HARRY HARRISON: 50 IN 50

A collection and celebration of veteran SF writer Harry Harrison's work

By Chris Wyatt     December 02, 2002

Harry Harrison's ultimate short story collection is now out in a trade paperback edition thanks to TOR. Harrison, creator of the STAINLESS STEEL RAT and BILL THE GALACTIC HERO books, is also well known for MAKE ROOM, MAKE ROOM, the novel that served as the basis for the seminal SF film SOYLENT GREEN.

Born in 1925, Harrison has written professionally for 50 years...hence the title 50 IN 50-- the book includes one short story for (though, presumably, not from) every year of Harrison's professional life.

Despite the fact that Harrison is best-known today for his brand of SF comedy (as seen in the later RAT books, and in all the BILL books) 50 IN 50 showcases the diversity of the writer's interests.

The book is divided into nine categories that Harrison bases on sub-genres in which he's written. There's a section on stories involving alien worlds, a section involving psychological SF, etc...

In the chapter on robots, Harrison proves that he can hold his own with masters like Asimov. The chapter includes stories like the wonderful, if often reprinted, "The Velvet Glove" about a beleaguered robot on a job hunt; and the surprising "The Robot Who Wanted to Know".

Harrison even includes a (very, very short) section of fantasy, which contains only two stories, both kind of mediocre. By contrast the longest section is the final one. Entitled "Square Pegs in Round Holes" it holds all the "head-scratchers, the undefinable [sic], the stories that do not fit into any category". It's very telling about the author that he considers the largest percentage of his work to be non-categorizable. The highlight of the "Square Pegs" chapter is "Brave Newer World", a thoughtful response to the Aldous Huxley book.

Predictably, the best section in the book is "Laugh- I Thought I Would Cry", the chapter of SF comedy. Stories like "The Man From P.I.G.", "Space Rats of CCC" and "Captain Honario Harpplayer, R.N." prove that Harrison can surpass Robert Asprin for genre chuckles, and can even put himself in the same class as Douglas Adams.

Missing from the book is more commentary by the author. Harrison leads the collection off with a hefty introduction, wryly entitled "The First Fifty Years", which is engaging if a little unwieldy. But his after the intro his only other editorial additions are half-page (or less) section intros.

The book lacks so much as an appendix giving the date of the stories printed in the volume. When were these stories first written? In which year? In which decade? If a reader has trudged all the way through the arm-achingly heavy (623 page) volume, it's a fair assumption that said reader is interested in Harrison's work. It would be even more instructive for the reader to be able to see how Harrison has progressed as a writer, comparing early works to later ones...or even, for more advanced fans, comparing stories created under the editorial hand of John Campbell, to ones created for other editors.

But the quibble is ultimately a minor one. Harrison, though not necessarily a household name, is an exciting writer with the rare talent of consistently creating characters that really get under the reader's skin. This volume is highly recommended.

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