Prolific and irascible SF author Harlan Ellison has been named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and will be honored at the Nebula Award Weekend in Tempe, Ariz., May 4-7, 2006, the SFWA Web site reported. SF writer William F. Nolan will serve as the 2006 Author Emeritus.
Since his first sale, "Glowworm," to Infinity Science Fiction in 1956, Ellison has shaped and sometimes re-shaped modern science fiction, the SFWA said. As a writer and as an anthologist, his influence, though sometimes controversial, has been vast. Ellison won seven Hugo Awards; three Nebula Awards; many script-writing awards for his television work, which included episodes of the original Star Trek; an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America; and various World Fantasy Awards.
Always a champion for writers, Ellison led the legal fight against AOL with his "Kick Internet Piracy" campaign to hold Internet service providers responsible for pirate sites. He also helped to launch the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.
Actually, as any "Ellisonista" worth his-or-her salt knows, Ellison wrote only one episode of the original Star Trek, the acclaimed "City on the Edge of Forever." And for him, it was such a bad experience (his work was forcibly rewritten by other hands and Gene Roddenberry spent years lying about why) it was never repeated.
As noted here last month, Ellison is one of my favorite authors. It seems safe to make an educated guess that he has mixed feelings about being glorified as a science fiction writer, however high the honor. Given his justified insistence over the years on being identified as a writer, without categorization.
4 comments:
To make clear what might be misread, the experience of writing for Star Trek was never repeated, not the episode.
Keep up the good work, Ben.
Alan Coil
Well, yes. My apologies to anyone who might have read that as saying that arguably the most acclaimed Star Trek episode ever was never repeated.
Everybody else, no harm done.
Reading my comment, I think, "Is there anybody who wouldn't be able to figure that out on their own?"
The answer must be yes. A couple years ago, I mentioned to a co-worker that Larry Storch was going to be at a comic book convention near Detroit. She asked who he was. When told he played the Corporal on F-Troop, she replied, "What's F-Troop?" She was 25 at the time and had never heard of F-Troop.
That was the first time I ever felt a generation gap. And the first time I felt old.
Alan Coil
That's nothing. Imagine taking a truly beautiful 19 year old girl with a body best described as "slamin!" to the theater, and mentioning Pet Shop Boys.
She said "what are Pet Shop Boys?"
What. Not even who. What. I think I almost died of a heart attack right there.
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