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El Reg reports

Harlan Ellison, the legendary science fiction author who kickstarted the 1970s "New Wave" of science fiction has died in his sleep at the age of 84 at his home in Los Angeles.

Ellison was one of the giants of the genre, the winner of eight Hugo awards (including an unbeaten record of three short story prizes), four Nebula awards, five Bram Stoker awards for his horror writing, and numerous other honours. He wrote what is widely considered to be the best episode of the original Star Trek, The City on the Edge of Forever, was a consultant on Babylon 5, and was credited for James Cameron's The Terminator--albeit after a lawsuit.

Born in 1934 in Cleveland, Ohio, Ellison was an early starter, selling his first story at the age of 15. He never stopped writing, producing over 1,700 stories, film [scripts,] and TV scripts. His early writing career coincided with the heyday of pulp science fiction magazines. Those mags paid as little as a penny word, so he couldn't initially afford to write full time.

This led to a very broad résumé. He worked as a cab driver, tuna fisherman, crop harvester, and--briefly--as an armed bodyguard for a paranoid friend. He also had a two-year spell in the US army.

[...] In one anecdote, Ellison was one of the writers called in to pitch ideas for a Star Trek movie. Idea after idea was shot down by the film exec as not "thinking big enough". Finally Ellison suggested the Enterprise would warp out to the edge of the universe only to find a solid wall. After rerouting all power to the weapons system, the spaceship would blast though the wall and gaze at the face of God. When the exec told him he still wasn't thinking big enough Ellison gave him the finger and walked out.

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