Friday, December 11, 2009

The Three Most Important Things In Life


According to Harlan Ellison. These are Sex, Violence, and Labor Relations.

Those of you who are into things martial will appreciate the essay on the second topic, but they are all most entertaining. Go, read, enjoy.

If you are any kind of fan of science fiction, fantasy, or other speculative fictions, and you haven't read Ellison, you are missing something. And he's just as good a speaker in person as he is on the page.
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6 comments:

  1. VCFriday, December 11, 2009 at 11:40:00 AM PST

    His autograph is hanging on the wall of my office next to yours and along with Tim Burton and William Shatner.

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  2. Dan GambieraFriday, December 11, 2009 at 12:09:00 PM PST

    Well, yes. Harlan's right. But if you mix two or three of them you can get in a lot of trouble.

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  3. Daniel Keys MoranFriday, December 11, 2009 at 2:31:00 PM PST

    I'm in the small minority of people who don't like Ellison's stories, but adore his writing. He's the best essayist in the English language (currently drawing breath, anyway) that I've personally read; his nonfiction is some of the finest writing of the last fifty years.

    So's his fiction, to be fair, despite my lack of appreciation for it. Just a little downbeat for my tastes. I can read his shorts one or two at a time, but after a few of them in a row I feel like the girl who got tied to the piano ....

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  4. UnknownFriday, December 11, 2009 at 3:51:00 PM PST

    I love Harlan. One of the first science fiction stories that made me think was "Repent Harlequin! said the Tick-Tock man". You can get sex, violence and labor relations all in one fell swoop if you go to a city/PBA contract negotiation.

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  5. AnonymousFriday, December 11, 2009 at 4:23:00 PM PST

    Yeah, Harlan's work is spectacular. In person he can be a handful. Once asked him to sign a comic book. He took one look at it, screamed at the top of his lungs (to 100+ people in the dealers room) "FUCK THAT!" grabbed my comic like it was so much asswipe and threw it across the room as far as it would fly.

    Could a heard a pin drop.

    But on the other side, man has a way with words...lots to love about that.

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  6. NardaFriday, December 11, 2009 at 7:55:00 PM PST

    Thanks for the link! A fan from waaaay back! In case you haven't seen it, look up his rant on youtube: pay the writer. Vintage Ellison. ;)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj5IV23g-fE&feature=PlayList&p=60BA53DE7584BFA0&index=0

    -'harlan' (with a small h)

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