In his nearly 70 year career, he wrote less than 10 novels none of them are particularly long. Though Ellison wrote many books, he wasn't exactly what you would call a 'novelist'. He would sometimes refer to his fiction stories as 'surreal fantasies'. It mocked and deconstructed pulp fiction stories and the idea of the protagonist who relies on the wonders of science or his own machismo to solve his problems.Įllison detested being labeled as a 'Science Fiction writer/author' (he thought this was condescending and pigeon holed him and would prefer if people called him a 'writer', a 'storyteller' or, occasionally a 'fantasist'. It relied less on world-building or being scientifically accurate. For those who don't know, New Wave literature was a product of 60's counterculture. I find the man and his writing endlessly fascinating.Įllison was noted for his contributions to the field of Speculative Fiction, particularly in the New Wave Movement of the 1960's and 1970's. I've been a fan of his for 15 years now and I'm still discovering new gems of his. He left behind an unbelievable amount of text: 1,700 short stories, 70+ books, dozens of essays (film and television criticism), a few comic book stories, 10 or so published screenplays/teleplays and at least 2 edited anthologies to his name. He died last year and all these months later, I'm still finding myself reflecting on his body of work in my downtime.

I have no mouth but i must scream book