Stars and Stripes in Peril (Paperback)

Harry Harrison began his science fiction career as an illustrator. In the mid- to late 1940s, while working as a freelance commercial artist, Harrison collaborated with Wallace Wood, who would soon become one of the world's most influential comic book artists. With Wood, Harrison provided illustrations for magazines including Galaxy Science Fiction. This association led to Harrison joining the Hydra Club, a New York professional science fiction group where Harrison met and befriended Damon Knight, who, even then, was an extremely influential figure in the sf community. Knight commissioned some art from Harrison, and eventually encouraged his writing career, publishing Harrison's first story, "Rock Diver", in 1951. Six years later, Harrison introduced readers to the Stainless Steel Rat, a character which would become the focus of much of Harrison's writing in further short stories and novels. In 1965, Harrison introduced his other major series character. The seven books in the Bill, the Galactic Hero series--including BILL, THE GALACTIC HERO ON THE PLANET OF TASTELESS PLEASURES, BILL, THE GALACTIC HERO ON THE PLANET OF THE ZOMBIE VAMPIRES, and THE FINAL INCOHERENT ADVENTURE, which poked fun at Robert Heinlein among others--eventually became a forum for sf parodies. The last five titles were co-written by other important writers who often made fun of themselves. Harrison has been an important figure in the sf community, even having an award named after him. The Harrison Award, given by the World SF--an international association of professionals representing all aspects of the sf field--is given to individuals working to improve the status of science fiction internationally.