Harlan Ellison

[Auriga]

Considering there's an interesting topic about Neil Gaiman on the front page of the forums lately, I thought it'd be fitting to bring up another writer who has had an immense influence on the fiction of Gaiman.

Anybody here a fan of Harlan Ellison's work? I know there's so much to choose from, and sometimes it can be a bit overwhelming to get into his work because of how prolific he used to be, but over the last two years, I've began reading his stuff quite a bit. I have to say, some of my favourite material so far has come out of his collections Angry Candy, Slippage and his classic Shatterday. Possibly one of the best short stories I have ever read is his story in Shatterday called "Jefty Is Five".

It's also impossible to have a discussion about Harlan Ellison without acknowledging his massive role in the reformation of American science fiction in the 60s with his massively popular anthology Dangerous Visions.

I'd like to hear what other folks have to say on his writing and to generate some interesting cross discussion between his work and the influences he's had on other writers, especially Neil Gaiman.

[Drkshadow03]

Considering there's an interesting topic about Neil Gaiman on the front page of the forums lately, I thought it'd be fitting to bring up another writer who has had an immense influence on the fiction of Gaiman.

Anybody here a fan of Harlan Ellison's work? I know there's so much to choose from, and sometimes it can be a bit overwhelming to get into his work because of how prolific he used to be, but over the last two years, I've began reading his stuff quite a bit. I have to say, some of my favourite material so far has come out of his collections Angry Candy, Slippage and his classic Shatterday. Possibly one of the best short stories I have ever read is his story in Shatterday called "Jefty Is Five".

It's also impossible to have a discussion about Harlan Ellison without acknowledging his massive role in the reformation of American science fiction in the 60s with his massively popular anthology Dangerous Visions.

I'd like to hear what other folks have to say on his writing and to generate some interesting cross discussion between his work and the influences he's had on other writers, especially Neil Gaiman.

I like Ellison a lot. I've read a bunch of his early collections and some of his later collections, like Angry Candy.

Ellison is one of the best speculative fiction writers in the short form, but the problem I find with Ellison is he is extremely hit-or-miss and a great deal of his material (especially a lot of his earlier stories) feels extremely dated. Most of his really good material is the award-winning stuff (with a few additional non-award nominated stories here or there).

[Tallon]

I know he wrote a very weird film i like called A Boy and His Dog. I must check him out, but i've never been a huge reader of short stories, which i guess i should change as a sci fi fan.

[loe]

I only know his short story "I have no mouth and I must scream" and I have to confess that I like the adventure game (http://www.mobygames.com/game/i-have-no-mouth-and-i-must-scream) that has been developed together with Ellison better than the written story.

[LuggageFan]

Personally, I didn't much care for him, as a youngster. I should try him again, as I know he was very influential.