Most of you may not be aware of the existence of the Harlan Ellison
Record Collection. Harlan Ellison, besides being Conceptual Consultant
for Babylon 5, and a leading writer, is also an amazing performer on
stage, and when reading his own material. One of his recordings was
recently nominated for a Grammy Award.

All prior releases from HERC have been on LP (and they are all
terrific, recordings of "I'm Looking for Kadak" and "Jefty is Five" and
a collection of his appearances such as "On the Road with Harlan
Ellison"). Well, now his first CD is out, his reading of the award
winning story "Paladin of the Lost Hour," which was also done as an
episode of The Twilight Zone, guest-starring Danny Kaye.

If you've never heard Harlan read, you've got to check this one
out. He doesn't so much read as *perform* the story, playing all the
parts, with inflections and accents and a wonderful dramatic flair. As
with all the rest, it's a joy to listen to.

This brand-new, first-time ever release of "Paladin" is 55 minutes
in length, and the price is $16.50 plus $2 for postage and handling.
Again, this is the CD. There are discounts for those who join HERC
which for a yearly membership fee of $8 gets you the HERC Newsletter,
with bits from Harlan, edited by his wife Susan Ellison, and access to
all of his previously published books *and* prior HERC recordings.
(For HERC members, btw, the "Paladin" CD goes for $15 with $2 postage
and handling.)

The address, for those interested, is: The Harlan Ellison Record
Collection, P. O. Box 55548, Sherman Oaks, CA 91413. (Checks or money
orders only, no plastic.)

I've been meaning to pass this info along for a while now, but the
release of "Paladin of the Lost Hour" gives me a good opportunity to do
so finally. For those who like audio books, radio drama (some of the
recordings incorporate some elements of production, and sound effects,
though minimally), performance art, storytelling...this is definitely
something you'll want to consider.

(If anyone wants to add this info to any of the WWW pages out there
for future use in the archives, that'd be a Nifty Thing.)

jms