RIPs

[Dandontdare]

a sad loss. I too 'discovered' him through the 2000ad stories, but went on to read everything they had of his in our local library.

[Mike Carroll]

We now have a memorial page for Harry Harrison on the official news blog. Please feel free to share your thoughts, memories and words of condolence.

-- Mike

[JohnMcF]

Sad news indeed.

I started reading his work as a teenager in the late 60s. Make Room! Make Room! was my first I think. I soon snapped up anything of his I could find.

I have always hoped for a movie version of The Technicolor Time Machine.

[shaolin_monkey]

 

I'd actually read all the Stainless Steel Rat books before I realised they'd been in 2000AD.  Last year I tracked down all the Quality Comics reprints.  I came across them again last week during a house move, still bagged and in perfect condition.  They are currently atop my coffee table, waiting for a reread when I'm finally settled into my new place. 

Such a shame. I loved all his stuff. He's up there with P.K.Dick, if you ask me.

[A.Cow]

Gutted.  The SSR adaptations in 2000 AD switched me on to him, and I ended up with a whole shelf end-to-end of his books.  He won't be forgotten.

[Zarjazzer]

Oh god no. Deathworld series is among my fave books of all time.all sympathies to friends and family.what a terrible loss.

[Richmond Clements]

A few words from me about Harry: http://hiexcomics.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/harry-harrison.html

[JUDGE BURNS]

REST IN PEACE....HARRY HARRISON.

[Something Fishy]

Very sad.  I am another who found him through 2000AD.  I love his books.

RIP.

[COMMANDO FORCES]

Sad news indeed, it was the prog strip that brought his work to my attention.

[Spikes]

^ Same here. With the 2000ad connection i can well recall buying up all his books from 2nd hand bookshops many moons ago, the lions share i still have.
Hadnt kept up to date with his output though - hadnt realised he'd carried on writing SSR books. Ill have to track them down.

[Bat King]

Really sad news. Harry Harrison was very influential on my reading. I remember buying 4 of his books one day as a young teen. 'how do you know you'll like them all' I was asked by my sister. 'I like his stuff' was my simple reply.

Very sad.

[maryanddavid]

Very sorry the hear the bad news Mike. I first read the Stainless Steel Rat when my uncle, seeing that I was reading secret seven and knew I loved 2000ad, said, 'give this a go' and it was like nothing I had read before. I then discovered in my brothers 2000ads that the story was in 2000ad as well.
Anytime im in Dublin I usually pick up one of his in Chapters, he tells a good story.

[A.Cow]

Hadnt kept up to date with his output though - hadnt realised he'd carried on writing SSR books. Ill have to track them down.

Well worth it, but give the final one (SSR Returns) a miss.  It's a bit of a disappointment and may sour your memory of the great man.

[WhitBloke]

This is disastrously sad news, made somewhat moreso for realising that I had been ignorant of it for a full day.  Of the few authors I have ever wished to meet, simply perhaps to gratefully compliment and shake the hand of, or even just see how he smiles and how his eyes move as if that could give me some new insight into his work and personality from across a shy room, Harry Harrison was high on the list.  Very high on the list, and for my entire adult life and the bulk of my teens before that.  And now...  It really is saddening to me, at this great distance, so I can only imagine the loss felt by those who knew and loved him personally.
Beyond the Stainless Steel Rat series, which I have merrily devoured over the years, however much I regret agreeing with A Cow's comment above, the Year's Best Science Fiction anthologies he so deftly compiled with Brian Aldiss through the 60s and 70s remain in my opinion the best available. Many anthology books and series of books are ample fixes and excellent showcases, yet this series was and for my money remains The Daddy.  I simply can't recommend them enough if you haven't yet picked one or all of them up.  In fact, I keep a spare copy of #7 in stock just to have one ready to give away to anybody I can talk into giving good SF short stories a try.  Even forty years on, it is not only a superb little collection but in my mind a pristine testament to Mr Harrison's informed passion for the genre, his personal impact upon it and, all the more tragically with his loss from within it, one of the tallest most beautiful buildings in 'the ghetto' his example and gifts helped make into a city.
Mr Carroll, although I did not personally know or even meet your friend, or indeed yourself, I nonetheless duly offer you my most sincere condolences.  A powerful, leading talent; a truly saddening loss.