Prolific and pugnacious science-fiction author Harlan Ellison died on June 28 at age 84. He was a major figure in the New Wave movement, known as much for his 1,700-plus stories, screenplays, essays and other writing as for his abrasive personality. Ellison won eight Hugo Awards, four Nebula Awards, five Bram Stoker Awards, two Edgar Awards and more, as well as a host of lifetime achievement awards; his list of feuds, lawsuits and alleged assaults is nearly as expansive. He was famously fired after one day at Disney when Roy O. Disney overheard him joking about a pornographic movie with Mickey Mouse. Ellison was also a supporter of the civil rights movement, an opponent of the Vietnam War and a ceaseless advocate for writers who he considered mistreated.
Ellison is among the most anthologized speculative fiction authors. His short story collections include Strange Wine, The Beast that Shouted Love at the Heart of the World, Harlan Ellison's Watching, Deathbird Stories and Stalking the Nightmare: Stories and Essays. He is best known for the Star Trek episode "The City on the Edge of Forever"; the short stories "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" and "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman"; and the A Boy and His Dog stories. Ellison was the editor of the influential anthologies Dangerous Visions (1967) and Again, Dangerous Visions (1972), with an infamously long delayed third volume still unpublished at the time of his death. --Tobias Mutter
