Harry Harrison has died.
Harrison was the second sci-fi author I really started following. After reading a bunch of Asimov in the third grade, I hit a stopping point with Foundation (psychohistory wasn't nearly as interesting to my nine-year-old self as robots), and promptly picked up the interesting-looking book that I assumed, from the title, was about a robot rodent. It wasn't. But it was awesome, and there were more books in the series, and I read them all (the fifth one came out the very next year, in a move that was perfect timing). His other stuff wasn't easily in print at the time, so it wasn't until I was in junior high that I discovered the Deathworld trilogy (note that the link goes to the Kindle edition of the first book, which is currently free, and which you've got no excuse for not downloading), which was nothing like the SSR, but was also amazing. And, of course, there was a big Bill the Galactic Hero revival which started with a reprint of that classic, and then continued with a series of weak collaborations with other authors (similar to what Asimov was also doing with his worlds at the time). I discovered his shorter works around the same time I discovered Damon Knight, and thus have Make Room, Make Room and "To Serve Man" inextricably linked as cool short stories I first saw in other media.
Of course, like probably a ton of sci-fi fans growing up the '80s, I even tried to learn Esperanto thanks to Harrison (I did the usual free-by-mail course that was hyped in the back of all of his books), long before realizing that although it was a nifty idea, I had enough trouble learning the languages I was taking in school. Once I grew up, Harrison's stuff didn't quite have that read-it-over-and-over impact that, say, Roger Zelazny had on me, but I kept enjoying his works well past the time I'd gotten tired of my other middle-grade faves, Anne McCaffrey (whom I stopped reading in high school) Piers Anthony (college) and Spider Robinson (mid-twenties). And I'd still pick up the occasional anthology with a classic story of his in it, and they were still a blast.
And yeah, I bought every SSR book through "Joins the Circus." Never did read "Returns," but I intend to rectify that now.
Harrison was the second sci-fi author I really started following. After reading a bunch of Asimov in the third grade, I hit a stopping point with Foundation (psychohistory wasn't nearly as interesting to my nine-year-old self as robots), and promptly picked up the interesting-looking book that I assumed, from the title, was about a robot rodent. It wasn't. But it was awesome, and there were more books in the series, and I read them all (the fifth one came out the very next year, in a move that was perfect timing). His other stuff wasn't easily in print at the time, so it wasn't until I was in junior high that I discovered the Deathworld trilogy (note that the link goes to the Kindle edition of the first book, which is currently free, and which you've got no excuse for not downloading), which was nothing like the SSR, but was also amazing. And, of course, there was a big Bill the Galactic Hero revival which started with a reprint of that classic, and then continued with a series of weak collaborations with other authors (similar to what Asimov was also doing with his worlds at the time). I discovered his shorter works around the same time I discovered Damon Knight, and thus have Make Room, Make Room and "To Serve Man" inextricably linked as cool short stories I first saw in other media.
Of course, like probably a ton of sci-fi fans growing up the '80s, I even tried to learn Esperanto thanks to Harrison (I did the usual free-by-mail course that was hyped in the back of all of his books), long before realizing that although it was a nifty idea, I had enough trouble learning the languages I was taking in school. Once I grew up, Harrison's stuff didn't quite have that read-it-over-and-over impact that, say, Roger Zelazny had on me, but I kept enjoying his works well past the time I'd gotten tired of my other middle-grade faves, Anne McCaffrey (whom I stopped reading in high school) Piers Anthony (college) and Spider Robinson (mid-twenties). And I'd still pick up the occasional anthology with a classic story of his in it, and they were still a blast.
And yeah, I bought every SSR book through "Joins the Circus." Never did read "Returns," but I intend to rectify that now.