Harlan Jay Ellison, who has also been published under the name Paul Merchant, was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on May 27, 1934. His parents, Louis Ellison (a dentist and later a jewelry salesman) and Serita Rosenthal, had two children, Beverly and Harlan.

Ellison briefly attended Ohio State University in Columbus between 1951-1953. He left college and moved to New York City, where he spent ten weeks living on the streets of Brooklyn, an experience that would later be described in his book Memos from Purgatory (1961). He was then drafted into the U.S. Army in 1957, and wrote another book based on his military experiences called Web of the City (1975). After serving in the army, Ellison worked as an editor at Rogue magazine and then founded Regency Books Press in 1960.

Ellison has written seventy-three books (at last count) and numerous short stories, essays, articles, newspaper columns, teleplays, and screenplays...