Harlan Ellison

[JasonDavis]

A quartet of new Harlan Ellison books celebrating the Babylon 5 Conceptual Consultant's 80th birthday (27 May 2014) is imminent. Have a look at the books here: http://www.harlanellisonbooks.com/20...-of-ellisonia/

If you like what you see, why not use this discount code TQU5PLDW to get 50% off the cover price of HARLAN 101, our introduction to his work? The code also gives you 10% or more off the other nine titles presently available.

[Ubik]

A quartet of new Harlan Ellison books celebrating the Babylon 5 Conceptual Consultant's 80th birthday (27 May 2014) is imminent. Have a look at the books here: http://www.harlanellisonbooks.com/20...-of-ellisonia/

If you like what you see, why not use this discount code TQU5PLDW to get 50% off the cover price of HARLAN 101, our introduction to his work? The code also gives you 10% or more off the other nine titles presently available.

Ordered Harlan 101, been meaning to check out Harlan's writing for a while, and with 50% off I couldn't resist. Cheers.

[JasonDavis]

Ubik,

Thanks. Please let me know what you think when you've had a chance to read through it.

One of the stories, "Jeffty Is Five," is my favorite short story of all time. And, of course, "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman"--probably the story Harlan's best known for (and rightly so)--was adapted into a screenplay by Joe Straczynski a few years back.

Jason Davis
Editor, HARLAN 101

[Ubik]

Ubik,

Thanks. Please let me know what you think when you've had a chance to read through it.

One of the stories, "Jeffty Is Five," is my favorite short story of all time. And, of course, "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman"--probably the story Harlan's best known for (and rightly so)--was adapted into a screenplay by Joe Straczynski a few years back.

Jason Davis
Editor, HARLAN 101

I know Ellison primarily for his hard work in pushing SF as an art form in the late 60s, primarily via his 'Dangerous Visions' anthology of short stories. I’m a bit of a PKD and J G Ballard fanatic, and he was instrumental in getting their work out there to a wider audience.

[JasonDavis]

I’m a bit of a PKD and J G Ballard fanatic, and he was instrumental in getting their work out there to a wider audience.

I figured from your screen name that you were keen on PKD. As a matter of synchronicity, Harlan mentioned both those guys yesterday when I was picking up some material for one of our new books. Weird that those exact two should come up the day before you made this statement.

I keep meaning to check out Ballard. I've read some PKD, but not near enough. Reading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? was a bit of a revelation to me; such a thin book, and yet so much more goes on in it than what was mined for Blade Runner. It's a somewhat anemic adaptation when you experience the richness of the source.

[Ubik]

I figured from your screen name that you were keen on PKD. As a matter of synchronicity, Harlan mentioned both those guys yesterday when I was picking up some material for one of our new books. Weird that those exact two should come up the day before you made this statement.

I keep meaning to check out Ballard. I've read some PKD, but not near enough. Reading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? was a bit of a revelation to me; such a thin book, and yet so much more goes on in it than what was mined for Blade Runner. It's a somewhat anemic adaptation when you experience the richness of the source.

Yes, truer words were never spoken! I think the film gets the visual side of things very right, Dick said as much himself. It's as a great film in its own right, but I tend to view the book and film as two totally different independent entities. The film doesn’t even come close to the oddness of the book. For one Deckard is a far colder and clinical character. I was always disappointed that things like the mood organ didn’t make it in. ‘Dial 888 for a desire to watch TV no matter what's on’.

I absolutely adore Ballard, it’s SF without spaceships and aliens, so SF in the ‘classic’ sense; a commentary on the present via more fantastical circumstances. ‘High Rise’ is an excellent place to start, and you can wax lyrical about the book when the Ben Wheatley film comes out.

My favourite Ballard is perhaps ‘The Crystal World’, which I love for its highly surreal environment and psychological depth. I’ve read it multiple times and it’s a book that really stays with you.

[JasonDavis]

As it happens, High Rise was already going to be my Ballardian starting point due to its role in the inspiration of the 1987 Doctor Who story "Paradise Towers."

On the Dick front, I'm hoping to get to The Man in the High Castle as soon as work permits. The Do Androids Dream...?/Blade Runner relationship was the subject of a fun discussion a friend and I had recently, in which we concluded that the reason so many PKD short stories were adapted for film was because his material is so rich that a movie cannot hope to embrace all the concepts in even a 250-page novel. I think Blade Runner--while brilliant in its own right (and recipient of one of the most superlative DVD & Blu-Ray releases ever to grace the formats)--is proof of that theory.

[Ubik]

On the Dick front, I'm hoping to get to The Man in the High Castle as soon as work permits. The Do Androids Dream...?/Blade Runner relationship was the subject of a fun discussion a friend and I had recently, in which we concluded that the reason so many PKD short stories were adapted for film was because his material is so rich that a movie cannot hope to embrace all the concepts in even a 250-page novel. I think Blade Runner--while brilliant in its own right (and recipient of one of the most superlative DVD & Blu-Ray releases ever to grace the formats)--is proof of that theory.

Completely agree.

Dick really did pump out short stories at a mile a minute. I can highly recommend 'I Am Alive and You Are Dead: A Journey Into the Mind of Philip K. Dick by Emmanuel Carrre - for a really amazing insight into Dick's life and writings. It's also written in such a way, that it becomes quite the page turner!

[JasonDavis]

Based on Harlan's comments over the years, I imagine Mr. Dick was quite the character.

Given my limited experience with PKD and what I took from it, I'll be very interested to read what you think of Harlan's work. While they share a similar level of imagination and invention, their approach could not be less similar.

[Ubik]

Based on Harlan's comments over the years, I imagine Mr. Dick was quite the character.

Given my limited experience with PKD and what I took from it, I'll be very interested to read what you think of Harlan's work. While they share a similar level of imagination and invention, their approach could not be less similar.

I somehow expect Harlan to be a bit more 'straight up', kinda street level living and with a lot of humour? I am guessing here...

[Babel-17]

Yes, truer words were never spoken! I think the film gets the visual side of things very right, Dick said as much himself. It's as a great film in its own right, but I tend to view the book and film as two totally different independent entities. The film doesn’t even come close to the oddness of the book. For one Deckard is a far colder and clinical character. I was always disappointed that things like the mood organ didn’t make it in. ‘Dial 888 for a desire to watch TV no matter what's on’.

I absolutely adore Ballard, it’s SF without spaceships and aliens, so SF in the ‘classic’ sense; a commentary on the present via more fantastical circumstances. ‘High Rise’ is an excellent place to start, and you can wax lyrical about the book when the Ben Wheatley film comes out.

My favourite Ballard is perhaps ‘The Crystal World’, which I love for its highly surreal environment and psychological depth. I’ve read it multiple times and it’s a book that really stays with you.

... And the empathy box! http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/content.asp?Bnum=129

If they include that in a remake it would be awesome if they used Jeff Bridges as Mercer. lol

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dudeism

I'd want him to play it for real, of course. Show the pain of getting pummeled by rocks. The casting alone would be all the humor I'd need. Though if they wanted to use the actor Jeff Bridges as the character in the box ... wow!

[JasonDavis]

Is everyone commenting on this thread but me named after a masterwork of speculative fiction?

Babel-17, Jeff Bridges as Mercer. I'll have to let the full implications of that bit of casting sink in.

Ubik, please let me know when your Ellison book arrives; I'm curious to see how long they take to get to the UK.

[JasonDavis]

So I don't feel left out, feel free to refer to me as The Demolished Man.

[phazedout]

Is everyone commenting on this thread but me named after a masterwork of speculative fiction?

Babel-17, Jeff Bridges as Mercer. I'll have to let the full implications of that bit of casting sink in.

Ubik, please let me know when your Ellison book arrives; I'm curious to see how long they take to get to the UK.

I am curious also Jason, when I go to the web site it says the books are "coming soon".
Phaze
on the "Confessing an addiciton to Downtown Abbey, is this a bad thing" ID

[JasonDavis]

I am curious also Jason, when I go to the web site it says the books are "coming soon".

The "coming soon" only refers to the four new books announced on Harlan's 80th birthday. The other ten books are all readily available.