Dammit Harry, I still owe you a drink...

[rolanni]

Word on the internet is that Harry Harrison has died.

I adored Harry for a multitude of reasons -- he was kind, he was funny, he was acerbic; he  created Slippery Jim and Angelina, and Bill, the most inept hero in space opera, and gave us a vividly frightening look at what it would be like when there were just too many of us.

The last time I talked to him at length was...in Montreal?  Really?  I guess it was.  He joined us for breakfast, carrying his cup over from his table to ours, and sitting himself down to chat about nothing much, really. 

Harry had charm; people wanted to look out for him.  The staff at the restaurant was no different.  They knew him by name, as he knew their names, and they kept a subtle eye on him.  We went from two foreigners at a corner table, to Mr. Harrison's friends; ​he introduced us, so we knew their names, too.

That drink...I incurred that debt at the Philadelphia Nebulas.  It was a good debt, as so few are, a kind of promise that I'd be talking with Harry again, not once, but many times more.

Damn.

Comments

[silverdragonma.livejournal.com]

Confirmed, on official web page. Slippery Jim helped this lonely kid make it through some tough times growing up.

[groblek.livejournal.com]

Sad news. I love his books, but never had the chance to meet him. Slippery Jim was a favorite character in my High School & College years, and the collection of the first three Stainless Steel Rat books was one of the few books I brought with me to New Zealand for comfort in a strange place during my year abroad.

Damn indeed.

Maybe I can manage to spell it properly this time

[jessie-c.livejournal.com]

As long as his words live, he's not completely gone.

yes. We met him at a

[dragonet2.livejournal.com]

Campbell Conference in Lawrence, KS. What a kind man.

I feel like I needed to buy him a drink and visit but we never got the chance.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_aisling_/]

One of the first SF books I found in our small school library in Moscow was his; later it happened so that I was asked to edit a translation of one of his books into Russian. It was rather poor, but behind its clumsy lines his text was, clear and expressive. It was such a relief to turn to it...

[brock-tn.livejournal.com]

I met him at my college during my sophomore year. The school had annual "themes," and that year, the theme was wrapped around E.F.Shumacher's book Limits to Growth. For some reason, this inspired the committee which coordinated campus activities to schedule a showing of the film Soylent Green, which was based, VERY loosely, on Harry's novel Make Room, Make Room. And then, to the committee's delight, they found that the author of the novel had an arrangement with a speakers bureau, and could be brought to the campus to give a talk.

I'm sure the committee was expecting a cadaverously lean and entirely somber Puritan who would lecture us on the evils of overpoulation and exhaustion of resources. What they got was a jovial white-bearded elf who wantred to talk about writing science fiction and what it's like to have Hollywood work over one of your books. The poor, oh-so-earnest committeepersons were at something of a loss, but once Harry was done they gamely accompained Harry and the three SF fans present down to the bierstube in the basement of the Student Union, where there was Guinness on tap, for some pleasant conversation. (This was back in those ancient days of yore when 18-year-olds could drink legally in Massachusetts.) At one point Harry opined that he liked to write books that said something meaningful. To which I responded "So explain Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers, then." Which caused Harry to blow about an ounce of Guinness out through his nose.

After we got him breathing again, Harry explained that after writing a "serious" book, he liked to write a pointless, "fun" book to get rid of the malaise brought on by thinking deep, serious thoughts for a prolonged period. This also explains The Man from P.I.G. for any of you who had wondered about that one. He autographed one of the Stainless Steel Rat books for me. I still have it. I'm not certain that the committee ever got quite un-croggled after that evening.

He'll be missed.

[attilathepbnun.livejournal.com]

Auuuuuugghhhhhhhhhh ..........

The first books of his that I read were a Slippery Jim book and Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers. I was about nine, I think. I didn't understand most of the jokes, but still thought the latter incredibly funny (still do). I was post-thirty before I got most of the jokes(I think there may still be a few I'm missing)

Goodbye, Harry

[sjalford.livejournal.com]

Man, I'm going to miss Harry Harrison. I cut my teeth on Heinlein, but grew up laughing at Harry's spoofs of Heinlein's Serious Work. The Stainless Steel Rat series is still the funniest SF out there. He didn't like Big Government and the military; i can still relate to that since i grew up in the army.

I was lucky enough to meet him at a couple of Worldcons. He's probably got the Goddess splitting her sides from laughter as I write this.

You will be missed, Harry. Slainte!

BTW, the Guardian has a wonderful obituary about Harry. Www.guardian.co.uk will get you there...the type his name in the search box.