RIP Harry Harrison

[Nesacat]

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/

 

[Brian G Turner]

Aw, boo.

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

 

[iansales]

He was at alt.fiction?

 

[Abernovo]

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.

 

[Hex]

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.

 

[iansales]

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

 

[Brian G Turner]

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.

 

[iansales]

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

 

[The Ace]

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

 

[JunkMonkey]

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.

 

[Perpetual Man]

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

 

[Brian G Turner]

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.

 

[mosaix]

RIP Harry Harrison. Will be sadly missed.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

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.

 

[Pyan]

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

RIP

 

[K. Riehl]

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

 

[Toby Frost]

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.

 

[AE35Unit]

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

 

[AE35Unit]

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.....

 

[alchemist]

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

That was my first thought also.

RIP