RIVAS-SPLICER: October 2006

DISCUSSION / BOOK SIGNING - Oct. 29 - Skylight Books Harlan Ellison at Skylight Books October 29 2006
Moving to Los Feliz was a mixed bag for me. I've been there for almost a year and I love that I can walk to anything I might need (grocery stores, post office, library, movie theater), but I am also irritated at having to share that convenience with LA's trendy elite. Resistant to the Borg-like mentality which compels LA's scenesters to emulate each other in heroin chic-derivative dress and mannerism, I often feel like an outsider walking the streets of my own neighborhood. As much as I bristle at the rude treatment received from coffee shop waitresses whose minds are on their afternoon auditions, I accept it as the cost of living in a bohemian atmosphere that provides a sustainable ecosystem for places like Skylight Books. I've never lived in any other famously bohemian neighborhoods, like Haight-Ashbury or Greenwich Village, but I imagine they would be stimulating and irritating in similar ways.

I love to visit Skylight. It's not that I can afford to buy new books (I can, but if I indulged in the practice as much as I am tempted to, it would become an expensive habit), but Skylight is one of those bookstores that gets writers like Harlan Ellison to make an appearance, and I love the fact that I can discover events like this on my way home from the supermarket, walking down the street with a bag full of chicken drumsticks and garlic. Beyond that, they are one of those bookstores, which are becoming increasingly rare, into which you can walk and make a discovery, rather than going into Barnes & Noble because you expect to be able to find that classic Ray Bradbury book that you would like to give as a gift, and discovering that it is not stocked because they need the shelf space for John Grisham.

Having written over 1000 pieces of fiction, from short stories to television scripts, and edited numerous anthologies, Harlan Ellison is now one of the American elders of science fiction literature. He's matured into grandaddy status, having outlived Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov and Philip K. Dick. He used attract media for his "live" storywriting sessions, where he would sit in the window of a bookshop and type an original story. He wrote the original "Star Trek" episode "City on the Edge of Forever," in which Kirk, Spock and McCoy travel back to America during the Depression, as well as several influential episodes of the original "Outer Limits;" two of which, "Soldier" and "Demon with a Glass Hand," provided the inspiration for "The Terminator." Ellison was recounting this story when I walked in. Apparently, James Cameron almost went on the record in a magazine interview, giving credit for his story to Ellison, but had his lawyers contact the magazine shortly before publication to remove the quote. There was eventually a legal settlement, and Ellison is credited as an "inspiration" in the final credits of the film. Ellison comes across as principled and vindictive. In response to his almost being snubbed out of credit on "The Terminator," he took out a full page ad in one of the trade magazines, reprinting the "inspired by" credit from the film under the title "Exhibit A."

"He thinks his shit don't stink! He really thinks he is emperor of the world or something," Ellison exclaimed about Cameron.
Harlan Ellison at Skylight Books October 29 2006

One thing Ellison is not is modest. He doesn't even give the impression that he would claim modesty as one of his virtues. He sings his own praises, recounts his own accomplishments, and in true geezerly fashion (he's now in his 70s), condemns today's generations for allowing the internet to provide them with a false sense of informed awareness. I can't say I disagree totally with his cynicism, although since no one in the audience was as old as Ellison, I wondered if we were granted special exemption from the uninformed masses by virtue of being in his sage presence. I'm capping on the man a little bit, but I think Ellison has always been a kind of cynical geezer - in the best way - as a critic of media and society, who has been prone to outbursts along the way - over anything from tampering with his work (which includes posting it online without permission, see the legal case against AOL), to making assaults on people in public (various documented cases online, differing circumstances).
Harlan Ellison at Skylight Books October 29 2006
He says he has had quadruple bypass heart surgery and has been warned against having emotional outbursts, "but it happens... everyday." Certainly there is record of him having outbursts in public, and some of those have been dark accounts. I tend to romanticize people with angry, emotional natures, perhaps since I identify so well with them, and I am drawn towards the manifestation of this nature in his work and in certain aspects of his life (being a Hollywood outsider with enough power and contempt for producers to turn them down, participating in the Selma-Montgomery Equal Rights marches). Harlan Ellison, like Terry Gilliam, is the type of personality who indentifies himself as the underdog, and if you identify yourself as such too, there's an instant attraction. (For evidence of my own geezerliness, just review the first few paragraphs). There is a substantial amount of legend surrounding Ellison's brash public behavior that is less than a romantic underdog fable, but I am mostly familiar with him for his writing.

Among those who may only know him for his legend are those who would hire him. Ellison described the process of collaboration between him and the producers of the upcoming "Masters of Science Fiction" series as a back-and-forth game of indecision. The executives wanted Ellison to pick a story. "I have 1400 stories! How the hell do I know what they wanted?" he screamed. "Apparently they have time to be executives, but they don't have time to read." Then he was asked for an adaptation of "Repent Harlequin! Said the Ticktockman." Despite it being a reader favorite (undoubtedly why it was chosen by the execs), Ellison did not feel it lent itselt to a television adaptation. "Why can't something that you like exist in it's own medium?" he begged. It must be a particularly nagging question for a guy who's been so prolific and had so many of his pieces adapted, directly or indirectly, to varying degrees of success. He expressed his amazement that he was not only courted for the series, but that ABC, who was putting up half of the funding for the show, stipulated that their involvement would be contingent on Ellison being attached. If this is not a case of Ellison's ego self-deluding him, it is a nice piece of irony. "There are studios where I am still not allowed to work!" he hollered. "They lay out minefields when I walk on the lot." I guess as you get older, your legend grows, and whether that is owing to the stature of your work, the myths that surround you, or simple longevity, having a reputation for being "difficult" ceases to be a handicap when your name is synonymous with big sales.

I've always found it interesting to see the legends of my own time up close, whether that be James Brown, or Charlton Heston. Whether you love their work or hate it, and however you feel about the individuals themselves, there is some charisma that these people use to cast a spell over millions of people. In his immodest way, he told the room that there were things he could not do and things he was great at. "I can sing well," he told us (apparently he has sung professionally, casually name-dropping that he is good buddies with Mel Torme). "I can do these kinds of public speaking events. And I can write like a son of a bitch." I find it interesting that he excels in two talents, writing and verbal storytelling, which are not always co-occurent, and I can count it as an experience to have heard this son-of-a-bitching writer hold court and charm an audience with his brashness for an hour.
Harlan Ellison at Skylight Books October 29 2006