A Stainless Steel Rat Is Born (Stainless Steel Rat Books) (original 1985; edition 1985)

I remember this as being a great series. Some books were stronger than others, but overall they were a fun SF romp for a teenager. I haven't reread them in adulthood to see how they hold up. ( )

Jimmy diGriz has an a goal in life. He wants to become the best criminal on Bit O` Heaven. He figures the best way to do that is to get some instruction from the master criminals in the planets jail. Once he gets inside, after a bit of a rigged trial (he did the rigging), he finds a bunch of thugs and malcontents. They aren't very smart either. So Jimmy knows that he has to set his sights higher. The guards are slightly brighter but no match for Jimmy and he is soon on his way. But normal crime is boring, there are only so many ways one can rob so many banks. Depressed, Jimmy begins to think that he didn't think this through very well. Then one day he happens across a news report about the best criminal Bit O' Heaven has never seen. The Bishop. He was never caught. The only thing the police ever found was a drawing of a chess piece at his many crimes. His spree went on for 10 years before ending abruptly. Jimmy knows either the bishop is dead or he went into retirement, to live off the funds he liberated. Who better to learn from than the best? So Jimmy decides that he will resurrect the Bishop and hopes that a crime done in the old thief's name will draw him out. It does and Jimmy is soon on a adventure that will transform from the small time thief that he is, into the legendary Stainless Steel Rat.

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This is the prequel to the Stainless Steel Rat series. I haven't read any others so I can't comment on them but, this was a pretty good old fashioned sci-fi adventure. By that I mean that there is no sex, not a lot of swearing, and not a lot of over the top violence. The story does move at a pretty good clip and it kept me entertained, enough that I'm thinking of finding the rest of the stainless steel rat adventures. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a decent adventure that's not about someone racing around the universe to stop the big bad baddy that's going to eat the universe or something. I would also recommend this to younger readers, even though it is about a thief he does have his own moral code (that's generally higher than everyone else's) he follows and tends to be more like robin hood then a gangster. M.a.c ( )

This was another book I read as a kid and had fond memories of. When I found it at Powell's books for under $4 I just had to pick it up. Harrison seems to focus on "pulp science fiction" -- all of the stuff I have seen from him has been short and easy reading, as is the case with this book. What do you do if you're stuck on a farming planet, smart, and bored out of your brain? Apparently the answer is to turn to a life of crime for entertainment. That's what James DeGriz does, and he is a great anti-hero while he's at it. Great book.

http://www.stillhq.com/book/Harry_Harrison/A_Stainless_Steel_Rat_is_born.html ( )