Harlan Ellison: Dreams with Sharp Teeth (2008)

And to think I had stopped searching for collectible Ellison paperbacks! That I'd "moved on" to other writers like Fitzgerald and Eco. Rented this documentary from Netflix on a whim and re-discovered my favorite author.

In the unlikely event that there are Chewers not familiar with Harlan Ellison: Rent this movie! Then buy and read as many of his books as you can!

For the rest of us: this film won't tell you anything you didn't know (apart from the odd tidbit) about Ellison, but it will entertain the hell out of you.

One highlight (there are several!) of this film is a dialogue between Ellison and Neil Gaiman, a meeting of polar opposites if there ever was one. Best of all (IMO) this documentary doesn't stoop to the normal "Famous Celebrities of the moment talking about how Kewl lesser know but hip subject of this documentary is" syndrome. There are some cameos, notably by BSG's Ron Moore, but it's in the service of actually discussing some aspect of Ellison's work and/or personality. Also, no Bono.

The highlight of this DVD is the Special Features with Ellison reading excerpts from selected essays and stories. When he introduces the readings from Mind Fields: The Art of Jack Yerka (Ellison was asked to write an intro: he loved the art so much he wrote a short story for each painting!) and his sequel to Robert Bloch's contribution to Dangerous Visions ("Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper) there is real love in Ellison's voice. That, more than his spectacular fits of outrage (amply documented in this film) impress.

And here is the interview he did with The Onion shortly after the film came out:

http://www.avclub.com/articles/harla...art-one,14252/

What amazes and saddens me is that no one seems to know who Ellison is anymore, and it's certainly not for lack of self promotion on his part.

It was always near impossible to find Ellison's books in used book stores...until maybe 3-4 years ago. Now you still won't find many (mostly the White Wolf reprints, and the paperbacks Strange Wine and Approaching Oblivion).

I think Ellison himself limited the print run on his books to ensure they didn't end up in the $1 bin.

Of course, Asimov published 300-400 books over the course of his lifetime, and you'll be lucky if you find anything in print other than the Robot novels and the Foundation trilogy....