Saturday, July 24, 2010

Harlan Ellison: Dreams With Sharp Teeth (2008)

A literary hero of my youth, and a writer whose best work I admire on different levels now. I've met him a couple of times at writer conventions and such, and can testify that when he makes eye contact with you it's like having a stare contest with a cobra.

I got to know him a bit in a different way when he called me and Elizabeth at our home more than once to ask how he could help out with a friend of ours, a well-loved fantasy novelist, who was dying of cancer. Despite how he comes across in his self-maintained and self-mythologizing enfant terrible, "I'll punch you in your hamburger hatch, asshole" demeanor, that's how he made his biggest impression on me. Well, that and his writing, of course. But you know what they say about books and covers.



Written and directed by Eric Nelson.

More here.

Harlan interviewed at The Onion A.V. Club here.