Happy Birthday, Harlan Ellison!

Today is the birthday of one the greats of modern science fiction, Harlan Ellison: author, editor, screenwriter, legend. Although, as noted in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, ‘most of his large oeuvre is better described as nonfantastic, or fantasy, or horror’, it is hard to overestimate Ellison’s influence on the field.

From award-winning short fiction such as ‘I Have No Mouth, And I Must Scream’, ‘A Boy and His Dog’ and ‘The Beast That Shouted Love At the Heart of the World’ to his work as an editor on the groundbreaking Dangerous Visions anthology, to the screenplay for fan-favourite Star Trek episode, ‘The City on the Edge of Forever’, Harlan Ellison bestrides the history of modern SF like a colossus. And today he turns eighty.

Happy Birthday, Harlan Ellison – and thank you!