Harry Harrison RIP

Very sad to see the news that Harry Harrison has died. Slippery Jim DiGriz aka The Stainless Steel Rat was one of 60's SF brightest and wittiest creations. Harrison wrote many other books, including the excellent A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah! and Make Room, Make Room that was made into the film Soylent Green. But there isn't nearly enough funny SF about and now one of the genre's greatest jokers is gone.

BluesShark wrote:But there isn't nearly enough funny SF about and now one of the genre's greatest jokers is gone.

I love his work. I will miss his characters.
About funny SF, I used to work with a guy who HATED it. Loved SF, but just went on and on about how it should never be funny. And I asked him if he'd ever seen Red Dwarf or Hitchhiker's Guide, and he said not only had he not but he would never watch them. The man didn't know what he was missing.

Prseumably he never read the late great Robert Sheckley either then.

A great treat for anyone who who never has.

Harrison actually worked as an illustrator for EC in the early 50s. He and Wally Wood were responsible for convincing Bill Gaines to publish Weird Science. He also wrote the newspaper adventures of Flash Gordon (from 1958-64) and worked on Rick Random with Ron Turner. And of course, Slippery Jim DiGriz eventually turned up in comics form in 2000AD.

BluesShark wrote:Prseumably he never read the late great Robert Sheckley either then.

A great treat for anyone who who never has.

No, I'd bet he hadn't. Then again, neither have I. More reading to do!