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Planet Story
A science fiction novella by Harry Harrison, creator of "the Stainless Steel Rat." This oversized edition is lavishly illustrated by Jim Burns.
- GenresScience Fiction
113 pages, Softcover
First published May 1, 1979
1 person is currently reading
65 people want to read
About the author
Harry Harrison
1,297 books1,044 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Harry Harrison (born Henry Maxwell Dempsey) was an American science fiction author best known for his character the The Stainless Steel Rat and the novel Make Room! Make Room! (1966), the basis for the film Soylent Green (1973). He was also (with Brian W. Aldiss) co-president of the Birmingham Science Fiction Group.
Excerpted from Wikipedia.
Harry Harrison (born Henry Maxwell Dempsey) was an American science fiction author best known for his character the The Stainless Steel Rat and the novel Make Room! Make Room! (1966), the basis for the film Soylent Green (1973). He was also (with Brian W. Aldiss) co-president of the Birmingham Science Fiction Group.
Excerpted from Wikipedia.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
September 28, 2012
A gorgeously illustrated tale by Harrison, where the protagonists have silly names, the aliens are encased in chitin, and the women are preposterously top-heavy. Our hero, Private Parrts (wait, it gets better), afflicted with a psionic sex field, is stationed on a remote outpost on the desolate planet Strabisimus. Marooned; at least until a planetary survey discovers a rich lode of macguffinite at the pole. This leads to the deployment of a railroad-laying robot which carves a path through mountains, rivers, and as it turns out, a series of alien cities. Our hero is then caught up on the inaugural ride in a twentieth-century steam locomotive with a megalomaniac admiral and a huge-breasted exolinguist as they are attacked, double crossed, and pooped upon by a variety of alien species.
The humor is wired into that young, adolescent male nexus which powers so much of the genre, but Harrison's honesty, silliness, and above all, gusto really sells it. He won't supplant the gravitas of an Arthur C. Clarke, for instance, but he's still loads of fun.
Another strong impression I developed by the end of the book. After the riders
on the magic train had passed their various adventures with talking lizards,
talking crabs, talking rats, etc, it almost felt as though I was reading a slightly grown up version of Wind in the Willows. Sort of like an adolescent Toad and Mole go on a train ride with their new friend, big-titted Madge.
The real draw to this work, though, are the gorgeous full color illustrations by Jim Burns. There must be 20-30 images taken from the story and lavishly imagined by Burns, who operated during the heyday of Omni magazine and borrows its aesthetic. One of the better illustrated works I own, and by far the best illustrated science fiction work I've ever come across.
The humor is wired into that young, adolescent male nexus which powers so much of the genre, but Harrison's honesty, silliness, and above all, gusto really sells it. He won't supplant the gravitas of an Arthur C. Clarke, for instance, but he's still loads of fun.
Another strong impression I developed by the end of the book. After the riders
on the magic train had passed their various adventures with talking lizards,
talking crabs, talking rats, etc, it almost felt as though I was reading a slightly grown up version of Wind in the Willows. Sort of like an adolescent Toad and Mole go on a train ride with their new friend, big-titted Madge.
The real draw to this work, though, are the gorgeous full color illustrations by Jim Burns. There must be 20-30 images taken from the story and lavishly imagined by Burns, who operated during the heyday of Omni magazine and borrows its aesthetic. One of the better illustrated works I own, and by far the best illustrated science fiction work I've ever come across.
July 6, 2015
Why the hell haven't I got this book anymore? I don't remember culling it from my collection, but I can't find it anywhere - gutted!
Harrison's trademark juvenile humour masking a deeper, satirical swipe at militarism, imperialism, capitalism, sexism, and probably some other -isms that I don't remember, and can't check now that the book's gone missing. Grrrr!!
Harrison's trademark juvenile humour masking a deeper, satirical swipe at militarism, imperialism, capitalism, sexism, and probably some other -isms that I don't remember, and can't check now that the book's gone missing. Grrrr!!
May 16, 2019
7/10. Media de los 17 libros que he leído del autor : 7/10.
A Harrison le recuerdo sobre todo por su serie paródica de los héroes de la CF : "Bill, héroe galáctico". Que tiene otras novelas que me han gustado más, pero esas novelas gamberras me resultaron muy divertidas. Burdas si se quiere, pero divertidas.
Y esto de "Planet Story" son relatos (había hasta 8) que se dejan leer. Entretenidos, sin mas, en la linea del autor.
A Harrison le recuerdo sobre todo por su serie paródica de los héroes de la CF : "Bill, héroe galáctico". Que tiene otras novelas que me han gustado más, pero esas novelas gamberras me resultaron muy divertidas. Burdas si se quiere, pero divertidas.
Y esto de "Planet Story" son relatos (había hasta 8) que se dejan leer. Entretenidos, sin mas, en la linea del autor.
October 14, 2023
I read this because I am reading EVERY Harry Harrison book. Otherwise I would never have picked it up. It's a big square of a book with big writing and lots of pictures. Each of the ten chapters is a only really 4 pages and some of the pictures are odd in that they are clearly built for three pages so the middle bit is printed twice, once on the right, then on the left!
It's the story of a military spaceman so attractive than no one can resist him and his adventures on a train on an alien planet.
Yup. It's odd. Harrison is often whacky, but this is turned to max. Clearly he was approached to write something based on an idea of a big picture book and he wasn't one to turn down easy money.
It can be a bit daft at times, there are far too many thinly covered pert nipples on statuesque breasts for modern times, but it's quite fun and doesn't take long to read.
The pictures nicely fit the story and are well drawn.
Worth a few quid if you're a fan (you can pick up a copy cheaply).
Apparently Jim Burns is a grand master of the science fiction art World (I just googled him!) Another reason to buy!
It's the story of a military spaceman so attractive than no one can resist him and his adventures on a train on an alien planet.
Yup. It's odd. Harrison is often whacky, but this is turned to max. Clearly he was approached to write something based on an idea of a big picture book and he wasn't one to turn down easy money.
It can be a bit daft at times, there are far too many thinly covered pert nipples on statuesque breasts for modern times, but it's quite fun and doesn't take long to read.
The pictures nicely fit the story and are well drawn.
Worth a few quid if you're a fan (you can pick up a copy cheaply).
Apparently Jim Burns is a grand master of the science fiction art World (I just googled him!) Another reason to buy!
February 25, 2024
My full video review can be found here: https://youtu.be/Ix2g0Dy0yCQ?si=WvTU-...
Okay, this isn’t one for everybody, but it was really good! It is ridiculous, having fun and poking fun at the space opera genre without apology or remorse. Harrison cut his teeth writing SF satire in the Stainless Steel Rat novels and Bill, the Galactic Hero and here he reaches his most absurd. In additiona are the many great and huge illustrations from Jim Burns, Making this almost a graphic novel. The combination is awesome! Is this book right for you? Maybe not if you didn’t grow up with Edmond Hamilton or Planet Stories style space opera. But if you remember those simple and fun stories fondly, yet are capable of laughing at them, then this is for you. Just don’t take one word of this seriously.
Okay, this isn’t one for everybody, but it was really good! It is ridiculous, having fun and poking fun at the space opera genre without apology or remorse. Harrison cut his teeth writing SF satire in the Stainless Steel Rat novels and Bill, the Galactic Hero and here he reaches his most absurd. In additiona are the many great and huge illustrations from Jim Burns, Making this almost a graphic novel. The combination is awesome! Is this book right for you? Maybe not if you didn’t grow up with Edmond Hamilton or Planet Stories style space opera. But if you remember those simple and fun stories fondly, yet are capable of laughing at them, then this is for you. Just don’t take one word of this seriously.
January 19, 2015
Bought it for Jim Burn's incomparable art and stayed for the story. I have little to add to Patrick Nichols excellent review beyond that the narrative is surprisingly clever and has multiple layers that may not be apparent on the first read. The political incorrectness (by 21st century standards) of the character descriptions and some of the situations may offend some (not me, of course), but that is what SF is for.
May 7, 2013
One of the all time greats.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews