Harlan Ellison

Harlan Ellison (1934-2018) was a colorful, often controversial science fiction writer and fandom personality. 
He had a history of violent physical assault, sexual assault, as well as being very litigious. The Insanity Offence: The Fleisher/Ellison/Comics Journal Libel Case by Charles Platt (Ansible 48, February 1987) (June 28, 2018) 
He was involved in fandom for many years before he "went pro," and edited several fanzines in the 50s and 60s.
"Robert Bloch, author of Psycho, called him “the only living organism I know whose natural habitat is hot water”." 
From his bio in a 1978 convention program: 
Ellison passed away in 2018.
==Tidbits==
There is much out there about Harlan Ellison. Below are some small bits one may not find elsewhere:
* was involved in early fan campaigns to bring Star Trek back to television
* attended many conventions where he was, among other things, an entertaining, unpredictable, and controversial guest of honor
* enjoyed combative mind games with fans, and while probably not intentional, played matchmaker to at least two of them (January 30, 2005) 
* supposedly enjoyed the 1976 City on the Edge of Whatever Slide Show From the flyer for the coloring book that was published later: ..."City has been on the convention circuit to such places as Toronto, Salt Lake City, New York City, and my living room. Toronto had to be the best. Harlan saw City in Toronto. Harlan liked it. Boy, did Harlan like it!" 
* wrote the script for, and had a love/hate relationship with, the Star Trek: TOS episode "The City on the Edge of Forever" -- his original submission is much altered from the viewed episode, one that Ellison calls "absolute bullshit" and railed against for years "... all I was concerned about was telling a love story. I made the point that there are some loves that are so great that you would sacrifice your ship, your crew, your friends, your mother, all of time, and everything in defense of this great love. That's what the story was all about. All of the additional stuff that Gene Roddenberry kept trying to get me to put in, kept taking away from that. The script does not end the way the episode does. Kirk goes for her to save her. At the final moment, by his actions, he says, "Fuck it. I don't care what happens to the ship, the future, and everything else. I can't let her die. I love her," and he starts for her. Spock, who is cold and logical, grabs him, holds him back and she's hit by the truck. The TV ending, where he closes his eyes and lets her get hit by the truck, is absolutely bullshit. It destroyed the core of what I tried to do. It destroyed the art; it destroyed the drama; it destroyed the extra human tragedy of it." -- from "The Fifty Year Mission: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History" by Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman, published in 2016 by St. Martin's Press A fan in 1999 wrote: "The original script isn't *nearly* as good as Ellison thinks it is. In this book, D.C. Fontana reveals that she did the re-write to produce the filmed version, which was a forehead-slap revelation for me: "Duh! Strong female character! Who else would have written it?" In Ellison's version, Edith Keeler shows that she's the woman of Kirk's dreams by baking him a cake." -- Mary Ellen Curtin, 1999, alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated 
* consumed a home-cooked chicken dinner with some fans in 1973; see A Conversation with Paula Smith
* Ellison Wonderland: A View from Trekland (1974) is an essay by Sharon Ferraro which contains this quote from Dr. Isaac Asimov: "You can even have your back to him and be unaware that he is within five states of where you are standing, but from the way all the young ladies in the place are shaking, you know at once that that must be Harlan behind you somewhere, and he may not even be doing anything." 
* contributed to 1971's The Star Trek Songbook
* is sometimes credited with coining the term Egoboo... but no, that honor goes to someone else... in 1947 "Egoboo" was first used in a letter written to a science fiction fanzine by someone named Rick Sneary. 
* referred to Kirk/Spock as "Kirk-shtups-Spock soft porn stories" from his 1984 review of Star Trek III: The Search For Spock for Asimov's Science Fiction magazine 
* impressed some fans at a 1976 con while dressed in nothing but a towel Con Reports 
* sat in a window at A Change of Hobbit in 1976 where, on one occasion, signed an eleven-year old's copy of "Strange Wine" with Dear Tana, this asshole told me to sign this to ‘Frogchild,’ but I told her to fuck off. Sincerely, Harlan Ellison. For another fan's recollection of Ellison's presence at A Change of Hobbit, see Paula Block's essay How Much is that Harlequin in the Window? (1976) 
* wrote essays: one example is The Words in Spock's Mouth (1968) a rant in which he castigates a fan for making an error in her newsletter, insults the Star Trek actors, and more 
* Ellison was notoriously thin-skinned when it came to criticism about his own works, but was often cruelly critical of others'
* in 1980, Ellison bragged about attacking ABC Television executive Adrian Samish in 1964 for altering the script Ellison wrote for Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. Ellison recounted that “I tagged him a good one right in the pudding trough and zappo! over he went… windmilling backwards, and fell down, hit the wall.” This altercation left Samish with a broken pelvis. 
* slugged Charles Platt at the 1985 Nebula Awards 
* grabbed Connie Willis' breast on stage at Worldcon 2006 during the Hugo Awards and later claimed "there was the slightest touch. A shtick, a gag between friends, absolutely NO sexual content." Wikipedia article. The Harlan Ellison Incident the Official Shrub.com Blog, posted August 30, 2006. GropeGate 
==Recollections==
In 1979, Isaac Asimov described meeting him in 1953 (he later goes on to describe the young Ellison purposefully insulting him to his face and their subsequent friendship):
A fan in 1977 wrote about her impressions in a con report: 
Another fan in 1977 wrote: 
From a fan in 1978: 
==References==
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