HARLAN ELLISON has been called \u201cone of the great living American short story writers\u201d by the Washington Post; and the Los Angeles Times said, \u201cIt\u2019s long past time for Harlan Ellison to be awarded the title: 20th Century Lewis Carroll.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a career spanning more than 40 years, he has won more awards for the 75 books he has written or edited, the more than 1700 stories, essays, articles, and newspaper columns, the two dozen teleplays and a dozen motion pictures he has created, than any other living fantasist. He has won the Hugo award 8\u00bd times, the Nebula award three times, the Bram Stoker award, presented by the Horror Writers Association, six times (including The Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996), the Edgar Allan Poe award of the Mystery Writers of America twice, the Georges M\u00e9li\u00e8s fantasy film award twice, two Audie Awards (for the best in audio recordings), and was awarded the Silver Pen for Journalism by P.E.N., the international writer\u2019s union (this prestigious accolade was presented for his columns in the L.A. Weekly, titled \u201cAn Edge in My Voice,\u201d in defense of the First Amendment). After writing the columns for only 29 weeks, he beat out candidates from the L.A. Times, the N.Y. Times, and the Washington Post. He was presented with the first Living Legend award by the International Horror Critics at the 1995 World Horror Convention. He is also the only author in Hollywood ever to win the Writers Guild of America award for Most Outstanding teleplay (solo work) four times, most recently for \u201cPaladin of the Lost Hour\u201d his Twilight Zone episode that was Danny Kaye\u2019s final role, in 1987. In March (1998), the National Women\u2019s Committee of Brandeis University honored him with their 1998 Words, Wit & Wisdom award.<\/p>\n
He has drawn attention to the art of writing by performing the remarkable feat of actually creating and writing and completing stories in the windows of bookstores (in Paris, London, New York, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New Orleans and elsewhere) in full view of large audiences; stories that have gone on to win major awards and literary prizes. To gain background for his first novel, dealing with juvenile delinquency, he went under an assumed name and ran with a kid gang in Brooklyn\u2019s dangerous Red Hook section for ten weeks. He has covered and written about civil rights marches, riots, antiwar demonstrations and other scenes of civil unrest. His two books of TV essays, THE GLASS TEAT and THE OTHER GLASS TEAT, have sold millions of copies and are currently being taught in media classes in more than 200 American Universities.<\/p>\n
Ellison has traveled with rock groups such as The Rolling Stones, and his novel of the scene, SPIDER KISS, is called by music critic Greil Marcus \u201c\u2026the finest novel about the world of rock in the past quarter century.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a 1980 landmark lawsuit he sued and beat ABC-TV and Paramount Pictures for $337,000 when they plagiarized a television series he had created. This was the famous Brillo\/Future Cop case.<\/p>\n
Among his most recognized works, translated into more than 40 languages and selling in the millions of copies, are DEATHBIRD STORIES, STRANGE WINE, APPROACHING OBLIVION, I HAVE NO MOUTH & I MUST SCREAM, WEB OF THE CITY, LOVE AIN\u2019T NOTHING BUT SEX MISSPELLED, ELLISON WONDERLAND, MEMOS FROM PURGATORY, ALL THE LIES THAT ARE MY LIFE, SHATTERDAY, and STALKING THE NIGHTMARE; and as creative intelligence and editor of the all-time bestselling DANGEROUS VISIONS anthologies and MEDEA: HARLAN\u2019S WORLD, he has been awarded two Special Hugos and the prestigious Milford Award for lifetime Achievement in Editing.<\/p>\n
His latest publications include: THE ESSENTIAL ELLISON (Nemo Press, 1987; Morpheus International, 1991), an enormous 1,000+ page, thirty-five year retrospective of his work (this year, THE ESSENTIAL ELLISON has been expanded to reflect a fifty-year career in writing); ANGRY CANDY (Houghton Mifflin, 1988), winner of the 1989 World fantasy award for best Short Story Collection and listed in the ENCYCLOPEDIA AMERICANA ANNUAL as one of the major works of American Literature for 1988; HARLAN ELLISON\u2019S WATCHING (Underwood\u2013Miller, 1988) a compilation of 20 years of film criticism; THE HARLAN ELLISON HORNBOOK (Penzler Books & Mirage Press, 1990); HARLAN ELLISON\u2019S MOVIE (Mirage Press, 1990); DREAMS WITH SHARP TEETH (Book-of-the-Month Club, 1991); MEFISTO IN ONYX (Mark V. Ziesing, 1993); MIND FIELDS (Morpheus, 1994) with Polish artist Jacek Yerka; I, ROBOT: THE ILLUSTRATED SCREENPLAY (based on Isaac Asimov\u2019s story-cycle; Warner Books, 1994); THE CITY ON THE EDGE OF FOREVER screenplay (Borderlands Press, 1995, and White Wolf, 1996); SLIPPAGE (Mark V. Ziesing, Houghton Mifflin, 1997); and the coffee table edition of \u201cREPENT, HARLEQUIN!\u201d SAID THE TICKTOCKMAN (Underwood Books, 1997) with paintings, rendered by Rick Berry.<\/p>\n
May (1996) saw the publication, by White Wolf Publishing, of EDGEWORKS: The Collected Ellison (Vol. #1). This first of a series of 20 volumes of the collected fiction, essays, teleplays and columns contains the books AN EDGE IN MY VOICE and OVER THE EDGE, with completely revised, updated and expanded manuscripts\u2026the variorum texts! November (1996) saw the publication of the second EDGEWORKS omnibus, containing the books SPIDER KISS and STALKING THE NIGHTMARE. In rapid succession White Wolf Publishing also released volumes 3 and 4 of the EDGEWORKS series.<\/p>\n
Ellison served as Creative Consultant on the revival of the CBS-TV series The Twilight Zone until late November of 1985, at which time he resigned (to considerable media attention) due to network censorship of a script dealing with racism that he had written and was in the process of directing. From 1993 until 1998 and the end of the series, Ellison also served as Conceptual Consultant on the popular syndicated hit series Babylon 5. Recently, Ellison adapted his short story \u201cThe Face of Helene Bournouw\u201d for a Showtime cable series. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe Human Operators\u201d (based on a short story co-written with A.E. van Vogt), aired early in 1999 as part of the Outer Limits series.<\/p>\n
Also a member of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), Ellison has voiceover credits on many shows including Pirates of Darkwater, Mother Goose & Grimm, Space Cases, Phantom 2040, The Sci-Fi Channel and Babylon 5 (in the episode titled \u201cCeremonies of Light and Dark\u201d Harlan plays the Voice of the B5 computer, and in the episode \u201cDay of the Dead\u201d you can hear him as \u201cZooty\u201d). Ellison\u2019s first TV appearance as a fictional character was also on Babylon 5 in the episode \u201cThe Face of the Enemy.\u201d He played a Psi-Cop opposite Walter Koenig as \u201cBester.\u201d His latest acting role was as the mysterious \u201cGrifter\u201d in the series Psi Factor. Mr. Ellison has also done many Spoken Word recordings (most recently for Audio Literature\u2019s series of recordings; including Mr. Ellison\u2019s short story collection MIDNIGHT IN THE SUNKEN CATHEDRAL) and has received Grammy nominations for his recordings. For six years, he was the weekly commentator on The USA Network\u2019s Sci-Fi Buzz show. He continued in the role of weekly commentator for Galaxy Online with his on-screen series Working Without A Net\u00ae.<\/p>\n
On 30 April 1999, Mr. Ellison won two Audie Awards (presented by the Audio Publishers Association to honor the best in audio recordings) in the categories of Solo Narration, Male, for reading Ben Bova\u2019s CITY OF DARKNESS (published by Dove Audio) and Multi-Voiced Presentation, as part of an all-star cast reading THE TITANIC DISASTER HEARINGS: THE OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT OF THE 1912 SENATORIAL INVESTIGATION by Tom Kuntz (published by Dove Audio). <\/p>\n
Ellison won a Bram Stoker award for his collection of stories THE VOICE FROM THE EDGE (Volume 1). A follow-up collection titled, MIDNIGHT IN THE SUNKEN CATHEDRAL, is currently available. <\/p>\n
Mr. Ellison worked as a consultant and host for the radio series 2000X, a series of 26 one-hour dramatized radio adaptations of famous SF stories for The Hollywood Theater of the Ear. The series was broadcast on National Public Radio (NPR) in 2000 & 2001. Ellison\u2019s classic story \u201cRepent, Harlequin!\u2019 Said the Ticktockman\u201d was included as part of this significant series, starring Robin Williams, with the author in the role of Narrator. Harlan Ellison was awarded the Ray Bradbury Award For Drama Series: For Program Host & Creative Consultant: NPR Presentation of 2000X. <\/p>\n
Harlan Ellison can be heard as the voice of the insane god-computer AM in the CD-ROM computer game, the bestselling I HAVE NO MOUTH, AND I MUST SCREAM. Though Mr. Ellison doesn\u2019t even own a computer, he has amazed the world of electronic entertainment by creating and implementing a cutting edge \u201cethical scenario\u201d that one reviewer lauded as \u201c\u2026a game that challenges both intelligence and wisdom, and in this longtime gameplayer\u2019s experience, it stands practically alone in the gaming landscape.\u201d Ellison reprised his role as the voice of the evil computer AM in the broadcast adaptation of I HAVE NO MOUTH, AND I MUST SCREAM for the BBC radio series Chillers.<\/p>\n
In 1990, Ellison was honored by P.E.N. for his continuing commitment to artistic freedom and the battle against censorship. He lives with his wife, Susan, inside the Lost Aztec Temple of Mars, in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
Harlan Ellison\u2019s 1992 novelette \u201cThe Man Who Rowed Christopher Columbus Ashore\u201d was selected from more than 6,000 short stories published in the U.S. for inclusion in the 1993 edition of THE BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES.<\/p>\n
After three years in production, January 1995 saw the debut of Ellison\u2019s own ongoing, monthly comic book from Dark Horse called HARLAN ELLISON\u2019S DREAM CORRIDOR. In its first year of publication the graphic narrative magazine garnered such overwhelming and unanimous rave reviews\u2014and the original stories Ellison wrote for each issue won so many awards\u2014that in August of 1996 the magazine was re-launched in book-style format, with more pages, as HARLAN ELLISON\u2019S DREAM CORRIDOR QUARTERLY.<\/p>\n
\u201cChatting with Anubis,\u201d an original short story written especially for HARLAN ELLISON\u2019S DREAM CORRIDOR #4, won The Deathrealm Award for The Best Short Fiction of 1995 and the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in Short Fiction which was given out by The Horror Writers Association in June 1996. At the same awards ceremony, Harlan Ellison was also given The Lifetime Achievement Award. His latest collection, SLIPPAGE, won the 1998 Locus Poll Award as Best Story Collection.<\/p>\n
On 22 June 1998, Ellison\u2019s career reached a dizzying summit when he became the answer to a clue in the Double Jeopardy round of that evening\u2019s broadcast of the television game show, Jeopardy.<\/p>\n
He is a frequent guest on ABC\u2019s Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher. <\/p>\n
In January 2001, Mr. Ellison signed to develop his award-winning Outer Limits script, DEMON WITH A GLASS HAND, for Miramax\u2019s Dimension Films as a theatrical feature. He is working with director David Twohy whose previous credits include: THE ARRIVAL, PITCH BLACK, G.I. JANE, and THE FUGITIVE. Other Ellison works currently in the pipeline for film and TV include: \u201cAlong the Scenic Route,\u201d optioned by Paramount Pictures.<\/p>\n
Mr. Ellison\u2019s first Young Adult collection, TROUBLEMAKERS: STORIES BY HARLAN ELLISON, was released in November 2001.<\/p>\n
And as Tom Snyder said on the CBS Late, Late Show: \u201cAn amazing talent; meeting him is an incredible experience.\u201d