# RIP Harry Harrison



## Nesacat (Aug 15, 2012)

Harry Harrison, the creator of the Stainless Steel Rat, Bill the  Galactic Hero, and the Deathworld trilogy, died today, August 15, aged  87.

http://scifibulletin.com/2012/08/15/rip-harry-harrison/


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## Brian G Turner (Aug 15, 2012)

Aw, boo. 

Met him at alt.fiction Derby a few years back - seemed a genuinely nice bloke.


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## iansales (Aug 15, 2012)

He was at alt.fiction?


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## Abernovo (Aug 15, 2012)

He'll be sadly missed. I started reading his books as a teenager and thoroughly enjoyed them. He was entertaining, intelligent and often hilarious as a writer.


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## Hex (Aug 15, 2012)

What Abernovo said. I loved his books when I was a teenager. I had a particular soft spot for the Stainless Steel Rat. 

Must go and read them all again.


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## iansales (Aug 15, 2012)

Don't read them again. You'll spoil it. I tried rereading *The Stainless Steel Rat* a few years ago. It was terrible.


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## Brian G Turner (Aug 15, 2012)

iansales said:


> He was at alt.fiction?



Not sure if he attended alt.fiction itself, but he was with John Jarrold in the hotel a bunch of us were staying in at the time.


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## iansales (Aug 15, 2012)

Which year  was this? I've been to all the alt.fictions.


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## The Ace (Aug 15, 2012)

Kvieteco en Paco (well, it's what he would've wanted).


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## JunkMonkey (Aug 15, 2012)

The original_ Bill The Galactic Hero _was a revelation to me when I read it as a teenager.  It was the first time I remember discovering that SF was allowed to be good and funny at the same time.  

I've never been able to take _Starship Troopers _or the_ Foundation_ books seriously since.


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## Perpetual Man (Aug 15, 2012)

Ahh, The Stainless Steel Rat I remember him well, Slippery Jim DeGriz. 

2000AD ran a great comic adaptation of it as well, very fond memories of childhood days.

RIP Harry Harrison


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## Brian G Turner (Aug 15, 2012)

iansales said:


> Which year  was this? I've been to all the alt.fictions.



Honestly not sure - probably about 3-4 years ago now, when it was held in the centre of Derby. Before the one with Erikson.


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## mosaix (Aug 15, 2012)

RIP Harry Harrison. Will be sadly missed.


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## TheDustyZebra (Aug 15, 2012)

Noooooo!!! Oh my goodness, how sad!

The Stainless Steel Rat is one of my all-time favorites, so much that I took a previous nickname from it. And of course there was Soylent Green (Make Room! Make Room!).

How he will be missed. RIP Harry Harrison.


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## Pyan (Aug 15, 2012)

Sad news - like others, I grew up with the Stainless Steel Rat and the _Deathworld_ books.

RIP


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## K. Riehl (Aug 15, 2012)

Rest in Peace

“We must be as stealthy as rats in the wainscoting of their society. It  was easier in the old days, of course, and society had more rats when  the rules were looser, just as old wooden buildings have more rats than  concrete buildings. But there are rats in the building now as well. Now  that society is all ferrocrete and stainless steel there are fewer gaps  in the joints. It takes a very smart rat indeed to find these openings.  Only a stainless steel rat can be at home in this environment...”   
  ―     Harry Harrison,     _ The Stainless Steel Rat _


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## Toby Frost (Aug 16, 2012)

Very sad: I was particularly fond of _West of Eden_ and _Prime Number_. I remember being awed by both as a teenager. He was a great antidote to the stupidity and puerile militarism of some modern SF.


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## AE35Unit (Aug 16, 2012)

Sad passing, but what a life!
Blogged here:
http://sfaddict.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/rip-harry-harrison.html


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## AE35Unit (Aug 16, 2012)

iansales said:


> Don't read them again. You'll spoil it. I tried rereading *The Stainless Steel Rat* a few years ago. It was terrible.


only you.....


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## alchemist (Aug 16, 2012)

Perpetual Man said:


> 2000AD ran a great comic adaptation of it as well, very fond memories of childhood days.


 
That was my first thought also.

RIP


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## AE35Unit (Aug 16, 2012)

I want to read Stainless Steel Rat again!


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## Vince W (Aug 16, 2012)

RIP Harry. You'll be missed.


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## iansales (Aug 16, 2012)

Perpetual Man said:


> 2000AD ran a great comic adaptation of it as well, very fond memories of childhood days.



It's available as a trade paperback omnibus. B&W, though.


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## dask (Aug 19, 2012)

Another great one gone. Are there any left? There was always something a little different in his work I couldn't pin down, a subtle but distinct feeling I got when reading him that I never got reading anyone else except maybe Keith Laumer. Will miss him much.


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## JunkMonkey (Aug 20, 2012)

dask said:


> Another great one gone. Are there any left?



Fred Pohl is still with us and still writing:

http://www.thewaythefutureblogs.com/


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## Connavar (Aug 20, 2012)

Im proof that The Stainless Steel Rat book/series is still relevant.  I read the first book in 2009 and found it to alot of fun,very enjoyable.  Im looking forward to reading much more of Harrison.

This is terrible news to me, you dont want lose greats of the field.


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## Rodders (Aug 20, 2012)

Looks like I'll be retreading the Stainless Steel Rat again soon. 

RIP Harry. You were one of the authors who were instrumental in getting me into Science Fiction. Thank you.


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## gully_foyle (Aug 20, 2012)

By Harry, thankyou for Slipper Jim DiGriz and Make Room, Make Room and a host of other great books.


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## J-Sun (Aug 23, 2012)

I've loved the Stainless Steel Rat since I was a kid but just this year I finally got around to the (equally? nearly as?) wonderful _Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers_. Also, just this year, I read some of his more serious works in _Make Room, Make Room_ and a variety of stories in _Stainless Steel Visions_ (along with another humorous work in _Bill, The Galactic Hero_). While not up to the level of my very favorites they were worth looking into. He'll be missed but his works live.



dask said:


> Another great one gone. Are there any left?



It's getting kind of thin on the ground. As JunkMonkey mentioned, Fred Pohl is alive and active. Jack Vance is alive and retired. Silverberg. Le Guin and Spinrad. A couple of others I can think of with less name recognition. A few I'm forgetting. But not many.

Speaking of Fred Pohl, he has a nice two-part writeup of Harrison on his blog:

Part One
Part Two


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## JoanDrake (Jan 24, 2013)

I should read these.

He was (and is) one of my favorites. He didn't just get me into SF, Deathworld II got me into Alexander Pope, and I was one of the diehards who even liked the Stars and Stripes trilogy. I'll miss his stuff.


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