As Blastr's month-long celebration of books continues, our final author profile brings you the force of nature known as Harlan Ellison.

If you work in science fiction, you just know him as Harlan -- even if you don't know him personally. But when you say "Harlan," everyone knows who you're talking about. The irascible, irritable, irreverent and irreplaceable Harlan, who celebrates his 82nd birthday today (May 27), is not only one of the great storytellers of his age, but a tireless champion of artists' rights, human rights and his right -- earned over a six-decade career -- to be the biggest troublemaker he can be and a sharp stick in the gut to anyone who gets in his line of fire.

He's written some of the most iconic short stories in all of science fiction, not to mention a handful of television's greatest science fiction episodes, and his vast imagination is matched only by his stubborn determination never to see his work compromised -- a trait that has caused him to give nightmares to many a TV producer. And he's a tireless champion for the rights of writers to a) get paid and b) control their own work. Luckily he's still with us despite some health issues, and he is quite possibly the last of his generation of science fiction writers, one of many who grew up in the original age of pulp sci-fi but then pushed the genre in new, bold and provocative directions.

Here are 9 things you need to know about Harlan Ellison ... and if he reads this, I hope like hell he likes it.