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Harlan Ellison

Once referred to as the "20th Century Lewis Carroll," writer Harlan Ellison, one of the most prolific and outspoken authors of speculative fiction, also earned a well-deserved reputation as an ingenious screenwriter during a career that spanned more than a half-century. The author of dozens of novels and thousands of short-stories, articles, essays and columns, Ellison garnered multiple Hugo and Nebula awards, a pair of Edgar Allen Poe awards and four Outstanding Teleplay trophies from the Writers Guild of America, to name but a few of his accolades. Ellison's revered television work included "Demon with a Glass Hand," a tale from "The Outer Limits" (ABC, 1963-65) and the script for "City on the Edge of Forever," an acclaimed first-season episode from the groundbreaking science fiction series "Star Trek" (NBC, 1966-69). Ellison won a lawsuit decades later, claiming that the concept for the James Cameron film "The Terminator" (1984) was inspired by his "Demon with a Glass Hand" script. Despite his sometimes combative relationship with Hollywood, it was one that continued to bear fruit with such projects as the early Don Johnson film "A Boy and His Dog" (1975), based on Ellison's novel of the same name, and writer-consultant-actor work on the space adventure series "Babylon 5" (TNT, 1994-98). Few other purveyors of science fiction/fantasy/horror could lay claim to have had as influential or lengthy an impact on the genres as had Ellison, and he was fondly remembered by both fans and professionals when he died at the age of 84 on June 28, 2018.