#star smashers of the galaxy rangers

[haveyoureadthisbook-poll]

[haveyoureadthisscifibook]

vote yes if you have finished the entire book.

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[nem0c]

“That’s it!” Jerry exulted, smashing his fist into his palm and wincing. “That’s it! Don’t you see what that means? For the very first time in the eons-old history of the universe the civilised, intelligent races are banding together against evil, to combat it wherever it is found. A band of brothers, fighting together, dedicated to the pursuit of liberty, equality, and fraternity.” “I wouldn’t exactly phrase it that way,” Lord Prrsi commented. “I would rather say we are fighting for the maintenance of the class system and the continuancy of special privileges for the few.”

Harry Harrison, Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers

[failureofmylife]

Bilingual bonus, again

My favorite case of xlation, bar none, is in the wonderful book “Star smashers of the galaxy rangers” by Harry Harrison. It has the deathless phrase "Ich möchte ein Einzelzimmer mit Bad im ersten Stock!" which in-book is translated to "I spotted a door behind the throne, so grab onto me and we can escape that way." Which is not exactly spot on. Harrison did these language stunts a LOT and several of his books are twice as amusing if you actually understand swedish, or danish, or german. I have no idea how many languages he spoke. I am a sucker for this stuff, and my advice is if you write and you can pull off a thing like this, which will only be funny to 2% of your readers? Do it. They will be fans for life.

[casual-eumetazoa]

For Book Recs asks: Numbers 16 and 42? Hope you're having the best day!

16: a book you'd recommend to your younger self

There are two books I've read in the last year or so that I think 16-17 year old me would have really appreciated: Philip Pullman's "Secret Commonwealth" and Alan Davies's "Just Ignore Him". One is fiction and the other is a memoir but they both have a running theme of trauma and disconnect from your sense of self and trying to figure out who you really are after a troubled childhood. They still very much resonated with me now, in my early twenties, but what a revelation it would be to have read either of them at the end of high school...

42: a book that made you want to scream by the time you got to the end

I was trying to think of the most "wtf" ending of any book I've ever read, but for some strange reason the first one that popped into my head was Harry Harrison's "Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers", which is a silly satirical space opera adventure. I think I have read around 90% of everything Harry Harrison has ever written (which is a lot of books) cause he was my favourite writer when I was a teen - and because my granddad's huge sci-fi home library had a lot of those books.

The reason the ending made me want to scream is that (spoilers for the book), at the end it is revealed that the two main characters are gay lovers. And this was a Big Deal for me as a 13 year old because I think it was my first exposure to queer people in sci-fi, and one of the first in books in general. I don't remember anything about the plot of the book but I did remember this and I think it says something about how much of a pleasant surprise it was for me at the time.

[70sscifiart]

Alan Craddock, 1981, cover art to Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers, by Harry Harrison

[mecha-nations]

Just reading out the blurb on the back of a very fun sci-fi book by that master of science fiction: Harry Harrison. Dude, if you haven’t read this book, go out and find a copy--it’s crazy fun, and I bet you won’t predict the ending. Someone should totally make it into a movie.

[raypunkzero]

Cover art by Don Maitz for ”Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers” by Harry Harrison (BenBella Books 2006). http://bit.ly/2IlyPNW April 10, 2019 at 11:56AM

[mickeslibrary]

Harry Harrison: Rytande rymdraketer (Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers). JVM-serien. Cover by Virgil Finlay. Sam J. Lundwall Fakta & Fantasi, Sweden, 1988.

[henryvogelwriter]

#SpaceOperaDaily presents Alan Craddock's exciting cover for Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers, Harry Harrison's space opera parody. I loved it when I read it in college and remember it as a knowledgable, loving parody. Done today, I suspect it would be an ignorant, mocking parody.