A Gadfly Revisited ( Part Uno ) and a Fly Guy Missed

Hi Carolyn,

 

 

Well... this qualifies as another  " Ratz!!" scenario. Unbeknownst to me while I was out on the summer family reconnect circuit last week, it was announced back here in Owen Sound that in September there would be a speaker at the auditorium of my old school ( the one I taught at - not the one I attended as a student ) giving an evening presentation as a fundraiser for  area hospitals. I found out about this shortly after my return but the $100  tickets were all sold out. I would not have hesitated to pony up the pesos for my better  half and I to attend since the speaker in question was Chris Hadfield !!

I'm half tempted to hang out at the door on that night just to see if something is being scalped. Even at out of this world inflated prices that would still be a great experience.

 

 

 

 So this is another look at one of the folks at the head table of my sci-fi writers banquet that I allude to from time to time - although he wouldn’t be sitting too close since he is a fractious SOB ( he probably has a couple of intellectual property law firms on permanent retainer since he has a well-known penchant for litigation ) He’s got reason to be so though. The man has produced prodigiously from the first, and in a number of areas other than straight-on speculative fiction.  I always thought Asimov was and endless fount of material but I’m  sure that Ellison has him bested handily in that regard.








I first ran into Harlan Ellison when I was gangly,  young and impressionable and most full of that proverbial piss and vinegar.  ( i.e. late teens and early twenties ) Through his Dangerous Visions series and then the Glass Teat stuff he was leading the choir singing the same tunes I was. And what's better, he was " out there in the real world " railing against those things I was only beginning to feel suspect about.  Long before I became a media studies instructor I think it was he especially who instilled that idea that the media had to be treated at arms length and with a whole shaker full of salt.

 



I do so love those who fling the language around  superbly and make it do scintillating things. Ellison, for me, is one of those.
I can see, in my own simple efforts, many examples  of his influence.


Mr. Ellison does with words what Schumacher, Andretti or Stirling Moss do with race cars and Woods, Palmer and Nicklaus do with golf balls.


His agility, ability and facility with the language ranges from the spectacularly vulgar to the beautifully eloquent and all shades in between. Am I still an Ellison fanboy ??  You bet!  Would I like to hang out with him?   Well.... more on that one next time.

 
Actually it's interesting that you mentioned typewriters in your last blog, Carolyn, since the guy I'm currently waxing on psuedo-eloquently about prides himself still on the fact that he smacks out his prodigious offerings on a typewriter. There'll be more on this later since I'm realizing that dealing with the biggies like Kubrick and Ellison cannot be accomplished justifiably in one entry.

I too had an early and long relationship with the clickety-clack machine.

I got my first typewriter while still in high school for a couple of reasons. One - my penmanship was atrocious to the point that a number of my teachers simply returned my stuff unmarked with the "I cannot read this " stamp all over them. Two - I read that Harlan Ellison did all of his work on an Olympia typewriter. So, I  quite simply had to have one too. I think it cost me about a month's wages from my part-time job at A&P, at the time. It saw me thru my undergrad stuff and my law school and teachers college journeys as well and was only pushed to the side when this thing called a Commodore 64 came along attached to a dot matrix printer.  The good ole' days indeed.





Okay, enough sentimental goo for now. Time for a shot of " riddlin'


  Right again, Carolyn, my last offering was a clothespin. I think I made it too easy with the " clothing hangup" thing. Well rest assured I shall not be as kind-hearted next time  ( insert evil laugh here ... )

I believe your riddle this time around is, or are, those clothes on the line held up by the very pins of which we just spoke. It's been rainy recently in these here parts and there's been a fair amount of that hastily put away activity happening.

So, I proffer this riddle gauntlet  for this meeting.

I surrender suspicion

in my dealings with you

on the assumption

you'll do it too

Don




Images sourced from Google Images:

Fig. 1 - cantsaytoomuch.com
Fig. 2 - fantasticfiction. co. uk
Fig. 3 - mosaia. com
Fig. 4 -m techdigest.tv