Writing Wednesday: RIP Stainless Steel Rat, send Boris and Ajex to bring back his body

One of writers that really inspired me to write was Harry Harrison. Today he passed away.

Harry Harrison was one of the most versatile authors I've ever read. His STAINLESS STEEL RAT series is the standard for comic science fiction. MAKE ROOM, MAKE ROOM was turned into the movie SOYLENT GREEN, one of the grittiest dystopian tales of the consequences of overpopulation and global warming ever told. He wrote the Flash Gordon series from 1958 to 1964 keeping it alive. He had a Nazi conspiracy steal the QEII in 1982.

The reason Harry Harrison inspired me to write is he didn't allow himself to be pigeon holed. Other writers gained fame for something and stuck to that. Harry Harrison seemed to write whatever he damn well felt like. And wrote it well.

In my book AN EXTRA TOPPING OF HORROR I got to pay a little homage to Harry Harrison with the two Aliens who came to Earth to battle it out to see who was the galaxy's greatest warrior. It was inspired by his Eden series and as I wrote it I hoped it would reflect some of his humor. Knowing that was an impossibly high bar.

Harry Harrison was one of those writers that you can point to whenever anyone says, “As writer you have to do this.” He showed that a writer only has to do one thing, write well.

With his passing I feel like a childhood friend passed away. I spent a lot of time reading his works. Luckily the Potsdam Public Library had a good selection of his books. I will miss him.

I loved reading Harry Harrison's novels and didn't care if they were comedy, sci-fi, mystery, thriller, or anything else.

I can only hope this is all just a big ploy by Jim Degriz and Bill in a very elaborate scheme to steal the Earth.

By Darrell B. Nelson author of I KILLED THE MAN THAT WASN'T THERE