The Stainless Steel Rat Joins the Circus

Author Bio: Harry Harrison

Harry Harrison (1925-2012) was drafted into the Army after finishing school and served in World War II, where he learned both to shoot guns and repair analogue computers. Leaving the Army at the end of the war, Harrison teamed up with Wally Wood and produced professional comic book art. When the comic book boom came to an end, Harrison moved from drawing to writing. In 1957 his story, “The Stainless Steel Rat” was published in Astounding, and introduced a character which would stay with him (and readers) for the next forty-odd years. In 1975 Harrison had his first brush with Hollywood when his novel, Make Room! Make Room! was used for the basis of Soylent Green. His novels have also been successfully adapted for other media: radio plays and readings, a board game, at least one computer game, and, taking us full-circle, comic books, most notably 2000AD’s adaptations of the Stainless Steel Rat books.

In a career spanning sixty years, Harrison produced more than a hundred short stories, edited over thirty anthologies, and published more than sixty novels.