Pulp Magazine Authors and Literature Fans discussion

Deathworld an epic story from the Golden Age of Science Fiction

check out my blog post about it

http://realms-of-insanity.blogspot.co...

Why did you make 2 topics exactly the same? Why not discuss it here?

Jim wrote: "Why did you make 2 topics exactly the same? Why not discuss it here?"

Oops my bad

Well we can discuss it here and I do wish to discuss it.

It's a fun trilogy. I was lucky enough to find all 3 in one book many years ago & it's about worn out now. My youngest boy liked it too. Jason is very similar to Slippery Jim. I like the character.

Ialso read the Deathworld trilogy. All three were good basic Sf adventures.

It is an amazing story that grips you, I read it in 2 days because I just couldn't put it down.

Yeah, i loved these and they were a quick and easy read and they are great action sci-fi. I've been a huge fan of HH since i was a teen. His work got me into Sci-fi (i already was a lover of fantasy).
I recently picked up a copy of Stainless Steel Visions which has a short story (The Mothballed Spaceship) with the three main characters from the DW trilogy and while it was nice to get new material it was a little sub par and disappointing.
There was however a Stainless Steel Rat story which is much better than the last few novels in that series.

Thanks for letting me know, Tyrone. I might get it. I quit reading the SS Rat after the first few because they were just more of the same & not as funny. Humor is tough though. I never cared for Bill the Galactic Hero much, but loved his Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers.

Jim wrote: "Thanks for letting me know, Tyrone. I might get it. I quit reading the SS Rat after the first few because they were just more of the same & not as funny. Humor is tough though. I never cared fo..."

Yeah SSotGR is one of my favourites. I also really like Technicolor Time Machine. I agree that the SSR books got quite samey and i really dislike the later books.

Never read the BtGH books either. They seemed just too childish.

Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers is a very direct lampoon of John W. Campbell's Morey, Wade & Arcot(?) trilogy. I still have one of those books, The Black Star Passes, I think. If you're familiar with Campbell's work & his heavy handed editorial style, then Harrison's is funnier.

What I liked best about the Death World books was Jason's 'can do' attitude. Sometimes, when life was getting me down, I'd read one of the books or even just part of one to cheer myself up. (I'm remembering a tough few years when we were first married, the boys were both in diapers, & money was very tight.) If Jason could get out of his mess, I could bear up under mine. Pretty simple & fairly stupid, but it rarely failed to cheer me up. It's 'feel good' SF, I guess.

The best of HH's books are always good for a lift, not least becauase of the reasons you state but also because they can be read cover to cover in a short period.

I'm not really familiar with the books of J W Campbell, only through his editorship of Analog because i discovered a pile of pre 70's issues back in the 80's.

If you ever plan to read 'Star Smashers' or even just for general interest, read up a bit on Campbell. He was quite the bigot, at least in his professional life.
- Only WASP heroes
- No heroines, only damsels in distress who were completely supportive of & obedient to their men.
- People of color as supporting caricatures only.
- All aliens were B.E.M's that wanted to eat our babies & rape our women, but they were too stupid & the hero was too smart.

I might be a little off, but Harrison didn't lampoon him the way he did just for fun. Apparently quite a few of the SF writers got very tired of his attitude & his power. I believe he was known to black list authors, but don't recall specifics.

In Campbell's defense, he may have kept to that formula because it fit the demographic he was selling to & was proven. Of course, times were changing (50's to 60's) & he didn't want to.