Stainless Steel Rat

[TordelBack]

Of the 'later' Rat books, may I recommend the 'origin story', A Stainless Steel Rat is Born and its immediate sequel, The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted.  Very good fun indeed.  

[TordelBack]

Of course in celebrating all the fun stuff, it's worth remembering that Harrison is responsible for some of the most important 'serious' stories in SF, including the aforementioned Make Room! Make Room!, and the utterly seminal short 'The Streets of Ashkelon', the story that launched a thousand Future Shock pitches.  Love that guy.

[Lobo Baggins]

Other Harry Harrison books worth tracking down:

The Technicolour Time Machine; one of my favourite books.

Bill, the Galactic Hero; an excellent antidote to those relentlessly macho milliteristic sci-fi stories like Starship Troopers.

Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers; I loved this as a kid but I'm not sure I'd be able to get through it these days.  It's rather too silly...

Any of his short stories, particularly 'Rescue Operation' and 'An Alien Agony'.

I keep hoping that some Harry Harrison books are going to get released in the Gollancz SF Masterworks line so I can replace those old Sphere books with the falling-out pages and the horrible covers, but he's been conspicious by his absence so far...

[TordelBack]

Ooh yeah, The Technicolour Time Machine a great book with a great cove!  Also, A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah!, a great little steampunk alternative history yoke, and Lifeboat, a grimly tense SF take on the lifeboat survival tale.

[Rob Spalding]

Bill, The Galactic Hero is one of my all time favourite series.
Can never find the books to buy these days :(

[Large48]

DEATHWORLD! DEATHWORLD! DEATHWORLD!