RIP Harlan

He died peacefully in his sleep.

Who the hëll could have predicted that. I always thought he’d die while stopping a bank robbery. Or from an assassin’s bullet. Or flying off a twisty mountain road because some jáçkášš in a Corvette thought he was a better driver.

Instead peacefully. In his sleep.

Son of a bìŧçh.

The last several years he was mostly a prisoner of his stroke afflicted body. Most times recently when I tried to call, no one picked up.

He wasn’t happy. Not for a long time.

Now it’s our turn.

PAD

43 comments on “RIP Harlan

  1. My deep condolences to his wife Susan and his friends and fans. He is my most read author, (after Stan Lee), and a man who knew how to take you where you couldn’t have imagined. RIP Harlan.

  2. I was fortunate enough to hear Harlan Ellison speak (usually at the I-CON convention in Long Island, New York), meet him (he seemed flattered when I said his speaking was as entertaining as his writing), and have him sign several books. He was a formidable person, and he will be greatly missed.

  3. My condolences on your loss. My very first comic book convention was in Chicago in the late 1990’s. You two were hysterical together and I could tell you were great friends. After that convention I made sure to watch all his appearances on Tom Snyder’s show. He was one of a kind and there will never be another Harlan.

  4. My deepest condolences to his wife, and to everyone that loved that crusty old legend.

  5. My deepest condolences to you and all of his close friends. Those of us who were fortunate enough to hear him speak in person and even have brief conversations with him feel a terrible loss; how much worse must it be to those who counted him as a true friends.

    And I feel terrible for Susan Ellison, who seemed like such a sweet, supportive person. It’s probably not always easy to be married to a force of nature but you could see the love and respect between the two of them.

    Thanks for all the great stories, Harlan. We already miss you.

  6. My sincerest condolences to you and your family and to all the others who knew him well and will now miss his presence in their lives. Deepest condolences as well- and especially -to Susan.
    .
    When I learned of his passing earlier, I said the following.
    .
    Rest in peace just doesn’t seem to fit with someone like Harlan. So, absent that, I’ll simply say goodbye, Harlan, and thank you for everything you gave us in your time here.

  7. Very sorry for the loss of your friend, Peter and family. Harlan was barely an acquaintance but he was extraordinarily kind when I was fundraising for a mutual friend. He’ll never be forgotten.

  8. Saw the news, first thing I thought was “Condolences to PAD and the FOE.”

    Memories of a great man. Now gone where AM can no longer harm him.

  9. Peter, may I express my deepest condolences on the loss of your dear friend and force of nature, Harlan Ellison. If anyone would live forever, Harlan would be the one. The Universe suddenly became much smaller. Please pass on my condolences to Harlan’s wife, Susan.

  10. Now I really wish I didn’t have to work tonight. I only saw (not met) Harlan once in person, when he attended the University of Rochester (NY) Convention (URCon) years ago, before Isaac Asimov passed away. Condolences to Susan Ellison and to Unca Harlan’s family, friends, colleagues and many fans.

  11. I only knew him through the writing. I heard many stories from people who’d seen him or knew him, but I never had the chance to do either. After an Ellison story, you’d sit, letting the effect wash through you. Kind of like what happened when I heard this.

  12. My Harlan Ellison story:
    Years ago, back when I was doing the show Interview with my Co-host Victor Layne, we got a chance to ask Harlan Ellison to be on our show as a guest. It was at the Chicago Comicon and Harlan was the guest of honor. At that time, to get interviews, we would have to wait in line along with the fans to ask the guest if we could interview them at a later time when they weren’t busy with con obligations.

    Vic & I are in the line and we finally get to the front.

    “Mr. Ellison, my name is Lawrence Snodie & I have a question for you.”

    He looks right at me and says, “Ten bucks.”

    ME: “What?”

    HE:”If you want to ask a question, it’s ten bucks.”

    Realizing he’s probably kidding/playing a game, I pulled out $10 & gave it to him. He quickly put it in his pocket.

    HE:”So, what’s your question?”

    I proceeded to tell him who Vic & were, why we were there & could we interview him for the show. He refused, but gave us permission to come back the next day & we could tape him telling some convention stories at a panel he was going to do. Vic & I agreed to that because it accomplished him being on the show willingly and started to walk off. Vic stopped me & told me to get my ten dollars back. (Harlan had taken it back out of his pocket and put it on the table.) I said no. Vic said for me to take the money. I said no. Vic got a little angry.

    Vic:”Why aren’t you going to take the money?”

    ME:”Don’t you realize what can happen?”

    Vic:”No, what could happen?”

    ME:”In one of his interviews after this, if he ever mentions that he suckered some schmuck journalist for money just to ask a question that he ultimately said no to, I’m going to know that schmuck was me & how cool will that be?”

    That response stunned Victor and Harlan looked over and said, “I’d never call you a schmuck, schmendrick maybe, but never a schmuck.”

    We thanked him & walked away.

    The next day, Victor & I saw him on the showroom floor & we stopped him to make sure we got the time right. He proceeded to tell his journalist friend with him the story from yesterday about keeping my ten bucks. After he told the story, he told Victor & I to follow him & his friend because his friend was going to interview him & we were allowed to tape it & show it on our program.

    The interview goes well & as Vic is breaking down the camera, I had a chance to talk to Mr. Ellison.

    ME:”I’m not trying to look a gift horse in the mouth Mr. Ellison, but why did you change your mind?”

    HE:”I heard what you said to your friend yesterday. You took something bad & made a huge positive of it. I kind of had to reward that.”

    I know a lot of people had problems with him, even some of my good friends, but I can always say that my experience with him was purely positive.

  13. I didn’t know who Harlan was until PAD wrote about the “Victims of Ellison” fiasco back in the nineties, and I’ve been grateful ever since. As soon as I heard the news, I had to head over here to offer my condolences, and read the memories.
    .
    Robert Bloch once observed, “Some people take pains, Harlan gives them.” I’m certain a bestseller could be made of Harlan’s choice insults. My favorite was when he said of Judith Krantz, “She’s not a writer. She’s a creative typist.*” However, he had a wide range of people who called him friend covering the ideological spectrum from PAD to the late Jerry Pournelle. I never had the chance to meet the man, but I’ll miss him all the same.
    .
    I hope he rests in peace, but somehow I think he’ll be giving pains in the next life as well, which is our loss in this life.
    .
    .
    .
    *At least now I can steal that line without worrying about him suing me.

  14. Baruch Dayan HaEmet.

    My condolences to you, Peter. I know your friendship with him was special to you and I hope to him as well.

  15. Another hero gone, he never bûllšhìŧŧëd anyone. When the Sci-Fi Network (as it was known at the time) aired the remastered original series in the ’90s, he made a memorable remark when “City On the Edge of Forever” was airing: “We have the potential to do so much more, but we choose to do less.” That may not be the complete quote (it’s been a long time), but the gist of it is there and it says so much of our collective frame of mind. I knew this would come any time, but I’m glad his suffering has ended. I thought of him and began re-reading “Watching” as a result. I wish I had met him.

  16. Years ago, I had read a John Byrne issue of She-Hulk were she battled Xemnu the Titan (or somesuch). The title of the issue was “I have no mouth and I am mean.” I thought to myself, that’s a funny and weird title. I am sure I am missing something, but oh, well…”

    Years later, I am thumbing through a sci-fi anthology in a Waldenbooks, looking to see if there were enough authors I had heard of to be worth buying. My eyes fell upon one of the stories by Harlan. You can guess which one. I just started laughing out loud when by brain made the connection.
    .
    I still have that book, and a couple others which are Harlan only.
    .

  17. Wasn’t Mr. Ellison always a bit… um… cantankerous?
    At least that was my impression of him.
    I always respected his talent though.
    When his original “City on the Edge of Forever” script was made into a comic book not too long ago, it struck me that it would have made a good Kelvin timeline Star Trek script completely unchanged.

    1. A Facebook friend of mine named Janet who was a fan of his offered this apt description of Harlan: “He occupied the middle of the Venn diagram between badass and áššhølë.”

      1. My wife wishes to differ. He didn’t occupy that location in the Venn diagram — he ruled it.

  18. Mr. Ellison is one of those people who I don’t know but I feel like I know him because of all the people who talk about him, Peter David being the biggest source of such stories.
    .
    Peter, I can’t speak for anyone else, much less Mr. Ellison, but I think you have honored him in life and death by making sure we who have never met him, know him and wish we knew him better.
    .
    For that and so many other reasons I am always grateful to you. The world is a little darker for his passing.

  19. This is sad to hear (and I didn’t know about him having a stroke before now).

    As others have said, my condolences to his family and friends.

    I count myself fortunate enough to have met him once at a convention, and even got him to sign a book of his collected stories.

    At the same convention, a friend of mine had the ‘unluck’ to be picked out of the crowd at a panel as he made this statement: “Stop doing stupid šhìŧ with your life!!”

    Something both my friend and I have tried to live up to (and not always succeeding, I’m afraid ^_^).

  20. Really, really sorry to hear about Harlan. If there is any sort of afterlife, I’m sure he’s ripping someone a new one right now for being too stupid to live … er, after-live.
    .
    Condolences to you, Kath, and of course Susan.

  21. I never thought he would die peacefully in his sleep either. To me I always felt he would go out with a roar as the hating hoard charged him en mass, trampling him into the muck. His last act being an uppercut to the nuts to a few of those haters.

    What a magnificent human he was. I was always honored to be in attendance when he gave court, regaling us with the many interesting stories of his life, his writings or just general chit-chat. He inspired those around him, good or bad, with his actions, his spoken words and his writings.
    I loved the guy. I will miss the guy.

  22. I’ve loved his writing for a long time. By coincidence, my 15 year old son yesterday was making his way through Angry Candy for the first time and he too was sad to hear the news. It’s nice to know that Harlan Ellison’s stories continue to engage another generation.

    My sincerest condolences.

  23. I had the privilege of receiving two phone calls from him back in 2002 and 2003. Both of them were an hour long. The first one was an ášš-chewing for doing something that he perceived as unprofessional (and he was correct). The second call was an atta boy. Both were extremely valuable. These were the only two times I got to speak with him. Peter David is a blessed man, having gotten to call him “friend.”

  24. I consider myself very lucky to have heard you, Harlan Ellison and Neil Gaiman perform as The Three High Verbals at Mad Media Con in Madison. He was on for I think 60 hours straight, like a Greek god of Discord and Discourse.

  25. Condolences to you and your family Peter, losing a dear friend is never easy. I don’t know where he will end up, being an Atheist and all, but where ever it is I hope they’re ready for one hëll of a shake up.

    RIP Mr. Ellison

  26. When I first became aware of Harlan, it was back in the “old days” when genre authors like him, Asimov, Bradbury, McCaffrey, were all spoken of reverently, in hushed whispers, treated like mythical beings because fans had very little access to them aside from writing letters and hoping for the best. With the advent of conventions, Harlan was a staple, making himself accessible and his voice heard, offering advice and the occasional critical ášš-kicking some people needed if they had potential they weren’t living up to. His famed “cantankerousness”, I believe, is the natural evolutuonary stage for any genre author who makes themselves as publicly accessible as he did. (I once joked that I thought PAD would get more “Harlan” in his old age, and I meant that as the sincerest compliment).
    From my observations of him, it also seemed to me that his comments came less from anger but from frustration, that so many fans of his work, people who should be looking to the future and striving to create the ideal world that he and so many others envision and hope for, would fall into all too familiar patterns of petty squabbling. He was often the man screaming “this is not right, this is not the way it should be!” to a tone-deaf crowd. Sadly, too often, the thin-skinned would only pay attention to HOW he was saying something rather than WHAT he was saying, when all the man was trying to do was grab us by the shoulders and shake us, saying “You can be better than this!”. He did not suffer fools gladly and was one of the rare few who had the courage of his convictions, and even though I only had glancing blows of him during the I-Con days, stories told by the other two members of my modern holy trinity, PAD and JMS, have given me a much deeper appreciation for an incredibly complex man who was just trying to give a simple message.
    If there is peace to be had in the afterlife, he deserves it. Harlan’s fight is over. I think the best tribute any of us could give him is to simply live well. Rise above your personal bullcrap. Treat those less fortunate with respect. Help and encourage those who need it.
    And above all, become a better you to create a better future that he thought we were capable of making.
    Rest among the stars, Harlan

  27. Someone, and I don’t know who that might be, needs to contact the Emmy and Academy Awards people to make sure Ellison appears in their “In Memoriam” reel.

  28. Just as Mark Evanier is the natural person to write a definitive Kirby bio, it would seem that PAD might consider doing the same for Harlan.

  29. My Condolences. You know, the Last thing I read by Harlan was a Batman 66 comic written from his Tv script by Len Wein and I think it was great that those two got to team up for a curtain call. I only met him once at SDCC and I’m really glad I did too

  30. Dear Peter,

    I’m typing this post at six in the morning. I had a strange dream about Harlan tonight. Most of the details faded away like they always do after waking, but do you remember this piece of writing of Harlan’s?

    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dg0tTgGVMAAHaXh.jpg

    He might actually be trying to send back messages. I don’t mean that in a gentle, reverential way either. I’m very serious. Pay attention to your dreams, Peter. That’s all I can say.

  31. Someone suggested that Peter should write a biography of Harlan but someone else pointed out that one was published in 2017. Yes, but the one from 2017 has holes and the author of it didn’t research it as well as he might have. It has an excellent index which I used to look up and discover things which aren’t there. For instance — Harlan in the 1960s planned to write a novelization of “Demon With A Glass Hand” and even wrote the first chapter, which was published in a small press format mag titled Harlan Ellison: The Man And His Work. The book was never written and I don’t believe that chapter was ever reprinted. In 1992 Harlan announced that he would write a Babylon 5 episode which would be a sequel to “Demon With A Glass Hand”, but it never happened. In the British review publication FOUNDATION #26 (1982) Peter Nicholls (in a section about the then recently deceased Philip K. Ðìçk) revealed that in 1978 at the SF festival in Metz, France, Harlan and Ðìçk were both in attendance and knowing that they had grudges against each other, he tricked them into meeting him at the same time and place whereupon the 2 authors got into a screaming match. In FOUNDATION #27 Harlan reveals his surprise at learning that he’d been set up. None of this information appears in the 2017 book A LIT FUSE where Phil Ðìçk is not even mentioned in any context of having even known Harlan. I have to think Harlan knew Phil Ðìçk (another Southern California writer) because even I knew Phil Ðìçk and visited his apartment and interviewed him for Starlog (I last spoke to Phil one month before he died). It also doesn’t mention that in 1984 Harlan started a story titled “Bring On The Dancing Frogs” and read the unfinished story on the radio on the show Hour 25. The story was never finished and is also not referenced in A LIT FUSE. I expect there is a lot more information like that which is fascinating and worth exploring in a more complete biography of Harlan. Nat Segaloff had access to Harlan’s extensive files, but how carefully did he study them? There must be worlds of information there left untouched.

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