Harlan Ellison recorded his lines for The Simpsons at 20th Century-Fox Studios on April 4 in a scene with show characters Milhouse and the Comic Book Guy. Afterwards, sitting in the show’s Writer’s Enclave and holding forth, he fell out of his chair and was injured:
Then one of the ancient, rickety old swivel chairs they use to furnish the Writers’ Enclave, in which I sat extolling, tipped me over with a crash, hurtling me assoverteakettle, onto the linoleum.
It was very painful, and Ellison wrote in his Forum yesterday that the tumble had him in bed for a week.
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Harlan Ellison is no longer important enough to even make it worth your while to doubt his latest story. Thank god.
I don’t have a public source for any other version. If you know what I mean.
Are we certain it was the chair that was rickety? We’re all getting on, not least Harlan Ellison.
At last count, thirteen writers who contributed to Last Dangerous Visions have died with their stories unpublished and Ellison’s promises to them still broken. On the fortieth anniversary year of the original missed publication date, Ellison engages in yet another project, then begins another round of compulsive self-promotion, er, “extolling”, before a group of writers – and finds himself mysteriously hurled from a chair! Coincidence – or ghostly revenge?
Doesn’t get more melodramatic than that. The Biblical forty years, no less!
Fret not over LDV – a bunch of the stories have been published: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Dangerous_Visions#Alternative_publications_of_the_stories .
How many remember the “fanzine” that British fan & author, Christopher Priest published? “Last Deadloss Visions” 5 was the most controversial issue of Deadloss, or any fanzine that I remember, in that it laid out as plain as a post-mortem dissection the whole history of LDV and Ellisons repeated stalling tactics, spin doctoring and false promises. Priest was first that I know to have actually counted the number of writers who had died before their stories could appear in LDV. And that was in 1987! How many more since? The fanzine was also the first, in my knowledge, to go on to be published by Fantagraphics Books in “comic” format. The cover was a spectacularly ugly cover of Ellison — I have the impression his lawyers may have forbidden the use of a photograph.
Taral –
The Fantagraphics edition was a Hugo nominee:
http://www.sfadb.com/Hugo_Awards_1995
I knew I forgot something…
The cover was done by Drew Friedman, who specializes in doing ugly.
There was a story that a convention Ellison was at, the dealers were asked not to display the book, lest someone get verbally mauled.
FWIW, on abebooks there are 15 booksellers offering copies. Prices range from a low of $25 to a high of $150.
And for Cheap Thrills, look up the book on Amazon and read the customer comments – along with the rejoinders. Bring popcorn.
Am I some kind of saint for thinking: “Owch! I hope Ellison’s okay.”?
(Breaking and screwing up one’s arm and shoulder in a fall back in December gives one a little perspective on this sort of thing, I guess.)
Ouch! I hope Bruce Arthurs is okay.
As for Harlan Ellison being “okay”, and he’s written and bragged enough about people he has slugged and helped break bones, that being injured by not sitting correctly on a chair may come as some kind of cosmic comic levity. I hope he’s okay. I want to read that autobiography he’s supposed to be writing.
LAST DANGEROUS VISIONS. The best SF collection of 1975, and how many stories mention the internet?