.

And Vonda co-founded Clarion West, by the by.

At a workshop, you listen for the bell. For the grace note when somebody offers a critique that gives you that "Ah!" moment when the problem with the piece you couldn't quite put your finger on resonates. Yes, that's it! That's what's wrong!

If you don't hear that, be very careful changing stuff to please somebody because they don't like spinach and you do. Writers have to learn the difference between editing and editorializing: Here's how to fix the story you wrote, that's good. Oh, instead of a story with a black male protag set on Mars, you should have written one with a white female in South Australia instead. That's a waste of your time. You didn't write that story, did you?

Perry

Delurking to respond to Shagin's post, with a tip of the hat to Adam.

At the Clarion I attended we had an incident similar to this with unpleasant consequences.

One of the students discussed a story idea with several of us for nearly a week. No specifics, only general concepts. We had all been spurred by one of the instructors to be more radical---he had, in fact, told us we had all been far too conservative in our stories up till then---and this student, among others, took that to heart.

The story produced contained a rape scene. It disturbed and unnerved many people. It could have been that it was week four and we were all on edge from lack of sleep and adrenalin and all the other peak experiences that go with a Clarion. Whatever, the story was not received by many *as a story* but as something that revealed a danger in our midst. It culminated in a kind of tribunal, in which the writer was taken to task for sort of violating the peace of mind of the workshop. Moral outrage, fear, what have you.

We were wrong to do that. A story is a story. Might be a bad story, but up till then we'd been careful (we thought) to make the distinction between the writer and the story and with that one it broke down.

To the best of my knowledge, that student gave up. I think we did damage. And for reasons which, three weeks earlier or three week later, probably would never have prompted that reaction. There is no excuse.

If your critics attacked you personally, they were wrong. Cut the story to ribbons, eviscerate it, dissect it, hoist its guts up on a pole and display it at the gates to the city---that's part of the workshop experience---but going after you for what they assume you intended is the same as attributing to an author the sentiments of a character on the page. True or not, it's beside the point---it's the work that matters, the work that should get the criticism.

This is part of what you should be learning at Clarion. What your critics need to learn, too.

To Adam---something Tim Powers told us the first week of our workshop that I pass on to students consistently: "A sale negates all criticism." Maybe not strictly true, but useful.

Thank you for all of the comments, remarks, support, and kicks to keep going. They are much appreciated, and last night I started on my story submission for next week, a tale of closeted Nazi fluffy bunnies with an enema fetish.

Okay, not really, but I figured that if I was offending folks I might as well go all the way.
shagin

Sandra -
What Steve Perry said.

Many years ago, I sat in appalled silence and listened to my brother and his friends rip apart Steven Spielberg for making "Gremlins" because, they insisted, it was one of the most racist movies ever made, right up there with "Birth of a Nation".

"Gremlins"??

Absolutely, they said. Cute little white beings stay up after midnight and turn into nasty little black kids.

It made me wonder, at the time, who the real racists were - Spielberg, or my brother and his friends, for seeing all of that in the story.

On a slightly different bent, my creative writing teacher once told me, "It is not for you as the writer to know what you are writing. It is for we as the readers to interpret it." I remember thinking at the time, "What a pompous load of bullshit."

I could be wrong...but that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

"When they were casting "House," the producer was sent a video audition for the title character, and reportedly he said jubilantly, "That's exactly the kind of all-American guy I'm looking for." He had no idea Hugh Laurie was British. Faking a British accent didn't hurt Alexis Denisof or James Marsters none. I could SO see Denisof as the Doctor."

If we were talking about a J.J. Abrams-style "hunkification" of the Whoverse, I suppose Denisof would be more than appropriate as the Doctor. But while I'm sure Denisof would have have the Whedon fangirls screeching in glee, a Denisof-driven WHO would suffer the same innate problem that plagues Abrams's TREK: Longer schlongs, bigger breasts, and smaller brains.

Peter David wrote: "Sometimes fans come across like the cast of "Fiddler," stomping their feet and bellowing lustily "Tradition," in defending their belief that nothing must change. Ever."

Indeed. That's what they say every time they want to render something unrecognizable.

Sometimes I think the producers could give the Doctor horns and a two foot phallus with teeth, and they'd still denounce the close minded conservatism of the fans who thought it wasn't such a hot idea.

-Steve E., who would be just fine with an American Doctor.

Sandra
Sandra,

There is the shadow of a possibility that your critics are correct, that you have written something with offensive implications you did not intend, and that you may want to take a second look at it in order to modulate your effects.

I don't personally believe it, but it's a finite possibility, which needs to be acknowledged.

That said, one word from my own experience.

Many years ago, driving to work, I heard terrible news on the radio: the passing of a writer I had greatly admired my entire life. I had known he was ill, so it came as no surprise. Still, the effect this had on me was extreme. I was misting up when a whopper of a story idea slammed me between the eyes. I almost drove the car off the road. It was a science fiction tale that EVERYBODY would know was really about this pivotal figure, that I could write in an approximation of his style and in full respect for his legacy.

I wrote the story in the next two days. It flowed out of me, without interruption: easiest tale I ever wrote. (I'd read and re-read this figure's books so many times that I'd internalized his work, and composing this story in his mode felt more like channeling.)

Then I showed it to a trusted reader.

That reader told me the story was a trespass, an abomination, as tasteless a piece of work as he had ever suspected I could write. He said that if I sent it around to editors it would render me so hated in the sf community, for my shamelessness, that it would ruin my career. He urged me to burn it.

I'm not kidding. He said all that. Imagine hearing all this from a reader I trusted, a reader who was then one of my best friends. I repeat: he urged me to burn it.

I was shaken, but -- and here's the point -- I believed in the story, and sent it out anyway. One editor of a major magazine, receiving the story less than ten days after the death of its inspiration, said, "Too soon; send it back to me in one year." The next editor, of a major magazine preparing its launch, said yes. He bought the piece and published it as the first story in the first issue. It was my first science-fiction sale, as I was previously inclined toward horror and was adamant in denying science fiction to be among my skills. (Some would still say it's not.) The tale scored very high in the LOCUS poll and turned out, when the vote tallies were released, to have come within three slots of a Hugo nomination. It did win another award, not long afterward.

And my friend? Well, by his own admission, all of this made him feel like he had gone insane. He was happy for me, but he said that if I came to him with the same story again he would give me the same advice again.

Later, for COMPLETELY UNCONNECTED REASONS -- trust me on this --and with the total approval of other members of our shared social group, I decided that this guy's friendship was toxic and told him we were through. As with many shattered friendships, there were a couple of moments of lamentable backsliding, but it eventually stuck. This had nothing to do with his reaction to the story. It was another issue, and one that's mentioned here only as epilogue. He's gone. The story still belongs to me.

I have omitted mentioning the name of the story because I didn't want to turn this into a commercial for myself. I do enough of that, here. Others will no doubt recognize the story from the circumstances of its publication, but I intend no guessing game either. Honestly. The point I want you to take away from all this is that I was strongly urged to burn the story for its alleged offensiveness...that I believed it anyway...and that I prospered by going with my gut. Nor am I alone, as the arts are filled with stories of folks who were told "uh uh, no way," went ahead, and turned out to be right (like our host); as well as folks who were told that there was no hope and whose work we only know about because circumstance rescued it (i.e., Vincent Van Gogh, John Kennedy Toole).

The moral is this.

Critiques can be helpful.

But never forget that you're the gatekeeper.

Doctorrrrr Who/Torrrchwood
Kris - I'd give the Torchwood audio "Lost Souls" a listen before you go filing John the Barrow Man away in the flawless category. Can't get enough of the guy on the viddy myself, but he clearly hasn't quite got the audio acting down just yet in that one (Freema Agyeman and Eve Myles fare a good deal better). The script by Joe Lidster is all right, but he's done better elsewhere too.

Graham - I always thought Irvine Welsh and/or John Hodge's dialogue in Trainspotting summed up that relationship quite nicely: "Some hate the English, I don't. They're just wankers. We, on the other hand, are COLONIZED by wankers! We can't even find a decent culture to be colonized BY!"

But then I'm Welsh/German on my dad's side, so what do I know?

Cheers!

Mssrs. Barber and Amparion - I thank you for your geographical/political correction - this is what I meant and should have specified - mea culpa

Chuck - you are truly one of the Great Circling Poets of Arium - cheers!

Graham - sorry mate, just defending the Scottish side of Doctor Who...which, of course includes McCoy, Tennant, and Barrowman. Interesting how even when they have American characters they're still played by British actors (Barrowman is flawless, sorry Mrs. Bryant!)

Shagin:

I actually AM a Clarion graduate ('76) and a person of tint who occasionally makes coin as a editor and - not having read your piece - let me tell you what nobody ever says in workshops:

1. YOU are not your stories, just as you are not your debts or credit score. Don't let yourself or anyone else conflate your strengths or deficiencies on the page with who YOU are. That's dumb.

2. There's only one thing to seriously ask yourself when your work gets a negative reaction: Is it my fault or is THEIR fault? If it's yours, figure out how to make it better. If not, fuck it.

In the case of your story, it's possible your critics are either oversensitive to racial content or insensitive to how they express a dissatisfaction toward a piece that might've fallen victim to racial cliches or tropes of which you're simply unaware. Learning to recognize cliches is a valuable goal in workshops, since the only thing one can teach any writer is how to avoid habits that waste time.

3. Talent and intelligence do not make careers - they are among myriad building blocks in the service of a stubborn, quixotic refusal to disappear from a chosen field. Stick with it! And good luck.

Yeah, Scots are British, but we don't like being called so. And doing so is a serious faux pas. We still regard the (mainly southern) English as being stealers of Scottish oil revenue from the North Sea oil fields, and believe that this is the only reason the bought-and-paid-for Union of 1707, which established the United Kingdom, is still in effect. Read and learn something:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acts_of_Union_1707

Sandra, Your classmates sound like people who take themselves far too seriously. I'd be interested to find out how your instructor reacts to their feedback, or for that matter what his/her feedback may be. Hang in there.

And concerning the nationality of Dr. Who in whatever incarnation, well...

The pain of it
Will ease a bit
When you find a man with True Brit.

Chuck

oopsy
sigh

Forgot. The ISLE of Man, AND The Channel Islands are actually NOT part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. They're Crown Dependencies.

The natives might still be British though.

My head hurts.

Mrr-mee, mrrr-mee.

Geogaphy, political and physical - The Literate Misanthrope
Scots are British. As are Welsh, Northern Irish and the residents of the Channel Islands and Island of Man/Manxmen. Any Cornish that are left, them too.

An attempt to define an overarching sense of nationality for the disparate "races" of the British isles, first popularized by George III.

Ireland is not part of Great Britain. Great Britain is a large island off the northwest coast of Europe. Ireland is a smaller, though still quite large, island off the west coast of Great Britain.

Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom, as is Wales and Scotland, the Island of Man and those Channel Islands again. Citizens (no longer "subjects") of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern ireland are today generally accepted as being "British". The rather ugly neologism "Brit" might also be accepted, though I've known "Brit's" that found it a tad, mmmm, "snarky" is perhaps the term? They did not care for it, at any rate.

Sandra's ctitics are ninnies. Whoever her teacher for this week is, s/he ought to have a word with them in private. As in "Let's be professional."

Not that it likely will help much. Ninnies are like that.

I love me some ninnie, Tastes like pork, though saltier.

KRIS NELSON - As much as I generally agree with your comments I must, as a reasonably well traveled person who is a bit of an Anglophile, protest on behalf of the people of Ireland and note for posterity that Great Britain is comprised of England, Wales, Scotland and NORTHERN Ireland.

The more southerly Irish would not take kindly to your confusion, so it's best to acknowledge the error and move on before the leprechauns come after you.

Just sayin'.
_____________________________________

HARLAN - A delay in the little job we discussed. Computer error. Should be fine by end of the weekend. Stay tuned.
_____________________________________

I DON'T believe Johnny Depp -- who is a brilliant actor -- should take on the Doctor. Peter Cushing did a less-than-memorable job assaying the role in two forgettable movies in the 1960s. I'm still not entirely warmed to Matt Smith, so let's not confuse the issue by introducing a theatrical Doctor simply for the sake of making a big-budget film.

Unless the STORY calls for it, such a jump is unnecessary.
______________________________________

BTW - In regards to the Doctor's nationality. He's none of the above. (Gallifreyan, don'tcha know.) It's the TARDIS that makes everyone understand each other, and since it's frozen in a British Police Box form, the translations will be in one of the many forms of the Queen's English.

That's my theory, and you'll just have to deal with the utter commonsensiveness of it.

The R word...
How radioactive it's become? It's been radioactive for a LONG time. Shagin's Clarion flap (and congrats to you, Sandra, on being there and selling, by the way) reminds me of what happened once to Stanley Ellin.

Back in 1983 Ellin published a novel called THE DARK FANTASTIC. Publisher was Otto Penzler's then fairly new Mysterious Press. What follows is from my recollection of stories that appeared in a couple of newspapers and magazines at the time (I no longer have the issues, and I'm not going to spend weeks finding and interlibrary-loaning the articles to guarantee that I've got every detail right -- sorry about that). The book was originally submitted to Random House. They bounced it. Something like a dozen houses bounced it before Otto Penzler gave it a home. In interviews, Ellin said (again, as I recall) that he began hearing about some of the editorial meetings regarding the book, about comments like "We might be able to do this book if it wasn't by a white author."

Stanley Ellin's THE DARK FANTASTIC is the very model of a dangerous vision. A large portion of the book is written from the point of view of his villain, Charles Witter Kirwan, a retired college teacher who still lives in the apartment building that's been owned by his family for decades. He has cancer, and he doesn't mean to wait for the cancer to do him in -- he's going to do the job himself by blowing up his apartment building along with himself and as many of the tenants as he can take with him. Kirwan has watched the decline of his neighborhood and the school where he taught, and in his view that decline has been caused by the blacks who now occupy the units in his building and the rest of the area, and his taped journal constitutes his share of the novel.

Television's Archie Bunker was clearly identifiable as a dimbulb every time he opened his mouth, so his views on minorities were automatically discredited simply because they came from Archie Bunker. Not so Charles Witter Kirwan -- he's intelligent, articulate, and horrifyingly persuasive, and his comments will have you simultaneously saying "Yeah, I get that" and smacking yourself upside the head saying "Jeez, what am I saying?"

At the time this book was making the rounds, Ellin was no newcomer -- he was an Edgar-winning giant of mystery fiction with a string of brilliant short stories and novels going back more than 30 years. But this chiller was rejected by the publisher who had originally contracted for it, and by others, largely because they apparently couldn't handle the depiction of a character with racist views and thought that publication of a book dealing with that character was just too risky.

If I'm remembering any of this wrong, I'm sure there are folks on the board who'll correct me.

Just thought the gang here might find it interesting in light of Shagin's Clarion experience of the other day.

And bests to all,

--tr

I know how you feel, concentricfridays
Looking at my previous comment, I see that I managed to use "prison" twice in the opening sentence.

Well, at least it give me an excuse to quote the gnomic Jacques Barzaghi, who once, when asked for his thoughts on penal reform in California, unhelpfully said, "We are all prisoners."

I, too, am a prisoner--in my case, of poor proofreading skills.

And so I also go away now, if my chains will reach that far.

diagramming sentences
Err, that should read: "However, the issue of permissions and royalties is of foremost importance."

Issues -- is
permissions and royalties -- are

Now I go bye-bye.

Addendum

Oh, and I forgot to add that Scotland and Ireland were part of Great Britain last time I checked.

British-ness

To be fair - the Police Box was introduced from AMERICA in 1888!!! The creator of the show, Sydney Newman, was a CANADIAN!!! (Still under the realm of the Queen...)

But this does not matter at ALL. Sherlock Holmes, Robin Hood and James Bond are the same character played over the years by different people. No big deal. The Doctor is THE SAME MAN. His character DOES change because it's WRITTEN INTO THE SHOW. What I am SPECIFICALLY defending is the very British-ness of this show. Had it lasted for a season, I would say undo at leisure, however after 26 seasons, the character lasting in comic-book and novel form until a CANADIAN production (aimed at FOX viewers *shudder*) changed him and after having only one movie the character CONTINUED in novels, comic-book and audio adventures until it came back to the screen looking better than ever - we find that that Doctor Who and it's formulae are constantly referred to as British. It is a connection with the past of British culture and history. This is a "tradition" that simply doesn't NEED changing for change's sake, unlike many other things. I thought the recasting of Starbuck in BSG as a woman was a GREAT idea (though I ultimately ended up despising her character, but that's another story). Thank goodness the producers of this particular show understand what the show is about, regardless of whether fans new or old do.

YASHAR (a followup)
TIM RAVEN: I'm in agreement with you regarding most of the sub-topics you've brought up, especially and foremost the issue of asking for permissions, as you've said. When I first heard audio sampling within a piece of music (and if I recall, it was truly a "piece" of music / audio art, not "a song," it was the basic component of Steve Reich's "It's Gonna Rain." I thought it was mesmerizing. Hell, I like the sound of my clothes dryer's timer when the motor ain't running and the gas ain't flowing! Years later, hearing Big Audio Dynamite sampling audio from THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY had me absolutely appalled!

Upon first hearing "Yashar" by Cabaret Voltaire, and the entirety of David Byrne and Brian Eno's MY LIFE IN THE BUSH OF GHOSTS, I was (and remain) awestruck. However, the issue of permissions and royalties are of foremost importance. If the sample one wants ain't allowed, move on. Can't have it. I, for one, have no priority time to discover what the buzz about Kanye West is, even concerning his use of King Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man," 'cause I just don't dig where that general vibe is coming from. I'd rather download a live Crimson performance from DGM Live. And this taken from a band and community I've been participating in for quite a while (Crimson). Give me new /old (undiscovered for me) Dave Holland, Miles Davis and John Scofield first, Mouse On Mars, Out Hud and Plaid -- but Kanye won't be on the top of my list. Never was dazzled by Warhol's use of Campbell's soup cans and Marilyn Monroe, either.

The use of audio sampling reminds me of the techniques used by visual artists such as Marcel Duchamp, Joseph Cornell and Kurt Schwitters and others with their use of found objects and collage. I have no problem with that. Their works ring true to me, yet some company did design and manufacture that urinal and snow shovel Duchamp renamed, signed and called as a category "readymades."

Monies should have been paid to Harlan Ellison and Robert Culp and others regarding "Yashar," even though the sample may have been small, unique and obscure. (Fuckall, didn't that come out in '83? Now I can't even find the blasted thing in my collection of CDs!) I'm in agreement there. Permissions should be cleared first. I wasn't meaning to bait or pick at any proverbial scabs. On the up,

Dave

PS. I really have no place for turntable scratching sounds in my life. Give me Alvin and The Chipmunks, though... and a slice of carrot cake and a refill, thank you. I love The Pav!

"Point taken, but can you really see an American guy rightfully piloting something as undeniably British as a police box?"

Sure. First of all, lots of young British people have never seen a real police box and don't know it outside of "Doctor Who." Second, when I first started watching "Doctor Who," back in the Tom Baker era, I didn't even know what a police box WAS, so I didn't associate it with being especially British.

Could the Doctor be played by a guy with an American accent? Sure, I suppose. But let's allow for the notion that the Doctor always has a British accent. Okay, so...why can't the lead actor simply fake a British accent? It's hardly unprecedented. David Tennant, who naturally has a Scots brogue, did it for this portrayal; it didn't seem to diminish his popularity one bit.

When they were casting "House," the producer was sent a video audition for the title character, and reportedly he said jubilantly, "That's exactly the kind of all-American guy I'm looking for." He had no idea Hugh Laurie was British. Faking a British accent didn't hurt Alexis Denisof or James Marsters none. I could SO see Denisof as the Doctor.

PAD

critique

Sandra -

I've never been to Clarion, but I did spend a few years at a fancy pants film school where I had to give and receive a lot of critique. Some thoughts, for whatever they are worth:

1) some people view the world through crap-colored glasses. They always see the worst, and assume the worst of others.

2) most people do not know how to give useful critique. I view critique as a special skill that involves observing your own responses as you read, getting to the root of those responses, and then presenting what you learned in a thoughtful way. It takes a lot of concentration and some practice. Most people suck at it. They either offer generic praise or go off on their own personal tangent. I'm surprised Clarion doesn't begin by laying out basic critique skills, as well as some rules of the road so that everyone knows to focus on the story, not the writer.

3) here's the tricky part: 1 and 2 don't always mean that the other guy is wrong. There is sometimes a kernel of truth in a person's hostile, overblown, nastily phrased response to your work, and it takes time and clear thinking to determine that. Clearly, you are not a racist and they were foolish to say so. That said, there may (may) have been something about your character description that felt superficial, or close to old cliches. There was something in your story that got their dander up - it might be an issue for a wider audience as well. Or not. Like I said, it's tricky and requires thinking on your part.

4) Now is a very useful time to decide what you think constitutes helpful critique for yourself and for others. When I am asked to respond to someone else's work, I always try first to determine what their creative intention was. What were they trying to communicate? Then, I'll begin my response by saying: "It felt to me like what you were trying to say with this story was...X, is that accurate?" And then once I know what their aim was, I focus all my response on helping them to reach their goal. Pointing out the areas where I was confused, or where I was distracted, or where the story seemed to be doing something other then its job. That's my policy; you can make your own but its a good idea to have one.

In terms of response to my own work, I always make it clear that I am especially interested in certain information: 1) what parts of the story were boring to you? 2) what parts of the story were confusing to you? 3) did this story feel like something fresh, or did it feel like something you've already read or seen before? and 3) were there any characters that you especially liked spending time with? (this last because sometimes people like things that I didn't expect).

As you can see, I'm more interested in identifying an audience response then in hearing what someone else would do to fix the story. That can be helpful too, if you're talking to a smart talent who views things the same way you do, but the main thing to me is to know when I am failing to entertain the audience, and if you explicitly ask for that information, then almost anyone can give you a helpful response - or at least anyone who, in general, is open to reading fiction for pleasure.

5) In my experience, people who go digging for symbolism are almost never storytellers. Doesn't make them bad people, but it just seems to be a different mindset, as different as raising animals and dissecting them. Pay attention to who actually knows how to tell a good tale.

Good luck!

MM

Part of the Biz
Sandra --

Readers bring all kinds of baggage to a story and they will see things that aren't there. Had an English professor I knew once go on and on at length about the symbolism of using a character named "Scates" in a short story I did. Obviously I left out an "o," and an "r," -- "Scates" was a lame attempt to hide "Socrates," and it didn't slip past my reader, no sir. He then explained what I meant by all that.

Thing was, "Scates" was the name of my best buddy when I was thirteen, and I put him in the story for fun.

When somebody starts telling you about all those parallels with Troilus and Cressida you tried to sneak in, maybe they caught something. Or maybe they are full of hooey.

Sometimes, as John Lennon was reputed to have said, there's no hidden meaning: "Well, it rhymed with 'Queen,' didn't it?"

One of the other risks in writing is being conflated with the characters you create. It's a common mistake, and somebody at Clarion probably should have, or will point this out: You aren't the character about whom you wrote.

Other writers will sometimes make this mistake, and they ought to know better. Because you offer up a cruel assassin does not make you one, but readers will make the leap -- Gee, this sounds so real, how could she write it so convincingly if she didn't have experience?

It's a curse and a blessing. If somebody is convinced after reading a tale I told that I am black, gay, female, career military, and brilliant because I must be to have created the places or people therein, then I did my job as a writer -- because I am none of those ...

This is why some actors won't play weak -- they don't want fans to jump to conclusions that are unwarranted. And why some writers are reluctant to try and offer any sympathy on a page for people who are reprehensible. What if they think I approve of such behavior? If I mention a black guy or a gay guy or use the term "Oriental," will they believe I am racist, homophobic, or don't know the difference between a rug and somebody from China?

You have to get past these things. You will bring axes to grind into your stories, but so will your readers. Nobody knows your mind better than you do.

Two things to consider as a writer: 1) Did I tell the story I wanted to tell? 2) Did I tell it well? Hard to determine this at times, but them's the criteria I like. Past that,, remember Wilde's dictum, not moral or immoral, but well-written or badly.

And fuck 'em if they can't take a joke ...

Perry

The R word
Shagin,

Jeffrey Dahmer took pains during prison interviews with prison psychologists to deny that he harbored any malice toward minorities.

A serial killer, a rapist, a cannibal, sure. But a racist? No way! What sort of monster did they think he was, anyhow?

That is how radioactive the term has become.

To call someone a racist has become the post-modern equivalent of exploding a nuclear weapon. That others would attempt to deny you membership in the human family by using that term against you says a great deal indeed about their low moral and intellectual state.

I arrange my life so as to avoid contact with such people as much as possible, just as I do with liars, mooches, and hysterics. I hope that you are able to do likewise.

writers, bah

Sandra:

I have no experience with writing workshops -- I don't write fiction save for once in a blue moon, and it's almost always autobiographical or based on direct observation -- and I have never submitted my work in progress to other folks to vet.

So coming 'way out of left field just in the hope of offering some comfort, I am guessing that critique circles made up of strangers, young and competitive, can be especially tetchy and give to herd behavior, and you mustn't let your experiment be destroyed by that. Put it aside, let it ferment (if the workshop will allow this) and go on to work on something else. This story has become too loaded to address at this time; wait until you can come back to it with changed and relaxed eyes.

But by all means, don't join that herd in beating up on yourself. And try not to lash back at them, either over this or their own work. And be proud of yourself for having taken a risk at all, whether or not your later self ultimately decides it was a failure or potential success.

That's a word from the peanut gallery.

Hi Harlan. Do you have need of an American Samoa quarter for your collection? I have one I discovered in my change last night.

Post removed at poster's request - Ed.
Wade
Seattle, Washington - Thursday, July 1 2010 10:7:23

On the subject of Downey
I see Downey has formed a production company to make Steve McQueen's movie YUCATAN - how bad can that get screwed up?

"Sometimes fans come across like the cast of "Fiddler," stomping their feet and bellowing lustily "Tradition," in defending their belief that nothing must change. Ever. Even as their biggest complaint is that creators don't listen to them. They should thank their lucky stars that creators don't, because if they did, then their favorite characters would atrophy."

Point taken, but can you really see an American guy rightfully piloting something as undeniably British as a police box?

------------------------------------------------------

On a personal note, tonight is the first performance of Bradbury's FAHRENHEIT 451 in which I star. Exciting times, scary times. Please pray for me, if you have the time.

"Ask Any British Fan"
And they'll tell you that Doctor Who must always be portrayed by a true Brit. And that should be heeded why, exactly?

If the fans were listened to, Sylvester McCoy would not have been cast because he wasn't a true Brit: He was a Scotsman, the first to play the role. That put a good many noses out of joint at the time. Of course, without that casting breakthrough, fellow Scotsman David Tennant would never have been cast.

And remember the fan reaction to the initial pictures of the Ninth Doctor? They were out-of-their-mind furious because instead of wearing some flamboyant ensemble with a "British feel" to it, he was dressed in a nondescript black outfit that anyone could have worn. Tennant's was no different; he looked like a banker. By that time, nobody cared, because the Ninth Doctor's had worn black slacks and jacket and the world hadn't come to an end.

And do we even want to get into the fans who loudly declared that "Casino Royale" was going to suck because for the first time in history, the protagonist was going to be fair haired? "James Blond" people sniffed, because 007 was "supposed" to be brunette.

Sometimes fans come across like the cast of "Fiddler," stomping their feet and bellowing lustily "Tradition," in defending their belief that nothing must change. Ever. Even as their biggest complaint is that creators don't listen to them. They should thank their lucky stars that creators don't, because if they did, then their favorite characters would atrophy.

PAD

I think BBC learned their lesson only too well when they tried "Americanizing" the Doctor back in the 1990s. (We'll just have to see how RTD fares with the next permutation of Torchwood.)

Some fans on LiveJournal were speculating on a Disneyfied rendition of Who some weeks back, though, with the following artwork contributed to the mix:

http://community.livejournal.com/doctorwho/6097741.html

And for the Daleks:

http://community.livejournal.com/doctorwho/6102314.html

Rather fun in a more than mildly horrific sort of way.

concentricfridays - Harlan got ripped off......
concentricfridays – I’m familiar with Cabaret Voltaire, although I’m not a big fan or expert of their work. I do remember the song you mentioned, “Yashar” (released the year I graduated from high School) and I’ll admit even though I was a fanatical Science Fiction geek back then I was not aware that they had sampled “Demon With A Glass Hand” dialogue in that piece. I saw the Outer Limits episode for the first time two weeks ago. Diane Martel is still hot, motherfuckers, so check it out.

But here is the interesting bit – how can I respond to you in a way that would be relevant to the main HE forum?

Concentric – I am a musician, and I despise sampling.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not bagging on your musical taste. Andy Warhol lifted soup can labels and Marilyn Monroe and turned it into a certainly profitable “art” that is recognized internationally, so why not Cabaret Voltaire? Honestly, “Yashar” snagged only the smallest bits of dialogue from “Demon With A Glass Hand” and even twisted it around in an interesting way. The majority of the work was an original effort by the band. How bad could it be?

In here, we can ask – Mr. Ellison, were you ever compensated even a pittance for Cabaret Voltaire selling music that had sampled your original dialogue from that iconic Outer Limits episode? How about Robert Culp? Did he get a check, however small? Even more telling, from a respectful human to human perspective, was permission even asked?

I’m guessing no... Maybe I’m wrong.

I’ve been working on a song for the last thirteen weeks that has been tearing my guts out, every iteration has been building towards something that I’m more and more pleased with, and contrarily something that has become harder and harder to perform without breaking up emotionally. I’ve been playing guitar, bass, drums and keyboards since 1975. I’ve been in countless bands over these decades, playing the most disgusting venues smelling of piss for hardly any money, motivated by the rule that you have to have the courage to be bad before you can earn the privilege to be good, especially in front of people.

This song could be my one creation, a lifetime worth of effort encapsulated in three short minutes that might grant me some slight recognition beyond the grave.

And then some petty, fifteen minute douche like Kanye West will sample MY iconic riff, that I opened my veins for, trained all my life for, and FUCKING STEAL IT, using it as a hook so that he can holler obscene, self-serving, simple rhyming mediocrity on top of it, and make One Million Times More Money Than Me, THE CUNT. And legally getting away with it? I become a footnote to that obscenity? No Sir!

Some would say having such a “respected” artist stealing; no “PAYING HOMAGE” to my work would be a High Class Problem, something that I should embrace as a compliment. Those people would be wrong; I would have bloody murder in my eye.

Concentricfridays, on a lighter note, I appreciate your inquiry, and look forward to your response. I call ‘em as I see ‘em. Tonight, I’m pretty sober; I don’t think I’m out of line this time, Dudes!

Tim Raven

I'm sorry to hear that Downey Jr.'s fifteen minutes are up, as I've enjoyed watching him in movies the last quarter century.

D.

Thank you Harlan. Sorry to have bothered you.

ER ...

Stuff, with TWO effs. -he

REPLY TO GRAHAM RAE

I've written many elsewheres about my liaison with LENNY BRUCE. I ghosted a column for him. Soon after his death, I published (somewhere) an essay titled "Lenny Bruce is Dead."

That should sate your curiosity. Isn't the infallability of the worldwide web search-engine supposed to turn up stuf like that for you? Mmmm. If not, ask for intercession from one of the Ellison savants around here. Or merely wait for publication of Tim Richmond(et al)'s bibliography FINGERPRINTS ON THE SKY.

Yr. Pal, Harlan

PLACE MARKER

The introduction I've been writing to accompany Josh's for the Subterranean Press publication of THE DISCARDED (with photos)...

"Riding the Rails in Atlantis"

today, last day of June, has entered new novelette space: more than 8300 words.

Yr. Pal, Harlan

Doctor Who - British

VOR

"'I love Depp, but Dr. Who must be played by a true Brit.'

Why? Where is THAT etched in stone? Haven't we had enought "true Brits" play this role? I wasn't aware that Dr. Who was British, anyway. Why not a Nigerian woman in the lead?"


*blink* Wow!!! Although it isn't EXACTLY etched in stone, ask any Brit and they'll tell you. They'll tell you how it is a British institution. How it's nearly etched into British DNA. Just look at the original 26 YEAR RUN OF THE SHOW. How, you know, the copyright is OWNED BY THE BBC. You can NEVER have enough Brits play the role because IT IS PART OF BRITISH CULTURE!!!

Technically according to the construct of the show, a Time Lord could concievably change species or gender, but I don't think this would add anything to the character, except in the dreams of frustrated fans who dream of playing the role of the Doctor. A change in gender would be an unneeded and superfluous concession to modernistic revisionism. You want a lady Time Lord who is just as cool as the Doctor? Fine. Write one in. But the Doctor should, is, and will be - The Doctor.

It's interesting when something grows so large (now that people don't have to turn their noses up in the air at the "substandard" special effects of the old series) that new fan bases used to other science fiction/fantasy suddenly think such a thing is "theirs". While certainly writers and producers aim their product at general audiences, the last word still lies with them. It is THEIR vision, we are there to appreciate it. Or not.

Luckily, the Doctor Who universe is large enough to accomodate, and there are things such as Doctor Who Unbound and others that allow for alternate Doctors and events.

Perhaps we should get Harlan to change the computer AM in "I Have No Mouth..." into a Microsoft computer since that would be making a specific statement and Harlan is obviously being artistically conservative in his portrayal.

"I love Depp, but Dr. Who must be played by a true Brit."

Why? Where is THAT etched in stone? Haven't we had enought "true Brits" play this role? I wasn't aware that Dr. Who was British, anyway. Why not a Nigerian woman in the lead?

Sometimes I think this board is much more artistically conservative than it fancies itself. I remember the same comments about Sherlock Holmes...not that the Downey movie was anything but junk. His fifteen minutes, btw, are up.

Reading a book on the late great George Carlin. Got me thinking about Lenny Bruce. Plenty of Bruce stuff available over at Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ua0TT87KNwo&feature=related

I understand that Harlan used to write gags for the great man. As a matter of interest, Harlan, how did that come about, and do you have any anecdotes about him you can relate? If not, well, them's the breaks.

Got the new Eminem album. Upped the wordplay quota (though every song except one references several other people as co-writers - wonder idly if he's writing his own material these days) and a relative minimum of references to killing women or having sex with his mother, which is always a good thing. But the song about domestic abuse he does with Rihanna, that ends up with the abuser saying if he abuses his girl again he will tie her to the bed and set fire to the house, is sick and weird, especially in relation to the beautiful young woman's suffering of domestic abuse at the hands of Chris Brown. Surprised she would do a song ending like that, with threats of future homicidal violence to come. Sick and wrong.

Ah,them teens certainly have some fun musickal (sic)(very sic) heroes these daze...whatever makes a buck as it says "fuck," eh?

Ah, Frank, fuck!

Everytime I get pissed at something you allegedly wrote here. (that's an obscure joke, so obscure even I don't get it...sorry), you go and reveal your essential humanity and soft, chewy inner self.

Gustatory discovery: If you buy french bread baked with a little Asiago cheese on the crust (many bakeries have this delight), and you also get some fresh blueberries, try a handfull of them with a piece of the bread. Something about the salty, cheesy taste of the bread combines mysteriously with the tang and sweet of the berry blue.

Your opinion might vary, but I recommend this experiment to any who want something special on their tastebuds.

It wowed me.

I watched five minutes or so of Glenn Beck last night, and I must say: either he is a complete naif (unlikely), completely clueless (a possibilty, yet I doubt the completeness), or insane.

I'm hoping it's the lattermost.

Because the only other choice is he's conpletely evil.

I usually opt for incompetence and stupidity over malice as motive. Me and Napoleon agreed on that one.

I took an astonomy class once at UC Irvine. One class assignement was to pick an astonomer who had gone out on a limb theory-wise, and pick her apart, point out where he went wrong and why.

I chose an astrophysicist who did some edgy work in the sixties. He got a whole lotta grief from the Physics Establishment for alleged basic calibration errors in his experiments. errors that supposedly led to controversial and probably false conclusions.

He had worked at a universoty on the East Coast.

Now what are the odds that this professor had taken a sabbatical, and come to UC Irvine?

That he had married a UC Irvine faculty member?

That she was my instructor?

I had not a clue. She had kept her maiden name.

Though her husband I had ripped apart in my paper, classy lady, she gave me an "A".

The universe is stranger than we -can- think.

An actor by the name of David Tennant would probably be a fair option!

**I caught a remarkable film from 1930.

THE BAT WHISPERS, directed by Roland West (who'd done the original silent version years earlier, titled THE BAT), and starring Chester Morris (whose early-history filmography I'm discovering only now).

This movie is, apparently, and not surprisingly, Bob Kane's original inspiration (or ONE of 'em) for The Batman!

Filled with Expressionistic shadows and silhouettes, this thing uses mobile cameras unlike anything from that era! They do what you see in cgi today all the time: aerial shots zooming and swooping through buildings and cityscapes. There's a GREAT shot that speed through trees up to the frontispiece of a mansion, then into the mansion, and through it's rooms; there's also an awesome DIVE along the facade of a clock tower at a 180 to the sidewalks below, that goes all the way until it's at eye level with the pedestrians!

I wuz WOWED, for a thing that was shot in 1929!

They used 35mm to shoot the effects, also unique for the time.

The humor and mystery are right out of CAT AND THE CANARY, but beyond that, this HAD to be a milestone.

I loved this one! (Vincent Price did another remake in the 1950's, but that doesn't grab my fancy at all)

Just HAD to rave about it.

ANYONE ever catch this? (Maybe when you wuz tykes?)

Dr. Depp?
Current rumor floating on the web is there's a DR. WHO feature in development with Johnny Depp as the lead:

http://www.disneydreaming.com/2010/06/30/marvel-doctor-who-movie-to-star-johnny-depp/

I love Depp, but Dr. Who must be played by a true Brit.

Hello, all. I've lurked here occasionally for years now and thought I should drop in to thank one of you, a Mr. Brian Phillips, for some kind words he posted my website/blog (classictvhistory.com), a few days back. Thanks, Brian! As someone who's mildly obsessed with Harlan's TV work, I find myself slightly giddy at finding my work immortalized in the archives of the Webderland.

Harlan, if you're reading this, and you happen to have a vague memory of talking to some dumb college kid on the phone for ninety minutes circa spring 1996, mainly on the subject of the HITCHCOCK HOUR version of "Memos From Purgatory" but also ranging as wide as the likes of Sheriff Cato Hightower ... um, that was me. I thought it was very menschy of you to be so generous with your time and your life story, and always felt bad that the thingee I was working on never got finished or published.

Keeny's affects

Rick, if you're going to do that, you really need to give your post some sort of safety label, such as NOT SAFE TO READ WHILE DRINKING MILK.

Wiping screen, dabbing nose,

MM

Good Lord, breaking story: Christopher Hitchens had to suspend his book tour because he has esophagial cancer!

Fucking, punk ass cigarettes! Those things are just bad.

There is no freedom in those death sticks. No freedom.

I had my issues with Hitch, but I hope he does well. He's a worthy opponent.

Cancer stinks.

affect


Benjamin Lomax,

In all jocularity, I have to admit that many odd things happen to me when Unca Harlan speaks in my direction. For example, I have:

lost bladder control
yipped like a tarsier
contracted chronic formication
convinced that Sinatra woman that her boots were not made to do that at all
woke up in a Bronx park sans pants, sans body hair, with a wad of fifties in my shoe
lost my sex drive, semi-permanently
taken the cure
ate cacti
forgotten the birthdays of all four children
taken up smoking horsepoop cigarettes
kissed my father-in-law
slept in
slept in dung
slept in dung not my own
got the cart before the horse
walked backwards through a series of revolving doors, escalators, and hot coals
made up inane lists
mastered Farsi, including some relatively obscure dialects
transmigrated-then reversed the process(for which there is no word)just to see if I could
walked 15 miles on the Erie Canal
quit my job as an itinerant graffiti artist
misspelled “misspell” for two years
wroten on my blog
changed my screen name to “bowelsofborges” (note the labyrinthine theme)
sold false cure prescriptions to lepers


Yeah, this has affected me both variously, and sundrily, and humorlessly.

yuk,
Rick

Dying is Easy. Comedy is Hard.
Graham --

We only ever had the one George Carlin. At his best, he was brilliant, nobody could touch him at what he did. Because good comedy balances on a razor's edge, now and then, as he got older, he fell off on the too-bitter side, but that's the risk, and he had the chops to get back up ...

Some folks fall off and never quite climb back up. Some get religion or come out of the closet or get scared of terrorists, and they lose sight of what a comedian is supposed to do. They commit the One True Sin in comedy, which is -- drum roll -- to be Not Funny. They don't leave us laughing.

I recall the Eddie Murphy story, when he was supposedly given grief by Bill Cosby because he was doing blue material. Murphy called Richard Pryor, upset. "Was the shit funny?" Pryor asked. "Did they laugh?"

"Yeah."

"Well, tell Bill to have a Coke and a smile and go fuck himself."

Some of them who lose the track do recover. Look at Ellen DeGeneres. She was funny, then not-funny, then funny again.

We have a lot of funny folks still doing spot-on topical humor, you just have to look for them. Watch Cobert or Jon Stewart skewing the pompous. And Louis Black is first rate.

Perry

Been away from here for a week or so....
This is late but heartfelt: Congratulations, Harlan, on your latest of many awards. Now, maybe it's time to speak to that recalcitrant Nobel committee...

I'm glad to see that Futurama is back. Aside from the obvious Star Trek references, has Harlan or Harlan's work ever been referenced, parodied, or suggested at on that show? (I can't say that I recall it happening, but more astute Webderlanders than I might remember something.)

Harlan Ellison guest starring on Futurama......ohhhhh yeah.

--Grayson

George MacKay Brown again...

Well I finally got around to finishing Greenvoe.

Jeeeeez thats a good book. Picturesque and deeply sad at the end. I dont know what upset me more, the treatment of Timmy the meths drinker or the shopkeeper/counciller Mr Evie getting a knighthodd for selling the island of Helya down the river. The very last part was a corking though, a slim ray of hope as the islander furtively return at night to carry on the traditions that have been held there for centuries. Absolutely a fabulous book. I am sorry I never got round to reading it years ago.

So big thanks again for the advice. Also I hope some of the other webderlanders will read it too. It perfectly captures the beauty of the Scottish higlands and islands and the difficult life for those who live there. If you are in any way intrigued by Scotland its a fine book to deepen that interest. I am afraid I cant lend it to anyone though, my mother has blagged it from me. Hmmph.

I'll get onto A Calander Of Love as soon as I finish the Patrick Tilley book I am currently reading. Promise.

All the best

Iain

Why doesn't this country have any truth-tellers like George Carlin doing comedy anymore? And Lewis Black is good, saw him live a year or two ago, but he's not quite on THIS level, to me:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWiBt-pqp0E&feature=related

Reply to Ben
BEN L: A gift? Jesus Wept! It's learned, like any craft.
Practice, patience, persistence. 'Nuff said.
-DTS (That succinct enough?)

Erotophobia
To some of the old-time Webderlanders, when do you stop getting a chill when you reaize that Harlan-fucking-Ellison is writing to you personally? I still have to collect myself every time. Douchey I know, but if a fanboy I remain, so be it.

As for the story, I suspect that contextually it is as much Ellison as it is any man. I found it fascinating that a man with such an affliction who any testosterone driven lad would think to envy is able to draw a pity response. No real angst or tragic evolution, just simplicity in description of a problem you only THINK you would want. This is an absolute lesson in how to "hit it and quit it" literarily.

Without too much ass-kissing, I find myself having to stop several times while reading the stories and trying to divine how I might emulate the simplicity while not giving up the depth. I have gotten back rejects with "Edit this down to half this size and we'll talk". I just marvel how in a couple of thousand words there can be this level of impact, nothing wasted.

Is this a gift or a talent that can be learned? Inability to self-edit is a terrible weakness to have. I know that many (if not most) of those on this forum are of literary bent. Any words of wisdom?

Ben

Ben

The DEATHBIRD STORIES advance reading copy
Harlan's direct question gives me leave to post for the fourth time today (the middle two being the bulletin of Froggy MacIntyre's sad and shocking passing).

The man speaketh truth.

In the most general terms, getting a new package of ARCs from Subterranean Press is always a pleasure, even before I break the seal and know what's inside. I cannot read everything they send me, let alone review it, but the odds are compared to the output of most other publishers comparatively high that the contents will be something that survive the necessary culling that follows, by which I mean the "to read" culling, the more rarefied "to review" culling and the even more rarefied "to keep" culling. For instance, there's this recent picture book, out last month, called THE ADVENTURES OF THE PRINCESS AND MR WHIFFLE, that is hilarious and astonishing, and...well, that's another story.

But there's another factor. As a reviewer who enjoys getting loot just for the sake of getting loot, I am often pleased even if the books I want to read arrive with plain white covers and generic cover typefaces, sans cover art; ie. recent ARC collections of Silverberg and Leiber stories, which had every word those masters penned but not the planned cover design. What do I care, most of the time? The text is sufficient.

Except in this particular case. I am impressed by the physical beauty of this new edition of DEATHBIRD STORIES and all I got was an ARC of the trade paperback. The cover painting, which on Harlan's adamant behest is not sullied by title or byline -- you can figure out who wrote the book and what it's called by the spine -- is the best artwork-based-on-Ellison since the portrait covers of the 35th and 50th collection. (Some of you might cry, "Yerka!" but I remind you, he produced his paintings before Harlan leaped on stage for MIND FIELDS.) It's a divine piece of work, supported by lovely interior design elements betwee each story.

I remind you again, I got the ARC and it's too beautiful to part with. The somewhat-pricey-but-worth-every-dime December hardcover will be a jewel on the shelf.

(Maybe someday I'll have a book out by Subterranean, but that's a sigh for another day -- and the venal shnorring of a wordmith afflicted by serious book envy. Right now it's sufficient to speak as reviewer, to give a general thumbs-up and pass along the word that when column-time rolls around, I often suffer pangs of conscience over which of your many treasures I have to pass on reviewing, in order to make room for releases by others. The DEATHBIRD STORIES ARC is one reason why.)

HARLAN: Not a problem. We're good.

S.

ODELL .... YO!

ahhhhhh....

yeah, uh, erumph...

About that "I Will Read Your Fucking Story" japery.

Mmmm. I was jesting. Forget I said it; and go back to class.

(And by the way, what happened to yer kid's yearbook you wanted me to sign?)

-Harlan

I wanted to congratulate Harlan on the Eaton Award. Those kudos do feel good, don't they?

Also a "way-to-go" to shagin going to Clarion.

Rich Keeney: I lost a friend to pancreatic cancer in December. Man, it hit fast. He was fiercely unconventional, erudite and once whipped up a nice tartar sauce for me from stuff he scrounged from my refrigerator. I know what it's like to lose a friend like that. My heart goes out to you and I thank you for your profile of your friend.

Chuck

~sigh~
forgive the typos

RIP Vince Singleton


I promised my friend on his deathbed that would have his name remembered. Who better than the discerning and huge-hearted Webderlanders? We have all known a person like Vince. A fan who made a difference to authors. (Gary Braunbeck and James Morrow both dedicated books and novellas to Vince.) So here you go: My buddy, Vincent Singleton, the Tennesseean, the Strong.

After a long fruitless wait on some ethereal liver transplant list, on July 27 Vince Singleton succumbed to pancreatic cancer, and a platelet count so miniscule that his brain began to bleed. There’s not one solitary kind comment to make about the utter goddamn tragedy of Vince’s passing. He fought his ass off. He battled incompetent VA physicians (and praised the good ones), suffered the side effects of one radical medication after another, and somehow sustained his dignity and twisted sense of humor within a body dead set upon betraying him. In so doing, I believe he may have singlehandedly saved his own soul. Aren’t the grieving allowed some small portion of unreasoning hope?

If I only took measure of Vince based upon the things he has shown me, the music he's given me and introduced me to, the authors, artists, books, albums and short fiction he placed in my path; if those many gifts were the sole accounting of the treasure he represents to me the tally would seem astronomical.

His literary savvy, his skill with words, his keen, nasty wit; these other facets of my gemstone Vince helped solidify our friendship.

But I think it was his rebel spirit and dogged determination to jump through the brutal hoops and rings of fire that kept him viable for that elusive organ that taught me multitudes about the measure of mankind. His spirit is luminous.

I can hear his laugh even now.

What a man.

Such a friend.



“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” -Martin Luther King, Jr.

sorry
Sorry, typo: that's _MacIntyre_, of course. F. Gwynplaine MacIntyre.

ARCs, belated wishes and condolences
HARLAN: Didn't see the actual ARC hardcopy, but I saw the cover and typesetting, etc., via an online version. Since I own copies of the original hardcover and Easton Press editions, I believe it's safe for me to weigh in and say, the Subterranean version is, indeed, a very lush, very aesthetic piece of bookmaking. A rare thing in these times.

Susan: Belated 28th birthday wishes (everything after 29 becomes an "Unbirthday").

Condolences to all who mourn McIntyre's passing. Sad news.

All best,
DTS

those new DEATHBIRD STORIES "ARCs"


Adam-Troy: honest answer: is not the Advance Reading Copy (aka ARC) of the new, expanded DEATHBIRD STORIES, sent to you by the most excellent Bill Schaffer of Subterranean Press...is it not...be honest...one of the most imperial-looking books you've ever seen? Or am I merely smitten with the format, the typography, and that breathtaking Tom Kidd cover painting?

Apart from Susan and myself, you're one of the first to see it, and if this is how sumptuous the ARC is, can you imagine what the actual BOOK will look like!?!

RSVP. Yr. Pal, Harlan

REPLY TO BEN LOMAX


Despite my not-unjustified rep as a bit of a slut before I married Susan, I cannot pretend that the idea for "Erotophobia" was anything more deeply-rooted than, well, just another idea.

Of course, EVERYTHING one has seen or done or believed or renounced gets dumped into that swamp, and when something bubbles to the top for a moment of recognition, who can say what has been an "influence" or merely serves as random flotsam to further an already-plotted story idea. You get an "I dunno," Ben...I'm no more sapient on this one than you are

Yr. Pal, Harlan

Keeney: I am sorry for your loss. May your friend's pain now be at an end. Hold the good memories close.

***

Steve B: Congratulations on your possible new job! *fingers crossed when I'm not writing*

***

From the Homefront: Yesterday my husband told me that our youngest son tried to use the microwave. It seems he was hungry, got the macaroni and cheese out of the refrigerator, put it in the microwave, and started pushing buttons. He only went to get daddy when he couldn't push the right button to make it work. This is a big step for him, a recognition of a 3 step process. He loves numbers, we have hopes we can teach him the proper buttons to push to get the desired effect.

Happy Mommy Dance!


shagin

Another belated congratuations
Congrats on your award Unca Harlan!

I'm 90 seconds behind the rest of the world.

ANSWERING HARLAN
Sorry it's taken me so long to get back to you, Unca Harlan. Clarion West is, well, an experience in the fullness of the word.

The six Savants: Michael Bishop (a gentleman through and through; Maureen McHugh (she's fun, insightful, and a great conversationalist); Nnedi Okorafor; Graham Joyce; Ellen Datlow; and Ian McDonald.

I would be honoured if you want to look over one of my submissions, but it would have to be sent via email as it would take too long by post to send and receive. Might Susan have an email address, or is there another you would prefer?

I'm turning in my first submission today, a military SF piece. We were encouraged to challenge ourselves while here, so I'm taking it to heart. I don't normally write such things and am not afraid to try. What did I do? I ran it by my husband, the military geek. He didn't immediately burn it, so I figure it's not bad for a first draft.

What's the competition like? I feel that I am in the top five running, and have had others say the same (for what it's worth; pay no heed to hollow ego stroking). We each have our own strengths. I can say I am the one most willing to take chances with subject matter and style. Even when taking chances, much of what the others write is white bread and butter. I don't mind white bread and butter, per se, but why settle for it when you can set your own place at the feast?

We have a Ph.D. in Literature in process, 4 college English/Writing/Literature instructors, three editors of semi-pro magazines, a gaggle of well read folk. And me. I compare myself to the others, their talent and accomplishments, and feel very small. I'm a housewife and mother. What do I know? Then Doug reminds me that I made it in as a housewife and mother, and I have as much to offer as any of them. Only yesterday I received two rejections, yet made another sale. It's a mixed bag, if only in my head.

Thanks for being there,
shagin

Congratulations.
I've spent years lurking hear but posting only several times. Mostly because other says what I want to say better than I do or can. But in this case. Congratulations Harlan on the well deserved Award.

Harlan, congrats on the Eaton Award =, it is an honor that is well deserved

Barber, great news on the job. Is this the position you mentioned to me last week?

Keeney, I am sorry for your loss. You know how to reach me if you want to talk

Getting a bit nervous about the panel discussions at Con later this week. The Harlan one (Harlan Ellison: The Bad Guy of Science Fiction? The Theme of this Con is Villains) has only 9 or 10 attendees right now but the one on the Villains of Joss Whedon has over 80 so far. I am an experienced presenter, but I do admit to getting butterflies at times when standing in front of a group of that size....

Mark

Chadwick news
Just spotted this on Paul Chadwick's blog, part of a list of things he's working on:

"I'm nearing completion of my long-gestating DC series with Harlan Ellison. That means they may soon safely schedule it for publication."

This is most definitely news to me, and the thought of our gracious host's words and Chadwick's art is enough to have me standing in line already. Dare I hope for more details?

A passing that I doubt will get much coverage. Joe Messerli.
...and if this was mentioned here, I apologize.

Joe Messerli, the man that designed the famous "Twilight Zone" logo while working at UPA passed away. The article can be found here:
http://tinyurl.com/273rb5l

How interesting a tinyurl,
Brian Phillips

Some days you just have to ask yourself "What was I thinking?".

Today I commit to taking a new position here at The Phone Company. It's a much more limited role, and not quite the fun of my current situation, but it has the double bonus of being more reliably stable in this current economic environment, and simultaneously promising to be a nice increase in income. more stressful but it also puts a lot more control into my own hands versus relying upon others. My current boss (a Director) has made it clear to myself and the hiring manager that he will only release me when he has a replacement hired and onboard -- and if we have a hiring freeze my movement is indefinite.

PLUS The pool guys are at the house putting on the final layer of the pool restoration. It was originally built in 1959 and had survived fifty years with not even a single facelift except for a poorly advised coping "update" two decades ago. (Faux brick, applied as a plaster. The less said about this the better, aesthetically.) The yard has been torn up, but it looks like the pool will indeed be ready for a 4th of July Barbeque.

(Cris just called me to let me know the plaster -- being sprayed on as I write -- is MUCH bluer than she'd expected. Yeech.)

PLUS Just prior to the death of our dog Gig, he ripped a nail off and left three large pools of blood on the carpet. A month's effort to remove the stain -- with associated heartbreak every time we knelt to clean it -- proved fruitless. So the decision was made to call in a favor from a friend who working in flooring and we're putting in new carpeting. House-wide. All of the shelves and drawers have to be emptied so the crew can move the furniture. All of our glasswork must be secured and safetied away from the cats, who are bound to be quite jittery with the ripping up of carpet.

And it's only Tuesday.

I've been rereading Harlan's SLIPPAGE foreward with keen interest.

Stress? What stress?

And the sad thing is -- of everyone on this board, I've got the FEWEST legitimate complaints.

Poor little rich boy, eh?
__________________________________________

"I just received the Advance Uncorrected Proof of their new edition of DEATHBIRD STORIES. Huzzah!"

This is great news! Both for the opportunity to review the book for a new generation -- and for the PUBLISHING of a new edition for said new generation!

On the other hand: "uncorrected proof"? Loftus, you slacking???

Spelling
That's F. Gwynplaine MacIntyre.

Damn it
F. Gwynplaine Macyntire, dead, apparently by suicide.

Goodie in Mail
My position as book columnist for SCI FI magazine only permits me to review four books every two months, which means that there are a lot of major works from major publishers that I never get to. Subterranean Press almost always gets a work included. Why? Well, aside from the wonderfulness of a lot of what they publish, which would make it possible if politically suspect some months to base an entire column on their slate alone, they care. Unlike a lot of the big folks for whom publishing genre fiction is almost a loss leader -- and who subsequently don't seem to care whether reviewers ever get to see their product -- Subterranean sends me almost everything, and sufficiently far in advance that I have time to schedule it.

I just received the Advance Uncorrected Proof of their new edition of DEATHBIRD STORIES. Huzzah!

Thanks Keeney

Thanks for the warm welcome Keeney, I'm glad to know I was able to give you a little reprive from your grievous day. I was in Minnesota earlier this month backpacking, canoeing and camping in the Boundary Waters. I actually lived in Ely, MN in 2007 working for a wilderness outfitter. I also write a little for the Boundary Waters Journal. I send my best to you and yours!

Teach

Belated Best Wishes
Happy Birthday Susan, hope it was a good one.

All the best,

FAQ

:)

Teach

On this beautiful June day in Minnesota, a day in which one of my best and finest friends succumbed to pancreatic cancer, you provided me with the opportunity I needed. The chance to smile.

Thanks, my man. And welcome to Webderland, and to the Art Deco Dining Pavilion.

Peace be upon us,
but it's raining in Tennessee.

Bless you Vince Singleton. Rest in Peace.
Rick

Eaton Award
Congratulations on the Award. As a graduate of that Riverside University which has deviously graced itself by presenting the award on their campus, I have to say one thing they do well for being such a relatively small school is represent creative writing. Though most people have never heard of it in my industry, amongst fandom they have managed to establish a bit of a beachhead which will certainly be boosted by your attendance. As has previously been noted, give us the word when the presentation is so that you can be suitably cheered for. Besides that it might give me the opportunity to meet a few of my esteemed fellow fans who participate here.

Congratulations and well-deserved!

BTW, still doing the reviews (though I had a bit of a hiccup). Is Erotophobia semi-autobiographical? I would not ask this of nearly anyone, but with your randy reputation (as a younger man of course, now I understand you are downright respectable), I was curious.

Ben

Treasure

Last Thursday, in a favorite bookstore, I happened to overhear a customer asking about an order. Dangerous Visions, it transpired.
Whereupon the owner? strolled over and mentioned that he had a copy, at home, acquired when the book was first published. A copy of Again, Dangerous Visions too.
As I recall, he was commended for his good fortune. At which point, I chanced to glance up and note the expression...in his eyes.
Rarely have I seen anyone more conflicted. Disconsolate.
As though, for some reason, he imagined his prized volumes might be wrested from him.

Happily, nothing so dire occurred.
And I left the store remarkably light-hearted.
Because, had it merely been diamonds and pearls at issue, he wouldn't have found himself so unsettled.

Congratulations.

J.

Look at this disgraceful obit of Robert Byrd:

http://dailycaller.com/2010/06/28/sen-robert-byrd-not-only-was-a-kkk-member-but-led-his-local-klan-chapter/

The right are just scum suckling pigs.

I had many problems with Senator Byrd, but the guy was a genuine statesman. The last of a kind. Now we only have hacks. Worse, hacks with guns.

Congratulations, Harlan. You should send an announcement to that
social climbing con woman in Cleveland.

Congrats on the award, Harlan!

-----

Interesting:

Author Nicholas Carr: The Web Shatters Focus, Rewires Brains
http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/05/ff_nicholas_carr/all/1

Othath-He-Waugh-Pe-Qua
Hey Unca,

I’ve been reading these posts off and on ever since I saw DWST. I had no idea of who you were or what you did, but I found you to be a very intriguing individual so I sat in amusement listening and watching IFC for the next 90 minutes or so. I read some of your work just out of curiosity and find them to be just as exceptional as the person I viewed on DWST. I believe it was your temperament that drew in my curiosity and left me glued to the lazy boy. So why did I wait to write something on your wall until now? I think it was when I was just reading about someone from Defiance, Ohio, and you never setting foot in this area. Actually I don’t live far from Defiance being from Piqua, another place in Ohio you might never have been to as well. You were speaking about Phoenix With Out Ashes, which started me thinking about how Piqua received it’s name, Othath-He-Waugh-Pe-Qua" translated as "He has risen from the ashes”. So that is how I got to where I am with posting to the Great Wall of Unca Harlan. Now I even learned something new today, about the Eaton Award, congratulations are in order my friend, this sounds like a HUGE reward, something well deserved I am sure. Speaking of Eaton there is also an Eaton, Ohio, by Dayton, Ohio. Have you heard the one “are you Dayton a girl from Eaton or are you ………. not sure if I can finish that joke but I’m sure you can figure it out.

Teach ( Mike Teach )

Harlan & Susan
First off...Happy Belated Birthday to Susan! We all love you lots! Congrats to Harlan on the Eaton Award. We are off (Andrea and I) to Ireland on Thursday. I have a gig here and at least three there. I'll call before I leave. Love You Both, Tim, Andrea and Alexa.

HARLAN,

Stellar congrats for the Eaton!!

Stuff and stuff
Belated Birthday condolences to Susan - since I know the number of the beast. Not Susan, just the evil number.

Pre-congratulations to Harlan for his upcoming Eaton award. I understand this comes with its own wall-space. As an award to a fantasist it certainly OUGHT to.

Here is one of those desert island threads one sees all the time on the net. Harlan gets his due from Elizabeth Anne Hull right off the bat (along with Sturgeon and Lafferty) and then he comes up a few more times in part 2 of the same thread.

"What single-author, non-"Best-of" collections of sf/f/h stories should be in every fan's library? You may choose between 1 and 10 titles."

http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2010/06/mind-meld-what-single-author-short-fiction-collections-should-be-in-every-fans-library/

http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2010/06/mind-meld-what-single-author-short-fiction-collections-should-be-in-every-fans-library-2/

Congratulations, Harlan! Being chosen for the Eaton Award is wonderful news!

More to follow on my state after class.


shagin/Sandra/Clarion 18/She Who Critiques With Scalpel

Congrats!
Congratulations on the Award, Harlan! Would you perhaps need a cheering section when you accept the prize? I think those of us in So-Cal would be glad to oblige...

Congratulations for the Eaton Award!

Eaton Award

Harlan,

now I know how you feel about the Eaton award, I can offer hearty congratulations. You'll need to clear a bit of wall space, if it's in the same format as the one they gave to Bradbury:

http://tinyurl.com/ucreaton

- Phil

Ah, thy concern touches my heart... and other appropriate organs.
HARLAN: You want the lowdown? You askin' for the skinny? Not too much is going on, on my end. I'm renting out my apartment for July; I found a subletter who needed a place to stay for the month, so that'll save me $607.

Curse the internet all you want, but the 'net combined with my writing skills unearthed a miracle. A person in L.A. is going away for a month with her son and needed someone to look after their house (and their cats). That person found my blog through a friend's recommendation, got addicted to it, met with me, found me respectable, and is letting me stay there for the next 29 days! With pay! Writing is truly a gift from the gods.

But no job yet. Just clinical trials, whereupon I'm testing a certain cream that requires tissue samples taken from a rather uncomfortable part of one's female anatomy. 'Nuff said.

The "Rex" book is done and up on Amazon, so that's another good thing. It only came out to about 31,000 words and is almost all internet research, but at least I didn't completely waste six months of my life. And I was able to use a photo that I took of the lead actor back in December. Still disappointed that I couldn't watch the pilot and include a script/pilot comparison/contrast in the final draft, though.

STUPID STUPID RAT TYPO

Saramago, not "Saramaga." With an OOOOOOOOO, not "Scaramouche."

-he

LATE NIGHT ENTRIES BY ELLISON


1. The estimable Phil Nicholls of the U.K. "outed" me last week as the upcoming laureate for the 4th Eaton Conference Lifetime Achievement Award. I haven't spoken about this yet, because the main tacticians in this accolade are away for a week or so, and I didn't know if it was copacetic for me to trumpet the honor. But I see The Eaton Conference has its own site, and it has announced this genuinely terrific bit of respect already, so I just wanted to acknowledge same by saying it is VERY VERY important for me, this honor. I'll speak more about it as days go on, because I'm thrilled, and I plan to stay vertical well into February when they hand it to me at the University of Riverside. In light of my recently turning down a couple of phony-baloney "Lifetime Awards" because they were a 3-card monte scam for unworthy social climbers, I hope it is evident to the rest of you, and to the most excellent people at The Eaton Conference, that I am taking this EXTREMELY HAPPILY and SINCERELY!
-------------------------------------------------------------
"Riding the Rails in Atlantis" is now more than 7000 words in length, and I'm not quite halfway in the writing. It flows out of me like watered-silk and Morricone music.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Steve Barber: welcome back from your second honeymoon, and if you get a spare moment, just a minim, would you gimme a call tomorrow? I wish to impose upon you for 3 things.
----------------------------------------------------------------
SANDRA SHAGIN ODELL SEMI-

It goes well?

Tell me who the six savants are. Tell me (briefly) what your competition is like. Tell me if you want me to go over anything before you turn it in: I am not above collaborating to cheat, for people I love. Clarion has no longer any use for me, but I can still play Mephistopheles with the canniest of them.

Holy
Gadzoley,
Betty
Spaghetti

who knows if this will even be seen at this hour. I'm always astonished at how many of you there out there in this small community, sharing with me.

As for Kafkahead's question about Jose Saramaga...

I am not as exhaustively familiar with his work as I am with a great many otheers, but I mread him regularly and have both likes and dislikes, and more than anything...feelings. I read, first, long ago, BALTASAR & BLIMUNDA and found him to be brave as well as heroic. So I read, when it came out, BLINDNESS, and was deeply moved, deeply troubled, deeply affected. I stayed away from him for a long time, as one does a pit bull one senses has deep feelings toward you. THE DOUBLE was a lot easier, and so I began DEATH WITHOUT INTERRUPTIONS. I have now, I confess, tried to read it three times. I think it has little to do with the book, which is excellent and requires no
special intellectual equipment. It is, I suppose, a very "good" book, but it stops me some sixty pages in. Every time. I cannot say why. Saramaga is, in my lay opinion, well worth the time to unravel his skein. I will be going back to him one day soon. Thank you for asking, Kafkahead.
----------------------------------------------------------------When Susan's "thing" is all over, I will have more time to come here. One day this coming week, I will achieve one of my lifelong dreams. I am going to the Getty to SEE for myself, first-hand, the paintings I love of Gerome. (Put a small tent over that "r.")

Yr. Pal, Harlan

Time to geek out!
Our good Doctor, Matt Smith, not only introduced Orbital at this year's Glastonbury Festival…he also performed the Doctor Who theme with them on synthesizer. Check it out. This just made my evening:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfJ1Qjdg_MY

The lives we lead and the choices we make
I do not think it is cute or cool to call for someone to be splattered with a shotgun. Not even Joran van Der Sloot. much less someone we merely have political disagreements with. For shame.

We're cool Raven. I sort of thought it was something along those lines, as you seemed a bit "off your centerpoint" there.

Frank, the Left is hot called upon to be fair and evenhanded, nor is the Right. Everyone is called upon to be decent. There are only two races, and two parties, if you will: the Decent and the Indecent. pick your side. Your actions will tell the tale.

That is the story of "The Lives of Others", by the way. There are only two types, two races, two parties. The good, and the bad. Excepting the overlong final scenes, it was a near perfect film. It could have ended with the close-up of the newspaper cover. That said it all.

I do not accept that I am cynical about the human race if I point out we can make bad choices and suffer terrible consequences. I do not despair. Despair is a sin. Those who see no future for the human race either do not truly believe this in their most inner thoughts, or they are living a lie. If you truly believe the human race has no future, what's the point?

Each of us has an "answer" to that one, of course. What works for you, works for you.

We can live in the hope of becoming a memory. That requires there be someone left to remember us. I can at least work to make that possible, and not give up. There is a future, and I want lots of people in it to remember all of us. Call me selfish, but I like the idea of lots of people. After all, most of my friends and family are people. I’m kind of prejudiced that way. Go figure.

The human race at least once came -that- close to extinction, It's in our genes. There is more diversity, genetically, between two bands of chimpanzees on either side of the Congo than between any two humans. Much as with the cheetah, who underwent a similar genetic "squeeze", we came within a hairsbreadth of extinction.

The best estimate is that at one point there were about two hundred human beings left, probably on the southern tip of Africa, living in coastal caves.

It would be a shame if the universe became aware of itself in us, came that close to losing it, rose to these current heights, and then blew it all.

There are no guarantees of success, but giving up assures failure.

Despair is a sin.

Not to mention it's utterly boring.. Is that the best you have, "give up, the race is doomed"?

The human race does have a future. There will be humans on other worlds, if I have anything to say about it, which I do.

And yes, E-MC^2 will have a role to play in making thqt possible. A wise man once said that the very fact humans have had nuclear weapons for half a century or more, and only used them in anger twice, early on, that alone is reason for hope. Evidence that humans really can make good choices and act sanely. No guarantees, but there is a chance, because there is a choice,.

And it’s certainly not boring.

An honest opinion, if you please, stout story-teller
Dear Harlan

I require some honest comments on Saramago's work from someone else that doesn't speak my language, as I always wanted to know the perception of foreign people on the his literary accomplishments, as well as wit.
What I specifically need is that you answer these questions: What do you think of his work? And why do the people expel virtuous men from their own Nations, for something as simple as a book? True, a book may sometimes speak the truth in greater tones than a loudspeaker or a person with a strong larynx and greater lungs, but it is no reason to expatriate someone who delivers different insight.

A fella from Portugal, awaiting a sincere answer

K.

P.S: To all fellow webderlanders interested, give me your own answers as well. Every word counts to me.

If you not already noted it, looking up at the top of this page you will see that Rick has graciously posted two copies (HTML and PDF) of THE GREAT ELLISON BOOK PURGE 2010 - JULY 6,7,8 brochure. For those of you what not on the mailing list, you, too, may now search, drool and arrange to make a phone call or three the week after Independence Day -- or, for you furners, the week after "next Sunday".
_________________________________________________

FRANK - Pity not us Married Guys. Quite a few of us will attest to it being far better than the rep it's acquired.
_________________________________________________

FRANK #2 - Hate us not, my friend. We too are suffering 70% humidity today.

Of course, it's only 74 degrees with a nice breeze and blue skies. But otherwise...

DEMON WITH A GLASS HAND / YASHAR
TIM RAVEN: being a musician, are you familiar with the music of Cabaret Voltaire?

Sheffield, England's proto-industrialists recorded at least three (from what I can tell) studio versions of a propulsive track called "Yashar," featuring the innovative use of the looped voice of Robert Culp from DEMON WITH A GLASS HAND. The piece is available on three releases via iTunes, one mix running at 5:11 on THE ORIGINAL SOUND OF SHEFFIELD - '78 / 83 and one at 5:03 as an addition to the original THE CREPUSCULE TRACKS. This is the version I own, but on a Cabaret Voltaire CD entitled 2 X 45. Today I've just discovered a mix (running time 7:30) on FACTORY RECORDS: 1978 - 92 -- unfortunately available as an album only purchase -- (iTunes and Amazon MP3 downloads). OK, whew! Ellison completists will have at least one version! "Yashar" really lit the way for Stephen Mallinder and Richard H. Kirk's seminal recordings as Cabaret Voltaire in the following years, 1983's THE CRACKDOWN and 1984's MICRO-PHONIES.

"Yashar" should be played at high volume, of course.

Brian, I pity you married guys.

----------

omg it's humid. You Angelinos, you lucky as fuck Kalifornicational demons, God I envy you right now.

Ninety three degrees, with about a seventy dew point. It feels like Sprite sprayed on my skin, dried off with an industrial fan and little me baking in a primordial oven.

To be on a San Diego beach about now. The pain, the pain.

I watched soccer and I loved it!
While Barb and Kelly were running various errands yesterday, birthday boy Eddie and I watched the last half-hour of the Uruguay-South Korea match and I enjoyed it.

Then, for lunch, all four of us plus some of our neighbors went to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the USA-Ghana match. I watched the whole two-hour event and had a great time. One of the coolest things was that there was a large group of folks from Ghana at the restaurant. Big fun, even though the USA lost.

This is a major change to my world view as I have previously mocked soccer at every opportunity.

I guess some old dogs can learn new tricks.

Tony

Breakin' da Law ""

Huh...

Wiki say it won the Nebula. Wiki wiki ass kicky.

ZM

Just finished THE WINDUP GIRL by Paolo Bacigalupi.

I recommend it.

ZM

Arlene Martel
This morning, I wrote a post-it note that I attached to my monitor. It says “Tim, do not post!”

Fuck that.

Mr. Ellison, in “Dreams With Sharp Teeth”, during the bit where Susan described how you cast her out of the house naked, was that Bukowski’s daughter Marina sitting at the end of the table?

Watched “Demon With A Glass Hand” for the first time on Hulu a few days ago. Great story, and jeez, Arlene Martel was friggin hot. I think I’ll have to fix that Time Mirror so I can go back to 1964 and ask her out to dinner.

She was also Spock’s betrothed in “Amok Time”…Yeah Baby!Logical Chicks make the stem hard every seven years!

Tim Raven

A DVD and blog of note and a paid author
Stephen Bowie is a TV and film scholar and he writes a simply wonderful blog called the "Classic TV History Blog", which brings to the fore many great names sung and unsung.

This entry,
http://classictvhistory.wordpress.com/2010/06/23/three-plays-by-tennessee-williams/

mentions a Criterion DVD that should be of interest to Harlan and other Pavilion dwellers. "The Fugitive Kind" is credited as being a fine and overlooked film, but the essay raves on about the extras, three TV plays by Tennessee Williams. When you finish reading that, look at the rest of the blog. I highly recommend it. Where else can one read a lengthy interview with Jason Wingreen ("The Twilight Zone", the voice of Boba Fett) or the extremely odd tale of Laurence Heath? http://www.classictvhistory.com/MiscArticles/laurence_heath.html

So who is the paid author?

Me!

InfoWorld is a trade magazine that solicits anecdotes and stories from IT pros about the strange things that users have done to their computers over the years. I submitted a true story and it got published AND a brother got paid! The reason I haven't mentioned this here was that I used the money toward a nice birthday present for the good lady wife.

The article is anonymous, the names are changed, but I did indeed write this:

http://tinyurl.com/26y83f9

You need not be a geek to appreciate this. In the end, it is really more about office politics.


While I'm at it, a very public "Whoo!" to Sandra at Clarion West.

Brian Phillips

The Rubber Band Time Machine
The vagaries of English being what they are, I suppose one can read "The only American novelist near his level is Tim Powers.", in refereence to Neal Gaiman, as meaning Gaiman is also American.

That I know Gaiman is a British "ex-pat"resident in the USA and thus sought to distinguish Powers as the closest "native" -American- , and certainly not Native American.but rather mative in the sense of having been born in Buffalo, New York, then and now part of the US of A. though, having been born on the 29th day of February Powers may not truly be fully resident on this time-line, hence his sense of living on bar time, a half-step ahead of the rest of us, slipping on Einstein's banana peel, each moment one chronon closer to ewigkeit.

Powers is the only American novelist I know of (which of course means there are scads I do not know of, more's the pity) who shares the Gaiman sort of knack to imbue seemingly mundane American locales with a sense of immanent weirdness.

In exploration of contemporary German cinema, last night I viewed "Run, Lola, Run", and tonight it shall be "The Lives of Others".

"Lola" was different. Causalisty and transcendence. All in three acts.

I gave the lady an orange, Though she peeled it, not a bite would she take. Such is life.

of all the possible Ohios
Dear Mr. Ellison,

In your wanderings of this world (and maybe realms beyond), even a few places might have been overlooked, and I could certainly understand Defiance, being a small town (the former site of a frontier fort) located halfway between Ft. Wayne and Toledo. Not even a blip on the typical radar, but positively huge to those from townships of 250 people or less.

While I am not a native Ohioan, both my parents are (Mom is from Steubenville, Dad was originally from Mingo Junction and moved to Brilliant - ever been to those?), although they now reside in Virginia.

My journeys through Ohio, while at times reminding me (with apologies to Maine) not so much of Stephen King's "Children of the Corn" but more of his "Rainy Season", continue to elicit visions of the fantastic, a realm I like to think of as "Nohio". In Defiance, just a little east of the confluence of the Maumee and Auglaize Rivers, in the waters there sits Island Park, which apparently was a bit of a carny town back in the early 20th century, but only the foundations of the attractions are left now. Maybe for a particularly plucky traveler who dares to take a boat out one night, Island Park lives again...

Anyhow, all the best from Ohio, Nohio, and everywhere between,
Stefan Hall

Hidey Ho Neighbor
First time in (mumble, mumble) months I've checked the Pavilion and I find I missed the wonderful Miss Susan's birthday by a mere 2 days! Happy Belated Birthday oh blessed bearer of book buying bonanza mailings!

I'm admittedly somewhat slightly later for the estimable Mr. Harlan's birthday. A Happy But Much More Belated Birthday to you sir!

All the best to you both, and the kindly denizens hereabout,
Peg

STEFAN HALL apropos of less than nothing

As we both know, I am originally FROM Ohio.

Yet, though I have been virtually EVERYwhere in Ohio, by foot, by car, by plane, by boxcar, by truckbed, even by helicopter...

From Akron to Zanesville...

I have never been to Defiance.

That I recall.

Now whaddaya think'a THAT?!!?

Yr. Pal, Hegira Harlan

re: IDW's Phoenix Without Ashes
Dear Mr. Ellison,

Thank you for the information you provided regarding Phoenix Without Ashes. I try hard to support local businesses - especially bookstores (conventional, comics, and otherwise) - whenever possible, and so I like to exhaust whatever avenues there before heading out in the wilds of the internet. My local comic shop owner and I will get in cahoots to see what we can do about the IDW incentives.

While I am not as much of a completist as others who post here (my Ellison shelves hold 40+ editions of your books, including the 1975 Fawcett paperback release of Phoenix Without Ashes, not counting various comic books and magazines), I do try to acquire alternate/reissued editions of your work when I get the chance, hence my extra interest in the Phoenix Without Ashes chapbook.

Thank you again for the information; I have passed it along to my local comics dealer.

Sincerely,
Stefan Hall

JAN / EU

You are peaches, kiddo.

Keep your eyes open in Krakow and Budapest. Apart from what you're there to do, if you see anything we might've missed, give us the usual nudge.

Do you have even a squish of the size of our appreciation for your doing this, yet again?

Yr. Pal, Harlan

Greetings from Krakow. If you need something from here or Budapest I can mail it.

Sell Your Money to me....Seriously!
Hey Ellison's, and everyone else.

I'm going to Italy next Saturday. I'm getting my stuff together for the trip, and I realize I have 120 Euros and change from my last trip. I never converted it back to US Dollars because my bank BB&T wanted to charge me $15 for the "service." Normally I can sweet talk people into waiving all sorts of charges and fees (remind me to tell you about the time I got MCI to waive $1600 worth of International Long Distance dialing charges), but BB&T would not budge a bit on their policy, despite the fact that I'd been using them for 15 years (and yes, this is what pushed me over the edge to use a local institution, Presidential Bank). So, I kept my Euros. But now I need some more.

If you live here in the US of A, and have some extra Euros lying around the house gathering depreciation, I'd be willing to buy them from you at the going exchange rate the day you post them to me (as long as I get them before 3pm next Saturday, July 3rd). I'm looking for about E400 in bills, plus or minus. No coinage.

If interested, call or e-mail me (at the above e-mail address) so we can work something out.

ALSO, big H, thanks for the Ketchup lesson. I've been spelling it wrong for 30 years. No idea why, and no excuses, though maybe it comes from seeing the also-spelled catsup. Seeing it both ways, my cross-wired brain maybe created the non-word ketsup. (as an aside, I've just heard the correct pronounciation of the word "hectare," and for the first time realized it is a two-syllable word, instead of a three-syllable word.)

kafkapoint

"(excuse me for the harshness of my comments, but this country is made up of illiterate people with a certain predisposition to read either gossip magazines or melodramatic novels and watch mind-numbing TV shows: most of Portuguese prime-time television is made up of melodrama serials)."

boy, oh boy; that sounds familiar

Nationality:
DTS:

I was thanking Rod for something else entirely, but yes, I think I noticed what you noticed and will pretend it was a witicism. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Iain:
As a Canadian living abroad, I feel your pain. Nationality mattes. Do you how many Canadian notables I've found mistakenly labelled as American?

Publications, recordings, personages. . . In the shops, in the anthologies, in the biographies. Canadian magazines with little "US" stickers on them in the imports section, Canadian writers or rock bands listed as "Amerian" in brackets, or placed under USA chapter headings. Even when the origins are clearly listed as Toronto or Montreal, as if the distinction was unimportant or not worth mentioning. Dash it all we don't even have an accent to call our own.

I'm not bothered at all to be taken for an American on the streets of London (rather tickled by it in fact). But to find one's nation's achievements so casualy credited to someone else's: oh it rankles.

And now that I am on the subject, I had better stop.

Cheers,

-Steve E.D.

Gaiman

Well, technically Gaiman has dual citizenship, so he is American by way of locale, and British by way of birth. Certainly his mannerisms and demeanor (and accent) have remained British - which is fine by me as I relish the strange surrealism that is uniquely British that I find everywhere from Progressive/Psychedelic music to Monty Python and Doctor Who.

Which reminds me - tonight is The Big Bang - the biggest bang since Eccentrica Gallumbits!!! Enjoy the finale kids!!!

On Mourning and Gaiman
Dear Harlan et al.

Sorry if took me a while to post again, but I've been in mourning for Saramago's death by pneumonia, at age 87. My country expelled it's only Nobel Prize winner, the only man that had common sense and knew the true meaning of Communist ideals, and just because he wrote "The Gospel according Jesus Christ". The Spanish took him under their wing, arms open, no teeth bared; we, on the other hand, forced him out, under th pretense that the Church would feel that his interpretation on the Gospel was "heretical" and that it didn't contribute much to our culture...This is another reason for wanting out of Portugal: I can love the Nation and the ideals on which it was built upon but not the ignorant people that live in it (excuse me for the harshness of my comments, but this country is made up of illiterate people with a certain predisposition to read either gossip magazines or melodramatic novels and watch mind-numbing TV shows: most of Portuguese prime-time television is made up of melodrama serials).
Sad Irony: a day after I finished my Portuguese Exam, he passed away. It's as if as though he'd been holding up to give me some sort of inspiration, or hope, or some motivation to strive for my finest on the scores (I always wanted to meet him).

Excuse me for the rancorous rant, but I'm still feeling slightly bruised about his death. As for Neil Gaiman, all I can say is that I couldn't give a damn that he is an Englishman, an American, Russian, Chinese, or even Inuit: he's a great writer, and the first actually good (if not excellent) fantasy writer I've ever read. I remember the first book of his I bought. I was reading Pratchett's "Going Postal" and noticed a small ad on the end pages. Among them was the blurb for "Neverwhere". I was instantly interested in the book: it was completely different than everything I've ever read in fantasy (I'll read any type of fantasy, mind you, as long it's not another LoTR knockoff, with clichés about dwarves, elves and orcs: Don't get get me started on elvish stereotypes...). I picked it up immediately, and loved it to death. Next came "Fragile Things", which along another anthology of Bradbury, "The Illustrated Man", imbued me with a newfound respect and love for short story writing. Then it was "Anansi Boys", "Smoke and Mirrors", "Stardust" and the last of them all was "American Gods". Never got the chance to lay my hands on the "Graveyard Book", which is a bit disappointing, considering he mentions the book by its name in "Fragile Things", catching my interest once again.
All in all, by personal experience, I believe Gaiman is an amazing writer and quite an essayist too, if we are to go by his introductions to his anthologies.

K.

P.S: Sorry for the semi-fanboyish description of my reading experience on Gaiman, but I believe a bit of personal experience helps every now and then to describe the effects and influence of a work's ambience on one's work and life.

Neil Gaiman

I have to say that I agree with Amp about the prestige in which Mr Gaiman is held, he is a trully wonderful writer and I have enjoyed every book of his that I have read. He is one of the most talented writers around at the moment and even gives China Mieville a run for his money in the weird and wonderful stakes.

One thing though, and I am sure someone else will have noticed this, Neil Gaiman is a Brit. He just happens to live a fair amount of the time in the US. A small niggle I know but bear with me on this all you colonial peeps. If I were to say that our mentor Unca Harlan were an Australian I am sure it would upset someone somewhere and there would be hell to pay. I am not upset that someone said Gaiman was American, just trying to be accurate. I would also like to point out that he is not Scottish, rather sadly, as I would love him to be a native of my beloved country. Also I would be upset if someone said that Iain M Banks was "English", which is of course the most dire insult possible to any right thinking Scot.

As another example, Charles Stross, whose work I enjoy a hell of a lot, lives in Fife Scotland. But he is English. He was born in Leeds Yorkshire so is English. The geography of where he lives does not change his nationality. The place you were born dictates your nationality (or so I am told).

Which rather convolutedly makes my wife English. And my son half English and there for elligable to play for England in the world cup. Though he could just as likely to play for Scotland. And from what I have seen, the USA too.

Yours Confusedly

Iain

Neal Gaimans "Graveyard Book" won the Carnegie Medal. Might (?) be the only SFnal book ever to garner this prestige.

Gaiman is a literary giant, at the level of a Dunsany or Lovecraft.

The only American novlist near his level is Tim Powers.

We're pretty lucky.

Dear Higher Power, aka spirit of the Universe, God, Deity,

It so far has not been the best of years. Therefore, could u please favor me a do and make Sarah Palin go away. Don't care if a bottomless sink hole opens up under her little footsies, or kindly green small folks come from planet Zenon to carry her off, or her hubby wrests her moose-shootin, rootin tootin shotgun out her hands and splatters her. Just please make her go away. She is not that awfully aged and if u do not divinely intervene, could be a thorn in all our side for a long time. The woman is not stupid, as so many think, but she is so dangerous. She spoke at one of your Cal. universities; she said she anticipated many negative protests and demonstrations. Yet she brought her young daughter, Willow, along for the ride. What kind of mother does that? What kind of human does that? She a scary lady. I be spooked in Chi-town. If this monstrous parody of a human woman obtains national office in my life-time, I won't shoot her or me. Instead I will shoot all the dumbass Dems who have attacked and downgraded Pres. Obama in the last few months. Most people have no perception and damn pitiful memories. Cut our Pres some slack. He got handed one flamin bag of doggie doodoo, and he has responded with grace, deliberation and a truly wise approach.
Diane, sitting here with shivers running up and down my spine, as I whisper President Palin over and over. The mind, at least mine, boggles.

Shagin
Sandra, you should have introduced yourself as an Art Deco dweller. If you see me on Saturday please say hello!

Clarion West
Close the book on week one. Week two begins Sunday.

Spent a few hours feeling out of place at the Friday night party; had a lovely conversation with one of the administrators of the Octavia Butler scholarship. She smiled and praised Harlan when he came up in conversation.

Jack S. came to the house as a "Mystery Muse".

My head is filled with ideas, but for now I want only stillness.

I was asked by Cat Rambo, one of the editors at Fantasy Magazine, for a short piece about anticiipating the Clarion West experience. Take a moment if you're of a mind:

http://www.fantasy-magazine.com/2010/06/you-must-not-be-afraid-clarion-west-anticipation/

Thanks for being there, webderlanders.


Sandra

My Riposte (even if I'm a bit old for fencing these days)
Amparion, I specifically apologize to you…

David Williams, David Loftus, Chuck Messer and Rob…also, my apologies. I was acting like a disgusting troll.

I’ve been on a cheap bender for the last two weeks, and instead of drunk dialing, I was drunk posting, an equally embarrassing behavior.

I won’t be lame and whine that this is a reasonable excuse. But it is an explanation, from one man to another man. Take it or dismiss it as an honest or insincere statement as you will (your choice, chief).

I was really (…really is an understatement…) upset at your collective cynicism towards our future, and the whisky started talking. Shock, disappointment, and cheap booze are a bad combination.

So I’ll shut up now, as I have done many times in the past, when the shame of my drunken deeds begin to haunt me at five AM the next morning. Those damn birds always seem to be chirping outside of my window, the brainless, relentless fuckers. I hide my head under the sheet. Again.

Tim Raven.

Helping hand?
In pursuit of a way to let folks post their email addresses without becoming a target for spam thereby:

A couple of years ago, I was listening to the Webcomics Weekly podcast, and the topic of spam and email links came up. Scott Kurtz of PVP mentioned a Javascript addition that would obscure an address so it was unusable by the harvesting robots. I never heard anything further about it, but it came back to mind with Unca Harlan's latest request, and a Google search found a few sources for: "email address obfuscators". With a little luck, one of same might be not overly difficult to add to the posting page. I never got far beyond basic HTML myself, so I may be whistling into the wind, but I felt it might be of some aid.

mary hartman ditto
possibly worth dial-up download time
Norman Lear feels that this episode of Mary Hartman...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQWufjVHn6k

1 for STEFAN HALL and 1 for RICK WYATT

Mr. Hall: Shamefacedly, I must tell you I cannot answer any of those perfectly reasonable IDW questions about PHOENIX WITHOUT ASHES. Though I am in lock-step with my brilliant editor at IDW, Chris Ryall, and have overseen the artwork and cover art/design...the chapbook promotion emanates from another marketing office at IDW. And though I'm sure it's been explained to me...well...pfffft! I cannot recall the specifics.

I ain't blowing you off, or pleading more ignorance than the portion that is exactly my due, so I guess what I'm saying is this, by way of aiding you:

PHOENIX WITHOUT ASHES was my Writers Guild Award-winning script for an awful tv series I created and then saw mugged&raped. I did a long essay about it. Then the original screenplay, never used, was reprinted and drew attention. Then I was approached to have it novelized, by Gold Medal paperbacks, and my long-time friend--and most excellent award-winning writer--Edward Bryant did a super job adapting it to novel form. That book has been long out of print, but it's a nice one; and Chris Ryall at IDW came up with the idea of issuing it in chapbook sections as a "dealer incentive."

That's the background. If your guy at the dealership thinks 50 is too high an order to GET those incentives, I cannot speak ill of him. HE knows what he thinks the comic will sell, per issue; and so it's up to him. Or he can appeal to IDW. Let him bargain. I KNOW iiiii WOULD. In this economy. Maybe he can strike a deal. Not in my ballpark, kiddo.

As for the hardcover you speak of, hmmm...I know after the arc is completed, they'll be doing the arc as a graphic novel, which is pro forma. As to a hardcover version, well, again, you're asking the horse whereto he's pulling the cart.

Respectfully, Harlan Ellison
--------------------------------------------------------

Rick, my bro...

This pseudonymous spamlady who has serpentined into our cavern here, uh... I do not GET spam. No e.mail address. We get perhaps five or six a week, if that: viagara comeons, the occasional "sell us yer gold" pitch, but I am paranoically punctilious about not going ANYWHERE that might be culling for suckers.

Can you do anything about this? For the gang.

Yr. Pal, Harlan

The B.B.L.O.E.G.

Susan -

First, I would like to wish you a very happy (belated) birthday!! I hope that you celebrated with gusto and were treated like a queen.

Second, I was SO excited to see the B.B.L.O.E.G. in the mail this afternoon. I have just filled out an order card and am putting it in the mail tonight. Thank you - to yourself and Harlan - for the opportunity to order such great items!

Sincerely,
~Alisha

Did ANYBODY else but me
Did ANYBODY else but me smile or laugh at the (I think) inadvertent pairing of "Steve Evil's" first two lines in his post?

FRANK: What, you're just now figuring out there are double standards set by self-serving, conservative, middle and upperclass white men? Most of your women acquaintences/relatives, etc., could probably school you on that.
-DTS

Question about IDW's release of Phoenix Without Ashes
Dear Mr. Ellison,

On Wednesday I went to visit my local comic shop to pick up a few issues and turn in my order form for upcoming releases, and this order form is the one that lists IDW's release of Phoenix Without Ashes - the "First all-new Ellison comic of the 21st century!". In the August 2010 Previews catalog where the issue is spotlighted, on page 154 it advises "Ask Your Retailer How to Get the Exclusive Phoenix Without Ashes Prose Chapbook, Volume 1" and so I did just that. My retailer checked, and it turns out he would have to order 50 copies of the issue to get 1 copy of the chapbook incentive. (He was nice enough to say if it was 25 copies, he'd do it just because I am a great customer who pays on time and never causes any problems.) Now, I see where amazon.com has a listing of a Phoenix Without Ashes hardcover (21 pages in length) scheduled for release on December 28th from IDW. Do you happen to know if that hardcover is the prose chapbook incentive or something else? Might there be another method, besides the usual secondary markets, where the chapbook could be obtained? Thank you for any information you can provide on this matter.

Sincerely,
Stefan Hall

South of the Border--Oliver Stone film--Hugo Chavez aint as bad as they say. Forget what the biased media says.

The left--we allways have to be even handed, but nobody else. Fuck that double standard.

So Joy's been talking to all of you as well? The double timing. . . That's it, I'm off women!

Thanks Rod!

Happiest of birthdays Susan, or as we used to say in the Great White North, "Bonne Fette et toi!"

Susan
My very best wishes for a wonderful birthday.
Laurie

Susan, the big, big list of Ellison Goodies finally arrived at my new place

Thanks,

Mark

Spamly spam
The reason I no longer add my email to my posts: My first post included my address, and within a couple of days I was receiving over 100 pieces of spam a day on my previously spam-free account. When I entered my address, I had assumed it would be used for some sort of authentication and not posted.

I'm fairly certain that there are software robots that do nothing but scan web pages for email addresses, and sooner or later the slime trail crosses Unca Harlan's patio. If you want to post with your address, you could add "nospam" or such to your address, so anyone actually reading could snip that part off before writing.

Practice safe computing, kids. The genie is out, and that bottle done broke.

Yeah, Joy wanted to talk to me, but I told her to talk to the spam filter. Gawd, some women...


shagin

Reply to Steve Evil

Hi Steve,

Yes, by all means, feel free to repost my entry.

Thanks for asking first, too. Your 'common courtesy' is, sadly, not common enough online. You lead by example, sir.

-Rod-

Uh Oh...
Susan, since you're only 11, are you sure your marriage is legal?

Joy!!!
Steve - glad to see someone else knows what's going on! Is some a**hole phishing names from here or something???

I log into my email and find:

From: Linda Musonda (ahanekubaby@yahoo.com)

Hello From Joy
It's really a pleasure to know you on harlanellison.com I am Joy by name, good looking young girl and in search of true love. This is why i have decided to contact you on this site so that we can establish a good relationship and also get to know ourselves. Age,race, and religion is never a problem to me, all that matters to me is true love. Kindly contact me on my Email (joy.musonda@hotmail.com), to enable me send you my pictures so that i can tell you more about myself. Hope to hear from you soonest, Joy

If this info should be sent to the sitemanager, kindly disregard and delete this message - just trying to get it out in the open...

Joy to the World Was a Beautiful Girl, But to Me Joy Meant Only Sorrow ...

Obviously the men here aren't up to snuff, since Joy has found no joy with them and has turned to me. Alas, I am a married man and cannot give her what she needs, so somebody else is going to have to rise to the challenge.

Perry

Happy Birthday, Susan! May you find joy, and may sorrow seek you in vain.


shagin

Regards
A very happy natal day celebration to you Susan.

Happy Birthday, Susan

Like the header says, happy birthday.

Bob

Happy birthday, Susan! Love and hugs from Ohio!

Happy birthday, Susan!

Steve J.

uh
*ENSUE. Hilarity will ensue.

HB SE!

and many happy more
Susan,

11 again? Hey, I have something fun you can try comensurate with your age: take a couple of fast-food-style KETCHUP packets, cut a little slit in them at the end, and place them unobtrusively on THE CHAIR.

Hilarity will ensure. :)

Happy Birthday!

-Keith

Happy, happy bithday. Enjoy\the day. Make Harlan be brave, step up to the plate and take the spankings for you.

David, if I have my signs right, Susan is a Cancer. They cannot help doing all they do with care and caring.

Happy Happy
Wishing you the happiest of birthdays, Susan!

Jan S.

Free Birthday Hugs!
Since I'm too far away you'll have to let Harlan give you one from me !
Enjoy your Birthday and have a GREAT day!

Happy Birthday, Susan!

Wyatt, you stole my line!!

Happy Birthday, Susan! Eleven is a wonderful age. I enjoyed being eleven, especially in the summer.

I wish you a wonderful day!

Chuck

Happy Birthday, Susan! :)
Yahoo! Hip Hip and Hooray!
It's Susan's 11th Today!
No spanking for Susan
We don't want her bruisin'
(She'd spank us right back anyway!)

Have an auspicious natal day filled with friendship, freedom, love, laughter, merriment, fun and mischief.

(Had to put that last in there for any self-respecting 11-yr-old!)

Love,
Gwyneth :-)

Happy birthday, Susan!

Happy Birthday, Susan!
Wishing you a happy 11th! Hope it is filled with relaxation, fun, good food, and great company.

Dear Susan

Happy Happy Day to you!

Many, many kind thoughts go right back to you all. Thank you!

--11 AGAIN.--Susan

Susan!

Have an awesome Birthday!

Happy Birthday Susan
A wonderful birthday to you, Susan!

Happy Birthday, Susan. You're "the sweeter half," and I hope you have a swell play day with that writer kid.

" Life ne'er exulted in so rich a prize! "

-- 24 June, The Robert Burns Birthday Book

Trousers Rolled
Sexist as it might be, it's generally against my policy to say anything that reminds members of the female persuasion that time has levied another year against their driver's license, but ... Happy Birthday anyhow, Susan ...

Perry

Happy Birthday Susan
Susan: Happy "Nth" 11th Birthday and may you have many more.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DEAR SUSAN


Many, MANY happy returns!


(My copy of the anomalous _Slippage_ arrived safe and sound. I'm sure you've done this so many times that you have a swift and efficient system, but really, I don't think you have to wrap these things THAT elaborately. We're adoring Ellison collectors here, not hard-boiled investors.)

Hopping 'round the sun...
To the Keeper of the Word
To the Tender of all nooks and crannies in the Rabbit Hole

Happy Birthday, Susan!

Richard Halasz

Many Happy Returns

Susan,

Happy birthday! All the best and I hope you have a lovely day.

Iain

Susan,

Hoep you have a great birthday!

Mark

Happy Birthday, little a-levin year old!

Susan, I hope you have (had) yourself a delightful double-digit day.

Happy B'day, Susan!
Happiest of birthdays to the always lovely Susan!

hippo birdie two ewes
Happy Birthday, Susan! You should be pleased that everyone here knows your name and has to type it in every time they post!

Happy Birthday Susan!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SUSAN!!!

On the subject of your 11th birthday: have a rootin', tootin', wrassle-it-into-the-ground scootin', BIRTHDAY!!!

(And may you enjoy whatever special surprise "The Doctor" has cooked up for you.)


(Castro, you crack me up.)

Yea, Bud, a clip of Octavia. God bless her.

-----

Susan, june is a good month to be a birthday person. High five to the june babes!

Tell Harlan to take you out to a nice dinner. Yum.

Advice for
Take it to the forums.

viz. "homunculus": "I do not think it means what you think it means. ." -Inigo Montoya

Happy Birthday Susan, belated natal best wishes.

Anyone here going to Westercon in Pasadena next weekend? I've got some inclination to visit. I've tried lying down, waiting for it to pass. So far, no luck.

Susan as Amy Pond
Thanks, Paul. (Alas, Night of the Living Potus is not currently available anywhere; its online publisher folded, and I have no pending short story collections at the moment.)

*

If Susan is Amy Pond, then that would make Harlan the Doctor -- an explanation that actually makes a degree of sense, given his lifelong number of companions.

There would also be his history of knowing pretty much everybody and traveling just about everywhere, and the apparently infinite storage space inside his home.

Follow this epiphany to its logical conclusion and the image that inevitably comes to mind is an army of approaching Daleks, suddenly stopping in their tracks during one of their hysterical group chants of "Exterminate!," because they just have no option other than swiveling those peppermill heads toward one another in stunned confusion.

"What...the...fuck...did...he...just...call...us?"

*

And Happy Birthday, Susan.

Birthday
Have a wonderful birthday, Susan!

I'm still trying to work out the physics (not to mention the metaphysics) of how Susan can be celebrating her 11th birthday when she and Harlan have been married for 23 years...

...but until I finish those calculations, Happy Birthday, Susan!

Good day
Hi Susan,

Jsut a quick note to wish you a HAPPY, HAPPY 11th BIRTHDAY. May Harlan treat you to a day of Minature Golf. Have an OUTSTANDING Day.

Jim & CIndy Argendeli

Eleven Years Old Already!
You don't look a day over ten! Many, many happy returns of the day! Many, many, MANY more to come, I hope and trust, with Harlan at your side every step of the way!

Books . .
Mr. Rod A. Williams, of Melbourne Australia:

Delightful post sir. Would you mind if I shared it with my technophile friends, who won't shut up about their itouches?

Yours in pulp and paper,

-Steve AJ D. . .(whoops! Can't give that away!)

Happy Birdy
Susan - congratulations on your 11th, Brit-babe!

(And watch out for that upcoming puberty - it's a doozy!)

loves ya,
Rob & Paul
xx

Okay now.....here we go. B-11......B-11......Looks like we have a winner here!

Happy Birthday Susan!!

A-TC

Adam~ I just read CRUCIFIXION in 100 Vicious Little Tales. You and Steve Rasnic Tem, damn. It is a fine thing when someone takes a hoary, old cliche and turns it inside out to let you see it from another angle. That is a helluva good story, man. Thank you.

And if no one has read Night Of The Living P.O.T.U.S. , oh man, are you missing out.

And the winner is...

I hope I'm not stealing any thunder here (or prematurely loosing cats from bags), but the official web page for the 2011 Eaton Conference of the University of California Riverside identifies

HARLAN ELLISON

2011 EATON AWARD LAUREATE

By my reckoning, that puts Harlan up there with Ray Bradbury and Fred Pohl, the first two recipients of the Eaton Award. (But we always knew that, didn't we?)

The official website is here:
http://eatonconference.ucr.edu/2011/frontpage.php

I spoke at the 2008 Eaton Conference and found it one of the best academic conferences I had experienced. The call for papers is still open, extended to 6 July, and solicits presentations on any aspect of the conference theme "global SF". I might see if I can throw together an abtract myself.

They say it's your BIRTHday....
Susan, have a wonderful one. Hope it's better than my 11th was, but then again that was the day I had a cast put on my left leg after having busted it on the 4th of July, so that wouldn't be especially difficult.

Minor clarification/response to Frank's comment - this was a clip of Octavia, right? I was actually asleep with the radio on when I heard DN break the news that she'd passed, but somehow that managed to register even way down into the subconscious.

Happy 11th birthday Susan!
We knew Harlan was robbing the cradle, but this is ridiculous!

Happy Birthday Susan!
Many Happy Returns of the Day.
Or as Owl says, "HIPY PAPY BTHUTHDTH THUTHDA BTHUTHDY!"

CRUSH YOU YOU FUCKING COWARDS....!!!!!!!!!!!
Bring on your "A" game, assholes....*lol*...Better get out of the way of The Raven....*efg*

Amparion, Loftus, Messer, Rob, The Brave Few.......
I have compiled your reactions to my post, and will poset a response.

Tim Raven.
"And I will crush you."

Happy Birthday Susan!
Happy 11th. Again. Save on candles. Good choice. Is this a sequel to "Jefty is 5"?

I knew it!
Susan's true identity! She is, in fact, Amelia Pond! Careful with that crack in the wall. Silence will fall. And I would not get too close to the Pandorica. Oh, yes, and do not ever, ever blink.

Happy Birthday! Hope that Time Lord of yours take you a most astounding adventure and pulls one of those ridiculous galactic miracles Time Lords are well know for.

Happy 11th birthday to Susan Ellison
...and many more 11th birthdays.

Brian Phillips (who just helped the good lady wife celebrate her birthday)

TO ANYONE COMING LATE TO THE PICNIC


If all this "purge" and "catalogue" commentary has you bewildered, or if you got linked in here newborn, I refer you yet again (and that means you, Patton Oswalt) to my post of

SUNDAY last, June 20th, at 18:41:42.

I wrote it down on a PostIt so I'd remember.

Remind me, after it's all over, to tell you the great Thomas Edison joke. If you know it already, I beg your indulgence not to jaw about it before I can slip it in here.

Yr. Pal, the last comic standing, Harlan

REPLY TO MR. ROD WILLIAMS, BOOK LOVER


IN MELBOURNE, one of my three most favorite cities on the whole entire Earth.

The answer to your queries, a) through g) -- yes. On all seven.

Yr. pal, Straightforward "Honest H." Ellison

TOMORROW, the 24th of June, Is SUSAN's BIRTHDAY

She assures me she will be age 11 again. Tomorrow. Again. Her words.

-he

http://www.democracynow.org/2010/6/23/adrienne_maree_brown_on_the_us

I think the confusion about the US Forum is this interview with Adrienne Maree Brown. She discusses Octavia Butler.

Pay the Writer
Has become a meme of sorts…or at least inspiration for others. Here's one freelancer taking on The Huffington Post:

http://nedhepburn.tumblr.com/post/729487480/an-open-letter-to-ariana-huffington-pay-your

UK
Susan

Well another year, I know it’s still yesterday in the US, but here, the Country of your birth its today (this timey whimey stuff makes my head hurt)

So

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Don’t burn the house down with all those candles, 29 is a lot.

Lots of love and best wishes

Steve

ps have made contact with Mike, Chris Hinchley and Paul Pearson via Facebook check this out.

http://mikewild.blogspot.com/

a way of taking stock
Might it be possible to make some high DPI scans of various covers in The Ellison Archive prior to Purge III? I've been toying with the idea (I certainly have the facilities & faculties) of scanning the covers of FROM THE LAND OF FEAR (Belmont Productions, Inc., 1967) and The Magazine Of Fantasy and Science Fiction's May 1975 issue festooned with "Croatoan" for my own amusement, for instance. I've used a trusty HP flatbed scanner to digitize some over 100-year-old E. A. Poe images from a five volume set published by P. F. Collier with superb results. I really should now seal those babies up from our friend oxygen! Just a thought, bringing these mint HE covers into the 21st century via digital flatbed scanning.

PS. Following up with a privately printed quality paper image, matted and framed, would be a cherry atop the cake.

HE book purge...

The Big, Big List Of Ellison Goodies has reached the UK. (And what a list!)

Quit while you’re hot
Mr. Ellison,

I tried out you your advice of “quit while you’re hot”. And you know what? It works - REALLY WELL. But the cool thing is I’ve been doing it with the digital effects work on my movie. Before, I’d go like hell till my brain was nice and crispy - and, of course, that works for awhile. But every few days I’m left creatively empty.

Now, when I see the top of the hill and don't know what's on the other side - I quit for the day. Works like a charm.

Thanks amigo!

Wade

Finally viewed SHUTTER ISLAND.

There is a great passage late in the film about the human constructs of "moral order".

Nice to at last see a new movie part from the predictable dopey non-stop computer game action, and use its time to explore its chilling ideas.

The surprises you'll find out yourselves!

Leo DiCaprio is excellent! A good come-back from Scorsese!

Oh, forgive me. Brain fart.

Mark, no need to be crass. I know you are good at it.

Rod Williams is a genius, despite his goofy first name.

Frank (or Paul Klavin, whatever you want to call yourself), I think you forgot to take your medications today.

Octavia Estelle Butler died in February 2006 and was a close friend of Harlan's, so I doubt she is in Detroit

Mark

Satisfactory
No, not at all an unsatisfactory answer. As you say, delighted. Happy to do my bit (the reading part).

Octavia Butler was on DemocracyNow today. I haven't listened to it yet, so I don't when she is on.

She is at the US Social Forum in Detroit. Socialism hits the rustbelt. None too soon.

Back-of-the-book limitation pages
Le,

I had much the same experience with the limited edition of Stalking the Nightmare. Opened it up to look at the signature, freaked out a bit and found it hidden at the back.

When I read your first post on the subject, I wandered over to the shelf where I keep all my signed books and discovered that all of them published prior to 1985 had the signatures in the back. From that year onward, they were all in the front. Strange, that.

Re: SLEEPLESS NIGHTS (Limited Edition)
Mr. Ellison -

Thank you for your response. First off, sorry for getting Marty Clark's last name wrong. I don't know why I typed in her last name as "Stack."

Secondly, the placement of that Limitation Page (is that what it's called?) at the end of the book may not be uncommon, but it was the first (and so far, the only) time I had seen it done that way. I remember I had ordered that book through Waldenbooks at the mall. I remember the day they called, saying the book had arrived. I was sooooooooooo excited and raced over to the store. I eagerly opened it and looked at the front of the book for your beautiful, angular signature. Imagine my disappointment when I didn't find it there. At first, I thought the store had ordered the wrong edition or that the publisher had sent the wrong edition. It wasn't until I thumbed through the book in the store that I discovered that page all the way at the end. Whew!

HERC
Harlan,
Your graciousness never ceases to impress me. Seriously, in a world filled with jellyheads and asshats, you're pretty damn swell. Thank you, gracias, spasibo, dzieki and a dank!

I'll send a letter to the HERC mailing address straight away so that I can take you up on your offer - but don't think this lets you off the hook when it comes to my incessant nagging over another Hornbook. The world needs the education! *grin*

Thanks again,
-Kristian

Oh Rod, that is just MEEEEEEAAAAN.

Good one.

Book Purge - Important Questions
As responsible book merchants in this modern age, I trust that HARLANELLISON.COM will address the following queries to the satisfaction of both US and international fair trading laws.

(a) Are your books shipped with back-up batteries?

(b) If I walk through an airport metal detector and every second chapter is zapped from my book's memory, can I get a refund on said book?

(c) Are your books compatible with analogue as well as digital bookmarks? For instance, are the screens grippy enough to hold my cherished New English Library Shaun Hutson "Signature Series" cloth bookmark? Also, do your books support virtual corner folding?

(d) When turning pages in your books, is the audio sound effect realistic? I'd expect at least 16-bit digital sampling (CD quality) of the real thing. Can I install my own cool sound? E.g. Homer Simpson saying "Doh!"

(e) Does a personalised inscription by the Author on a book affect its readability much? What solvents work best if I decide to remove an inscription later, and will this action void a book's warranty should any damage occur?

(f) I like non-proportional fonts for non-fiction, and cursive fonts for fantasy fiction. Please confirm that I have a choice of typefaces when ordering books from HARLANELLISON.COM.

(g) If I turn my book sideways or upside down, does the text re-orientate itself to my physical orientation? For example, if I was reading ANGRY CANDY on a rollercoaster.

Thank you in advance for acknowledging the concerns of consumers in today's bookselling market.

Sincerely,
Rodney A. Williams
(A book lover)

classictvhistory.com
At the above mentioned website, Stephen Bowie has written "The 100 Greatest Television Episodes of All Time: An Ongoing List." Well, he has two Harlan episodes on the list, but perhaps not the two that many of us would have expected. Not "Demon with a Glass Hand," not "City." Instead, Mr. Bowie mentions "The Whimper of Whipped Dogs," from THE YOUNG LAWYERS ("...one of the most deeply felt hours of television I've seen."), and "Knife in the Darkness," from CIMARRON STRIP ("...the wicked fate Ellison devises for his villain resonates on a number of unexpected levels.").

Why not check out the entire list? Some interesting reading there.

Quote of the year:


"So, who the hell says you have to have just ONE ending?!!? BOTH satisfy me. BOTH are where I would've gone if there'd been only ONE ending." -Harlan Ellison

right on and right fucken on

Rick

A reference about Harlan and 'The Starlost'
While reading Simon R. Green's novel "The Spy Who Haunted Me", I find a homage To Harlan. It's on page 308 of the hardcover. It's just one line.

Bill

You say Ketchup, I say Catsup....

When it comes to ketchup nomenclature, if all else fails, there's always the original name for the stuff back when it was a patent medicine: Compound Extract of Tomato. Say it in the voice of W.C. Fields. It's fun!

Chuck Messer

Book Purge
I have not the funds to indulge myself in helping clear out the shelves... but, er, can I at least come over and roll around in a big pile of your books for a while? I promise that I won't drool on 'em. Much.

Finished my little TV research book--it's just over 31,000 pages and Amazon Digital Text Platform-bound. Just sucks that I couldn't nail one official interview on the subject, because nobody will deal with an unknown. (Nor will any literary agents nibble. The latest: "Thank you for your submission. Even though your project sounds interesting, I’m sorry to say that it is not right for us at this time.") And I never did get to watch the pilot episode; nobody in L.A. who has it would give me the time of day. Ah, well. Now all that's left is to assemble a bibliography, do a final edit and kick it out onto the 'net. Yay.

CRAMER --------

No such word.

If it's a Heinz product, it's "Ketchup," which they trademarked

or

to beat the game,

if it's a competing label, it's "Catsup," which is icky nomenclature.

No such word as "ketsup."

I only live to serve you, brother.

Yr. Pal, as pecksniff, Harlan

Le -------

It is co-signed by Marty CLARK, not Marty "Stack."

Marty, a she, was my valued assistant at the time; she did the heavy lifting to edit that book. Why is the Limitation Page at the end of the book, not the beginning?

Hell, I dunno. But it ain't uncommon. For centuries, the #'d & lettered provenance came at the end of the book, such as many Arkham House editions, not at the git-go. Half'a one, six of t'other.

Yr. Pal, Harlan

KRISTIAN BLAND NOTE:

On me: a year's membership in HERC. Send Susan your address.

Still uncomfortable with all this, Yr. Pal, Harlan

(re: My post of Sunday 20 June at 18:41:42)

The only item I wish to purchase is that jar on the top shelf labeled "abbynormal brain"...

REPLY TO KELLY BROWN


This is probably an unsatisfactory answer to a VERY SMART question. Which delights me to answer. As best I can.

I'd be happy if the process that deposited me at the denouement of my story "How interesting: A Tiny Man" were as easily straightforward as you suggest. It wasn't.

(I like to think I'm writing stories now that I was never smart enough to have written all those years before; but the paradigm shift of tidal, chaotic access by ANY large readership to ANY single story, sans Sony making a big buck promoting it, makes it unlikely such out-of-the-mainstream, in any genre, piece will get much attention. Informed or otherwise. Thus, I love you for asking what you've asked.)

The story pretty much wrote itself. I was on autopilot, as I usually am when I'm doing it the right way. I just totally trust that onboard computer. I sit down and start to boogie.

When I got to the penultimate page, the last diversionary point of the story before the ending, the end of my road multiply, suddenly forked. I had no way of deciding which path to take. And there were a dozen of them. Actually, I reeled in confusion at the nanoinstant of sorting all those choices in my brain. When some of the available paths magically grew foliage over their entrances, for one or another reason now unremembered by me...discarded instantly...I found I had two ways to go. And no matter how hard I tried to pick one over the other, I was stumped and enfeebled. Truly, unmanned for more than a day.

And then, a night or so later, I had the epiphany:

Who the hell says there is only ONE proper ending?

And I did what I did.

It took specific art-direction so the layout looks as it does, and appears sans anything else on the page. (Which is apparently what confused the final editor at The New Yorker. And over the objections of everyone else who'd read the story and, I am told, thought it both artful and proper, she didn't think "this is our kind of story," and bounced it.) Had it not been for Shawna McCarthy and Warren Lapine at REALMS OF FANTASY, it would not have come into print EXACTLY as I envisioned it.

So: a story that I cozzen myself with believing would have been a small topic of discussion, even ten years ago, has received less inspection than a fragile Artist' Ego such as mine thinks due. Kindly refrain from saying "embarrassing hubris." Thanks.

Typographical and positional elements are not original with me, by any means. William Burroughs. Laurence Sterne's TRISTRAM SHANDY. Pinter. I was inoculated with Alfred Bester's literary expansions early-on -- i.g., THE DEMOLISHED MAN -- and have frequently employed presentation-architecture as a way of adding layers to lean prose. This was just the latest manifestation of that thing usually called (if it exists) "The Singular Auctorial Voice." It is an ellisonism ploy.

The story simply had two endings. Either no less proper and "correct" than the other. So, who the hell says you have to have just ONE ending?!!? BOTH satisfy me. BOTH are where I would've gone if there'd been only ONE ending. And I love it that a good reader spots the dichotomy, and is gladdened by having choices.

I wish I had 100,000,000 Kelly Browns reading my stuff!

Yr. Pal, Harlan

collectibles
I recall J.G. Ballard saying an L.A. Yellow Pages Phone Book was quite a piece of work in itself.
I'll keep to my own my memories / values, thank you. Good shopping daze, however...
Can't take it with you when you go.

Re: SLEEPLESS NIGHTS
I saw this referenced here earlier. I have the signed, number limited hardcover edition. It is #171 (out of 250). One thing I never understood is why the page that bears both the number & the autographs (it is also signed by Marty Stack, the editor) is at the BACK of the book.

Purge Sorrow
Sadly, I can't even afford to rake together enough scratch for a HERC membership right now, let alone afford any of the goodies described in the purge catalog.

I picked a terrible time to switch careers!

Still, I'm looking forward to browsing through all the things I can't have once the catalog is online (the link to which I'll gladly pimp on my own site). It'll be kind of like being a kid again, browsing through the Sears catalog at Christmas and setting myself up for equal parts disappointment and bitter, bitter envy.

-Kristian

David
Well, hell yes, that's what I want to do. (He said, understanding the mortgage and nuances of ownership) I would really enjoy that.
I want my forty acres and a bit of Hunter Thompson Grand Homefront Freedom to blow things up as I wish.
True, I think that a home, owned, is better for economy than a rental.

Still...- an original MEDEA, with all the attendees autographs? It makes my blood boil, just a bit. I'll live without of course, perhaps one day I'll get that book. But, man....

---Obligatory second-post one-day self-removal-message-here---

"Dollars, Taxes," as Chico once said about where his uncle lived


"Man, it's just not fair! I need to buy a house..........."


You mean, so you could be pouring your money earmarked for Ellison collectibles into busted appliances, A/C, weatherizing, roof leaks, and that sort of thing?

Upon the occasion of a purge
The Big, Big List of Ellison Goodies received here in the South, and it's rent time.

Man, it's just not fair! I need to buy a house...........

Dear Gwyneth:

You are still a HERC member and should receive a catalogue.

RE: SLEEPLESS NIGHTS. Catalogue Item #110 & 111. First Edition Hardcover. (Not numbered.) $75.00 or 2nd Printing/Trade Paperback. $25.00

All best--Susan

Of Purges
The purge list arrived yesterday in Indiana. My first skim, done in front of my Ellison bookshelf to doublecheck what I need, produced a shopping list totalling just under 10 grand. Let's see, if I sell the car...nope, gonna have to cut back on that a bit, but I'm still planning to pick up some very nice items I've long coveted.

In other news, while I've had a number of academic essays published, this summer has brought my first success with a piece of "creative" writing. My short play "Six Lights" beat out more than 100 contenders to win production this upcoming October at our semi-prestigious local theater company. Minimal financial reward, huge ego boost, and it should be a kick watching people perform something I wrote.

Anybody out there got the apparently elusive Rabbit Hole #5?

Harlan in Song

Janis Ian gives Harlan a name check in a blog post comment... in which she explains the lyrics of her song "Welcome Home (The Nebulas Song)", a re-write of her classic "At Seventeen":

http://kriswrites.com/2010/06/21/janis-ians-welcome-home-deconstructed-by-janis/

Purge Pamphlet Progress
Susan,

Got the purge list in Arlington, VA. Looks yummy. Send ketsup.

-Keith

Al Williamson, R.I.P.
Dear Mr. Ellison et al.:

Another ink-stained giant has departed. A terrible year's carnage continues.

Mr. Ellison: Good luck with the book purge. Will try to send for a catalogue.

Regards,

William Sherman
Boxford, MA

Dr. Strange
To those who care:
They're prepping a DR. STRANGE movie. The good Doctor could make a great movie. Or they could screw it up royally. I'll remain optimistic for now.

http://www.deadline.com/2010/06/will-dr-strange-be-marvels-first-superhero-to-fly-under-the-disney-banner/#more-48408

Confirming HERC Membership, Book query, "The Infidel"
Dear Susan,
Would you be so kind :) as to check my status in HERC? I believe that I'm still current, so should be receiving a copy of the catalog, but I'm not sure. If not, I'd like to renew post haste. Do you take PayPal payments through your HERC phone number or a HERC e-mail addy set up for that purpose?

A Specific Query:
Do you have a "hardcovered, signed, numbered, limited, dust-jacketed copy of _Sleepless Nights in the Procrustean Bed_"? If so, may I have dibs and a price quote?

Hi, Faisal,
I meant to write a blurb about "The Infidel" along with "Four Lions" as they deal with somewhat similar subject matter, but got sidetracked and forgot to remove it from my post's title. Any news on when/where Four Lions might be playing in San Francisco?
Kind regards to all,
Gwyneth

"How Interesting: a Tiny Man"
The February (2010) issue of Realms of Fantasy had been sitting in my to-read pile for a few months and I just got to it tonight. Enormously fun and clever, especially the end.

SPOILER. To anyone who hasn't yet or still plans to read the story you may want to skip the rest of this. I don't mention specifics but some may be offended if I don't issue a warning.

At one time did it finish up as it was before the last page, no specific details, just that last line before you turn the page and see that there's a First and Second?

IDW's adaptation of Harlan Ellison's Phoenix Without Ashes
I am looking forward to the 4 issue series and the prose chapbook. I am pre-ordered it at my LCS (local comic shop) and am pushing them to regard this release as good for business and to publicize it.

nostalgia ... and hold the mayo
My trip down memory lane seems benchmarked by THE GLASS TEATS, well-worn in high school days. Harlan was also in Chicago talking to the enormously-sized Eddie Schwartz on radio one afternoon, talking about stuff and promoting the film A BOY AND HIS DOG. He spoke eloquently and, man, fast! I used to admire that friggin' speed. With perfect pronunciation!!! (He still can, from what I've seen from DWST). A friend had an early authorized cassette copy of "Prince Myshkin" that had my mouth howling and alternately agape. HE's portrayal of Captain Nemo: a wonder work. But that's a different style.
At the time, the newspapers' movie sections featured the original unique image for ABAHD, with the curvaceous image of Susanne Benton as Quilla June (at least, I thought it was her) before a circular opening and the rungs of a ladder leading downwards. The title was all in small case letters, if I recall. The coolest image -- much more enigmatic and kick ass than "Smileyface Nuclear Explosion," in my book. In the day, Harlan would speak of forces that reduced the masses' brains into "prune-whipped yogurt."

Has HE ever anecdoted the "one insane day" at the home of Fletcher Pratt? Civil War banter here a ways back reminded me of Pratt, who I understand was quite a Civil War enthusiast. How about HE being courted as "a futurist" with the GMC Geo?
Overall, yeah, I agree with Kristian. One cannot get enough HORNBOOK-styled writing. There's plenty o' room and readership for more of that. I'd put in for an advance copy purchase for The Other Harlan Ellison Hornbook, if it would stave off HE & Susan selling personally-acquired goodies.

Ah, but the Mayan's did make great ranch dip.

---------

Hunter-gatherers: a great name for a rugby team.

“we would still have the Athenians, Romans, and Mayans around to entertain and enlighten us.”

Keeping in mind of course, that the Athenians supported slavery, and a patriarchy that dispossessed women; the Romans believed sympathy was a weakness, and slaughtered people for entertainment; and the Mayans used human sacrifice not only to appease their gods but also to intimidate their own civilians politically.

We inherit the instincts of our ancestors; the lust for power, revelry in the suffering of those we ostracize, hunting for pleasure, and compulsively hoarding territory.

We are bearers of genes structured to interact with environments that no longer exist; we are unconsciously at odds with ourselves, each among us capable of feeling great sympathy for some schmuck facing misfortune and, conversely, equally capable of inflicting unspeakable cruelty on other fellow hominids (as well as species of the lower orders, which sometimes, in the course of our individual development, LEADS to the former)!

This is why modern history mirrors ancient history in many ways. If we don't evolve beyond this, our species is not likely to survive, and perhaps it doesn't DESERVE to!

Twitterdipity
Not being NEARLY as up on my speculative fiction authors as I should be of late, I was pleasantly surprised when I accidentally stumbled upon the works of Jay Lake via a random Twitter link. Wonderful prose, and a great outlook despite battling the vicious horror of cancer. I love "discovering" writers that my own ignorance had hitherto kept me from reading, especially when they're not only good scribes but good people.

I'm reminded of my first exposure to Unca H. I was in my mid teens and escaping the Hell-heat of a Texas summer by browsing the air-conditioned interior of my favorite comics shop. I didn't have much cash on me, and I was looking for something that might keep me busy for a little while when I stumbled upon a curious little tome titled, "The Harlan Ellison Hornbook".

I picked it up, flipped to a random page and started reading. Some indeterminate amount of time later, I was snapped back to reality by the gritty barks of the ancient shopkeeper reminding me that his store was not a 'gawd dayum kid's lieberry'. I closed the book, tossed him some cash I'd earned as a grocery store bag boy, and walked back into the hellfire rage of the angry Texan sun god.

I kept my head buried in the book the entire walk home, oblivious to the sweat dripping from my face and dribbling onto the book, staining its pages. Once I got home, I went straight to my room and kept reading. And reading. And reading.

The next day, I was scrounging for anything Ellison I could find at the bookstore. However, living in the state that god forgot and before the dawn of the commercial Internet, I was SOL for the next few months until (probably thanks to my relentless hounding) I received a call that my tiny small town bookstore had received a copy of The Essential Ellison (35 year). I bought it immediately, and haven't looked back since.

Anyway, I don't know what set me down memory lane today, but there it is. Thanks for all the wild rides and angry wisdom, Harlan. The world needs more. (hint - another Hornbook - hint)

-Kristian

Doomsday
"When the first group of hunter-gatherers decided to use their skill and weapons to plunder some of the nearby agrarian society’s surplus, it was just something that seemed a good idea at the time. I doubt it ever occurred to them that they were setting in motion a series of events, a wave of evolving warfare that culminated in the slaughter of hundreds of millions in the twentieth century – most of them civilians.
Unintended consequences: the gift that keeps on giving."

Forever.

~ Gerhardt Roemer
---------
"One of our most dearly held conceits is that we are somehow special, that we’re central to the story of the universe. That we will never go the way of the Great Auk, the Diplodocus or the Wooly Mammoth. Even though related hominid species, like Australopithecus Robustus died out, we are somehow immune to extinction.

In fact, the only thing that may have saved our ancestors was a more varied diet.

Nations that believe they are similarly anointed can delude themselves that God himself will hold their coat for them while they take on the entire world.
Such illusions can lead to reckless behavior that will only end in disaster.

Human beings, human societies, as thinking entities, can exercise their free will. They are also free to face the consequences, even when they are fatal.

Look at the fossil record. Most of the species you see there, about ninety nine percent, are extinct. What this tells us is plain, if you listen.

“Remember thou art mortal.”

~ Gerhardt Roemer

Professor Fenner, who helped eradicate smallpox thinks we’re pretty much doomed:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1287643/Human-race-extinct-100-years-population-explosion.html

Ursula LeGuin has pointed out that one of the reasons that so many SF predictions can be so gloomy is because each story takes a current trend and projecs it into the future -- the very definition of SF. Her point was that if you take any trend and extrapolate far enough into the future, the end result is almost always rather bleak. Such predictions, she points out, don’t take mitigating factors into account.

SF prior to Japan’s long and painful recession predicted a world dominated by them. They didn’t take into account the fact that the very competitive Japanese would inspire other nations to be just as competitive just as they were struggling to repair their own economy.

In 1980, the good ol’ USA elected a president who came into office supporting a nuclear war fighting strategy. Actually fighting and winning a nuclear war. Many of the Reagan defense initiatives were geared toward that insane goal. From my point of view, we seemed more doomed than ever.

Then something happened. This same president, along with Mikhail Gorbachev, virtually took their hand and swept an entire category of nuclear weapons off the map of Europe. Tomahawk, Pershing II and SS-20 missiles packed up and sent home for scrapping.

Then they negotiated and signed the world’s first nuclear arms REDUCTION treaty. START is still ongoing.

Ronald Reagan, to the dismay of the nuclear hawks, gave up on nuclear warfighting and went for at least a partial disarmament.

So, we didn’t blow ourselves up. At least not yet.

Our survival as a species is not guaranteed in writing, not by a long shot. The universe has countless ways to snuff us out, not to mention what could come from our own efforts.

But then there are those “mitigating factors”.

The future is not set in stone. We can still decide our fate.

As my fictitious scientist/philosopher at the top would say, “Grow or die. That is our choice.”

Chuck

THE GREAT ELLISON BOOK PURGE

The address to get a catalogue (SASE-61 cents): THE KILIMANJARO CORPORATION, Post Office Box 55548, Sherman Oaks, CA 91413. Mark it "Book Purge."

Oh, and a couple of HERC members have asked me about copies of MIND FIELDS. We'll have two editions available in the catalogue.

With much kindness--Susan

proto pissing matches

Mr Raven:

It would be great to have an earnest discussion on the future fortunes of our species, but this is not the place. The Ellison Bulletin Board, accessible via the "Pavilion Annex" button above, would be the appropriate venue.

It would be nice to think all the participants could bring intelligent and thought-provoking arguments to the table. (Though most people probably think of me as an intelligent and articulate fella, for example -- and even more appealing, a warm and optimistic kinda guy (whether they've known me in the flesh or only within cyberspace) -- I have to say I not only come down on Amparion's side of this issue, but regard his or her comments -- as least thus far -- as far too optimistic as well. For everyone's information, humans are not only NOT going to make it off the planet to populate other cosmological localities with their glorious seed, but are not even going to survive as a species at this one for more than another five to seven generations, in my humble opinion.)

But when you label someone who offers a counter-argument a "ridiculous idiot" straight out of the gate, and refer to the argument as an "homunculus-like reaction," you largely forfeit your right to expect anyone else to treat your remarks with interest, let alone respect. Your manners clearly have not managed to keep pace with your vocabulary.

As my last word on this subject, I will say that if intellect "always" trumps ignorance, we would still have the Athenians, Romans, and Mayans around to entertain and enlighten us. As Amparion has intimated, intellect sometimes doesn't even need ignorance to kick it around . . . it can shoot itself in the head well enough, thank you very much.

One day down, five weeks six days to go.

Michael Bishop is our first instructor. Well spoken, interesting, engaging.

I brought SLIPPAGE and ANGRY CANDY with me (in addition to my DWST poster). Unca Harlan is popular with the class. "You like Harlan Ellison, too? I loved 'Paladin of the Lost Hour'."

More as time and brain cells allow.


shagin

Y'know, Raven, I could get in a pissing match with ya'. but like the man said about wrestling the`pig. "It's damned undignified, and the pig enjoys it too much."

Then again, since I am an idiot, according to your vast knovledge of my mental capacityy, I will humor your lack of manners and judgement, and "wrestle" with you just THIS much:

Yes, it is my opinion. How did you ever figure that out? Was it because I wrote it and put my name to it?

How very perspicacious of you.

The idea that Fermi's Paradox might be explained by the likelihood that most/all intelligent races commit suicide when their technology reaches the level where it's possible for one or a few members of the race to do the deed for all the race, well, that was hardly invented by me. Carl Sagan wrote about it, as have other non-idiots.

Google the phrase "radioactive Boy Scout" and read the old Harpers article you will find. Then think of Lee OSwald, or Dylan Klebold, or any other sociopath you like. Then think of them gifted with your e=mc^2 technology and/or godlike genetic meddling.

The good and bad of it is that you will get the tech. I don't doubt it, and sooner than you think or I woiuld like.

It's another good reason to spread the human race around on several worlds. All too soon its gonna be way too easy to destroy all the life on any one world.

And here I thought you were at least half-smart, and not an ass at all. Appears I had it backwards.

That's all the pig gets.

Four Lions - Definitely no Infidel
Hey Gwyneth,

We have nothing to do with "The Infidel".

Heck, I've not even seen anything about it apart from the trailer.

Ours is completely different fish though. Catch it and laugh.

Best.

FAQ

The Warranty is Now Void

Just got back from our 25th Anniversary week in paradise. Cris is now on notice that I am now warranty free, so all risks are hers and no longer covered by any guarantee of service or performance.

Let the fun begin!
__________________________________

Speaking of fun, I'm delighted that I am back in time for the Grand Ellisonia Sell-Off. Going through the mail looking for catalogs! (I also notice a box from the Kilimanjaro folks sitting over yonder. Must be my newly acquired copy of SLIPPAGE.)

I just love the mail pile after a week out of town.
__________________________________

SUSAN - May I assume that the project we spoke of before my departure has now morphed? I'll give you a call Monday to make sure...

Ellison Garage Sale.
Harlan, can I have first dibs on one of your kidneys?

:)

please keep lying to me
Harlan,

Please don't stop lying to us.

All the lies that are your life are special to us. And you're the best professional liar we know. So please don't stop.

Although I admit I will be perusing the list to see what swag there is to be had.

PLEASE REPOST AND/OR GO VIRAL WITH THE FOLLOWING - harlan
----------------------------------------------------------------

Twice, in the past 25 years, my wife has gone through the vast, extensive vaults, spaces, nooks, storage bins, drawers, cubbies and subterranean chambers here at Ellison Wonderland; and she has offered up for sale or auction, books and assorted memorabilia of my career. PURGE III is apparently underway. It will be the last, if I have anything to say about it. I will not lie to you: I hate it when she does this. I have been hiding...I sneak into the living room, chilled-steel night, and liberate bedsheet-size mint copies of Knight Magazine with Dillon art emblazoning my stories. I hide out, here in the manse. At night, I sneak out like a coyote and whittle down the stacks of goodies she has pilfered. One of a kind stuff never intended for other eyes than mine, dammit! As we guys say to our mothers when they "neaten" our closet and throw away all those nice copies of Fantastic 4 #1 or Action Comics 1-thru-50, dammit, it's MY stuff! !!! Well, she did it anyhow: she put together a gigantic catalogue, 14 pages of rare offerings w/photos, and she titled it

THE BIG BIG LIST OF HARLAN'S GOODIES

and she preferentially sent off about 1100 copies to those who are members of The Harlan Ellison Recording Collection--HERC, as we calls it--because those are her most loyal and steadfast readers of her HERC newsletter, RABBIT HOLE. Most of those mailings, save to overseas members, will have reached their targets by her birthday, in a few days. Now, she has chivvied me here to tell you. If you're not a HERC member, you can get a full catalogue by sending a stamped (61 cents), self-addressed (kindly print clearly) envelope. Our good Webmaster, Mr. Wyatt, has been sent a disc of the catalogue, and he will be posting it, in its entirety, somewhere conspicuous here at harlanellison.com. Do not ask me where. I is mere a tool in this unseemly process. I just sign them.

I will not lie to you. This is all intended to make us money. All bullshit about Posterity, and "he won't be with us forever," and Let's Get This Rare Stuff Before the Dealers Do, well, it's all rationale and mawkish pleading by those who want to part you from your pelf for monetary gain. Mendicants and con-artists. As Bertolt Brecht whined, "Every day I venture to the marketplace where Ideas are sold. Hopefully, I take my place among the sellers." I will not lie to you. Even using the word "hopefully" properly.

Had I my way, they would inter all these nifty items--including a "late entry" on orange paper I conjured last week--with my carcass. But I love my woman more than the evanescent light of day, and so I have taken my place in the agora along with every other creative intellect, high or low, who finds -- at twilight -- when evasions are ashes -- that we all work for a buck. I will not lie to you.

She's set up a cell-phone number exclusively for orders. The great lash-up and beef-slaughtering is set for

TUESDAY / WEDNESDAY / THURSDAY of 6 / 7 / 8 JULY.

All questions you might ask, and punctiliously detailed instructions are in the BIG BIG BOOK. (Oh, and for Neil Gaiman aficionados, my friend has donated a linked-pair of rarities ever so swell.) So, if you are piqued, if you wish to update or vastly enrich your collection, if you are morbidly interested, if you wish to drop a true coin into my beggar's bowl...just get to the catalogue, or the links provided. And if you will kindly post this advisement anywhere and everywhere it might be seen by some Insightful Collectibles Dealer, or even one greedy little e.bay'r who will lick chops and say, "THIS oughtta be worth a farthing! I can resell Ellison's old dental molding for a huge FORE-choon," I will be grateful. Or, if you are a genuine Ellison Completist, most of what she's dragooned is way cool, comma, dude; and comes moist with my tears of loss.

Hopefully, Harlan Ellison

Happy Father's Day, or, "Toodle-oo, tootsies!"
Knowing that Harlan had a special relationship with his father and like his father, mine has passed (and I am not a dad, by the way), I will make mention of one of the things that has some relevance to the Pavilion.

Frank mentioned his father in less than stellar terms and I could share a couple of stories along those lines, but the good outweighs the bad. One of the things that Dad gave me was a huge green book, the complete works of Lewis Carroll. To this day, I haven't read all of it, but that's not the point of this post. The point is that he read "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" to ME. Chapter by chapter, night after night, until I fell asleep. One of the great memories of my childhood is my father pitching his voice higher and saying, "Goodbye, feet!" after Alice eats the cake. I am happy to say, I still have the book.

Fathers and Mothers, please read to your kids. Look what can happen!

Happy Father's Day and thanks to my father, Orva Phillips.

P.S. Yes, the Sir John Tenniel picture of Alice's elongated neck scared the stew beans out of me. Anyone else?

P.P.S. To keep everything equal, my Mom loved to sing, and she would sing me to sleep at night, on occasion. One time I asked her to sing her favorite Christmas carol, "Silent Night", to me and she did. One time I asked her to sing one of my favorites and it is her musical taste's influence on me that figures into this story. What did I ask her to sing? What song lulled me to sleep, while she stroked my forehead?

The "Concerto Macabre" from "Hangover Square" by Bernard Herrmann. She "la-laed" it and out I went. Also, see "Hangover Square" if you haven't. It features Craig T. Nelson's Uncle (It isn't but it might as well be) Laird Cregar.

My Father's Day
Lunch with the small fry, out for Italian ices ... and, squeezed in between, we all took in Toy Story 3, which I enjoyed as much as they did. Even if you don't have young children, please, do not deprive yourself - this is a terrific movie for anyone who is, has, or has ever been a kid. Never fails to amaze me how Pixar can imbue computer-animated toys (and robots, and rats, and ...) with more humanity and honestly earned emotion than most live-action movies can muster these days.

Oh, and Happy Father's Day to all!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to all the dads here!

Friday night's DWST Screening
Harlan,

Was there at the Friday evening screening of Dreams With Sharp Teeth, scheduled as part of this summer’s Meltdown Festival on the South Bank.

I went with the gorgeous Roxanna, my luminous beauty, and we invited the writer and broadcaster Brian Sibley and his partner, the magician David Weeks, to join us.

When I booked tickets some weeks back the whole centre block of the auditorium had already gone and all that was left were seats in the couple rows at the back and the side sections of the Purcell Room. But whether it was down to the inclement weather, or the fact that the England team were booting a ball around in Cape Town that evening (wasting a good nine croquet lawns worth of grass for their lacklustre endeavour), or that they couldn’t be bothered to leave the pub, most of those tufthunter slummocks, slabberdegullion druggels, poltroons and ninny lobcocks failed to make an appearance.

Of course they may have been wandering around the South Bank Centre, lost, after asking staffers for directions. Having never been to the Purcell Room before I asked one of the bar staff at the Royal Festival Hall when I was getting Roxy a cider and she directed me upstairs rather than to the Queen Elizabeth Hall next door. Luckily Brian had given a talk on Mervyn Peake there some time back and knew the way.

Still, even without a packed house, what you had there was a small, dedicated audience who were more than happy to be there. Mr Nelson thanked everyone for coming and then they rolled VT. If you talk to Mr Moran and he mentions there were a quartet at the back howling with laughter and making it difficult for others to listen to, I’m afraid that was us. We absolutely loved it!

Mr Nelson did a fantastic job of showing the many facets of Harlan in an hour and a half. The bon mots, creative expletives and reading excerpts were great but instances like the home movie footage from Niagara Falls was astonishing affecting and stunned the audience into silence. And when James asked you about a longer version, which you dismissed, BBC4 has recently been showing Runnin’ Down a Dream, Peter Bogdanovich’s entertaining three-hour documentary about Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, so I’m sure there would be an audience for a double plus–sized Dreams With Sharp Teeth.

Afterwards, we were all astonished by the brevity of your replies to the questions, and we put our heads in our hands and groaned when the woman at the front asked about LDV. Whether she was joking or not we were ready to bundle her up in a sack and throw her into the Thames.

There is one thing you could help us with. While the credits were rolling, none of the four of us managed to catch the last line of that anecdote. Roxy turned to me and asked, “Did he say, ‘stand to the right’?” I replied, “Didn’t he say, ‘a rhino’?”, which was no help. David was laughing and Brian, being a friend of Ray Bradbury, had been concentrating more on your thanks list.

Having spent the afternoon helping the ever delightful Caroline Munro sort through her extensive archive of modelling shots, personal family photographs and publicity stills, and then having a cold sausage and cupcake picnic with Roxy, under a tree in Golden Square just as the rain came, watching the documentary was the perfect end to the day.


Oh, and for anyone in London or living nearby, the BFI Southbank (formerly the NFT) is showing the four-part drama serial Chimera, followed by a Q&A with writer Stephen Gallagher and director Lawrence Gordon Clark on Monday, 5th July, at 6:00pm. Then later in the month, as part of the Brian Clemens (sorry, Brian Clemens OBE) season, there are two live events: Brian Clemens on The Avengers (Thursday 22 July at 6:20pm), which is preceded by a screening of The Avengers episode A Touch of Brimstone, and then Brian Clemens in Conversation (Wed 28 July at 6:30), where he talks about the rest of his film career. Amazingly there are tickets still available for all three events.

Greetings

...and congratulations to all the fathers herein. As dad of 5(!), I wish you all a day to remember.

the fecund,
Rick

@Tim Raven's Quoth (sorry bout that chief):

E=MC (squared) and the penny. I think it's a lovely thought, and beautifully expressed. I so hope you're right about the future; I definitely want you and folk like you to have a turn at the wheel. I can also see what Amparion sees "from my house!" (Tina Genius Fey). What comes to my mind in reading the below, though, is this.

In Harper's magazine last Feb, in their Findings feature at the back of the issue (I dunno, probably an Ixnet version out there too, but I'm mostly a book and mag kinda guy), there was a short sentence. "...in China's Hubei province, a gang of macaques trained in kung-fu turned on their human master."

Ok, now don't that make for a Janus smile?

On the one hand, I agree we are indeed "smart little monkeys" as you say, Tim. Which calls to mind alllll manner of scenes from spec fic, like oh I dunno, 2001 and the Obelisk giving those monkey's something to cry about! Or Robert Silverberg in Up The Line when one of the tourists monkeys with his travel device and goes rogue (sorry, those lines are like scabies, they skitter under the skin). Well ok, those are two examples of the more Murphy's Law aspect -- there are many fine moments too of creative solutions and better days, and/or better understandings, in SF.

Mostly though, I think we are the kinda critters that think teaching monkeys kung-fu would be a pretty darn good idea! --And that makes me laugh and laugh. Ok, nervously sometimes: but ain't that just the way???

Anyway. Here's to creative solutions and true self-awareness double-helixing for ever -- and thank you for the reminder!

George Will almost compared Obama's "shakedown" of BP to Venezuela.

So, Obama is right up there with Chavez.

See, this is why we shouldn't invent outrage, about Chavez, about Chomsky, about me.

I'm a victim. Don'cha feel sorry for me? haha.

---------

My Dad is a scumbag, so all happy tidings to the real dads.

You cannot suckle but you can give us the car keys. Yow.

What!!!!!??????
Amparion- You seem a ridiculous idiot. Really? That is your true feeling about the future? I reel at your homunculus-like reaction. My shock in this, in all forums on this Earth, is total! My mind boggles.....

Tim Raven

Pennies From Heaven
Somehow the idea of humans having the knowledge of how to turn a penny into enough energy to blow Manhattan into dust motes (or, yes, power it for two years) doesn't make me all skippy.

Of course it does explain Fermi's Paradox. Once you get to tech levels where a teenager in a basement can brew up a 100 per cent lethal plague with his Home Genome Kit, and his equally disaffected buddy down the street mixes it up with his antimatter kii, it'll be but a matter of time. Humans are so ingenious, y'know?

Then again, maybe the government will find a way to stop it from happening.

Tar ball, anyone?

Grave New World.
My absolute favorite JG Ballard interview; talk about thought-provoking:

http://www.jgballard.com/gravenewworld.htm

Juxtaposed with something for fans of Green Day (terrible pop-punk pseudo-rebellious trash who started out decent) and Spongebob Squarepants:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3uQkuoyPp8&feature=related

E=MC (squared)
E=MC (squared)

Does anyone here in Webderland appreciate the beauty and promise of that equation?

It will negate all hand wringing over oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico. It will de-fang pollution and global climate change. As well as stupid fucking religions, I hate that stuff and so do you probably? Admit it. Just have some patience…

Within the next century, we will possess the knowledge to exploit this mathematical gift.

E or energy (the stuff we want) equals M (the mass, or a penny) times C the Speed of Light (186,000 miles per second) squared (34,596,000,000). How much friggin’ energy in a penny? Jeezus, enough to power Manhattan for two years. I am not shitting you.

Forget fission (which we’ve attained, very impressive and very messy) or Fusion, which is on the near horizon. I think within the next century we will unlock the duality of mass and energy itself. Infinite energy with hardly any effort because we are smart little monkeys.

During that quest, more of the nature of the fabric of space, gravity and time will be revealed, allowing us practical transportation to any point in the universe.

Along the way, as a bonus, the key of matter will be discovered, allowing a pint of mud to be transformed into the finest filet mignon or perhaps a wrench. Yeah!!! Science Fiction becomes Science Fact as we have all witnessed over and over again during the last one hundred years.

And don’t forget human biology – the human genome has been laid bare. During all of this Sturm and Drang, it really and truly gives me sincere hope for my stupid, precious and stomped (due to this shitty world) liver; you nerve wracking sons of bitches!

Intellect trumps ignorance…It really does. Always, given patience.

Tim Raven

Ebert
Let me tell you a couple things about Roger Ebert. When his first science fiction story was published (by Ted White; either Amazing or Fantastic) it came out roughly at the same time he had a major piece in Esquire. This would be 1969 or 1970. He went to the city room that was sort of shared by the Chicago Daily News and the Chicago Sun-Times and handed out copies of his s-f appearance to everybody who would take one. Esquire, nada. Amazing and Fantastic -- THOSE were sales he was proud of.

When he first got to the Sun-Times, he was pressed into one of those "go visit high school writers and help 'em learn something" deals. He went to my high school and read my stuff. He made several extraordinarily valuable comments that shaped and influenced my work for 45 years. We had a several shared moments when I was at the Chicago Seed and when I was on the advisory board of the Organic Theater with him (and Leonard Nimoy and my idol, Tennessee Williams, who fell asleep on my shoulder) and with the first Chicago Comicon -- he wanted to interview Harvey Kurtzman. I asked if it was for the Sun-Times. He said "Oh, I don't know. It'll be for somebody!"

Great man. I'm glad to see he's still out there loving movies every bit as much as he did back when he started.

Susan,
The flyer for Purge 3 arrived in my corner of OC today. Will have to spend time comparing lists to shelves. The rest of you don't worry, I can't jump ahead and corner the good stuff. You will see what I mean.

Locals,
I realize this is a completely unreasonable last minute request but I will throw it out anyway. Tomorrow for Father's Day I will be visiting the Peterson Auto Museum in LA. Daughter Katie thought we might also check out the Observatory at Griffith Park. She has been there and I have not, and it seems like a good idea.
Then the question comes up, is there any place you would like to eat while we are in LA? Well I have lived in OC for over 25 years but have to admit I rarely venture into LA, except when I am heading to a specific event like a music concert or a Prairie Home Companion show at the Greek or Hollywood Bowl.
I know local eateries have been discussed here, by Harlan and others. I seem to remember talks of legendary pastrami, french dips, assortments of sausages and others. If you have any recommendations within the vicinity of these 2 places or points betwen and happen to see this message tonight any suggestions would be appreciated.

A good day to all here, and a happy Father's Day to the Dads.

I once ran into "Weird" Al in Westwood, back in the late 80's (when first came to LA, shortly after high school)!

He was engaging, funny, friendly, and true to his namesake. As a
public crowd gathered round (this was in the lobby of Mann's Bruin theater), I tried to "out-weird" him. Believe it or not, I proved a close rival! If a business has to escort you out, you HAVE to chalk it as a victory!

**Does anyone here like Joseph Wambaugh?

I never read him, but caught THE ONION FIELD the other night on Turner.

It's a great film - produced entirely within Wambaugh's own creative control - but, perhaps because of today's social tone, I couldn't help but notice that not every creep depicted in the movie was gay, but every GAY depicted in the movie was a creep!

This is quite an observation, coming from a guy who'd been rather homophobic for many years.

Anyway, the film is fascinating, apart from this one weak dimension. It had me researching the true case - and the sociopathic Powell, who was a real justification for any supporter of the death penalty argument! The other guy - Smith - I felt more sorry for. He was weak man, lost to drugs and alcohol.

James Woods, brilliant. Ted Danson's movie debut.

Ain't It Grand?
--"Riding the rails in Atlantis" is now over 6000 words.--

In a recent conversation with two of the best short story writers in America, I asked what part of writing was fun for them. I was slightly appalled at how long it took for them to come up with something. I know it's hard. I know it's a pain in the ass. If I had any hair I'd probably tear it out while sitting at the keyboard. Also, I get that writing can break your heart. It's broken mine on many occasions. I know how depressing it can be. I understand the despair angle. Understand it perfectly.

However.

It's also a hell of a lot of fun. And I have a theory about all this. Oh, it's brilliant! But another day, another day. . .

Viggo Mortensen is kind of our Rutger Hauer of today. Obviously Viggo has better drama chops and has better politics. Smile.

--------------

Kenneth, radio today is where people who have lost massive respect go to die. Think Dennis Miller, who has turned into a fucking fanatic.

Miller recently had on Michelle Bachman, Jerome Corsi, Ann Coulter, and he agreed with them! A once great comedian has turned into a skunk.

----------

Kudos to Thom Hartmann for getting into the top ten of the Talkers magazine list of top talk show hosts, even beating big mouth Ed Schultz, who kisses too much democratic party crack for my tastes.

Miller is about 35. Ha.

Just give it time, progressive talk does work.

--------

Harlan, you hip to Etta James?

Blade Runner is, obviously, a tremendous film. The film got its name from William S Burroughs; there's a wee bit about it at the start of section II of this article:

http://realitystudio.org/criticism/the-blade-runner-and-the-shootist/

Watched Crazy Heart last night. Not too bad (the best praise you can give most films these daze), if a bit thin on plot; Jeff Bridges was film in the lead role though. Bad Blake is simply Lebowski a bit down the line. Definitely worth a watch.

While I have been off for some time, today I leave for Clarion West. The evil tooth continues its reign of dental dominion, though thanks to the brave members of the Penicillin Brigade, those who broke the mold, it is not so evil that I couldn't finish my most recent piece. There are others, so many others...

We sheared our youngest son two days ago. He has very thick, curly hair and we had let him go too long without a haircut even by our standards (it's not a matter of length, but of enduring the cutting itself). Half way through we decided to shave his head completely for the summer, so he now sports a fine pate of black stubble. "Baa Baa Black Sheep" came on the VCR as we worked.

HARLAN: Thank you for your support, knowing and otherwise. It means a great deal to me. You'll be with me not only in spirit but in print.

Be safe, all.
shagin

Phoenix Without Ashes #2 in IDW's September line-up - click on cover for bigger version
http://comicnewsi.com/article.php/index.php?catid=208&itemid=13093

nooSFere's French Harlan bibliography, story page:
http://www.noosfere.com/icarus/livres/auteur.asp?numauteur=559&Niveau=Nouvelles
I assume Tim has this covered. Clicking on the stories will take you to a page listing the French books they appeared in. If any of them are still needed, let me know.

Interview with L.Q. Jones about A Boy and His Dog (and Harlan) - http://www.sf360.org/features/lq-jones

Coming sometime later this year, the second part of the Polish release of The Mammoth Book of Fantasy (Wielka księga fantasy, t.2) which includes Paladin
http://fabryka.pl/ksiazki.php?offs=30&id=395

James Moran sent people to see DWST in London
http://jamesmoran.blogspot.com/2010/06/screening-of-dreams-with-sharp-teeth.html
By the way, this was added to the official programme: "Director Erik Nelson introduces the film and after the screening Harlan Ellison joins us for a live Q&A via phone from LA." Not bad for a free event.
http://meltdown.southbankcentre.co.uk/2010/events/film-screening-dreams-with-sharp-teeth/

Have fun downloading Harlan's works in Russian for free - http://lib.rus.ec/a/1336
Or a IHNMAIMS audio book that was recently released there
http://obuk.ru/audiobook/77858-yellison-xarlan-mne-nuzhno-kriknut-a-u-menya-net-rta-audiokniga.html

"The Discarded" was shown at the 30th Fantafestival in Rome on May 30. http://www.fanta-festival.it/programma-2010/

DWST still downloadable, same old links
http://www.warez-files.com/direct-download/3169347-Harlan-Ellison-Dreams-With-Sharp-Teeth-2008.html

Not sure if I mentioned this two-star review of Spirit #2 by CBR
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=user_review&id=2254
PDX Comic Geek has problems with the art - http://pdxcomicgeek.com/?tag=harlan-ellison
Positive notice (scroll down):
http://mpjedi2.blogspot.com/2010/05/new-comic-day-5192010-one-day-late.html
I'm seeing illegal digital copies left and right and have sent DC some links. But there are more.

Now in PEOPLE magazine archive, from Dec 85: Harlan Ellison. By Kristin McMurran. Scarred by the Insults of Childhood, a Manic Fantasist Slashes Back at the World
http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20092332,00.html

AN IMPERIALLY ODD DAY


When the phone rang, a voice said, "Hoi hoi! Ten Downing Street; Winnie speaking. Who's ringing, please?"

Thereafter, fun and hilarity ensued; and a good time was had by all.

In the event you were in the audience, you might want to share the event with Webderland.

At the Mad-Con in Madison, in September, I will unveil auctorially, among tons of new and reworked anecdotery, my cold-call solicitation Thursday night from the National Rifle Association, handmaidens of the death-mongers.

"Weird" Al called today. Whomever of you effectuated the liaison, I bless you. We had a funny chat, I wrote him a funny letter, he has photos winging his way. You are lovely people.

"Riding the rails in Atlantis" is now over 6000 words.

Yr. Pal, Harlan
Yr. Pal, Harlan

Strange and rather sad news.

A few of you may have heard of this story. The Mole Man of London who dug tunnels under his home for about 40 years? Well he passed away recently as has been reported in the press with a rather interesting article I picked up on the BBC news website.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/10352222.stm

Now, I hope you took the time to read this. I also hope you are struck by the one detail that seems to be a glaring and striking sore thumb in it. There is little discussion of William Lyttle the man, the eccentric, whatever. There is a huge amount about how much the council says his estate owes them. It mentions in great detail the total bill for rehousing him, putting him in hotel accomadation and repairs to his house. The figure of £408,000 got mentioned at some point.

Now, I find that rather offensive. My wife used to work in the Dumfries and Galloway Council payroll department. So I have some knowledge of how much the big wigs in my council get paid. Frankly it wouldnt take many of them to make up the sum owed by Mr Lyttle. This of course does not take into account the various pointless committees, junkets, quangos and other wastefull groups that are set up to syphon tax pounds from the public teet. Which when you consider that I live in a very low population area that has low spending compared to London where Mr Lyttle lived makes the amount owed look like piddling small change.

It is also estimated that the house he owned will be worth over £1,000,000 once repairs are complete. I would double that because of its unusual history. It was owned by the Mole Man after all. It would generate huge interest. It should be a landmark. A testimony to the great Brittish Eccentric.

Anyway, I am rather sad about his passing. I read his story many years ago and thought it was great fun. Maybe that is just me.

A Post
Susan, thank you for the prompt delivery of “Slippage”. I also appreciated the enclosed treat, I’m very interested in screenplays and treatments and such, your choice was much appreciated!

I’m not so sure of that Ebert post….I was a bit wavy from booze that night, but I recall, didn’t he spell his name incorrectly on that post?

Anyway…

Enjoying Slippage…It’s quite relevant to this forty-six year old child.

Tim Raven

Unca Harlan

I tried an end-run to get Ebert's attention for you. It'll either work or not. Few other options present.

Love,
Rick

Oops, Part Deux
"Desert test sight" should read "desert test site." Going away now for a while.

Oops
Last sentence should read "went from," not "got from."

Speaking of radio hosts and their novels
Three summers ago at an excellent local used book shop, I chanced across a couple of longish novels by one John Calvin Batchelor. Both volumes not only had arresting titles, THE BIRTH OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF ANTARCTICA and THE TRUE STORY OF PETER NEVSKY AND THE TRUE STORY OF THE RUSSIAN MOON LANDING, but came in prestigious-looking Henry Holt and Company editions as well. Despite the latter fact, the proprietor, obviously keen to get rid of them, had marked Batchelor’s works down to a ridiculously low price.

If I’ve ever gotten more pleasure and intellectual excitement from spending a measly two dollars, then somebody must have coshed me over the head to make me forget all about it.

Batchelor fuses together elements of what he calls “political romance” and the Norse Sagas in PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC. The rise of a malignant new ideology called “New Benthamism” plunges the civilized world into chaos, and despised, down-at-the-heels outcasts must take to the seas, where they end up in a grim struggle for survival at the bottom of the world, figuratively and literally, first on the Falkland Islands, then at last in a vast network of murderous refugee camps on the coast of Antarctica. I found the book hypnotic, quite unlike any other dystopian novel I’ve ever read.

My favorite of the pair, PETER NEVSKY looks back on the Space Race of the nineteen-sixties to tell of the narrator’s three uncles, legendary and ruthless fighter pilots-turned-cosmonauts—the “Martian Troika”—who, despite all manner of plots and betrayals, pursue their gloriously mad quest to claim the moon. This fictional “secret history” has plenty of action, some of it bordering on the surreal, such as an aerial battle between State Security and the Cosmonaut Corps, although for me the scene that lingers most is a fantastically inventive one that depicts the desert test sight of the “Tsar Cannon” moon rocket, where camels hoist the boosters into place.

After I lost myself for several days in these books, I investigated this remarkable writer with the mellifluous name and found out that even though he was not all that long ago reckoned by many to be one of America’s top one hundred novelists, his works are out of print. Every single one of them.

There’s another good man lost, I remember thinking. Now he makes the rounds as a night watchman at a some wig warehouse, or worse, teaches bonehead English at East Tungsten Community College, where he sneaks pulls of Jack from the bottle in his desk.

But the truth turns out to be far more startling than that. John Calvin Batchelor, writer, has metamorphosed into John Batchelor, WABC radio talk show host. I haven’t quite figured out what to make of him, because while he often comes across like a bow-tied WEEKLY STANDARD neocon who seems to think that America has a duty to export what he refers to as “Liberty” the way the Japanese do Toyotas, the non-political segments of his show are invariably irst rate, and often feature probing interviews with first-rate scientists and, yes, novelists.

I suppose that Batchelor makes excellent money now. He must be, to live in Manhattan. Good for him, I guess.

Who here has read Batchelor’s works? And can anybody explain to me how how on Earth he got from writing novels to hosting talk radio?

Bladerunners
Bladerunner may be the best ever SFnal film.

Rutger Hauer had the lead in another favorite, Soldier of Orange.

Scenes to watch for: The door in the commandant's office, the man on the bicycle, the soldier in the latrine, the beach dunes.

Adolf Hitler had a nephew. William Patrick Hitler. His mother was Irish, hence the Anglo names. He grew up in England, emigrated to Germany, where he tried extorting Uncle Addy (high marks for balls, low for street smarts) with threats to tell all the family secrets (perhaps something about AH's alleged Jewish ancestry) to the foreign press. New asshole still bleeding, returned to England, then to America to make a coupl'a bucks as freak show. After some pleading, joined the US Navy and became a US citizen.

He disappeared from public view, even changed his name. He dies, leaving two sons. A reporter tracks down Hitlers grand-nephews, to discover they have renounced the whole Hitler family connection, decided they will never have children.

So what was the family name their father changed to, the better to distance himself from his hated uncle?

Stewart-Chamberlain.

One of those English hypenated innocuities, right?

Uh, no.

Houston Stewart-Chamberlain was an English writer. He loved all things Germanic, learned the language with native fluency, moved to Germany, married Wagners daughter, took up German citizenshhp, became an early Nazi supporter. His book "Foundations of the Nineteenth Century" was an ardent explication of the principles of "Scientific" racism and anti-semitism that Hitler often referred to as a seminal influence on his life and career.

And Mussolini had a son who was a well known jazz pianist.

A nephew of Napoleon was US Secretary of the Navy under Teddy Roosevelt.

There's a connection, somewhere.

We need a film version of The Wasteland as a semi-biography of T. S. Eliot, starring R. Downey, Jr.

This could be great. With Mickey Rourke in support.

Ever seen Greaser's Palace?

Four Lions and The Infidel
ASAK, Faisal, you worked on "Four Lions"? Wow, that's cool! :) I really want to see it, do you have any information on release dates in San Francisco or nationwide?
JK,
Gwyneth

The funky little membranes in my head are trying to shuttle through the name Glenn Beck, hauling the sweet little pink trailer with the name NOVEL in green paint.

What won't they publish? Something grins from the sewer and it aint Mother with her apple pie.

Back when I was a freshman in college (6 years ago or so) one of my professors had us watch films every Friday. Now he was a pretty good guy otherwise, but one of the films he had us watch was THE WAR LORD. I swear to god. If that film only sounds vaguely familiar Harlan reviewed it in HARLAN ELLISON'S WATCHING.

father's 24 fps
* Purchased a remainder copy of, yes, BLADE RUNNER the other day. It contained a slipsheet piece of paper presenting the package as a Father's Day gift. My Uncle Glenn's favorite film. However, my father's may have been THE WILD BUNCH or TAXI DRIVER. We used to go see any Martin Scorsese-directed film when it premiered. Dad had high hopes for catching Werner Herzog's RESCUE DAWN, but he passed before being able to see it. I quite enjoy it, however.

So much has been written about BLADE RUNNER, but I'll just say I really dig Jordan Cronenweth's cinematography. He did a great job on CUTTER'S WAY as well. The other thing, of course, is the masterful photomechanical composites by Douglas Trumbull and Company way before CGI mayhem took over. And who can forget all the great lines: "dirty little holes."

* I finally watched SE7EN from beginning to end. It was in a store in a Father's Day kiosk. Mentioned this to a friend, and she said her dad didn't like dark-themed films. Hmmm ... I think he may be a Born Again.

* I recall a Chicago press writer (Tribune or Sun Times, can't remember which) wrote a strange article a few years back near Father's Day about how Rod Taylor's character Mitch Brenner in THE BIRDS was a role model of a perfect father. Well, I know he certainly had a lotta women issues!

* Any clues to what the connection is to Mark E. Smith of The Fall and HE? I remember reading here some time back that a project was in the works that somehow integrated these two entities. The "charisma," if you will. Spotted a recent Fall album in a stack of my CDs the other day. It's titled HEADS ROLL. That had me thinking about BP engineering managers.

"Glenn Beck has a 'novel' out!"

I just received an e-mail from Amazon suggesting that, "as someone who has recently purchased mysteries or thrillers from Amazon.com", I might be interested in buying Glenn Beck's novel! Anyone know a good libel lawyer?

Four Lions - Screening in LA
Hello to all my West Coast friends.

The film Four Lions is going to be screening at the Los Angeles Film Festival on the 24th and 27th of June.

(For anyone that doesn't know, this is my first feature credit on which I worked on and off for a few years... some of you may even spot me in it).

More info at:

http://filmguide.lafilmfest.com/tixSYS/2010/xslguide/trailer.php?EventNumber=4544¬epg=1

Tickets keep selling out so book early!

For those that don't know about the film, please check out the numerous reviews that popped up during Sundance and SXSW. One was by Josh Olson for AICN which we very much appreciated.

Take care.

FAQ

P.S. Yeah, I didn't tell you what it's about on purpose. Just click the link and if you like the trailer, can come and see more.

Glenn Beck has a 'novel' out! Probably a comedy anti-classic maniac-inspirational manual!

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-06-18/glenn-becks-the-overton-window-john-avlon-reviews/

Random questioning thought for the day: why the hell is this country obsessed with bloody vampires now? That Mormon moron writing her plagiarist emo crap has a lot to answer for...

Harlan/Weird Al contact achieved
Update: My contact in Weird Al-ville, drummer "Bermuda" Schwartz, messaged back "Will do--thanks." So I think we may safely assume that the ball is at least rolling toward his court.

Happy Birthday, Roger Ebert!
I am glad that we have the Pavilion and such wonderful company. Happy birthday, many more and continued good health to you and your wife.

I have enjoyed your work for many years (I am still looking for a copy of your "Little Movie Book"), however, I am glad we never met. Allow me to explain:

My wife and I attended the Sundance Film Festival in 2000. I believe it was at the showing of "The Filth and the Fury" where I'd bought some refreshments and was about to rest my legs when I noticed you and your wife talking to each other.

So, I am happy to remain, "A Fellow Who Saw Roger Ebert" as opposed to, "The Jerk That Sat On Roger and Chaz Hammelsmith Ebert".

Brian Phillips

Ben, glad you liked my comments on the story and I look forward to talking with about it in greater depth. It is funny, but even though I have been posting here for a number of years, I found myself avoiding the Literary Symposium, as I felt intimidated by it for some reason. What could I have to contribute that others who are far more versed in analyzing Ellison and are way more intelligent have not already said?

The truth is, the Literary Symposium is nothing like that. Jan has done a great job in setting up threads on many stories and most of the discussions revolve around a person's thoughts and reactions to a particular piece. Since almost all of us here were drawn to Harlan initially through his writing, I would encourage people in the Pav to pop over to the Symposium and share some of your thoughts about any of the stories listed there (or create new ones, with all that Harlan has written, we have barely scratched the surface of his output)

All the best,

Mark

Literary Symposium
Mark Goldberg: Thanks, read your excellent insight into "Punky and the Yale Men" Had to register to respond which I will shortly. Also thanks for pointing me in that direction, so I can gain insight into stories from other fans and even occassionally Harlan himself. Good looking out there, sir.

Radar Sweep
Lori,
Are you ok? The Tenderloin was smoking like crazy this afternoon down by where you live. I saw at least 4 fire engines on my way home from the Halal butcher shop.
Just ping if you're ok?
Gwyneth

A distinctive genre in movies and tv is the Londonesque nature drama/adventure:

CALL OF THE WILD (indeed, a good one scripted by Deliverance author James Dickey), THE WHITE DAWN, WHITE FANG, THE YEARLING, et al.

Well, they're ALL beat by BP's brand new epic, BALLET AT SEA!

No joke. It's on their website. RUN it, and rediscover MUDDA NATU'A!

...sigh... someone trying to rip you off

HARLAN: I hate to post this, as I suspect that any appreciation you feel for being alerted to the pickpocket with his hand in your coat is massively outweighed by the unrelenting assault on your time and energies, but some dope's put up "The Man Who Rowed Christopher Columbus Ashore" as a download.

http://www.torrenthound.com/search/The+Man+Who+Rowed+Christopher+Columbus+Ashore

Sorry to lug the dead rat into your living room.

MM

What's this post got to do with Harlan?
Recent talk of the vicissitudes of the writer's life set me to thinking about Thom Jones' remarkable journey. He joined the Marines in the Vietnam era and received training for Force Recon, but ended up with temporal lobe epilepsy received during a "smoker," an informal Corps boxing match. Subsequent to that he spent a lot of time in military neuropsych hospitals, where the black-and-white TV in the corner was always turned up too loud and imaginary bugs scurried up his arms.

Eventually he got well enough that he somehow landed a job writing copy for an ad agency, a position that he was utterly unsuited for by temperament. At some point Jones made what you might call a Career Move and beat the holy hell out of his boss in view of the whole office.

His next gig was as head janitor at a high school, by which time Jones was in his forties and now plagued not only by epilepsy but by diabetes. Most people would consider that a pretty fair approximation of hitting the skids, but weirdly, it turned out to be Jones’ big break. He got the Special Ed kids to do his work for him while he hid out all day in the basement boiler room, taking meds for his seizures and furtively reading Schopenhauer and Chekhov when he wasn’t writing short stories.

Eventually he got noticed. Jones was too good not to be.

For those of you who feel your will to write ebbing, do yourself a favor and read his collections, THE PUGILIST AT REST, SONNY LISTON WAS A FRIEND OF MINE, and COLD SNAP. Whenever I re-read his “I Want to Live!,” a story that landed in THE BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES OF THE CENTURY, I feel as if someone has jabbed me with a hypo of B-12.

Thankfully, his books, which stand as landmarks of what words can do, remain in print.

As for what this has to do with Harlan... Well…both men have not only devoted a good deal of their lives to the craft of the short story, but are also pretty fair with their fists. So there.

David, I am sorry to hear about your losses. Been a rough year around here

Ben Lomax, I posted my thoughts about "Punky & the Yale Men" in the Literary Symposium. If I get a chance tomorrow, I will also add a thread on "Corpse" and may add one for "A Prayer for No One's Enemy".

All the best,

Mark

Gallup has a new poll out. Sixty percent of Americans now support big government: They want more stimulus spending to create jobs. Keynes would send his love but he is moldering, but his ideas are as fresh as brain dip.

mmmm dip.

--------

Amperion, ah, did you know that the Obama administration is going after whistleblowers more than any other President in the history of the US? Democracy Now reported on it today.

The Daily Show also did a bit on how Obama went against much of his main beliefs, including rendition, torture, getting out of Iraq.

Obama getting the twenty billion is a good thing and the "small people" comment was an apple in big Governments lap, but Obama needs some heat on his butt too.

-------------

Wikileaks has a CIA report about how to convince Germans and French citizens to support the Afghan war. In polls they want their countries to pull out. The CIA is trying to think of good propaganda to get them to change their minds.

Forget democracy or majority rule, it all comes down to manipulation.

A meeting of great minds of the 20th century, begorrah:

http://www.dangerousminds.net/index.php/site/comments/marilyn_reads_joyce/

suitable readings

Several friends of ours have died recently. The most recent was Tuesday, and we got the news yesterday. She was younger than my wife, so Carole has been feeling pretty low. Last night I handed Carole _Angry Candy_ and advised her to read the introduction for how Harlan reacted to a bad patch of losses.

After she finished it, she remarked on how effectively it was written, how you can hear it all in Harlan's voice, and wondered how he managed to stay angry all these years.

Carole has kind of a skewed image of Harlan since, on those rare occasions he's called my house and she's answered, he's always been a perfect gentleman (according to her), so she is puzzled by his firebrand reputation.

Movie Madness
My wife and I saw Beyond the Valley of the Dolls in 1970 or so, on an all-night movie crawl in and around L.A. Right after, I think, Ice Station Zebra. Part of a multiple bill with the Lee Remick/Temple Drake version of Sanctuary, as I recall.

Twas at one of those fifty-cent admission theaters in central L.A., probably Broadway, where they kept the sound cranked really loud to keep the homeless (called bums, back then) from sleeping. You could still smoke in the back of movie theaters then, and the floors were an inch or two deep in mummified popcorn and Coke syrup and long-dead Jujubes. Not the greatest venue.

Probably around two a.m. when we got there, and we'd seen five or six movies by then and were getting punchy.

Halfway through the picture a man ran down the aisle and slammed out the emergency exit; a beat later, two of LAPD's finest charged down the aisle and after him. Nobody in the theater gave it much notice that I could tell -- half the audience snored away unperturbed.

Not to be a spoiler on a forty-year-old movie, but the line near the end, from David Gurian's character Harris (whatever happened to him?) -- "I can walk!" almost put my wife and me giggling onto the begrimed and surely-diseased floor. It became part of our private couple-speak thereafter. When something unbelievable happened, one of us would look at the other and offer it up, in an amazed voice.

"I ... I can walk!"

Thanks, Roger. I owe you that one. And for a distant connection to a nice review -- I had a few uncredited lines in the Batman animated movie Mask of the Phantasm, written by the story editors of the TV show, one of whom was my collaborator.

Problem with being a writer who gets published or onscreen is that it is always there to haunt you. I had a character hiss the word "damn" in a story once. Can't do this. Noooo sssssibilants. Fucking editor let it pass. My writer friends downtown never let me forget it. I was once afflicted with a major case of exclamation point poisoning. I misused "hopefully." I had folks blinking their eyes and shrugging their shoulders. And those are the mildest examples I admit to -- I've done worse. Then again, them stories got published and I got paid for 'em which offered a bit of Gileadian balm ...

Don't bogart that joint, my friend ...

Perry

SLIPPAGE
Susan, my copy of SLIPPAGE arrived today... thank you so much! Scooping the package from my old, metal - but still dependable - mailbox, I held it like a newborn baby. Then I opened it with glee, like a kid at Christmas, and upon flipping through the pages, I found myself tearing up. Again, thanks!

A-TC, I agree on Morituri. Saw it yeeeears ago, once, on a network broadcast, in the days when it was a big deal that a NETWORK was showing a real Hollywood movie. Never forgot it. I had a crush on Janet Margolin for about three weeks after seeing it. She played the young Jewish woman on the lifeboat picked up by the ship.

Abby Sunderland is okee-ka-dokee by me, though I question the choice of sailing through the Austral Ocean during winter. Those rollers circle the globe endlessly, and sixty foot fifteen meter waves are par. I was a diver for several years, and I know just enough about the ocean to say clearly it is one bad mother fucker. Handle with care, and respect. For a hair raising read, try Willard Bascomb's "Waves and Beaches". It sounds dry, but his tales of rogue waves, and other freaks of the ocean, plus the photograph of the lighthouse, mouinted on a ten foot thick reinforced concrete plinth atop an oceanfront fifty foot fifteen meter cliff, and the "other" picture, taken after a wave hit the cliff is, well, disturbing.

I once grabbed a shark by its tail. Hey, it was asleep on the bottom, and I was there. It was a two point five IQ moment, if one assumes the shark had at least two of the points.

Check out this cartoon (dial up friendly):

http://www.toonopedia.com/bealaw.htm

I bet Harlan has had days like that.

Jerry Brown would make a pretty good governor, again. Despite all the fun poked at him, he did a cracking good job in the seventies.early eighties.

Doesn't stand a snowball's chance against the eBay (fill in a word starting with the third letter into the alphabet here), If you're a washed up and/or fired (Hello, Carly!) female Carlifornia (sic) CEO, you can always run for public office, even if you did not bother to vote for twenty-eight years...

Last time I checked (don't ask, don't tell!) eBay was requiring used underwear vendors affirm their (under)wares have been sanitized, sealed hermetically after handling by certified virgo intacto Filipinas pure in thought and deed. Some of that is actually the case.

How come only super heroes need swear not to use their new found powers for Evil Purposes?

Can't we make CEO's do it too?

Roger Ebert posted here? And I missed it?

When I saw "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls" in like 1971, I knew I was not the most twisted person in this world. Such knowledge is, well, not to be sniffed at. Unlike eBay used underwear.

Would Frank have given a better review to the Big O's presentation had heappeared in a Che tee, with a little black flag onhis deak, announced he was nationalizing all oil productio, all BP execs getting free job training as bird de-oilers and investing every dollar he could confiscate from Glenn Beck and Limbaugh in Gerbil Wheel power?

Actually, some of that might be a good idea.

I likes me some gerbil in the morning. Tastes like chicken.

Roger Ebert's popped in? Wonderful!
If the debate about video games and art ever comes up here, I'll do my best to make intelligent, persuasive and courteous arguments.

I'm undecided on the matter, overall, but it's a hell of an interesting question.

The Spill
This is one of the best, most concise articles I've read on the BP oil spill:

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/17390/111965

Welcome, Mr. Ebert. Please visit often! We love discussions about film!

On Love, Art and Paranoid Exam Nytes
Dear Harlan et al.

Here's a small theme for the Pavilion, if I may be allowed to ask you this: love is always a constant theme in the works of the literary-minded throughout the written History of Mankind, from the atrocious quality of it's description in Meyer's Twilight saga to the more occult and amusing analysis in Saramago's "Baltasar & Blimunda".
What I have to ask is this: based on our common concept of love, to which we have no description of, but only the ability to recognize it easily, no matter what form it takes, what would be the best way to describe it as an instant passion, like the loyalty of a dog and the kindness of Man united? What would be the best depiction (visual or written) of this type of love?

Josh: A pleasure to see you posting here for the first time (at least, it's the first time to me). Let me dare to ask this: will you read my stories and or script? *insert aura of irony here* I kid, of course.

Mr. Ebert: Also an honor to see coming here to this ciber-venue of sorts, kind sir. If you would be so kind as to accept this invitation of mine to politely debate the concept of art and the videogame issue, I would be most delighted.

I have to go now, everyone, exam study calls me.

K.

Corpse
Roger Ebert: Very cool. I have never been a fan of movie reviewers as their basis for spouting criticisms is typically dubious at best. Ebert is the exception to that, someone who knows movies and is not just on the outside looking in but an actual creator himself.

Okay, with that said I continue my Essential Ellison reviews and just ran into "Corpse", which I had not read before. It's beautiful, with really elegant synchronization between primitive cultures, "modern", and what may lie ahead yet. I was loving it, but I fear to admit that the end just lost me.

Thom reached in to save the plastic Virgin Mary from the graverobbers of the automobile corpse, the element that ties the whole story together. But I don't understand what happened to him, his being frozen in stone. I see the investment in being a religious man not paying off as the center of power shifts, but I cannot visualize in my mind what actually happened to him, and why.

I am sadly confident this is a failing on my part, some sign that I missed that hopefully some more insightful reader on this site will point out like a hammer to the cranium. Sometimes I believe I might be ill equipped to complete the mission I have set myself. Nonetheless I will soldier on. Thanks for any help that anyone here can be on this.

Sedulous
I love the word "Sedulous". It sounds just like it means.

I'm a bit lit on beer and wodka. Wrote a song about it, here it goes:

“Blood and Bone
Entombed in Stone
Guard treasures long unseen
Knucklebones Cast
Seven Hundred Years Past
So compel the Chosen Three.”

Roger Ebert, good to see you post here!
Ummm…Anyway, would you like to read my spec script…?
Just kidding…!
I don’t know, maybe Mr. Ellison….Just the first fifteen pages…

Probably gonna regret this post tomorrow. Ninety Nine percent of art is just showing up. That’s the story I’m sticking to.

Maybe ninety percent.


Tim Raven

Harlan/Weird Al contact initiated
I stopped by today and noticed Harlan's request for someone to get his number to Weird Al. As it happens, Al's drummer is an old pal of mine, so I've sent the number to him and asked him to pass it along to Al. I hope this works out. My best to Harlan as always.

Ebert? Ebert??!?!?!
Wow. Ebert is a brilliant writer (not just movie reviewer, writer) and I have been a huge fan of his website for a few years. The amazing kindness and humanity of his work and thoughts shines through even when he's employing his brutally acerbic wit. To know this site let him give a shout out to Harlan tickles me a very deep shade of pink.

I worship Weird Al, too. Tell him to give me a buzz when he's done talking to Harlan, or if he's ever in Atlanta for Tim and Eric related activities. :)

For those of you on the facebooks, thanks for the kind comments about my injury and surgery. Got out of the hospital a couple hours ago with my broken zygomatic arch snapped back into place. Let's hope it holds. My head hurts so bad I am thinking about cutting it off.

The Place to Be

Just dropped by to post the following link to a review of dreams

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joseph-smigelski/harlan-ellison-dreams-wit_b_521341.html

Apologies if it has been posted here already

But What Can I Say....

Webderland must be the place to be.. Harlan Ellison & Roger Ebert in the same place. With these two powehouses combined we cannot fail.

I am truly Gobsmacked, Knocked for six & Bowled Over.. Not much more I can say.

Ebert & Ellison.. Ladies & Gentlemen, we have true heros in our midst.

Best to All... I need to sit down PHHHWWW

Nice to see you drop in, Mr. Ebert! I read your column about the effect that computers and the internet have had on your (and everyone's) thinking and I've tried to limit my on-line time and do other things (read, etc.) to try to get my brain back.

Thanks!

Chuck

I remember reading John Gregory Dunne's Monster a while back, and came to a section where he discussed going to some chic Oscar party in Hollywood. He was reveling in the A listery of it all - nothing but talent, everywhere you looked - but then he spotted (sniff) EBERT, and haughtily wondered what the hell a CRITIC was doing here? He'd never done anything that warranted being part of this illustrious company after all. Dunne was quite put out.

At which point, I hurled the book across the room and never went back to finish it.

Setting aside all the important work Roger has done for the art of film over the decades, the totality of John Gregory Dunne's earnest screen work never came close to matching a single scene of the awe-inspiring bugfuck genius that is Beyond The Valley of the Dolls.

And I'd say that even if he HADN'T done this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLfWuEsQT2E

Mr. Ebert, it is truly a pleasure to see you here. As the owner of one of the last remaining independent video stores, I referred to your columns often in order to give my customers an opinion besides my own (the store is still going - in Stowe, VT - and I still own half of it, but I am no longer involved. Long story. You don't want to hear it).

Weird Al is right up there, for me, with Tom Lehrer. LOVE his songs. Maybe not quite as much as Tom, but nonetheless...

Getting in touch with Ebert and Yankovic
HARLAN,
I've sent both Roger Ebert and Al Yankovic messages on Twitter explaining that you'd like them to stop by the Pavilion. Being an insignificant dunderhead from Texas, I'm not all that well connected and I don't know either party personally, so it's the best I can do. I hope it's enough!

-Kristian

P.S. I'm posting this in an effort to prevent both Ebert and Yankovic from being flooded by similar messages from other like-minded Webderlanders. It doesn't count as a triple post day, honest! :)

If only the Czar knew
Back when post-war America found itself the lucky possessor of half the world’s intact industrial capacity and Harlan Ellison’s manual typewriter had just begun to produce marketable fiction, someone asked conservative political theorist Russell Kirk* his opinion of the John Birch Society’s claim that President Eisenhower was a member of the International Communist Conspiracy.

“Ike’s not a communist,” Kirk replied. “He’s a golfer.”

The same might be said of America’s subsequent Presidents, including the current leader of the World’s Sole Surviving Superpower, who has hit the links an impressive thirty-eight times since his inauguration.

Whenever I hear anybody accuse this President or that one of fascism or Marxism, I hide a smile. When I am told that such-and-such a candidate is the one who can “ really turn this country around,” I stifle a yawn.

The golfers of either party will not save us. They are too busy working on their handicaps to give a royal fuck about anybody who isn’t the CEO of Goldman Sachs.

As Harlan has been known to say, “You are responsible.” Now go take soup to that sick neighbor across the street.
_________________________________________________________________

*Russell Kirk also won the 1974 World Fantasy Award for “There’s a Long, Long Trail A-Winding,” later reprinted in THE PRINCESS OF ALL LANDS, his haunting and brilliant Arkham House collection. All Kirk's theorizing came to naught toward the end of his life, with our first attack on Iraq (“There is nothing conservative about launching cruise missiles at the place where human civilization began,” he pleaded at the time), but his fiction remains with us. On his deathbed, did he wish that he had written fewer political tracts and more stories?

HARLAN: The yearbook is on the way. I think he would appreciate any scribbles you choose to make no matter the reference. He considers Young Jackanapes to be "really cooler than, well, you know, that nickname I don't want you to ever call me again, Mom."

shagin

KNOWING OUTSTANDING PEOPLE

ROGER EBERT: Cheezus, kid, your memory is both encyclopedic and sedulous. Also, muenster, mascarpone and Jungfrau.

We have both been battered, but both of us, in fact, have led the sort of legendary lives everyone else idolizes. As Dottie said, "Living well is the best revenge."

Or try this one, it has become a late third act icon for me.
From Antonio Porchia (Portuguese poet, I think): "One lives only in hopes of becoming a memory."

Yr olde pal, Harlan

----------------------------------------------------------------
If someone gets the preceding to Roger, I'd be grateful. Unless Roger, I smile at the thought, covers this site himself.
----------------------------------------------------------------
"Weird Al" knows me. I know "Weird Al." We had our picture taken together at the Grammy nominees evening. It is a SWELL photo, and Al wanted one. In fact, it was he, screaming and leaping red velvet ropes, running toward me howling for paparazzi to snap us together, that precipitated this whole kerfuffle. If someone could get my phone number to him, and he were to call me, we could cut that trail, Chingachgook and me. Thank you in advance, Anyone.
----------------------------------------------------------------

Gimme Rewrite! On second thought . . . .

AT-C:

If she gives you the book, you could say "Thank you, but I wouldn't have been interested in this back when it was written by someone else, four years ago."

A chastened educated sorta-socialist anti-socialist writes...
Some pomes (sic)(may make you sic) for youse; first two are on the site of a fine Canongate-published Scottish writer by the name of Laura Hird:

http://www.laurahird.com/showcase/grahamrae2.html

Second is on the site of a man who used to be Allen Ginsberg's editor:

http://redpetersdf.blogspot.com/2009/04/sex-and-death-graham-rae.html

As you can see, no fucking around, ecstatically living and dying flesh dreams of orgasm and dementia and eternity.

Topped off with some old LA punk; a fine, scary song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sjwdlNcQEQ

And it wordruns jumps leaps skips just like-a fucking this-a:

He bought a sterilized hypo to shoot a sex machine drug he got 24 hours to shoot all Paulenes between the legs he'll throw 96 tears thru 24 hours sexed once every hour Johnny hit and run Paulene LA bus doors open kicking both doors open when it rested on 6th street that's when he drug a girl inside he was spreading her legs and didn't understand dying she was still awake Johnny hit and run Paulene when he was waking up beside the bed he found clumps of hair the last Paulene wouldn't cooperate she wasn't what you'd call living really but she was still awake Johnny hit and run Paulene

C'est tout monsieurs et madames...

KRISTIAN
"...upstart amateurs can now compete with the established order..."

Upstarts have always been able to compete with the established order. What the internet has done is suggest to amateurs that professional standards and getting paid aren't required.

Social Media
Sorry for the double post, but I keep meaning to mention this and I never remember until *after* I've sent my daily message. If the idea of using social media offends you, please disregard this post and pretend you didn't see it. I won't bring it up again.

Anyway, I really enjoy keeping up with several Webderlanders via sites like Facebook and Twitter (or even e-mail), so I thought it might be fun for those of us who use social media to provide our contact info. It's nice to have alternate outlets for discussion that won't clog up the pavilion, or that are too personal for the forums.

Any friend of the pavilion is a friend of mine, so I'm happy to go first. You can find me on:

Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/2ekmuyr
Twitter: http://twitter.com/unclejeet

You can also reach me through e-mail, which I always include in my posts.

Now, if we could just convince Harlan to start a little angry Tweeting... :)

-Kristian

The Internet
Rod,
You're right, of course. I was talking more about non-fiction columnists writing for periodicals rather than fiction writers, but it's entirely true that making a living as a writer has always been hard. The Internet hasn't changed that.

What the Internet *is* changing, however, is the nature of the product. Speaking again of non-fiction columnists, newspapers and magazines will also always need content, but they're increasingly able to get it from non-professionals. Why pay for a staff of professionals to write your content, for instance, when you can feature "community" bloggers instead, and pay them nothing? They're happy for the exposure and the egoboo, and they don't demand salaries.

At a time when an abysmal economy is plaguing the country and the industry is experiencing drastically declining subscription and sales rates, it doesn't make a lot of fiscal sense for publishers to pay for something they can now get for free. (Well, in the short term, anyway. The long term view suggests that companies who stick to quality and endure the expenses through this lean time will stand to emerge as the strongest contenders later, after things stabilize and people realize that professionals do it better, after all. If that day ever comes, anyway...)

What the Internet is doing right now is lowering the pay of non-superstar professional writers: reporters, columnists, etc... and even eliminating their positions entirely in many cases, in favor of outsourcing to content mills or amateurs. I'm not condemning the Internet for what it's doing to the world of publishing, but the changes are happening. We need to figure out how to survive in the new world, is all. For example, I'm an Online Producer and blog writer for a Hearst paper, so my job sorta depends on the Internet. Still, I've mixed feelings about it.

The freedom-loving part of me that craves the idea of everyone having equal access to getting their voices heard fully supports the idea that upstart amateurs can now compete with the established order. However, the realist in me is concerned that the end result will be the continued dilution of quality across the board, and I worry about where it will end. Or even if it will ever end.

-Kristian

The spambot protection you're wondering about is the question, "This is a site for Harlan Ellison and his wife _____."

Obama speech

Frank - while I thought Obama's speech last night was not his best (his best in my opinion being the one he gave to House Democrats just before their final vote on health care), and probably could have used some more detail, to say that it had no mention of energy policy or sacrifice is not true.

From the speech, regarding energy policy:

"But a larger lesson is that no matter how much we improve our regulation of the industry, drilling for oil these days entails greater risk. After all, oil is a finite resource. We consume more than 20% of the world’s oil, but have less than 2% of the world’s oil reserves. And that’s part of the reason oil companies are drilling a mile beneath the surface of the ocean – because we’re running out of places to drill on land and in shallow water.

"For decades, we have known the days of cheap and easily accessible oil were numbered. For decades, we have talked and talked about the need to end America’s century-long addiction to fossil fuels. And for decades, we have failed to act with the sense of urgency that this challenge requires. Time and again, the path forward has been blocked – not only by oil industry lobbyists, but also by a lack of political courage and candor.

"The consequences of our inaction are now in plain sight. Countries like China are investing in clean energy jobs and industries that should be here in America. Each day, we send nearly $1 billion of our wealth to foreign countries for their oil. And today, as we look to the Gulf, we see an entire way of life being threatened by a menacing cloud of black crude.

"We cannot consign our children to this future. The tragedy unfolding on our coast is the most painful and powerful reminder yet that the time to embrace a clean energy future is now. Now is the moment for this generation to embark on a national mission to unleash American innovation and seize control of our own destiny."

On sacrifice:

"Now, there are costs associated with this transition. And some believe we can’t afford those costs right now. I say we can’t afford not to change how we produce and use energy – because the long-term costs to our economy, our national security, and our environment are far greater. "

You may disagree with the phrasing, but clearly this was a speech about much more then the current oil spill.

MM

Umm, Roger sent me?
Roger Ebert just tweeted that Harlan has a great way to defeat spambots here, and I came for a look-see. Sort of a meta-topic, I suppose.

While here, I must say I love the clipboard feature. I can't tell you how many times I have walked away from a blog after some interruption during comment posting (such as a logon request) lost my carefully-crafted but not-worth-recreating-from-scratch missive. Uh, serves me right?

I remember Harlan. Liked to wear black, I think. Hung out with A.J. Budrys, Poul Anderson and others at a bigCon in Seattle when RAH was getting a Hugo for something - Starship Trooper maybe. Kids at the Con called him a Nazi (RAH, not Harlan). Surprised how young Harlan was (and holding up well I see) which is funny because I think I might have been younger. I guess that means I still am.

I didn't know what The Tombs were, because I hadn't moved to New York City yet, but they were mentioned with awe with regard to Harlan.

I've probably read more Harlan than I realize, especially considering how it seems to be misappropriated so much. The battles with media giants seem to come to mind in the same thought as "Harlan Ellison" and I hadn't noticed until visiting this place how entertaining Harlan's rants about it are.

What's interesting, after all of that, is that "Harlan Ellison" has remained a familiar name for me for half a century. Wow.

Still wondering what the spambot defense system is though.

A-TC, while I do not doubt that the scenario you presented will occur, why approach it with a feigned smile? If my arch-conservative ex-mother in law (otherwise known as the Queen of the Demonweb Pits) would have given me such a gift, I would have called her on it and politely handed it back to her, stating that I did not feel this was a gift given with any degree of sincerity. That is what I would have said in front of my chidlren, in private, stronger words would have been uttered. Of course, this also provides background on why I got divorced....

Mr. Ebert, welcome and thank you for continuing to write with such conviction

All the best,

Mark

Sorry
First post and I've screwed up already. Yes, I know it's Sunderland. My fingers don't, though. Apologies all 'round.

Abby Sutherland
I envy her -- when I look back (which I try not to do, but don't always succeed) the one blanket statement I make is that I wish I hadn't spent so much time playing it safe and doing what everyone else thought I should be doing. If I had her skills and had the resources to do it, I'd want to travel just as she did. I hope she tries it again and be d----d to the naysayers!

16-year old sailor & Obama socialism
Jon Carroll said what I think about the sailor in his column below:

http://www.sfgate.com/columnists/carroll/

Repubs calling Obama a socialist? Yep, here's a report on a Republican National Committee presentation to fundraisers to do so, in order to raise money on fear:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124359632

Majority of self-identified Republicans believe Obama a socialist in this poll:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0210/32384.html

Senator Jim DeMint links Obama policies to socialism:

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/02/27/senator-calls-obama-world%E2%80%99s-best-salesman-of-socialism/?fbid=xK5i9R6ZRbs

Addendum
Of course, I also mean, "and in general," but that's inherently implied.

Various
Now THAT is one eloquent counter-argument in favor of the Internet.

I hope you stick around, Roger. I mean here, specifically.

*

Glenn Beck's idiotic new novel -- I haven't read it myself, but the plot synopsis and all the extensive excerpts I have read are indeed bad enough to be signs of mental illness -- turns out to be a thinly-disguised rewrite of a self-published, vanity press 2005 thriller called CIRCUMFERENCE OF DARKNESS, by Jack Henderson, produced by Beck's ghost writer, Jack Henderson.

Details here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-kelly/glenn-becks-new-novel-abo_b_613861.html

I fear this book. Not because of any inherent evil, but because a lot of liberal sons-in-law will end up getting it as a birthday present (or otherwise) from their arch-conservative relatives by marriage. How many will have to feign appreciative smiles when their in-laws boom, "Well, I knew you liked books, so..."

*

Saw MORITURI, a WWII intrigue film starring Marlon Brando and Yul Brynner. Fun, almost forgotten movie...but I must confess breaking up during the opening credits, which listed the supporting player Hans Christian Blech. Really? Hans Christian Blech? MAD magazine at its height could not have done better.

Obama's speech last night was just awful. He didn't mention global warming, didn't mention energy policy, didn't mention sacrifice--but he sure rolled the rubes by mentioning prayer, that we should pray our way out of this spill. God may move mountains but people move oil.

BP will not allow masks to be worn by clean uppers: because it may raise their liability! Sumbitches.

Corporations are evil.

-------------

Roger Ebert, hello. You are a sweet, wonderful man. Great reviewer too--at times. Wink and kiss.

Chicago is a concrete prison, but I won't go there...lol

Old times
Harlan,

Long time no see. From the Midwestcon in Cincinnati to crawling into your cave and envying your library, to that eccentric dinner at David Bradley's house and our expedition to his concrete-block bunker of classic films, we've had some good times. I still have your number, but I Have No Voice And I Must Post (sounds like a science fiction title).

I gather you are not much into e-mail. Don't feel bad. They're not going to get me on one of those tourist flights into space. Parts of the future perhaps best belong in our pasts. I'm not keen to be teleported, either.

Roger

Reply to Kristian Bland

Who wrote: "The writing is on the wall, written in the blood of hard-working professional writers...and it's in binary. Sucks."

I may be wrong, but the message I've received from Harlan and others over the years is that writing fiction professionally -- i.e. not just making a living from writing, which journalists and copywriters and technical writers do -- has always been difficult. That is to say, it was true BEFORE the Internet came along. (Refer to the Harlan's intro to PRAYERS TO BROKEN STONES.)

However, as I say to frustrated artist friends: publishers, movie studios, record labels, art galleries, fashion labels, webmongers and TV stations always need new PRODUCT. Constantly. Just get in there before Google scans every book ever printed and releases them via the iPad (with pop-up ads).

-Rod

Lori-Both Sean Hannity and Dennis Miller have called Obama a socialist -within the past week. Whether either are credible is another story. That Limbaugh fellow has done so as well - today. Ditto THAT for credibility.

If Meg Whitman wins and runs California like she did eBay, look for an uptick in home-made porn and used underwear sales. Fake autographs and Beanie Babies seem to have run their course.

To Susan:
My book arrived today...many thanks! Hope all is well in the house of Ellison...

Another great book to add to the library...life is good!

"So, Meg Whitman is our next governor?"

Yes.

Not saying it's a good idea.

Just saying it is gonna happen.

See your post as to why.

Among the "crimes" of GW that Frank copied from those allegedly listed by Harpers:

"Number of books by Henry Kissinger found in Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz’s mansion: 2"

Still good for a laugh, our Frank.

Still crazy after all these years.

Returning to reality. now.

Real Writers
It's quiet here, so ... Um, Semi, if you are gonna lament the nature of series TV, don't start with this season -- go back to any year after the golden era and look at the number of remakes, standard cops 'n' robbers, westerns, private eyes, and three-camera sitcoms. Like Mickey D's, network TV has never been about excellence in food but about serving the most people fare that isn't too different from store to store.

Three plots and they've all been done, so you can't really take writers to task for repeating them. Nothing done by anybody on the tube, the screen, or in a book is going to be totally original. What makes them different is the eye and voice of the tale-spinner.

Pick a successful show and demonstrate from it a plot or setting that's never been done. Not just currently -- pretty much any show, at any time in the history of the medium will do.

If memory serves, the remake of Battlestar Galactica was waaaay better than the original -- does this mean the writers of the remake weren't real, but those who wrote the original -- dreadful as it was -- were? (Of course, they were simply doing Wagon Train in space. And Wagon Train harkens back to the Illiad, and much of that was swiped from folk tales. By that ((fire))light, the first "real" writer wasn't even a writer -- he was a storyteller.)

The glass teat -- where have I heard that term before? -- exists to suckle the masses and sell soap. Excellence past that is incidental. Crappy shows sell lots of soap. Some the best get cancelled quick. Anybody remember Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip? Duckmman? The last episode of Saving Grace is coming up -- never been a bad-girl cop could touch Holly Hunter in that. It's not about good, it's about popular. iCarly reruns will outlive the roaches.

Cable has taken down a few barriers because you can't get it by accident, you have to sign up for it, so the audience is narrowed a bit.

The guy flipping burgers at Mickey D's isn't the chef at Spago's, but he is a cook. The man or woman who writes episodes of any remake might not be John Locke, but if they get it on the air, s/he will be a professional writer.

Real writers are people who write. After that, you are talking about taste.

Perry

A quite admittedly anecdotal sample space:

Last week I "drifted" into different parts of Los Angeles county.

Lots ta do, many people to see.

It was a long day, so I babbled politics.

Here are a few replies I got in the mix (as verbatim as I can recall):

"I haven't been too concerned about the oil spill because it hasn't had any affect on my life" (easily the winner!)

"What is BP again?"

"So, Meg Whitman is our next governor?"

"WHO'S Jerry Brown?"

These are people who vote. These are people who shape a view or sentiment before they head to the ballot, and take the course of the country into a void!

It alarms me, because - oh, yeah - I continue to believe this sample space reflects nearly half the American population. The country is largely in THEIR hands!

I understand not everyone has time or interest to follow politics. But there's no longer excuse for this dangerous degree of illiteracy: Obviously, with access to information on the Internet, we have quick expedience to research the world outside our own allegiances.

In a federation such as ours, we are, theoretically, represented by trustees of the people. But, like something out of Huxley, the People, in their cattle-like complacency, surrender this tool, and the so-called trustees have a field day manipulating the system for entities like BP.

Hence, my Mencken-like cynicism.

If I had my way, I'd make Huxley's BRAVE NEW WORLD required reading to retain citizenship!

Kenneth: in response to any alleged Hollywood "somebodies" that might read a script presented to them, you might want to flip back some pages back to the "I will not read your fucking script" diatribes here in the Pavilion. Also, I have no delusions about what little talent I have. I'm a good ENOUGH writer--maybe even a good writer--but not a great one. Not someone bursting with talent and ideas, or someone that has the stamina for a full-length novel.

I don't know anyone even remotely connected to The Industry. As it is, I'm currently begging people in L.A. to let me sit down and watch their copy of the NBC pilot "Rex is Not Your Lawyer" (to write a thorough review of it), but no one will give me 43 minutes of their (computer or DVD player's) time. And that's just me asking to sit quiet in a corner and not bug 'em. Never mind the effort of trying to hustle a script around town, pinning someone down out of desperation, handing the document over and hoping they actually read the thing rather than skim it and toss it aside. "I WILL NOT READ YOUR FUCKING SCRIPT."

Kristian: only too true about the publishing world. And hey, I can't even do Google AdSense any more. Last year, for some undisclosed reason, they determined that I'd violated their policy; they simply cut me out of the program and kept the $30 that I'd already earned through them. I think it's because I encouraged people here/in the forum to visit my website and click the ads, then Google decided that the frequent hits weren't appreciated.

Television writing itself is barely in existence any more. C'mon! Who needs real writers when American networks can rehash old shows ("Hawaii 5-0," "The Rockford Files," etc.), remake British dramas and sitcoms ("Prime Suspect," "The Office," "Being Human"), remake overseas reality shows ("Who Do You Think You Are?"), or just rely on the names of known/established producers like J.J. Abrams, David E. Kelley, Jerry Bruckheimer, David Shore and so on to get viewers' attentions? Look at the upcoming Fall season. I dare anyone to pick out five original concepts that are not linked to "name" producers.

Kenneth Stevens
Kenneth,
It's not quite that easy, these days. The publishing industry is changing, and those magazine jobs and newspaper columns are getting harder and harder to come by, as things continue moving online. Blogs have been steadily eroding the landscape of weekly/monthly columns, and those fortunate enough to have a gig writing for a periodical are likely to hold on to it tighter than a fat kid on a Moon Pie.

That said, it's certainly not impossible. However, all of these nifty ideas people have for interesting columns seem to stem from feel-good movie concepts more than reality. There are oodles of blogs that I've come across, for instance, that have tried really hard to set themselves up as something for Hollywood to come along and option later. Most never get off the ground, because the concept they've come up with is one dimensional, flat and pointless. Hell, even when it's multi-faceted and interesting, it's hard to do a random search on Google and not come across a million versions of the same thing.

As far as online ventures go, people think that the ability to host ads on a web site automatically translates into bazillions of dollars if people come to your page. The sad reality is that the Internet has transformed how advertising is handled, and services like AdSense pay publishers not as a function of readership, but as a result of ad clicks. This means that, while thousands of people may view your site and be exposed to its advertisements every week, only about .004% may end up clicking an ad. Trust me on this: there's a whole lot of money that isn't in blogging.

The days of people like Tom Wolfe and Hunter Thompson, or even our esteemed host being able to make a solid living off of providing periodical content are dwindling to a close. It's a horrible and depressing situation, but even Hearst is now outsourcing content to robotic online content mills for two of its major papers. It's getting bad out there, folks.

Just yesterday, I started publishing my new novel to my blog, as a way to gauge interest and mine my existing online readership. I'm putting it up one chapter a week, broken into daily posts. I know I'm shooting myself in the foot as far as publishing it in print later goes, but it's a calculated gambit I'm hoping will translate into other projects. It probably won't, but not for lack of effort on my part.

The writing is on the wall, written in the blood of hard-working professional writers...and it's in binary. Sucks.

-Kristian

Bits and Pieces
Frank: Can you give me one credible source that has called Obama a socialist? And don't you think with two wars, an oil spill and a rotten economy, he's got a few mega important things on his plate?


Shagin: Please let YJ know I envy him. I couldn't get the popular kids in HS to sign my yearbook, and here he is with the autograph of a world famous author in his.



Ian: I've always said "if you can't blind them with your brilliance, baffle 'em with your bullshit." Good luck on the job interview!

Iain, you drive a train? You know how fucking cool that is? I'd keep that job, but that's me.

----

You all think racial inequality is a thing of the past? Look at the wealth gap between white men, white women, black men and black women:

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=4078

Black women only have a hundred bucks in assets! A scandal.

-----------

Obama has been President for more than a year and has not used his power to give any pardons to a prisoner.

He aint a socialist.

-------

Obama may be corrupt but our last President was as bad as it gets. Here's the famed Harper's index that uncovers Bush's crimes, among other things:

Percentage of the amendments in the Bill of Rights that are violated by the USA PATRIOT Act, according to the ACLU: 50

Minimum number of laws that Bush signing statements have exempted his administration from following: 1,069

Estimated number of U.S. intelligence reports on Iraq that were based on information from a single defector: 100

Chances an American in 2002 believed the government should regulate comedy routines that make light of terrorism: 2 in 5

Number of books by Henry Kissinger found in Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz’s mansion: 2

Number of all U.S. war veterans who have been denied Veterans Administration health care since 2003: 452,677

Number of eligibility restrictions for admission into the Army that have been loosened since 2003: 9

Percentage change from 2004 to 2007 in the number of Army recruits admitted despite having been charged with a felony: +295

Portion of his presidency he has spent at or en route to vacation spots: 1/3

Minimum number of detainees who were tortured to death in U.S. custody: 8

Minimum number of extraordinary renditions that the United States has made since 2006: 200

Number of incidents of torture on prime-time network TV shows from 2002 to 2007: 897

Number of the thirty-eight Iraq war veterans who have run for Congress who were Democrats: 21

Percentage of Republicans in 2005 who said they would vote for Bush over George Washington: 62

Portion of all U.S. income gains during the Bush Administration that have gone to the top 1 percent of earners: 3/4

Increase since 2000 in the number of Americans living at less than half the federal poverty level: 3,500,000

Amount the Justice Department spent in 2001 installing curtains to cover two seminude statues of Justice: $8,650

Number of White House officials in 2006 and 2007 authorized to discuss pending criminal cases with the DOJ: 711

Number of U.S. cities and towns that have passed resolutions calling for the impeachment of President Bush: 92

Percentage of EPA scientists who say they have experienced political interference with their work since 2002: 60

Number of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and North African men detained in the U.S. in the eight weeks after 9/11: 1,182

Days since the federal government first placed the nation under an “elevated terror alert” that the level has been relaxed: 0

Be afraid.

Touchdown Jesus/God as an Art Critic
Had to pass this one along:

The butt-ugly statue of Jesus, sometimes called "Drowning Jesus," or "Touchdown Jesus," was hit by lightning during a recent storm and burned, leaving only a charred metal frame.

Picture here: http://tinyurl.com/2c778tj
Story here: http://preview.tinyurl.com/2dree77

This is not a comment on religion, but on art -- and maybe a sign from God that ought to be heeded ...

Perry

Correction
"Rueful" was the wrong word to use in paragraph three, a mistake for which I am rueful.

A question for Semi-Writer, an anecdote for Harlan, an epigram
Why devote time and energy to writing fan fiction, something as evanescent as dry ice, when the same effort could go toward other auctorial pursuits, such as novels, non-fiction, or--since you work on the periphery of the movie industry, and presumably at least know somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody--screenplays? (I want to make it clear that I ask the preceding question not in a challenging, trollish fashion, but out of genuine puzzlement.)

It occurs to me that a humorous magazine or alternative weekly piece on the trials and travails of a, ahem, plus-sized person struggling to get work as a Hollywood extra might interest an editor somewhere. Along the same lines, a buddy of mine who has traveled the world as a rigger for a number of well-known musical acts recently wrote a well-received, tongue-in-cheek piece about his jet-lagged vocation that opened several magazine doors for him. If he did it, why can’t you, Semi-Writer?
***
Harlan, you've made a few comments that your memory isn't all it used to be. A retired philosophy professor I know who is, come to think, about your age sometimes makes similarly rueful comments to me when we get together at a downtown coffee house. He adds, however, that what he lacks in easy recall he makes up for in what he calls “increased dimensionality,” which I guess is what Chicago University Ph.D.s say when they mean older-but-wiser. (Could the young, super-quick Harlan of 1968 found it in himself to have written “How Interesting: A Tiny Man,” a story that continues to trouble me? I rather doubt it.)

During our last visit I started to ask my friend the following, “Say, wasn’t there some Greek philosopher or other who wanted to prove that he could be rich if he wanted to be, but that he just wasn’t interested, and ended up cornering the market in olive oil—“

“Thales,” he said, dumping that awful stevia into a perfectly good cup of coffee. “It was Thales of Miletus.”

His memory still seems pretty okay to me, if not his taste in sweeteners. As does yours.
***
A Hungarian friend imparted this beauty to me the other day, and I thought I’d pass it along: “Ideology exists so that non-thinking people may express an opinion.”

Interesting times....

Hi folks

Would you believe I have a job interview tomorrow. Yes, that is right, I may soon no longer be a train driver and will possibly be a Train Simulator Operator and Assessor. In a ways my dream job that I have waited for a lot of years to come up.

While all this is very exciting and holds great prospects I know that my chances are slim. In fact they are so slim they are possitively annorexic. I am up against a lot of people who are already assessors within my company, which I have so far not even been offered the chance of becoming. I do have one ray of hope. I can blag like a champion and am a past master in the fine art of "Bullshit Baffles Brainery". Plus I am rather good with computers.

All I now need to do is nobble everyone else who has an interview....

So a few happy thoughts and good wishes will not go amiss.

All the best

Iain

Al Williamson
James Van Hise already mentioned Al's adaptation of Harlan's ALONG THE SCENIC ROUTE. Much earlier Williamson did the adaptation of Harlan's MEALTIME as "UPHEAVAL" in the June 1954 issue of Weird Science Fantasy. Since that and similar information is rolling around in my head while the location of car keys and phone chargers is more iffy I thought I'd drop that in here.

I met Al Williamson a few times along with Johnny Craig and maybe one or two others from the old E.C. stable. They all struck me as great guys.

- B

SEMI-WRITER wrote: "on the very rare occasions when a casting company will consent to hire a size 12/14 heifer such as myself, that is."

*bonk*, *bonk*, *bonk*, *bonk*, *bonk*

Put those hands down!

*bonk*, *bonk*, *bonk*, *bonk*, *bonk*

That is THE LAST TIME you'll make such a reference to yourself, understand? UNDERSTAND? Fuck Hollywood and the perceptions of media.

***

HARLAN: The book will be in the mail Tues. or Wed. YJ would be thrilled if you referenced him by name or as the Young Jackanapes. He was thrilled when I first mentioned that you'd given him his own, certified, certifiable, ellisonian nickname, which was so much cooler than the one his parents abuse, erm, use.

Thanks, man!


shagin

PS 4 days to departure...and still writing when the pain of a really ugly tooth allows.

Universal advice
I've been doing background/extra work for five years now, and I have no delusions of grandeur. I AM "background." I am NOT a "supporting artist." There are no grandiose acting ambitions clouding my vision; the experiences have been enough. I've walked behind Scott Glenn in "Monk," stood next to Toni Collette in "The United States of Tara," lingered amidst a gaggle of reporters in the final episode of "24" and been hit hit in the face by Jason Lee (it was a minor accident on "Alvin and the Chipmunks"--it didn't hurt). And I'm quite content with being background... on the very rare occasions when a casting company will consent to hire a size 12/14 heifer such as myself, that is.

But when it comes to "just doing it," I have a harder time applying such lessons to writing.

Anyway, I came across this on the Lesly Kahn & Company website by Lester that I'd like to share. It was in response to an actor's frustration at finding recognition, and Lester encouraged them to remember: "You do not suck. You are very, very good. Maybe even great. And no one cares. Unless you are ALREADY. FAMOUS. Got it? All you can do, as some brilliant writer wrote, is be in – and LOVE -- the process... Without that, you got nothing."

In this respect, I think we're luckier with our talent as writers. There are a million "free" venues to display our talent in if we're not recognized by the established community. For me, fanfiction, online and self-publishing options have at least offered an outlet for the gift. We can practice our craft buck-ass nekkid (er, I do prefer pajamas) at any hour of the day and can show a finished product to whichever audiences we choose, not just to whoever happens to show up. Actors gotta look their best and try to be in the game at all times, with those that "matter." Poor bastids.

Terrible, terrible news about Al Williamson. I knew he'd been in poor health for awhile. When I asked Bill Stout about Al's condition last year, you could see the disappointment on Bill's face.
Al was one of the very best, and it's a poorer world for his passing.

Josh, very, very good to see you again. You must have about three scripts written by now.

On BP there are conflicting emotions--especially if you have a progressive bent. We all tend to support giving retired people enough money to live well on, but Britain thinks they can cut government subsidy and let corporations take over, just like how we do health care here.

But BP fucked up our oceans and they have to clean it all up, no matter if this makes BP go under. Britain better quit bitching about austerity and start deficit spending.

--------------

A dark OZ sounds very good to me.

Hi, everybody. I got nuffink, absolutely nuffink. Why in the name of all that is Harlanian would i post when I have not a scintilla of a thing to say. Weeelllll......

One something, I too am glad you are back Josh.

It is a gray day today in Chicago, just blah. Looked out my window and went blech!!!! What is the song that has the lyric "Sometimes I don't understand the things I do?"

Did something today that I do not understand. Or rather I didn't do two somethings I needed to do. And wanted to do is the b... of it. I can probably still do both things. Late. But Jeez. What is this creeping indifference that has its lethargy inducing arms about me?

One more something. Steve B., hope you and Cris are having fun. Major boatloads of it.

That's bout it. Except I had a Harlan/ Susan dream last night. Harlan was giving a reading in Chicago, so they were here. I was in the audience and this fat woman jumped up and started yelling at Harlan. I started to defend him and he said not to worry about it and then I woke up. Weird huh? Do I come here too much? Read Harlan too much? Is that even possible? Oh well now that I have convinced you all of my inveterate strangeness, I shall return to my gray Chicago day.

Josh,

Your voice was missed. Glad to see you back and posting

Mark

Labor
"Avarice" is a term, Graham, that probably ought not to be wondered about when it comes to writers, at least most of us. We produce a product, just like shoemakers and guys who pour cement, only ours comes from our fetid brains, translated through our fingers onto a page or a screen.

If you swipe a pair of shoes or a truck full of cement, the law will nail you if it can catch you. If you swipe a book from B&N's shelves, likewise. If you upload a novel file into a torrent to give away free, not much happens to you. If you rip off thousands of comics and offer them on a site, the government will shut you down, if the comic book companies complain loudly enough. You'll probably see less jail time than the guy who steals the cement truck.

Yes, it is true that what goes on between YouTube and video posters is their business and putting up a link to their site is like saying if you want to see Saving Grace, tune into TNT at ten on Monday nights, but many of those who grew up with a computer humming in the b.g. don't understand what bugs writers and musicians and filmmakers:

Information might want to be free -- but entertainment wants to be paid for.

There is a sense of entitlement among the gen-X, Y, and Z'ers that basically says, if I want it, I should have it, and free is the price I want to pay.

I expect these folks with the collective mindset would scream really loud if somebody strolled into their houses and made off with their iPods and iPhones. And telling them "iPhones want to be free." probably wouldn't mollify them a whole fuck of a lot.

If you put all the professionals out of business, then you get amateurs, and while some of them will now and then produce a winner, the ability to put a book up on Amazon.com or through Smashwords doesn't make you a skilled writer, that part is extra.

At some point, you are going to get what you pay for.

I've been lucky enough to to meet and know some of the best writers in the genre fantastique since I got into it thirty-odd years ago. Writers like Ted Sturgeon, Fritz Leiber, Bob Sheckley, Avram Davidson. Folks who could, in their primes, blow your mind wide open, make you laugh and cry in the same paragraph, masters of their art and craft.

There are plenty of others I didn't know, but like these four, didn't have pots to piss in when they left us. Want to read tragedy? Look up H. Beam Piper, whose work surely influenced the field. Man killed himself, after being reduced, so the story goes, to hunting pigeons for food.

Read about Fritz Leiber who had to sit on his bed with the typewriter on his lap and his Nebulas and Hugos stuffed under that bed when he wrote. Or how Bob Sheckley's friends would take him out to lunch because he couldn't really afford to eat very well. How Avram Davidson talked about moving to Mississippi, because the cost of living was so much lower there. And if you met Avram, you'd instantly know why that was a very bad idea.

Musicians used to tour. When recording media became widely available, they would still tour, but to support the new record. Now, they put out recordings to get people to come and pay to see them in person, because they aren't making anything on CD's or MP3s.

Sure, Disney and Burroughs heirs have kept a stranglehold on The Mouse and Lord Greystoke, and life of the author plus fifty years is enough to see the grandkids through school, but while I wouldn't want to swap jobs with the guy spreading hot mix in the summer sunshine, I wouldn't feel too bad about swapping incomes with a good plumber.

Most writers would be thrilled to have a good plumber's income, and with the attitude that one should able to download books for free, just like music and movies, a lot of folks who do this are going to have to quit and find other ways to pay the rent.

I'm not lamenting for my lost buggy whip here. I am pointing that people who duplicate something and pass it around gratis are stealing, and their attempts to piss down my boot and tell me it's raining aren't in the least bit convincing.

Perry

Dennis,

As ever, they get it wrong.... Anyone who's saying my Oz project is "darker in tone" is using the wrong sources. Todd McFarlane's been running around saying my version is in some way related to his Dark Oz toys, which it absolutely isn't. Mine was an attempt to capture the spirit of the books and the MGM musical and translate them for a modern audience. It is by no means a "dark" Oz.

USB Typewriters
Harlan, this is for you. Dragged kicking and screaming into the terrible techno world, I give you: the USB Typewriter!

Kinda silly and kinda cool, they've come up with a way to take a manual typewriter, plug it into your computer, and have it become a keyboard. Spiffy!

http://tinyurl.com/28soj2h

-Kristian

Al Williamson 1931-2010
It is ironic that Al Williamson would pass away just a month after Frank Frazetta since to many comic book fans those two names were often spoken in the same breath. They collaborated on artwork in the 1950s but their careers went in different directions in the 1960s. Ellison fans should note that Al drew the comic book adaptation of Harlan's "Along The Scenic Route" in the 1970s.

Oz Projects
Here's an article on the 4 Oz projects currently in development, including Josh's...

http://www.movieline.com/2010/06/know-your-man-behind-the-curtain-updating-the-4-wizard-of-oz-projects.php

REPLY TO GRAHAM RAE
Not until it goes into Public Domain. Until then: PAY THE GODDAM CREATOR! Millions are being made off every sound we utter, every line we draw, every rhyme we conjure, every book we comic. Nay, billions. And the delusion that everyone bearing the initials CEO, or their appointed thieves (no matter how good the heart or self-serving the justification for aiding and abetting theft) should make those billions in swag or paychecks, without the simple day-laborer payment to the creators, is vile and unaccaptable. To me.

Others may do as they wish--and whether or not I was paid for doing it originally--and I was--is moot. Others may wish to delude themselves that all writers are rich as Croesus, but it ain't so. Most of us, most artists in any line of creativity, work as blue-collar hard as a guy stoking coal on a tramp steamer.

Please refrain from trying to con me--or yourself--about the nobility of "spreading the word." I am not a lobbyist, I am a professional liar. I tell stories. If they have a "message," as Sam Goldwyn once opined, "You wanna send a message, use Western Union." The public is entitled to my sweat-flowing best, and that's what they're entitled to buy. Giving your work away is by the choice of the artist.

Other than that, ScyFy Channel can just wait for Edgar Rice Burroughs's A PRINCESS OF MARS (published 1912) to drop into Public Domain, so they can change one word of the title, leave off any reference to Burroughs, and rush to the screen a ghastly stupid made-for-tv ripoff of the forthcoming movie BEFORE it can make its millions, using the John Carter character name under the duplicitously beheaded title PRINCESS OF MARS...and the bottom-feeders need pay NO ONE.

Build me a Parthenon, Graham, I'll sell tickets, and you can come hear me speak such orotund wisdom on a daily basis.

What was it Berolt Brecht said: "Every day I venture to the marketplace where ideas are sold. Hopefully, I take my place among the sellers." Proper use of "hopefully," and everything.

Is a workman worth his hire? Answer for yourself, kid; mine precedes this farewell.

Yr. Pal, Harlan

REPLY TO GRAHAM RAE

Not until it goes into Public Domain. Until then: PAY THE GODDAM CREATOR! Millions are being made off every sound we utter, every line we draw, every rhyme we conjure, every book we comic. Nay, billions. And the delusion that everyone bearing the initials CEO, or their appointed thieves (no matter how good the heart or self-serving the justification for aiding and abetting theft) should make those billions in swag or paychecks, without the simple day-laborer payment to the creators, is vile and unaccaptable. To me.

Others may do as they wish--and whether or not I was paid for doing it originally--and I was--is moot. Others may wish to delude themselves that all writers are rich as Croesus, but it ain't so. Most of us, most artists in any line of creativity, work as blue-collar hard as a guy stoking coal on a tramp steamer.

Please refrain from trying to con me--or yourself--about the nobility of "spreading the word." I am not a lobbyist, I am a professional liar. I tell stories. If they have a "message," as Sam Goldwyn once opined, "You wanna send a message, use Western Union." The public is entitled to my sweat-flowing best, and that's what they're entitled to buy. Giving your work away is by the choice of the artist.

Other than that, ScyFy Channel can just wait for Edgar Rice Burroughs's A PRINCESS OF MARS (published 1912) to drop into Public Domain, so they can change one word of the title, leave off any reference to Burroughs, and rush to the screen a ghastly stupid made-for-tv ripoff of the forthcoming movie BEFORE it can make its millions, using the John Carter character name under the duplicitously beheaded title PRINCESS OF MARS...and the bottom-feeders need pay NO ONE.

Build me a Parthenon, Graham, I'll sell tickets, and you can come hear me speak such orotund wisdom on a daily basis.

What was it Berolt Brecht said: "Every day I venture to the marketplace where ideas are sold. Hopefully, I take my place among the sellers." Proper use of "hopefully," and everything.

Is a workman worth his hire? Answer for yourself, kid; mine precedes this farewell.

Yr. Pal, Harlan