Monday 27 August 2012

Review of Beyond Redemption


As a child Jeff Dale witnessed the terrible aftermath of an atrocity. Elmer Drake killed three members of a family and when the surviving girl Cynthia went missing, Jeff vowed that one day he’d find her, no matter how long it took....

Read more at Western Fiction Review

Wednesday 15 August 2012

R.I.P. Harry Harrison


I was saddened to hear the news of the death of one of the great SF authors at the age of 87. Harry was still producing entertaining novels right up until the end and as I've read nearly all of them, I'd guess I might have read more of his books than any other author.

His novels were nearly always short, they never outstayed their welcome, and they were always a lot of fun, even the serious ones. His best creation was the Stainless Steel Rat, a brilliant anti-hero comic creation, along with Bill, the Galactic Hero. His most famous novel was perhaps Make Room, Make Room, which stands up as being one of the best dystopian futures even if the film version Soylent Green was a fairly tepid version of the story.

My personal favourite was Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers, a send-up of the EE Doc Smith style of space opera and I've just remembered I queued up once back in the 70s to get a signed copy of one his books. I remember he was smiling a lot while he signed, and I did too while reading his books.