HARLAN ELLISON'S WATCHING Offers Some Unique Movie Reviews

Harlan Ellison is a multiple winner of the Hugo and Nebula science fiction awards, story editor for the "New Twilight Zone" (ca 1985) where he quit after the suits turned down an episode he was to direct and didn't realize he meant it when he said he would walk if they did, series consultant for "Babylon 5," not to mention author of the classic "City on the Edge of Forever" episode of the original "Star Trek" series. He has written numerous movie scripts, some of which have won awards, none of which have been filmed (not that unusual), has written numerous TV scripts, wrote the story that became the cult film classic A Boy and His Dog, and has written in other genre's as well. A TV column for the old Los Angeles Free Press brought them bomb threats.

This is not a conventional type of guy.

He has written hundreds of short stories, his preferred medium, and is a smart businessman who finds ways to package his output and get the maximum milage out of it. Among his short story collections are Shatterday (filmed for "The New Twilight Zone" with Bruce Willis, fresh from TV's "Moonlighting"), Love Ain't Nothing But Sex Misspelled, Ellison Wonderland, The Beast That Shouted Love At the Heart of the World, I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, Deathbird Stories, and more.

Harlan Ellison's Watching is a packaging of his movie columns written for Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine. It had to be written a couple months before publication, so the situation demanded a different approach, what with the movies being released and disappearing long before Ellison's column could hit the stands. As a result, Ellison wrote about Art and Film, humorless science fiction fans, director Ken Russell's wierdness and occasional brilliance, and even frequent recommendations for movies lingering at the theaters that people might have missed. There was, for example, a scathing criticism of Gremlins which he (perfectly, in my opinion) redubbed The Muppet Chainsaw Massacre ("I spoke to the manager of a theater in Columbus, Ohio, who told me he has never before had so many instances of people demanding their money back."), rave reviews for Return to Oz, Dune (the one with Kyle Maclachlin), and the (uncut) Brazil, slams of numerous popular movies people consider good (interesting to get Ellison's take), why he didn't like 2001 (First of all, he says, there's no plot), and all kinds of neat stuff.

If you are familiar with Harlan's essay material...he writes a lot of autobiographical stuff as introductions and bridge notes in his story collections...then you already know what to expect.

If not, you might pick this book up and sample a few of the columns.

It is Harlan Ellison writing essays as he does his fiction, with humor, power, and passion.

Check out this book, check out his website at http://harlanellison.com/home.htm.