{"id":7834,"date":"2024-10-18T00:01:35","date_gmt":"2024-10-18T05:01:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/?p=7834"},"modified":"2024-08-22T22:42:53","modified_gmt":"2024-08-23T03:42:53","slug":"is-harlan-ellison-due-for-a-revival-j-michael-straczynski-is-working-to-make-it-so","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/is-harlan-ellison-due-for-a-revival-j-michael-straczynski-is-working-to-make-it-so\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Harlan Ellison due for a revival? J. Michael Straczynski is working to make it so"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Michael Grossberg<\/a><\/p>\n

Harlan Ellison, the late great and rebellious \u201cbad boy\u201d of science fiction, may be due for a major revival of his works.<\/p>\n

Ellison, whose Hugo-winning 1965 story \u201c\u2019Repent Harlequin!\u2019 Said the Ticktockman\u201d<\/a> was inducted in 2015 into the Prometheus Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction, certainly deserves the recognition and new readership.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nFile 770 reports that the renewed interest in Ellison and the plans for his \u201cposthumous comeback\u201d are largely due to the efforts of writer\/producer J. Michael Straczynski. For starters, Straczynski has edited Greatest Hits<\/em>, a recently published new Ellison story collection.<\/p>\n

And later in 2024, Straczynski plans to publish The Last Dangerous Visions<\/em> \u2013 according to a Los Angeles Times<\/em> story, the \u201clong-promised, long-controversial and never-delivered\u201d third and final volume in Ellison\u2019s landmark anthology series of provocative short fiction.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Harlan Ellison in the late 1960s (Creative Commons license)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A RAVE REVIEW
\n<\/strong>
\nMeanwhile, in the LA Review of Books,<\/em> Greg Cwik praised Ellison in his review of Harlan Ellison\u2019s \u2018Greatest Hits,<\/em>\u2019 the new Ellison compilation edited by Straczynski.<\/p>\n

\u201cEllison wrote like a man suffering from perpetual fever hallucinations, his stories governed by an inimitable eerie logic,\u201d Cwik wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cEllison\u2019s writing has the electric shock of a malfunctioning machine, words like sparks spraying out. Yet there is humanity \u2014 bitter, yes, and often mean, with lust for life unrequited by the vicissitudes of fate, but Ellison\u2019s best work is endowed with the spirit of man with a big, bruised, beating heart. He was a man fascinated by and disappointed with the society roiling around him, and thus his characters are also often denied penance and peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
J. Michael Straczynski (Creative Commons license)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

STRACZYNSKI\u2019S MISSION<\/strong><\/p>\n

Straczynski, an old friend of Ellison\u2019s and executor of his estate, is perhaps best known as creator and sole writer of Babylon Five<\/em> throughout its five syndicated seasons.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>He’s clearly a man on a mission, one that reflects his admiration and gratitude for Ellison\u2019s achievements and mentorship and his desire to introduce Ellison\u2019s works to new generations.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor Straczynski, 69, Ellison was not just a friend but a father figure of lasting impact. His real father, he says, \u201cwas complete shit.\u201d Another executor would have simply liquidated Ellison\u2019s assets, donated them to a favorite charity and moved on. But Straczynski has taken on a bigger mission \u2014 to return Ellison\u2019s name to prominence,\u201d according to the Los Angeles Times<\/em> story by Steve Appleford.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Ellison, who died in 2018 at the age of 84, was hailed as a leading writer of science fiction nearly throughout his long life and career \u2013 although he preferred the less restrictive label of writing \u201cspeculative fiction,\u201d Appleford wrote.<\/p>\n

A FEISTY FIGHTER FOR WRITER\u2019S RIGHTS
\n<\/strong>
\n\u201cHe was, as Straczynski now describes him, \u2018a brightly colored fast-moving object.\u201d\u2019Standing 5 feet, 5 inches, Ellison battled hard for the rights of Hollywood writers and had a hair-trigger for filing lawsuits.
\n\"\"<\/a>
\n“(He was paid a settlement by the film studio behind The Terminator\u00a0<\/em>after claiming the film was suspiciously similar to a 1964 episode he wrote for\u00a0The Outer Limits<\/em>. Writer-director James Cameron has always denied the allegation.)<\/p>\n

\u2018\u201cPay the writer!\u201d was Ellison\u2019s mantra and his calling. His earliest public battle may have been his appearance in Gay Talese\u2019s famous\u00a0Esquire\u00a0article \u201cFrank Sinatra Has a Cold,\u201d where Ellison and the crooner had a memorable conflict inside a Beverly Hills club and nearly came to blows.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cDuring the 1960s and \u201970s, Ellison was as influential in his time as sci-fi giants Robert Heinlein and Frank Herbert, but since his death there is little evidence in most bookstores that he ever existed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Straczynski hopes that republishing Ellison\u2019s greatest works, finally completing his Dangerous Visions<\/em> anthology series and adapting more of Ellison\u2019s works to the screen will change that.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s hoping that Straczynski will help make it so.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE PROMETHEUS AWARDS:<\/strong><\/p>\n

* Prometheus winners:\u00a0<\/strong>For the full list of Prometheus winners, finalists and nominees \u2013 including the annual Best Novel and Best Classic Fiction (Hall of Fame) categories and occasional Special Awards \u2013 visit the enhanced\u00a0Prometheus Awards page<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>on the LFS website, which now includes convenient links to all published essay-reviews in our Appreciation series explaining why each of more than 100 past winners since 1979 fits the awards\u2019 distinctive dual focus on both quality and liberty.<\/p>\n

* Read \u201cThe Libertarian History of Science Fiction,\u201d<\/strong><\/a> an essay in the international magazine\u00a0Quillette<\/em>\u00a0that favorably highlights the Prometheus Awards, the Libertarian Futurist Society and the significant element of libertarian sf\/fantasy in the evolution of the modern genre.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0Watch <\/strong>videos of past Prometheus Awards ceremonies (including the recent 2023 ceremony<\/a> with inspiring and amusing speeches by Prometheus-winning authors Dave Freer<\/a> and Sarah Hoyt)<\/a>, Libertarian Futurist Society panel discussions with noted sf authors and leading libertarian writers, and other LFS programs on the Prometheus Blog\u2019s\u00a0Video page.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

* Check out the Libertarian Futurist Society\u2019s Facebook page<\/a><\/strong> for comments, updates and links to Prometheus Blog posts.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0Join us! <\/em><\/strong>To help sustain the Prometheus Awards and support a cultural and literary strategy to appreciate and honor freedom-loving fiction, join<\/a> the Libertarian Futurist Society, a non-profit all-volunteer association of freedom-loving sf\/fantasy fans.<\/p>\n

Libertarian futurists believe that culture matters! We understand that the arts and literature can be vital in envisioning a freer and better future – and in some ways can be even more powerful than politics in the long run, by imagining better visions of the future incorporating peace, prosperity, progress, tolerance, justice, positive social change, and mutual respect for each other\u2019s rights, individuality and human dignity.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Michael Grossberg Harlan Ellison, the late great and rebellious \u201cbad boy\u201d of science fiction, may be due for a major revival of his works. Ellison, whose Hugo-winning 1965 story \u201c\u2019Repent Harlequin!\u2019 Said the Ticktockman\u201d was inducted in 2015 into the Prometheus Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction, certainly deserves the recognition and new … Continue reading Is Harlan Ellison due for a revival? J. Michael Straczynski is working to make it so<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[32,1585,37],"tags":[2442,942,1082,735,2439,268,2440,2441],"class_list":["post-7834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-author-updates","category-fiction-in-the-news","category-memorial-tributes","tag-repent-harlequin-said-the-ticktock-man","tag-babylon-5","tag-dangerous-visions","tag-harlan-ellison","tag-j-michael-straczynski","tag-prometheus-hall-of-fame","tag-the-outer-limits","tag-the-terminator"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pe8nGl-22m","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7834"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7834\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7848,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7834\/revisions\/7848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}