Introducing The Stainless Steel Rat: One Of Sci-Fi’s Funniest Anti-heroes
Before Hitchhiker’s Guide and Guardians of the Galaxy, there was Harrison’s the Stainless Steel Rat.
Modern sci-fi has become more self-aware, ironic, and full of morally flexible rogues, but before all all that, back in the 60s, Harry Harrison arguably kicked it all off with The Stainless Steel Rat.
Slippery Jim diGriz — master thief, conman, anti-authoritarian saboteur — was the galaxy’s most lovable criminal and I think he should be a lot more famous.
Set in a distant future where crime has been all but eradicated, the Stainless Steel Rat series follows Jim as he’s forced to work for the Special Corps — a shadowy agency made up of reformed criminals who tackle the threats too sneaky or clever for the non-devious bureaucrats to catch. With his charm, genius-level cunning, and disregard for rules, Jim jumps from world to world, saving the galaxy in between scams and sarcasm.
The Stainless Steel Rat series is a lot of fun and I wouldn’t be surprised if Douglas Adams, James Gunn, Doug Naylor and Rob Grant (Red Dwarf), and others had read Harrison’s books first and been inspired. And I think you should read them too. Decent humorous science fiction is weirdly rare.
Harry Harrison deserves to be more famous
When it comes to fun sci-fi, Harry Harrison is best known for this series and his gloriously subversive Bill the Galactic Hero. The books brought something new to 1960s sci-fi: humour and satire. DiGriz is a protagonist who uses brains, charm, wit and a generous amount of larceny. While others were writing about noble space captains and galactic wars, Harrison gave us a loveable criminal.
The series ran from 1961 all the way to 2010, with a dozen books in total (the final being an omnibus). The early entries, like The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World and The Stainless Steel Rat’s Revenge, are fast-paced, funny, and sharp. I highly recommend them. Later books vary in quality — the final few feel more like nostalgia-fueled riffs — but the first five or six are still beloved by fans. I loved tthem when I read them as a teen in the 80s, and seem to have largely forgotten the last few. I just remember them being ok.
Modern readers will still find plenty to enjoy: the books are short, clever, and packed with anti-establishment energy. Harrison’s satire skewers bureaucratic utopias, conformity, and militarism, decades before Red Dwarf, Futurama, or The Orville played with similar themes. Jim diGriz, with his morally grey outlook and quick, devious mind, paved the way for Han Solo, Malcolm Reynolds, and every charming space scoundrel that followed. His wife is also a badass but I can’t really talk about her – because spoilers.
Is it dated? I mean, a little. The books are pretty old. But they are also ahead of thier time. If you like your science fiction clever, cynical, and laced with laughs, The Stainless Steel Rat is well worth breaking into. And if you enjoy military SF getting roasted over an open fire of sarcasm, check out Bill the Galactic Hero — Harrison’s brilliantly cynical answer to Starship Troopers.
Other Harrison books to check out
I’ve read a lot of Harry Harrison as he wasn’t just a great and inventive writer, he was also ludicrously prolific. Arguably his most famous book is Make Room! Make Room! which got made as Soylent Green. But you should also check out other gems he has written. I will only include books I’ve read and really enjoyed, but if you like them, he has a LOT more.
Bill the Galactic Hero – Like the Stainless Steel Rat, I have read this more than once and love it. It is funny and rips into the military and bureacracy. Sadly, the series – in my humble opinion- peaks with the first book. It is great though. You can check it out here.
Make Room! Make Room! – as I said, it is probably his best known novel. Maybe. Unlike the film (SPOILER!) there is no cannibalism. But it is a serious book about overcrowding, humanity being a bit crap, and is a grim dystopian work. You can check it out here.
The Eden trilogy – This comprises West of Eden (1984), Winter in Eden (1986) and Return to Eden (1988). The basic premise is that the dinosaurs didn’t die out and become smart. Humans evolve alongside them in colder regions and they don’t get on. I read these as they came out and really enjoyed them. You can check out the trilogy here.
The Deathworld Trilogy – I loved these! They also features a rogueish character who is a gambler, but is more of an action series than a satire. The character is very cool though and he has to survive on a planet that is ludicrously dangerous. You can check them out here.
Technicolor Time Machine – This one is pretty funny. It is about a film studio that gets a time machine. So they decide to go back in time to film a Viking epic with real Vikings! Not especially deep, but a lot of fun. You can see more about it here.
The Hammer and The Cross – Another book about Vikings, but this one is alternative history and I remember it being pretty violent in parts. A lot of fun in a serious way, and different from his other stuff. You can check it out and read reviews here.
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I guess that will do! I love Harry Harrison and am trying not to get too carried away. I would suggest starting with The Stainless Steel Rat though, and see where you go from there. Enjoy.
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