Harry Harrison reported dead
“You’re a criminal. You hate the law and live happily without it. You are a law unto yourself., and the most honest man in the galaxy. You can’t break any rules since you make them up yourself and change them whenever you see fit.”
–James Bolivar (Slippery Jim) Digriz
The Stainless Steel Rat
written by Harry Harrison
Like many of his characters, science fiction author Harry Harrison didn’t do things like everybody else.
That’s what a lot of readers loved about him.
Coming out of a time when science fiction was seen as serious and pompous, Harrison brought us belly laughs with Bill, The Galactic Hero.
When science fiction was populated with goody two-shoes main characters, Harrison turned that on its head with a series of books about the criminal Slippery Jim DiGriz, starting with The Stainless Steel Rat.
That doesn’t mean that he couldn’t write something which was arguably more traditional…his novel, Make Room! Make Room!, was the basis for the movie Soylent Green.
As is the case with many science fiction writers, some of his earlier works were allowed to fall into the public domain. You can, therefore, read
for free.
There are quite a few books by Harry Harrison available in the Kindle store:
Harry Harrison in the Kindle store
This one has me a bit emotional. I thought of Harrison as fearless and funny, a truth teller in the sense of the cosmic clown. I also associate him with an earlier time and an earlier me, although he continued to write and be published long after I first encountered his works.
- New York Times obituary
- http://www.harryharrison.com/ (official site, with a link to a memorial page when you can express yourself about the author)
- Harry Harrison at ISFDB.org
This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog.
