Harry Harrison

For the radio personality, see Harry Harrison (radio).

Harry Harrison (born Henry Maxwell Dempsey, March 12 1925) is an American science fiction author best known for his character the Stainless Steel Rat and the novel Make Room! Make Room! (1966), the basis for the film Soylent Green (1973).

Career

Before becoming an editor, Harrison started in the science fiction field as an illustrator, notably with EC Comics' two science fiction comic books, Weird Fantasy and Weird Science. A large number of his early short stories were first published under house pseudonyms such as 'Wade Kaempfert'. Harrison also wrote for syndicated comic strips, creating the 'Rick Random' character. Harrison is now much better known for his writing, particularly his humorous and satirical science fiction, such as the Stainless Steel Rat series and the novel Bill, the Galactic Hero (which satirises Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers).

During the 1950s and 60s he was the main writer of the Flash Gordon newspaper strip. One of his Flash Gordon scripts was serialized in Comics Revue magazine. Harrison drew sketches to help the artist be more scientifically accurate, which the artist largely ignored.

Not all of Harrison's writing is comic, though. He has written many stories on serious themes, of which by far the best known is the classic novel about overpopulation and consumption of the world's resources Make Room! Make Room! which was used as a basis for the science fiction film Soylent Green (though the film changed the plot and theme).

Harrison for a time was closely identified with Brian Aldiss and the pair collaborated on a series of anthology projects. Harrison and Aldiss did much in the 1970s to raise the standards of criticism in the field.

Personal Life

Harrison was born in Stamford, Connecticut, but has lived in many parts of the world including Mexico, England, Denmark and Italy. He is an advocate of Esperanto (the language often appears in his novels, particularly in his Stainless Steel Rat and Deathworld series) and was formerly the honorary president of the Esperanto Association of Ireland, as well as holding memberships in other Esperanto organizations, such as the Esperanto League for North America, of which he is an honorary member, and the Universala Esperanto-Asocio (World Esperanto Association), of whose Honorary Patrons' Committee he is a member. He served in the U.S. Army Air Corps during WWII as a gunsight mechanic and gunnery instructor. He currently lives in Dublin.

Bibliography

Novellas

The Men from P.I.G. and R.O.B.O.T. (1974) (two linked novellas)
Planet Story (1978) published as a large format book with colour illustrations by Jim Burns

Novels

Planet of the Damned (1962) - first published as Sense of Obligation
The Jupiter Legacy (1965) - first published as Plague from Space
Vendetta for the Saint (1965) - credited to Leslie Charteris and based upon Charteris' mystery series, The Saint
Bill, the Galactic Hero (1965)
Make Room! Make Room! (1966) - basis for the 1973 science fiction movie Soylent Green starring Charlton Heston
Technicolor Time Machine (1967)
Captive Universe (1969)
In Our Hands the Stars (1970)
Spaceship Medic (1970)
Tunnel Through the Deeps (1972) - also published as ''A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah!'
Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers (1973)
Skyfall (1976)
Lifeboat (1977) (with Gordon R. Dickson)
Planet of No Return (1981) - sequel to Planet of the Damned
Earth (1982)
A Rebel In Time (1983)
Bill, the Galactic Hero ... on the Planet of Robot Slaves (1989) (there were five sequels by other authors)
The Turing Option (1992) (with Marvin Minsky)

Deathworld series

Deathworld (1960)
Deathworld 2 (1964) - first published as The Ethical Engineer
Deathworld 3 (1968)

To the Stars trilogy

Homeworld (1980)
Wheelworld (1981)
Starworld (1981)
To the Stars (1991) - omnibus collection of the three novels

The Stainless Steel Rat series

Listed according to internal chronology.

A Stainless Steel Rat is Born (1985)
The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted (1987)
The Stainless Steel Rat Sings the Blues (1994)
The Stainless Steel Rat (1961)
The Stainless Steel Rat's Revenge (1970)
The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World (1972)
The Stainless Steel Rat Wants You (1978)
The Stainless Steel Rat for President (1982)
The Stainless Steel Rat Goes to Hell (1996)
The Stainless Steel Rat Joins the Circus (1999)

You Can Be The Stainless Steel Rat: An Interactive Game Book 1988 - role playing book
The Adventures of the Stainless Steel Rat (1978) - omnibus collection of original three novels
A short story, The Golden Years of the Stainless Steel Rat, was published in the 1992 collection Stainless Steel Visions.

Eden series

West of Eden (1984)
Winter in Eden (1986)
Return to Eden (1989)

The Hammer and the Cross series

Stars and Stripes trilogy

Short story collections

Comics

Rick Random
Flash Gordon (1958–1964)
The Stainless Steel Rat was adapted into a comic strip in 2000 AD by Kelvin Gosnell.

Essays

Mechanismo (1977)

External links

Gourt Home::Gourt :: Harry Harrison