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CNN Interviews with Harlan Ellison, Bruce Sterling
half_cocked_jack writes "Over at the CNN Podcast area they have a program titled 'Hollywood's SciFi Summer'. It sounded interesting, so I downloaded it. Much to my surprise, the host, Renay San Miguel, seems to really know SF, and he interviewed Harlan Ellison, Connie Willis, Bruce Sterling, and Len Wein on their views on how Hollywood handles SF. Great listening!"
Does anyone else think that this placing is unfortunate? I know that I misread it on first-pass.
Am I open minded towards open source, or closed minded towards closed source?
Because, you know, it's illegal in Sweden to download copyrighted material.
Bruce has "paid it forward" by helping a number of new writers (myself included) with their careers by subjecting them to the bracing fire of a Sterling critique...
Lawrence Person (lawrencepersonh@gmailh.com (remove all "h"s to mail)
http://www.lawrenceperson.com/
A story so boring that it's only got 6 comments 15 minutes after being posted!
Bruce is pretty hardcore into cyberpunk. Check out the links, including a LEGAL digital copy of his "The Hacker Crackdown" at http://project.cyberpunk.ru/idb/library.html
-Charles
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
My mind filled in: "oh, the Twilight Zone guy".
Then I realized that Rod Serling was probably dead of lung cancer by now, and that I didn't know who Bruce Sterling was.
Raise your children as if you were teaching them to raise your grandchildren, because you are.
At this time in tech history, I think it's to a writer's advantage to give away their work online, and that it actually helps sales of paperbacks and hardbacks. I put my money where my mouth is and my first novel, Star Dragon (Tor 2003), is available for free download from my site under a Creative Commons license. That's a decision that I made and my editor has supported. I hope it helps me generate sales at the milli-Ellison level or better.
But it's against the law to copy stories without permission. Harlan is old school, and as obnoxious as all hell when he wants to be, and that's his right here. Sure, publishers need to change their business model, but they haven't just yet. Respect the artist. If you think he sucks so much, why do you want to read his work anyway?
I wanted to use a story by Geoffrey Landis in my astronomy class last semester. I emailed him up, asked him if I could make 120 copies for my students, and he said absolutely. Even asked if I wanted the story in electronic form. If he'd said no, I wouldn't have done it.
Professor of Astronomy, Author of Spider Star & Star Dragon (Tor)
With this summer's wanna-be blockbuster shrouded in the cloak of Tommy Cruises' Scientology rant, I'm dead curious to hear what insight Harlan has to offer on this topic.
C'mon. You know you want to tell us.
Please?
one better than mcleodeight
Bruce Sterling is a founding father of cyber-punk, next to William Gibson. Despite the role-playing world's that come to mind when cyber-punk is mentioned, Sterling's worlds are believable and his stories aren't very action oriented. One of his latest books was about politicians in the US in about 40 years. Bruce more looks at social trends then technology, that's not to say tech isn't in his books, but in general they are about society.
Connie Willis wrote the Doomsday book, a story about a time traveler stuck in Europe during the plague. There was a very heavy historical emphasis, in practice it was a historical novel. She's written other timetravel stuff. Her books aren't so much fun as interesting.
Harlan Ellison's books are fun. He is a brillant writer who should not be let out in public(The man is very easily offended, and not afraid to attack with a chair or what not when he is offended. If he's not violent, he's shouting furiously, and it really doesn't take anything intentional to set him off). He wrote I have no mouth and I must scream and Repent Harliqin said the Tick Tock Man. Harlan's books, and Harlan have a extreme cynical viewpoint that's very entertaining. Harlan started out attending sci fi conventions, and has many big sci fi writer friends. I don't know that his writings really fall in a sci fi category (To be clear, Harlan's books pay no attention to science at all, it's more experimental modern writing), but they are good reads.
I've read a ton of Sci Fi, and I've never heard of Len Wein. A quick google says he's a comics guy invovled heavily with X-men, fantastic 4, hulk, and the watchmen series. Some one else will have to give a perspective here.
All three authors are big names in Sci Fi, although none of them give more then lip service to the sci part. I can barely think of who else might belong on this list over them. (Well...Philip K. Dick, Asimov, Heinlien, Bester, Clarke, Cambell(Editor, not an author) a couple other golden oldies. Of living people under 70, Bear, Guin, Stephenson, Kress, and Gibson...Still that's a wish list... )
Still, these are the names of real Science Fiction in the last 20 years (Star Trek and such belong in fantasy or action). I'm not trying to be elitist. These are big names... If you don't know these people, you don't know science fiction...
Sangloth
I'd appreciate any comment with a logical basis...it doesn't even have to agree with me.
In this mostly planned economy, that too often verges on and grows ever closer to a socialism, why would the public school system teach anything about SF? They are already bogged down trying to teach multi-ethnic understanding, the extremes of bipolar(atleast politically) secularism, not equal opportunity but equal reality, social irresponsibility and trust in federal courts for all matters moral and ethical, and the many other view "new" initiatives in place today.
Can you really blame any graduate from the US Public School System for not knowing the 4 names?
Ack, I blew it on Len Wein! L. Neil Smith is the author of THE PROBABILITY BROACH. Len Wein has done some media and comic book work.
Well, I said he was the least well-known of these four in SF circles. Guess I just proved that assertion with a data point.
Professor of Astronomy, Author of Spider Star & Star Dragon (Tor)
...back in the 80's. Hour 25 is now online-only, but it was a 2-hour Friday-night program on KPFK-FM in Los Angeles, hosted by Mike Hodel and Mel Gilden, at the time, and Harlan was a frequent guest. No doubt, Eric Foss has the entire broadcast archived on tape somewhere.
From what I recall, Ellison said something like, "I attended a party in New York, along with some other writers, including L. Ron Hubbard, and Hubbard was saying something about 'Y'know what I should do? Invent a new religion. That's where all the real money is.' And, next thing you know, he came out with his next book, 'Dianetics'."
mbrother (739193) sez: "At this time in tech history, I think it's to a writer's advantage to give away their work online"
Unless things have changed a great deal recently, at this time in legel history it's all but necessary for writers to keep their work off the net unless the publisher releases it for that.
Almost all writers' contracts require that they sign over e-rights to the publisher as part of their contract, whether or not the publisher intends to do anything with them. The writer signs away the e-rights, or doesn't sign the contract.
Note that e-rights are rights to publish, not ownership. The writer still owns them.
Along comes the work, posted online. The author has to make an effort to protect the work, because signing the e-rights gave the publisher the right to release it. If the writer doesn't, they are in violation of their contract and the whole thing can be cancelled.
A few writers like Harlan can afford to take on a case like this themselves, and can afford to refuse to have an e-rights clause in their contract. Most can't. If they want to get the contract, they sign the whole thing, and they're stuck having to do their own police work.
If a writer has signed a publishing contract for the work that includes an e-rights clause they can't publish it on line, and they have to try to prevent others from doing so.
At least that's the way it was explained to me by Charlie Petit, Harlan's lawyer during the lawsuit, while I was serving as material witness and slated as expert witness. Harlan was protecting his own work because he wanted to, not because he had to, because he didn;t have to contend with these silly e-rights issues in contracts. He also did so because newer authors didn't have the resources to be doing things like this all the time, and he wanted to see this made public so they wouldn't get screwed out of being able to be authors.
"I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid." -- Bishop 341-B
Let me guess: all Harlen Ellison talks about is how great a writer he is and how much better his script for "City on the Edge of Forever" was than the one filmed for Star Trek.
Am I right? I mean, that's ALL this guy talks about.
"Leo Fender was in a 'state of grace' when he designed the Stratocaster." -- Paul Reed Smith
Is there any slashdotters that really hold Ellison high for his works? I had a paperback of some of his short tales and I just couldn't get into it.
Ellison ain't for casual reading, that's certain. Try some of his screenplays if you can't get into his stories: there are several episodes of the original Outer Limits series that he wrote; "Demon with a Glass Hand" is often considered the best, and is frequently cited as an important source of the inspiration for "The Terminator".
Also, some of his best work is in things he has edited, rather than written. The anthology, "Dangerous Visions" is considered by many to be a groundbreaking point in the world of SF short stories. I hear he is also a good friend of Joe Straczynski's and was highly influential in the writing of B5.
Ellison is known mostly for his 'human-centric' science fiction. Best example, IMHO, is "I have not mouth and I must scream". Not for the exclusively 'hard' sci-fi fan, but thought-provoking nonetheless. He also did some work on the original Trek, and between then and now had published a LOT of work. He's like a less-emotionally blasted, bitterer version of P. Dick. Basically, I like him because he treats his characters like people, rather than cutouts, which I see a lot in fiction in general, and Science Fiction in particular. Oh, and his rant about turning Asimovs' "I, Robot" into a screenplay (NOT the W. Smith version) in the published, illustrated screenplay is worth the purchase price. Angry, ranty - yes. Worshipful of good material, yes. 'Worthy'? IMHO, yes.
I've been a huge Ellison fan since the first time I read "Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktock Man in the early 80's.
/My personal Ellison story - Harlan had a huge line for autographs at Dragoncon '99, and I was too far back to be able to get my book signed before he had to leave. He came back on his own time to sign for all the people who got cut off in that line. A real stand-up guy!
A few other very good Ellison stories include:
Mefisto in Onyx
Grail
Djinn, No Chaser
Pretty Maggie Moneyeys
Shattered Like a Glass Goblin
Paingod
The Deathbird
Anywhere but Here, With Anybody But You
Chatting With Anubis
Midnight in the Sunken Cathedral
Paladin of the Lost Hour
and many others I'm too lazy to type out.
The thing about Ellison's writing that grabs so many people is that he expertly blends fantastic settings and situations with real human drama. The events descibed might be bizarre or possibly futuristic (although Ellison's work usually has a timeless quality), but the emotions the characters are dealing with are very real and familiar.
I love Ellison's work. No question that he's something of an asshole, but he's an entertaining one, and often not nearly as serious as people think he's being.
Since no one else has mentioned it yet, find a copy of "The Deathbird." If you can find the collection called Deathbird Stories, it has many of the other recommended works posted here. Also read "A Boy and his Dog," and then rent the movie (one of the only real SF movies ever made).
Now, why do I like his works? First of all, they're uncompromising--Ellison writes what he wants, and pulls no punches. OK, that's not entirely difficult to manage. However, Ellison taps into the heart of human emotions--his writing in The Deathbird is so powerful that it makes me weep, and not just with sadness but also partly with relief and closure. Not many other authors can manage that--Murakami is one, and I'm not sure I can think of any others--maybe Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
Also, there's his wicked sense of humour--A Boy and his Dog is a brilliant black comedy, and too many people have missed that aspect of his writing.
One secret: Read his short stories one at a time. Sit down, read one, and then walk away. Maybe go back to it in a few days, but don't read them back to back, or you'll just glue them all together in your mind.
"People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
Don't forget some of his non-fiction (or at least non-fictionalized) works, such as, " The Three Most Important Things in Life: Sex, Violence, and Labor Relations" which can be found (apparently officially) at http://harlanellison.com/iwrite/mostimp.htm/ . Two suitably bizarre accounts, and then his Half-day employment by Disney.
Having read some of his personal essays, as well as the standards such as, "I Have No Mouth, but I Must Scream", I would say the operative adjective isn't "prickly" but rather "obstreperous".
the more accurate the calculations became, the more the concepts tended to vanish into thin air. R. S. Mulliken