A friend of mine was reading a book, I think it’s called Bill the intergalactic hero or something similar. On the cover is a man with two right arms and I think, chicken legs. He says that it is one of the best SF books ever written. I’ve never heard of it. I asked to borrow it but of course he has since lost it (in a mere two weeks.)
Does anyone out there know who wrote this book and whether or not it’s any good? I don’t trust my friend in regards to his reading prowess. But he insists that it is truly a good book (and series) though he can’t remember the author’s name.
It’s Bill, the Galactic Hero and the series was written by Harry Harrison. He also did the Stainless Steel Rat series, which I felt was more entertaining.
Well, I only had a chance to read the first two and that was several years ago. I enjoyed them for being silly and utterly without social relevance. I wouldn’t classify them with the best SF I’ve ever read, though. They’re more fluffy entertainment than ground-breaking novels.
xcheopis, I have a gut feeling that Harrison’s contribution to the Bill, the Galactic Hero series (apart from the first two books) is limited to having his name printed on the book covers as co-author. The first book was IMO hilariously funny, but the one or two others, that I’ve read, were utterly dreadful.
I’ve only read the original book; very funny. I’d have to disagree that it lacks social relevance. Harrison wrote it during or shortly after the Viet Nam War (can’t remember the copyright date) and it generally lampoons the monstrous absurdities of the military, and the gung-ho militarization celebrated in books by other SF writers, notably Heinlein.
The first book, IIRC, was written in the 1960’s, and mostly parodies military incompetence, as Baldwin said. For some reason, Harrison decided to revive the character in the 80’s (ran out of Stainless Steel Rat ideas, perhaps), but this time most of the stories were parodying other SF writers and styles: cyberpunk, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Heroes in Hell”, etc. If you read the sequels right after reading the original, the change in style can be quite jarring.
You may also be interested in Harrison’s Deathworld, from 1960, about a planet that is very, very hostile to human colonists. These days it comes off as a rather entertaining environmental morality tale.
There are two other books in the series, but if this world were anything like what Harrison describes in the first book of the series, the trees themselves would attack and kill Harrison for writing them.
I’d agree with the other posters: Bill The Galactic Hero is a pretty good book. Not the funniest thing I’ve ever read, but cute. Not quite to the level of Hitchhikers or Robert Sheckley, but still worth a read. I’ve heard bad things about the 7(?) sharecropped sequels.
I don’t really know anything about the series because I’ve only read the first two books and I don’t remember them in any great detail. The first one was a fun read, the second was not as fun. After that, I started being both a full-time science major and a full-time employee, which brought the fun reading to an abrupt halt.
Personally, I’ve never cared for any of Harry Harrison’s books. Bill was occasionally funny, but overall drek. Deathworld and the Stainless Steel rat both suffer from ‘I’ll create a supercompetent/confident hero, yet have him go to pieces at the first minor problem he encounters. Oh, and he’ll always have to be saved by his love interest’ syndrome. But mainly, its his writing style I can’t stand.
I liked Harrison’s * Technicolor Time Machine * best. Real crazy - a Hollywood director finds a guy who built a time machine. With his studio facing bankruptcy, they get a professor of Norse to go back and film a huge film epic of the Vikings - and they can still go back to their time before the weekend ends. They kidnap a Viking and have the prof teach him English so they can work with him as their “expert consultant”. The best joke is his salary - a silver mark a month…and a bottle of Jack Daniels a day.
Boy, isn’t that what YOU would do with a time machine?
I wouldn’t classify them with the best SF I’ve ever read, though. They’re more fluffy entertainment than ground-breaking novels.