The Stainless Steel Rat Series by Harry Harrison
The Stainless Steel Rat Series is a collection of science fiction novels featuring the adventures of James Bolivar "Slippery Jim" diGriz, a charming and clever anti-hero who navigates a universe filled with crime, intrigue, and intergalactic conflict. The series chronicles diGriz's escapades as he evolves from a bumbling thief into a skilled agent for the Special Corps, tackling various challenges, including escaping from prison, thwarting military invasions, and even manipulating time itself. The narrative explores themes of rebellion, loyalty, and the complexities of morality in a futuristic setting.
Beginning with "A Stainless Steel Rat Is Born," the series follows diGriz's journey through a series of escapades that involve prison breaks, military espionage, and romantic entanglements, particularly with his wife, Angelina. As the plots unfold, readers witness diGriz's clever tactics in overcoming diverse adversaries, including a treacherous captain and a manipulative time-altering entity. The series is notable for its blend of humor, action, and social commentary, appealing to a wide range of science fiction enthusiasts. Ultimately, the Stainless Steel Rat Series presents a rich and entertaining exploration of a rogue's life in a vividly imagined universe.
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The Stainless Steel Rat Series
First published:The Stainless Steel Rat (1961), The Stainless Steel Rat’s Revenge (1970), The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World (1972), The Stainless Steel Rat Wants You! (1979), The Stainless Steel Rat for President (1982), A Stainless Steel Rat Is Born (1985), and The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted (1987)
Type of work: Novels
Type of plot: Science fiction—future history
Time of work: Thirty-three thousand years in the future
Locale: Various planets in or near the Galactic League
The Plot
The summary that follows will discuss the Stainless Steel Rat novels in order of internal chronology. The first three to be published were later combined in The Adventures of the Stainless Steel Rat (1977).
In A Stainless Steel Rat Is Born, James Bolivar “Slippery Jim” diGriz deliberately bungles a robbery so that he will be sent to prison, where he can learn criminal techniques. He escapes and seeks out the legendary Bishop. When the Bishop is caught, diGriz helps him escape. The two stow away on a spaceship but are double-crossed by Garth, the captain, who delivers them to a slave master. The two escape and join a neighboring army. During a battle, the Bishop is killed. DiGriz destroys the slaver, but Captain Varod of the Galactic League Navy captures diGriz to return him to prison.
In The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted, diGriz escapes from prison and searches for Captain Garth, whom he blames for the Bishop’s death. He is captured and forced to join the army. Varod asks diGriz to spy on the army’s invasion plans. DiGriz learns that Garth is now General Zennor, commander of the invasion. DiGriz helps take over a passive utopian city. Zennor discovers diGriz and imprisons him. Local inhabitants free diGriz, who orchestrates a massive desertion from Zennor’s army. Varod’s navy arrives and captures Zennor. As a reward for his work, diGriz’s criminal record is wiped clean.
In The Stainless Steel Rat, diGriz escapes from a robbery but Inskipp, leader of the Special Corps, captures and recruits him as an agent. DiGriz discovers a plot to build an interplanetary battleship. The battleship disappears, and diGriz baits a trap to capture it. The trap succeeds, and diGriz nearly captures Angelina, the plot’s murderous mastermind. He follows her to a distant planet, where he discovers that Angelina is fomenting revolution. He saves her from an assassination attempt and the two fall in love, but Inskipp arrives and captures her, revealing that she will be recruited for the Special Corps.
DiGriz marries a pregnant Angelina in The Stainless Steel Rat’s Revenge. Inskipp sends him to investigate a warlike planet, where diGriz explores the military forces run by the grey men and joins their invasion fleet. He attempts to escape but is captured and tortured. Angelina rescues him and tells him that he is now the father of twin sons, James and Bolivar. DiGriz and Angelina infiltrate the military headquarters, capture the commander, and destroy the invading fleet.
Inskipp, Angelina, and the Special Corps vanish in The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World when diGriz learns that time is being altered in the past on the now extinct Earth. DiGriz travels to the Earth of 1975 and meets the red giant “He” who is plotting to destroy the future. He escapes from diGriz, who builds a time helix to follow him to 1805. DiGriz discovers time has been altered and that Napoleon Bonaparte has conquered London. DiGriz finds He and Napoleon. DiGriz destroys the red giant but discovers that the real He is in Napoleon’s body. “He” captures diGriz and escapes in a time helix. Angelina rescues diGriz, and they travel in the helix to the future. They join soldiers planning to attack He’s new stronghold. DiGriz leads the assault, but “He” escapes into time a third time. Special Corps forces appear and reveal that “He” is now trapped in a harmless time loop.
In The Stainless Steel Rat Wants You!, Inskipp assigns diGriz to recover a missing satellite and find five missing admirals. The diGriz family members fight an alien invasion but lose the battle. DiGriz and his son Bolivar impersonate aliens, board a spaceship, and rescue the admirals. DiGriz learns that the grey men instigated the invasion, and they capture him. He escapes and is rescued by the Special Corps, then rejoins the fight against the aliens. A professor opens a portal to parallel universes, but the Morality Corps forbid sending the aliens into a universe where other humans exist. They consider sending the aliens into the future. The Time Police arrive and forbid this. Angelina suggests using the grey men’s mind-control equipment to alter the aliens’ attitude. Her plan works, ending the war.
In The Stainless Steel Rat for President, diGriz goes to a corrupt planet to solve a murder and learns that the murdered man was a rebel agent sent to seek his help. After the planet’s dictator deports him, diGriz returns with his family to overthrow the government. A rebel marquis persuades diGriz to run for president disguised as a reclusive relative. DiGriz plants campaign messages on restricted broadcasts, sabotages a communications satellite, and rigs the election in his favor. He fakes his own assassination, leaving the marquis in charge.