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Original D&D Discussion :: Science Fiction :: General SciFi :: Harry Harrison "Stainless Steel Rat"

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Topic: Harry Harrison "Stainless Steel Rat" (Read 452 times)

Solomon Kane
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Harry Harrison "Stainless Steel Rat"
« Thread Started on Aug 4, 2010, 10:28am »

One of the first science fiction books I ever read was Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat. When I played Traveller, I loved to call my guy diGriz and the GM thought I did all those clever things but he never knew I copied my inspiration from this series.

I think that this is the "order" that the books happen.

Early Days
A Stainless Steel Rat is Born (1985)
The Stainless Steel Rat gets Drafted (1987)
The Stainless Steel Rat Sings the Blues (1994)

The "Classic" Stainless Steel Rat
The Stainless Steel Rat (1961)
The Stainless Steel Rat's Revenge (1970)
The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World (1972)

Later Days
The Stainless Steel Rat Wants You! (1979)
The Stainless Steel Rat For President (1982)
The Stainless Steel Rat Goes to Hell (1996)
The Stainless Steel Rat Joins the Circus (1999)
"The Golden Years of the Stainless Steel Rat" (1993, a short story in the anthology Stainless Steel Visions)

If you are interested in only a small sample of these books, try the original short story or focus on the "Classic" trilogy listed above. Some of the later stories written are, in my opinion, kind of weak. Seems like Harrison started getting too slapstick-ish.

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Finarvyn
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Re: Harry Harrison "Stainless Steel Rat"
« Reply #1 on Aug 4, 2010, 10:44am »

I haven't read all of the books, but I agree that the original trilogy was the best. I also liked "SSR is Born" because it gave some of the origins of the character. I also found Jim DiGriz to be an excellent inspiration for a scifi RPG character. Kind of Han Solo before there was a Han Solo.

Aug 4, 2010, 10:28am, Solomon Kane wrote:

Some of the later stories written are, in my opinion, kind of weak. Seems like Harrison started getting too slapstick-ish.

Yeah, the first books written seemed to have more of a subtle humor and the later ones were more cartoonish.

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coffee
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Re: Harry Harrison "Stainless Steel Rat"
« Reply #2 on Aug 4, 2010, 12:04pm »

There was also a short story in the issue of Ares (SPI's SF/F gaming magazine) that had a Stainless Steel Rat game in it. Don't remember the issue number, but I have a copy lurking around somewhere. Don't recall the story being all that memorable, certainly not anywhere near the original trilogy.

I had the original publication of The Stainless Steel Rat Wants You! in Asimov's SF Adventure magazine. Don't know whatever happened to that.

Good stuff, but yeah the later ones didn't have the same flair. Seemed to get a bit formulaic.

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Re: Harry Harrison "Stainless Steel Rat"
« Reply #3 on Aug 4, 2010, 2:41pm »

The comic 2000AD featured a great version of The Stainless Steel Rat Saves The World - in the 80s, it's available as a graphic novel - great artwork.

« Last Edit: Aug 4, 2010, 2:41pm by slade »

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Finarvyn
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Re: Harry Harrison "Stainless Steel Rat"
« Reply #4 on Aug 4, 2010, 5:17pm »

Aug 4, 2010, 12:04pm, coffee wrote:

If you ever decide to get rid of it, let me know. I used to have a full run of Ares and for some bizarre reason got rid of all of the issues except for the one with Albion Land of Faerie in it. I bought the Ares CD but it's not the same as having the paper copy.

Heck, maybe I'll look on e-bay so I don't have to stalk you about it. :-[

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keltset
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Re: Harry Harrison "Stainless Steel Rat"
« Reply #5 on Aug 5, 2010, 4:08pm »

Aug 4, 2010, 10:28am, Solomon Kane wrote:

try the original short story

Thanks for the link. It's a cool story.

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Finarvyn
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Re: Harry Harrison "Stainless Steel Rat"
« Reply #6 on Aug 30, 2010, 5:11pm »

I just picked up some SSR hardbacks cheap on e-bay. Gonna do me some readin'...

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barrataria
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Re: Harry Harrison "Stainless Steel Rat"
« Reply #7 on Aug 30, 2010, 7:12pm »

Aug 30, 2010, 5:11pm, Finarvyn wrote:

I just picked up some SSR hardbacks cheap on e-bay. Gonna do me some readin'...

Congrats! Some of my favorite stories of all time, courtesy of the Science Fiction Book Club!

I really loved the "classic" trilogy above; the more family members started dragging down the plots, the less I liked them. I seem to remember "SSR for President" as one of the better of the later stories.

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coffee
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Re: Harry Harrison "Stainless Steel Rat"
« Reply #8 on Aug 31, 2010, 12:43am »

I liked the stories that extended the timeline. But the ones that went 'back to the beginning', like A SSR in Born, were much weaker in my opinion.

I have a tough time understanding how that guy became the guy in The SSR (original story or novel, your choice).

I did like the porcuswine, though.

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Re: Harry Harrison "Stainless Steel Rat"
« Reply #9 on Sept 16, 2010, 10:30pm »

I used to love the Stainless Steel Rat when I was a kid.

I even scarfed up a copy of the SPI game The Return of the Stainless Steel Rat on eBay when I got the chance. It's pretty interesting; sort of a dungeoncrawl with Cluedo tacked onto it.

The atmosphere in the books was definitely Traveller, with planets of varying tech levels all over the place.

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Re: Harry Harrison "Stainless Steel Rat"
« Reply #10 on Sept 17, 2010, 3:01am »

I used to love the Stainless Steel Rat. I think if I read them again I'd probably be annoyed at how easily he can enter into an alien culture and pass as a member of it.

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apeloverage
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Re: Harry Harrison "Stainless Steel Rat"
« Reply #11 on Sept 17, 2010, 3:04am »

Aug 4, 2010, 10:28am, Solomon Kane wrote:

If you are interested in only a small sample of these books, try the original short story

Thanks for this - reading it now.

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