See our dedicated news site harryharrison.wordpress.com for all the latest info!
Please note: The following books are currently optioned for movie adaptation:
A Stainless Steel Rat is Born
The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted
The Stainless Steel Rat Sings the Blues
The Stainless Steel Rat
The Stainless Steel Rat's Revenge
The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World
The Stainless Steel Rat Wants You
The Stainless Steel Rat for President
The Stainless Steel Rat Goes to Hell
The Stainless Steel Rat Joins the Circus
The Stainless Steel Rat Returns
The short story "The Golden Years of the Stainless Steel Rat" is the final chapter in Jim's adventures.
"The Return of the Stainless Steel Rat" - This story probably fits in before The Stainless Steel Rat, because there's no mention of Angelina or the Special Corps. Jim mentions at the beginning of the story that he's saved the universe at least twice: the first time could be in Sings the Blues (depending on how you look at it); the second time could be an as-yet unchronicled adventure. However, if the story is set later in Jim's life, he could be referring to Saves the World and Wants You...
"The Fourth Law of Robotics" - According to Harry, this story doesn't belong in the series. Considering that it's the only Rat story not told from Jim's viewpoint, that makes sense.
The gamebook You Can Be the Stainless Steel Rat - again, this isn't really part of the Rat's adventures. Besides, it's the reader who has the adventure, not Jim diGriz!
Harry Harrison the DJ is from Peoria, Illinois. He
arrived in New York in 1959. From then until 1968, he
was on station WMCA, AM 570, as part of their "Good
Guys" team. In 1968, he moved to arch-rival WABC, AM
770, the "All-Americans." He stayed until 1980. All
through the 1960s and 1970s, until the age of Don Imus
and Howard Stern, Harry was "The Morning Mayor of New
York City" and the most popular morning drive-time
host. He moved on to oldies station WCBS-FM, 101.1,
and has been there ever since. One of the nicest guys
you'll ever want to meet. He's around 65 years old,
though I'm not sure how precise that is.
I'm totally unfamiliar with Harry Harrison the writer.
But I hope this clears up any misunderstanding
between the two men.
Update July 2004: Incredibly, we're still receiving fan-mail for Harry the DJ! It seems that his fans somehow manage to find their way through our site to the contacts page without ever noticing that there are a lot of science fiction references and also no mention at all of radio!
Now that that's out of the way, you might well ask what are these "extra" Deathworld books...
We first heard about them a couple of years back from a fan called Denis, who wrote:
I am just wondering if you can tell me how many books are in
deathworld series except the three books that are widly known.
I am reading deathworld 4 now something like return to deathworld.
It was written with another guy whose name I forgot.
Now I have 6 books of that series, is that it.
It wasn't long before more information was forthcoming, from the very helpful Alex Bourt, who supplied us with the English translations of the titles and the name of Harry's co-author, Ant Skalandis. A search on the internet provided cover images, and confirmed that the books were only available in Russia.
In March 2002 we learned of a seventh Russian Deathworld novel, co-written with Mikhail Ahmanov. An eighth book was listed as forthcoming... As soon as we get some more information on this, we'll include it here!
Finally, as mentioned above: We've been receiving a LOT of queries lately about these books, particularly with regard to English translations... The official word is that there are no plans to publish them in English!
Webmaster replies:
Harry Harrison Kroll is an entirely different author to Harry Harrison!
Mr. Kroll (or maybe that should be "Mr. Harrison Kroll") wrote many western novels during the
1940s and 1950s. These occasionally appear on auction websites, and can lead to some
confusion. You can prevent Mr. Kroll's books being listed on eBay by searching for
"Harry Harrison" -Kroll.
On that note, I've also discovered another couple of prominent Harry Harrisons on the web:
one appears to have been a football player, another is a musician.
2000 12 13 - from lots of people
Webmaster replies:
The events of the sequel novels (see here for
details) occur between Part 3 (E=mc2 ... or bust), Chapter 4 and the Envoi
of the first novel, and they happen in order of publication. The short story -
Bill, the Galactic Hero's Happy Holiday - takes place after the sixth sequel.
2000 06 26 - from various people
Harry Harrison replies:
The American production time is longer and they keep the book on
sale longer. Therefore publication dates slide. Makes sense.
2000 06 19 - from Vapor5
Webmaster replies:
"The Mothballed Spaceship" is
a short story, rather than a novel, which is probably why you can't find it! It was
first printed in Astounding: the John W. Campbell Memorial
Anthology (edited by Harry Harrison) in which many of Campbell's SF
authors wrote "closing" stories to serials that had run in his magazine.
"The Mothballed Spaceship" also appears in The Best of Harry Harrison and, more recently, the collection Stainless Steel Visions. The latter should be available on Amazon.com.
2000 06 17 - From: C. Hassan, London, England
Webmaster replies:
It's true! The book was adapted for radio by the
BBC some years back, very much in the style of the
Bill, the Galactic Hero adaptation. The
Technicolor Time Machine was also made into a radio play. We're
working on a chapter about radio adaptations of Harry's works, which
should appear soon.
From: Andy Kunz, Winnipeg, Canada:
Just finished reading Stainless Steel Rat for second time in twenty years. Why this has not been made into a movie or series is beyond me and probably many of your fans. If someone is sitting on this story, don't renew their option - someone more enthusiastic is waiting, I'm sure. I've always thought japanese anime would lend itself to classics such as SSR.
Harry Harrison replies:
The RAT books have been optioned for the past 14 years.
And every year we almost make the film - but not quite. We keep trying...
See the movie section of The Stainless Steel Rat chapter for more information,
From: Denis
I am just wondering if you can tell me how many books are in deathworld series except the three books that are widly known. I am reading deathworld 4 now something like return to deathworld. It was written with another guy whose name I forgot.
Now I have 6 books of that series, is that it.
Harry Harrison replies:
There are only 3 DEATHWORLD novels - in English! I have collaborated with a
Russian writer on more of the novels - published only in Russian.
Webmaster's note: See above for more information on these books!