Teitelbaum/Ellison: 30 Years of Bad Blood

Before you read

Commissioned and accepted by The Los Angeles Times Magazine in 1990, this investigation was spiked. In his 2026 retrospective, Teitelbaum recounts that Harlan Ellison threatened legal action if the magazine published an article mentioning him. Stephen P. Brown subsequently published “The Bleeding Man” in Science Fiction Eye, Winter 1991.

The reporting uncovered a failed collaboration, competing manuscripts and mishandling at Doubleday. Strete’s carelessness and his responsibility for a book containing Montana’s work under his name alone remain part of the story. Ellison’s campaign against Strete, including his alleged financing of Montana’s legal efforts, is described in Teitelbaum’s retrospective. These are distinct questions: how the wrong manuscript reached print, and how the accusation was pursued.

Read the 2026 edition · Explore the publication record

Teitelbaum in A Lit Fuse

Read Segaloff’s introduction and Teitelbaum’s full remarks in Bad Blood →

Publication history & archival notes

Brown’s decision to publish deserves recognition as an act of editorial courage. After the Times withdrew, Science Fiction Eye gave readers the investigation itself, with its interviews, conflicting accounts and evidence about the manuscripts.

The original article and David Streitfeld’s Washington Post report preserve the reporting of the period. The 2026 edition adds Teitelbaum’s retrospective account.