harlan ellison

[glowbelly]

i had super fun! i met harlan at lisa's store in the early afternoon. he was cranky and complaining that his whole family was crazy. i didn't get to speak to him much, except that my friend margaret told him that i was his biggest fan. he replied that his biggest fan was a 600lb woman from idaho who follows him around all over the place. he then said "thank you" to me and i said "no, thank you" and he replied with "well, what do you say to that?" and turned away to bitch about his sunglasses.

i was supposed to go to a dinner that they were having for him across the street, but the mayor and other stuffy types were going to be there and i really didn't feel like hanging out in that kind of crowd.

at around 6:30 we headed over to the rock hall to hear harlan lecture about farenheit 451. he was absolutely hysterical and insulted just about everyone in the audience. he answered questions thoughtfully while mixing in his own style of humor. he also never stayed on one subject. his wife was extremely nice and sold me two of his out of print books for $20 (instead of $42). at the end of the lecture, after only mentioning at the very end that everyone should read farenheit 451, he signed one of my books and told me that he had to take a shit.

we were going to go out for a bit afterwards, but there was a huge line of people waiting for harlan to sign things and we didn't feel like waiting around.

lisa was invited to his home in los angeles and said that i should go with her. we shall see what happens with that.