News
Alex Cox directs Bill, the Galactic Hero!
For many years cult filmmaker Alex Cox (the maverick genius behind the classics Repo Man and Sid & Nancy) has been working hard to get a movie adaptation of Bill, the Galactic Hero off the ground.
The director (and actor, writer, producer, editor and more!) always had Harry's full and unwavering support for the project, and now, after decades of tirelessly battling the Hollywood bureaucracy in a struggle almost as mind-bendingly complex and insane as one of Bill's adventures, Alex has decided to switch tactics and fund the movie through Kickstarter!
For more details - including info on how YOU can become a part of this wonderful project - check out the Kickstarter website.
Harry Harrison, 12 March 1925 - 15 August 2012
As I'm sure you all know by now, Harry died on August 15th, following a long illness.
He was a truly inspirational writer and a wonderful human being - one of the greats of science fiction, who never let his success go to his head. Harry always had time for his fans. Even though his illness over the past couple of years prevented him from always replying in person, he read every message, and appreciated them all.
But now he's gone... It's difficult to picture the future without him, but Harry would not have wanted us to dwell on his death. Instead, he'd have wanted nothing more than for fans to - now and again - raise a glass in his memory, and share a few stories about him.
The outpouring of grief at his passing and support for his friends and family has been, frankly, stunning. The news appeared on literally hundreds of newspapers and news websites throughout the world, many of them featuring the drawing on our farewell page, which was created in 2000 Bill Sanderson for Harry's 75th birthday celebration.
On the day the news broke, the number of visitors to the site shot up to almost 150 times the daily average - proof that Harry and his books meant so much to so many.
If you would like to write a message of condolence, or note your favourite memories of Harry, there is a memorial page at the Harry Harrison News Blog
We will post more details soon, but for now please bear with us - Harry's e-mail address has been swamped and it's going to take some time to deal with them all!
Looking for a song!
Some years ago a fan wrote a version of Yellow Submarine for Harry, entitled "We All Live in a Flying Submarine" based on the flying submarine from Harry's novel In Our Hands, The Stars (AKA The Daleth Effect). If anyone out there has a copy of the song - or even just the lyrics - please get in touch!
It's been a long, long wait, but at last the complete 2000 AD adaptation of The Stainless Steel Rat
is soon to be available in a single volume. It includes the adaptations by Kelvin Gosnell and Carlos Ezquerra of
The Stainless Steel Rat, The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World and
The Stainless Steel Rat for President, along with creator bios and a gallery.
Up to now, the only way to read the 2000 AD adaptation was to collect the original issues or the six-part 1980s Eagle Comic reprint series (which, while in full colour and featuring brand-new covers, was not the best adaptation ever... The non-standard 2000 AD pages were crudely resized to fit the US comic size).
Click the image on the right to order your copy!
Harry's just moved into his new home and is now well on the road to recovery. He has asked us to pass on his appreciation to everyone who sent good-will messages - but there's a heck of a lot so it could be some time before he gets around to replying to all of them!
As always, if you have any messages or Harry, please e-mail them to us and we'll forward them to him!
Unfortunately, Harry is under the weather at the moment and he could do with some cheering up - if you have any good-will messages for Harry, please e-mail them to us and we'll pass them along!
See our dedicated news site harryharrison.wordpress.com/ for more information!
As well as being a distinguished academic - in the fields of anthropology, sinology, and literature - he also wrote major studies about Robert Heinlein and H.G. Wells.
Paul Tomlinson writes: "I had the pleasure of meeting Leon Stover while he was in England researching his Harry Harrison book, and I interviewed him for the Harry Harrison website." The interview can be found on the Stonehenge page.
Update:
2006 12 05
According to IDT's press released, dated February 23, 2006, a minimum of six one-hour episodes of the series would be produced. At the time, negotiations were underway to also adapt stories by Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Harlan Ellison and Robert Heinlein.
Harry was also described by the online news magazine Kyiv Weekly as "a living classical author".
Paul Tomlinson adds:
"Fleischer's autobiography, at least in the UK, has one of the best
subtitles ever: Just Tell Me When to Cry: Encounters with the Greats, Near-greats and
Ingrates of Hollywood.
"PS: Soylent Green isn't people! It's soya beans and lentils, hence the name. If it was people it'd have been called Manburger, or LongPig Green, or... something..."
Harry Harrison is interviewed in the March 2006 issue of Locus magazine, and - as a treat for Harry's
fans - the good people at Locus have arranged for a special discount only available through this website!
Click here to order Harry Harrison's full interview in Locus postage free (save $2.00) or completely free with a subscription!
Website: www.locusmag.com
Please note that we're now using a new e-mail address, which can be found on our contact page. We decided to use a Gmail account after a recent, fatal hardware failure crash left Mike's PC in pieces! As before, please put "hhweb" at the start of the subject line so that we'll be more easily able to differentiate the real messages from the spam.
On July 9th he was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in Lawrence, Kansas.
Then, on July 22nd, he was awarded the Inkpot Award for Outstanding Achievement in Science Fiction and Fantasy by the Comic-Con International in San Diego.
Paul and Mike - webmasters here at www.harryharrison.com - would like to congratulate Harry on this incredible - and well-deserved - achievement!
Harry's official bibliographer Paul Tomlinson writes: "While I was at the Eastercon in Blackpool I talked to Harry Harrison about a number of things - expect a couple of new interviews up on the official website within the next couple of months - but the most interesting news concerns the TTM movie... Mel Gibson's production company no longer have the rights for this book, and it has been optioned by Golconda Films, based in London, England."
Details are as follows:
Genre: Action/Comedy
Screenwriter: Sean Bates
Director: Gregory Mackenzie
Producers: Gregory Mackenzie and Brett Walsh
Status: Early development
Golconda Films already have a 13-part TV series based on Orson Welles 1950s radio series Tales from the Black Museum, and a movie called The Incredible Mrs. Richie starring James Caan, among their credits, and a number of other films in pre-production or development.
More news on this when it appears...!
Due to a bizarre and unavoidable double-booking problem, the Octocon committee have
had to relocated the convention to a new venue; the Glenroyal Hotel in Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland.
More details on the Octocon website. Harry Harrison
is still planning to attend, and has announced his full support for the convention.
Well, Harry was recently interviewed by Alyce Wilson for Wild Violet... Click here to read the interview, which contains some excellent news that has hitherto only been known to a handful of people...! We promise to have more details very soon!
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