Harlan Ellison, one of the all-time funny crazy weirdos in genre fiction, has a reputation for weird antics and boorish behavior.

His stories were an enormous influence on me in the seventies and early eighties, as well as the Dangerous Visions anthologies he edited. So as far as I’m concerned, Ellison gets a lifetime free pass and can act as weird and cranky as he wants. Lately, there have been rumors that Ellison’s health is failing, and today an article appeared in which he basically said “I’m dying, so you’d better come to MadCon because it’ll be the last time I do a convention.” Link here.

What do we make of this? The article sounds pretty jokey to me, like plain old classic Harlan. Favorite quote, when asked about his current appearance:

“I weigh 154 now. I look like Gollum. I was great-looking when I was younger — I was hot. All the pictures of me, they’re very hot.”

You’ve gotta love this guy, don’t you? Don’t you?