A
speech and
essay written by
Harlan Ellison. In it, he
details some of the shockingly
hateful,
rude, and
stupid acts that have been committed against
authors of
fantasy and
science fiction by the people who call themselves their "
fans." Harlan tells how one of his fans made
anonymous,
harrassing
phone calls and
death threats to him for years, how one of
Spider Robinson's fans offered to buy him
dinner, then stuck him with the very
expensive bill, how one of
Alan Dean Foster's fans threw a cup of
vomit in his face. Why, Ellison asks, are fantasy and sci-fi authors treated this way and not, for instance,
John Updike,
Tom Wolfe, or
Norman Mailer?
The
title of the
essay refers to the
condition in which the
progeny of two
parents does not resemble the parents in any way.