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I apologise for not
posting in the last two weeks. I’ve been very busy, including
attending a wedding last weekend. The weekend before that I attended
Sinister Creature Con. I believe I said on my Facebook page that there would be a post about it here this weekend, but
there’s been a change of plans. That change came when I found out
that another one of my favourite science fiction and fantasy writers,
Harlan Ellison, passed away in his sleep this Thursday.
In the Presence of One of the Greatest Science Fiction Writers
I had the pleasure
of meeting Mr. Ellison at the Los Angeles World Con back in 2006. I
was hoping he would be at World Con in San Jose this year but it looks like that’s not going to happen. I was going
through my Facebook feed inside the Taco Bell near my house when I
learned the shocking news from a post announcing that he died. One of
those days I fear most for great authors of speculative fiction,
especially ones who are up there in age like Harlan was and Ray
Bradbury had been. These are authors I admire so much both in their
work and character that I want them to be immortal on this earth but
know that is unrealistic.
Back in 2006 at the
L.A. World Con, I stood in Mr. Ellison’s presence at his author
signing table with my vintage paperback copy of his Ellison
Wonderland. I nearly
trembled. It was as if I were standing in the presence of a god. This
was partly because I knew how seemingly bad tempered Harlan could be.
But I also knew he was one of the greatest fantasy and science
fiction writers, one of the greatest writers period. His good work
spanned genre like Ray Bradbury’s. It was a pleasure to shake his
hand when I handed him my copy of his
book to sign and told him how much I admired his writing and
that it had inspired my own. Looking impressed, he asked if I had
published anything. I said I had. Then he asked if I was paid for any
of it. I told him I hadn’t published for payment yet but will soon.
That’s when he gave me some of the best advice a new or aspiring
writer can get. He said, “Make them give you money. That’s how
you will be acknowledged as a professional.” Or something like
that, but that was the idea.
Writing for Pay
Since then, I almost
always made sure I was paid for my writing. Not including my blog, I
don’t write for free anymore. If you like your work that much and
take it that seriously, you will find a way to get paid for it. When
you are putting your heart and soul into your work, perfecting it day
in and day out or (for those of us who have day
jobs) night in
and night out, you deserve to be paid because you are making
sacrifices like you are at any other job the only difference is that
you enjoy doing it. But it’s time, effort and energy you’re
putting into it nevertheless. Time that you can be putting into
hanging out with friends, going on a date, traveling, having sex,
etc. So you deserve payment for that time you’re giving up. It’s
no one writer’s fault that our nation’s economy is a capitalist
one. It’s a
writer’s fault if he
or she doesn’t demand the payment that this
economy says we’re
supposed to get for hard work. If we as writers think our
writing can only be accepted if we give it away, we’re robbing
ourselves.
Harlan Ellison talks
in more detail about paying the writer in a segment from his movie,Dreams With Sharp Teeth,
and he puts it out there very clearly. In fact, very bluntly.
The Attitude ‘That Shouted At the Heart of the World’
It was because
Harlan’s blunt personality that many people complained he had an
attitude problem. While I agree with them that he did have one, I
think he didn’t mean personal harm by a lot of it. I think what was behind much of Harlan’s boisterous personality was
his eagerness to wake the world up to it’s mistakes. The only way
it would is if someone gave it a rude awakening like he did. (Yet
much of it still hasn’t awaken.) I don’t blame him too much for
doing so. I myself have known, ever since high school, that this
world—let alone our nation (look who we have for a president)--has
a lot of really stupid people in it. People who won’t get out of
their pre-programmed way of thinking, a way of thinking that comes
from popular opinion especially that which is generated through our
commercial institutions, our profit-driven media and
politically-driven religion.
So somebody has to
shout “at the heart of the world” (a wordplay on the title of his
1968 Hugo Award-winning short story, “The Beast Who Shouted Love At
the Heart of the World”).
It has to be done to make the world realise that it has to change for
the good of all people. And Harlan Ellison was one of the writers who
did that best. I think it’s the job of all writers to do that
whether it’s bluntly, as in Harlan’s case, or more
metaphorically. When done in the latter way, it can create some
really good, terrifying monsters in your fiction. And Harlan made
some of the best in his while still speaking his mind.
R.I.P. Harlan
And until next time . . .
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