Plenty of people knew Harlan Ellison personally, I don’t have anything to add. Here’s one anecdote, courtesy of Cirsova. I’ll recommend some of his short stories to read in memoria, however.
Ellison was a Fan with a capital F before he ever became a writer — in some ways, the John Scalzi of his day (Scalzi’s writing doesn’t hold a candle to Ellison’s). Ellison produced some first-rate stories, and although I wouldn’t call him a first-rate writer, he was very good.
Aside from his fandom, he is mostly known for his immense bibliography of short works; some screenwriting; and editing Dangerous Visions, the follow-up, and sitting on Last Dangerous Visions for decades. I can wholeheartedly recommend Dangerous Visions on the grounds that it includes Philip K. Dick’s incredible short story Faith of Our Fathers, which is worth the cost of picking up Visions even if you hate every other story (unlikely — there are several other good ones in there, not least of which is Ellison’s own “Prowler in the City at the Edge of the World”).
Harlan Ellison wrote fewer than a thousand short stories, but not a lot fewer. Here are a few recommendations:
“Adrift Just Off The Islets of Langerhans: Latitude 38° 54’N, Longitude 77° 00′ 13″W”: This somewhat cryptic tale of a monster trying to die is hands down my favorite Ellison story, running the gamut from camp to thriller to childhood nostalgia and more in just twenty pages.
The coordinates in the title are to an apparently nondescript location in Washington, D.C. which significance Ellison never explained.
“I Have No Mouth, And I Must Scream”: A malevolent AI tortures the last few remaining humans on Earth. This is now by far his best-known story. I think it’s overrated — its dramatic torture scenes haven’t aged that well, in my opinion; Ellison is no Dante. Then again, edgy pessimism comes with the territory when reading Ellison. And it has a great villain monologue.
“‘Repent, Harlequin!’ said the Ticktockman”: When a government ruthlessly obsessed with efficiency tracks the lives of its subjects to the last second, one man fights back by having fun. Concocting the perfect vehicle to act out his notorious impishness in writing, Ellison hits a home run, even adding just the right tincture of irreverent pessimism.
“The Deathbird”: A Gnostic tale about Man’s struggle against a mad God. Perhaps Ellison’s most philosophical story.
Cover to a later edition of the Deathbird Stories anthology, taken from the titular story.
“Along the Scenic Route”: Nothing too complex, just a great action story about dueling for dominance on the highways.
“Grail”: Ellison’s most underrated story. A young man consorts with a minor demon in a quest to find True Love. Ellison nails the casual horror of the demon (with somewhat uncharacteristic understatement), the protagonist’s destructive obsession, and the jarring disjunction between the occult and “reality”.
“Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes”: A desperate, broke gambler gets lucky with a Vegas hooker…when she possesses a slot machine. Ellison writes Maggie through the eye of a practiced lecher, and she dominates the story despite the other deftly drawn characters and sensitive dialogue.
“The Resurgence of Miss Ankle-Strap Wedgie”: Not a science (or “speculative”) fiction story at all. A Hollywood producer decides to give a faded starlet another chance at the silver screen, as told through the eyes of a Nick Carraway-like flunky narrator. A good story in itself, and displays both Ellison’s range and his love of working in Hollywood.
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