Some modifications to the HTML code to allow for differences between Netscape
and Internet Explorer... Your humble webmaster always uses the former, but today
- on a mad whim - he decided to check that all was well when viewed through IE.
It wasn't, but the offending code has now been appropriately fixed. Hooray!
Now then... Following a couple of queries on the matter, I thought I'd add a quick note
on the date format used in many places throughout this site (including this page):
As this website is international, I long ago realised that if we were to use the US
date format (month/day/year) it could be confusing to non-US viewers. Likewise,
the European format (day/month/year) could be confusing to viewers in the US.
Hence, I'm using the non-standard year/month/day format, because - let's face it -
any other format is absurd... So on this site you'll find dates displayed with the
most significant unit first, second most significant next, etc. It might seem odd at first,
but you'll get used to it: after all, we express time as hours, minutes and seconds in
that order...
2000 12 13
To simplify navigation through the bibliographical pages, we've added a bunch of
little buttons to the top left of those pages dealing with books that are part of a series
or trilogy: simply click on the '1' to go to the first book in the series, the '2' for the
second, and so on. This extra service has been brought to you completely free of
charge!
2000 10 09
The Official Harry Harrison Website is now one year old! Congratulatory messages
should be sent (accompanied by a $20 bill for administration costs) to the usual
address.
2000 10 04
We've joined Amazon.co.uk's Associates Program, so now - combined with our
association with Amazon.com, you fine people should have no trouble tracking down
Harry's books. This will be an on-going development, so if you're looking for a specific
book and there's no link, please check back from time to time.
And don't forget - this site is entirely financed by yours truly, and any money that comes
from Amazon will go towards keeping the site up and running. So please do us a favour:
if you're planning on buying anything from Amazon, please visit our site first and
click through to Amazon via the links on the title page! We need the traffic!
2000 09 21
As part of our revamping of the bibliography section, we've now split the "series" pages
up: one page per book... This will mean faster load times, which is always a good thing.
If you experience any problems related to this, please let us know. Further changes -
some of which are pretty major - are on the way...
2000 09 12
Harry and Joan have just returned from Chicago where they were guests at
Chicon 2000 (the 58th WorldCon). Harry has
kindly sent us a great report on the convention, which you can find by clicking
here.
2000 09 10
We've just joined Amazon.com's Associates Program... This means that you are now
able to buy certain of Harry's books through this site, right from the bibliography
pages! At the moment it's all experimental: we've only linked two books -
Stars and Stripes Forever and
Stars and Stripes in Peril - check them out and see what you think!
In the future, we hope to have as many of Harry's books as possible linked up - Amazon's
Associates Program will pay us a small amount for each sale, and that money will be used to
help keep this site up and running!
2000 08 11
Brian Ireland has put his excellent thesis "American dream or American
nightmare?: SF as a mode of social commentary with particular reference
to the work of Harry Harrison" on the web: Click
here.
2000 07 31
Harry will be a guest at Chicon 2000,
the 58th World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon), which runs from
31st August to 4th September 2000.
2000 07 27
By far the most common query we get here at diGriz Towers goes along the
lines of "How can I get Harry's autograph?" Well, now you can!
Click here for a very special offer, exclusive to
this website!
2000 07 24
Following the success of The Adventures of The
Stainless Steel Rat (an omnibus comprising The SSR, The SSR's
Revenge and The SSR Saves the World), another Rat omnibus will shortly go
into production. This one will comprise of Jim's early adventures: A
SSR is Born, The SSR Gets Drafted, and The SSR Sings the
Blues. More news on this as we get it!
2000 07 24
Next year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the first publication of "Rock Diver", Harry's
first short story. To commemorate this auspicious occasion, there will be a new
collection of fifty of Harry's short stories... This huge book is currently
going under the title of "50 for 50", though Harry says that may change. At the moment,
the full contents list is top secret, but I'm allowed to tell you that there will be some
stories there that have never before appeared in one of Harry's collections...
2000 07 14
Added a short chapter listing the comic book adaptations of Harry's books.
2000 07 06
Mike Simpson from SFX's excellent website has posted a brief
interview with Harry about the Stainless Steel Rat movie: Click
here
to see the interview.
2000 07 04
Added a link to a great Russian website dedicated to Harry on the
Links page.
2000 06 21
The paperback edition of The Stainless Steel Rat
Joins the Circus has been scheduled for release in October. As soon
as we get a more accurate date, we'll let you know.
2000 06 21
Just spotted that this site was listed as site of the day for
Friday, October 15 on Seven
Wonders ("spotlighting coolest sites on the Web since 1996").
We're also listed as one of Orbit's "Sites of Outstanding Electronic Beauty"
2000 06 16
We've been having some difficulties lately accessing our e-mail address
(I'm sure many of you have noticed a distinct lack of replies...). Until further
notice, we will be using your humble webmaster's personal e-mail address.
Check the E-mail page for more details.
2000 06 15
We've been writing some software to help generate and maintain the bibliography
pages, which is why there haven't been many changes lately. However, that's
mostly finished so expect a major update to the bibliography in the next couple
of weeks.
Lots of new cover images have been added in the past few weeks.
2000 06 14
Brace yourselves... The Stainless Steel Rat movie is GO!
It will be directed by Jan De Bont (Speed, Twister, The Haunting)
from a script by Eric Blakeney (TV's acclaimed "Wiseguy" and the "Generation X" pilot).
The news was reported in Variety and has been confirmed by Harry himself.
Click here to see the full Variety article. De Bont is - of course
- the "unnamed" director to whom Harry refers in the interview
about the movie. Naturally, we'll be bringing you more movie news as it appears -
so keep checking back!
2000 05 21
Harry Harrison underwent major heart surgery on 11th April 2000: the
bypass surgery went well, and Harry returned home on 19th April and is now
recuperating. We wish him a speedy recovery.
2000 05 21
The UK hardback edition of Stars and Stripes in Peril was
published 6th April 2000 by Hodder & Stoughton, ISBN: 0340689196. Amazon.co.uk
are listing the paperback edition due for publication 19th October 2000, ISBN: 034068920X.
The US edition, which will feature illustrations that do not appear in
the UK edition, will be published by Del Rey in hardcover in October. ISBN:
0345409353. It wasn't listed on Amazon.com at the time of writing.
2000 03 12
Harry celebrated his 75th birthday on 12th of March. Your trusty webmasters
visited Harry where he was Guest of Honour at Mecon in Belfast, and presented him with a book of
congratulatory messages from some of his friends, family members and colleagues. You can view
the web version of the book here.
At Mecon, Harry announced that next year - 2001 - he will publish a collection of fifty short stories to
celebrate his fiftieth year as a professional writer. We will be releasing more news on this book in
the coming months.
The UK edition of Stars and Stripes in Peril will be published next month
(April 2000). Check your local specialist stores for possible signing sessions.
Harry returns to the UK later this week to begin work on the conclusion of the Stars and Stripes trilogy.
The webmaster for Mecon's website tells me he's having touble updating the site at the moment.
You can find an alternative, more up-to-date site here.
And speaking of Mecon, there are tentative plans at the moment for both your humble webmasters
(Paul Tomlinson and Mike Carroll) to attend.
2000 02 15
The Stainless Steel Rat Joins the Circus is reviewed in this month's issue of SFX (March 2000):
"... The result, in a typical Harrison fashion, is a snappily paced science fiction crime caper chock-full of
a humour that never flags, and is always entertaining. Who needs heavyweight concept-laden SF when
there's this much fun to be had?"
2000 02 04
Added a site map
2000 02 02
Added a queries page.
Started development of new look to website: added book and short story of the
day, added all the book covers that we have
to the bibliography (for books with multiple covers, a thumbnail version of
each cover is shown: click on the thumbnails to display larger versions of the
images).
2000 01 13
The December 16, 1999 issue of Nature published an article by Harry called "The Road to the
Year 3000". It's a fictional article presented as though it was written on the eve of the fourth millennium.
2000 01 09
Added a bunch of links for Soylent Green.
Added a new Links page with connections to Brian Aldiss'
and Leigh Taylor-Young's websites.
2000 01 03
Harry will be Guest of Honour at Mecon 2000, the Third Northern Ireland
Science Fiction Convention, on 11th and 12th of March,
2000. Check the official
Mecon website for details, or e-mail
mecon2000@net.ntl.com. Alternatively, write
to Convention Director, Mecon 2000, 24 Malton Court, Upper Malone Road,
Belfast, N. Ireland, BT9 6HB
We've just received the amazing cover for the Russian edition of
The Stainless Steel Rat Joins the Circus.
Click here to see the full-sized image.