Mefisto in Onyx

{{short description|Novella by Harlan Ellison}}

{{Infobox book

| name = Mefisto in Onyx

| image = Mefisto_in_Onyx_book_cover.jpg

| caption = First edition

| author = Harlan Ellison

| cover_artist = Frank Miller

| country = United States

| language = English

| genre = Science fiction

| publisher = Mark V. Ziesing

| release_date = November 1, 1993

| media_type = Print (hardcover)

| pages = 91

| isbn = 978-0929480312

| dewey =

| congress =

| oclc =

| preceded_by = Angry Candy

| followed_by = Mind Fields

}}

Mefisto in Onyx is a science fiction novella by American writer Harlan Ellison.{{Cite web|url=https://www.salon.com/2013/08/25/harlan_ellison_life_to_me_is_a_great_ironic_joke/ |title=Harlan Ellison: "Life to me is a great ironic joke"|first=Mark|last=Barsotti|date=August 26, 2013|website=Salon}} The introduction and cover art were contributed by Frank Miller.[http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-929480-31-2 Publishers Weekly]{{Cite web|url=https://biblio.co.uk/book/mefisto-onyx-harlan-ellison-ellison-harlan/d/382287197 |title=Mefisto in Onyx by Harlan Ellison - 1993|website=Biblio.co.uk}} Originally published in OMNI Magazine October 1993, then released as a hardcover in December 1993, Mefisto in Onyx was later included in Harlan Ellison's 1997 collection Slippage.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/09/21/books/books-in-brief-fiction-071544.html |title=Books in Brief: Fiction|first=Eric P.|last=Nash|work=The New York Times |date=September 21, 1997|via=NYTimes.com}}

Ellison stated in an interview with Salon that he wrote Mefisto in Onyx to be adapted into a film starring Forest Whitaker.

The story won the 1993 Bram Stoker Award, tied with The Night We Buried Road Dog by Jack Cady.{{cite web|title=Past Bram Stoker Nominees & Winners|url=http://horror.org/awards/stokerwinnom.htm#1993 |website=horror.org|publisher=The Horror Writers Association|accessdate=2017-04-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202142043/http://horror.org/awards/stokerwinnom.htm#1993 |archive-date=2017-02-02|url-status=dead}} It also won first place in the 1994 Locus Poll Award "Best Novella" category.{{cite web|title=1994 Locus Poll Awards|url=http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ay.cgi?28+1994 |website=isfb.org|publisher=The Internet Speculative Fiction Database|accessdate=2017-04-04}}