I remember at the gathering in the Holiday In I was staying in---Saturday night JMS, Koeing, and HE all were there to schmooze, no talks, just wandering around---and Koeing showe up holding a table tennis paddle, to this day I have no idea what that was for, he could have used it in self-defense several times but did not; JMS was swamped by fans the second he came in, and Harlan, well, Harlan wandered around, looking at drawings young kids brought him, brainstorming with anyone about any comic or story idea, looking around the Holiday Inn gift shop for some trinket from Chicago. Now what HE could find in a gift shop that would remind him of a positive way of the city he spent so much time in his twenties that caused him such savage hell----well, maybe he lost a cup in the earthquake he wanted to replace. I just stood back and watched. I felt the man needed some space. He didn't get it---as soon as he was recognized by the crowd he was swarmed, too. The crowd was so bad the caterers could not bring the food in. It was so bad I left---I LEFT, I who have been an Ellison fan for longer than most of the folks in that crowd had been alive! I LEFT. It was that bad. I was ready to start throwing punches and telling folks to back off. But HE, well, poor old bad-rapped HE, just put up with it, with obvious strain in his face, he never raised his voice, he never got nasty, he never complained, he had a smile and a good word for every fan. yes, I thought HE was really sick looking. I saw him first in 1988 in Iowa city, and he was like a human Roman candle, everywhere at once. A terrific show. Then I saw him at the Comicon two years ago, after his angioplasties, and he was still literally running everywhere, totally outgoing, giving, inconsiderate of himself and his own physical limits. THIS time, he walked. That in itself was scary to see. He walked, and not to fast, either. He was drawn (of course, he lost 15 lb after the operation and he was constantly either in mild pain or real pain. He had to stop signing books on Saturday (right when I got to the front of the line) because he was so short of breath. He had had to take a rest break before that and just work the line, which was absolutely gigantic, by the way---two years before Majel Barrett out drew him ten to one, but this time I don't think Roddenberry reincarnate could have out pulled His Crumudgic Majesty. here's a point or two from the Chicago Comicon that stood out to me. Harlan Ellison was in great form, though chest pains did slow him down from the 4X bypass of March last. but he was suitably outrageous and crusty, and I got about ten things signed by him. much less than last time, but what the hell. I asked a panel made of Walter (Chekov/Bester) Koenig, Michael Straczynski (writer of Babylon-five) and Harlan Ellison this Question: "Mr. Straczynski: the stim addiction of the doctor on B-5 is very similar to an addiction of a doctor in a book called "Gentleman Junkie" that Harlan wrote in the fifties; the denizens of the gray areas of the ship speak in the street patois made famous by Harlan in his "No Doors, No Windows" stories; and then we have the B-5 episode with Jack the Ripper, a subject that has been handled by many writers, of course, but perhaps most notably by Robert Bloch and his student, Harlan Ellison. Am I detecting simultaneous creation here in your stories, or is this what a creative consultant (Harlan's official position on the show) does?" He sat still for a few seconds and then said "Boy, I think you have a real narrow viewpoint there, buddy.!" To which Harlan said "OH I donno mike, he sounded real perceptive to me!" After which they bickered a little, Mike saying the ideas were just common and out there, Ellison calling him a shameless thief. So who knows? Well, dammit, I KNOW. Evidence: Ivanova always talks about people "carrying on cranky." an Ellisonism of long standing. I stand by my three examples above, and add to that the very sinister idea of the telepaths as part of a great government conspiracy, something that can be traced back farther than "Asleep, With Folded Hands" in Harlan's work: his mad bombers starred in the third season, which were recently revived in the graphic illustration of "opposites attract" in his latest dream corridor---and I could go on. I hear echos of harlan in every show. and I don't think it's just because of my signed books, my complete set of Dream Corridors and Rabbit Holes, or being member no. 700 of the HERC. Here's a scene I won't forget. In one panel room, there were the actual, real, progenitors of Star Trek: producer Robert Justman and chief executive producer herb Solow, the guys who had to make the thoughts of the great bird fly, they were talking about their really good book that just came out. there were scarcely 50 people in that room, and they waited ten minutes to start to give people a chance to get in. What's worse. almost everyone left early, including me. Why? because we wanted to get a seat at the next panel discussion, in the biggest room in the Rosemont Convention center in Chicago. a monstrous cavern of a place that easily held 1,200 seats, and it was filled beyond capacity, overflowing, SRO, people getting on the furniture, look out below-fuckyou-outtamyface-kissmy ass fistfight crazy, because Mike Straczynski was holding court about Babylon-Five, and had three blooper reels and a music video of clips yet to come to show, and everyone in the goddamn show was busting chops to get there.