Today is March 12, the birthday of Harry Harrison (1925-2012). Harrison was once a big name in the field, but he has like so many faded into obscurity.

Harrison is best remembered for his Stainless Steel Rat series, but he wrote much more than that. Many of his works were satires of popular tropes, often tropes of space opera.

But Harrison also wrote series stories at both short and novel lengths. “The Streets of Ashkelon” is probably his best known sderious story, although it’s not really to my taste.

His novel Make Room! Make Room!, about overpopulation, was the inspiration of the film Soylent Green.

It’s been years since I read much Harrison. I read the first two volumes of his To the Stars trilogy last year, but I’ve not worked the third volume into my schedule yet.

Harrison wrote solid science fiction, and it would be nice if someone woul d bring his works back into print.

March 12 is the birthday of Harry Harrison (1925-2012). Harrison was a major figure in the field while he was alive. Sadly, he has fallen into obscurity these days.

He wrote a number of science fiction series, some serious, some humorous and satirical. In addition to being a prolific writer, he was an accomplished editor. Among his editorial credits are The Best SF, coedited with Brian Aldiss (1967-1975), the original anthology series Nova (four volumes, 1971-1974), The Astounding-Analog Reader (two volumes, coedited with Brian Aldiss), and Astounding: the John W. Campbell Memorial Anthology.  He also briefly edited Amazing Stories and Fantastic in the late 1960s. Continue reading →