The Stainless Steel Rat refers to a fictional character and the series of novels involving the character. They were written by science fiction author Harry Harrison. A fictional character is any person who appears in a work of fiction. ... DeFoes Robinson Crusoe, Newspaper edition published in 1719 A novel (from French nouvelle, new) is an extended fictional narrative in prose. ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... The word author has several meanings: The author of a book, story, article or the like, is the person who has written it (or is writing it). ... At the 63rd World Science Fiction Convention in Glasgow, August 2005 Harry Maxwell Harrison (born March 12, 1925 in Stamford, Connecticut) is an American science fiction author who has lived in many parts of the world including Mexico, England, Denmark and Italy. ...

The Stainless Steel Rat, James Bolivar (or "Slippery Jim") DiGriz, is a futuristic con man, thief and all-round rascal. He is a master of disguise, an excellent bank robber, a brilliant breaker and enterer, and (perhaps most usefully) a skilled liar. It goes without saying that he is endlessly charming. A master of self-rationalization, the Rat frequently states his belief that he is doing society a favor by committing crimes. A confidence trick, confidence game, or con for short (also known as a scam) is an attempt to intentionally mislead a person or persons (known as the mark) usually with the goal of financial or other gain. ... A thief is someone or something that performs theft, a crime against property. ...

There have been ten books in the Stainless Steel Rat series.

Book synopses

The Stainless Steel Rat (1961) 

At the beginning of the first novel, the Stainless Steel Rat is out-conned into working for the government. In the Special Corps, the elite law-enforcement and spy agency, he joins the ranks of an organization that is entirely constituted of ex-criminals like himself. In the novel, he has several adventures and meets his love interest, Angelina, who is even more sociopathic than he is.

• re-issued in paperback (1986): ISBN 0441779247

The Stainless Steel Rat's Revenge (1970) 

The Stainless Steel Rat gets married, saves the universe from a marauding military civilization from the planet Cliaand, and becomes father of twins.

• re-issued in paperback (1986): ISBN 0441779123

The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World (1972) 

The Stainless Steel Rat travels to Earth, 1975, and then to Napoleonic France, to stop a madman known as He from destroying the timeline.

• re-issued in paperback (1989): ISBN 0441779131

The Stainless Steel Rat Wants You! (1978) 

After freeing his family from various forms of incarceration, the Stainless Steel Rat saves the all-human galaxy from invading aliens.

• re-issued in paperback (1985): ISBN 0553276115

The Stainless Steel Rat for President (1982) 

The Stainless Steel Rat and Angelina enjoy a belated honeymoon on a planet run by a dictator who rigs elections to get into office, so they set the Rat up as a candidate instead.

• re-issued in paperback (1987): ISBN 0553276123

A Stainless Steel Rat Is Born (1985) 

A novel chronicling the beginning of the Stainless Steel Rat's career. He intentionally gets caught trying to rob a bank so that he will go to jail where he can learn from the masters of crime, only to realize (too late) that the true masters would never get caught.

• paperback (1986): ISBN 0553279424

The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted (1987) 

The Stainless Steel Rat, early in his career, hunts the man who killed his mentor, but in the process must save a defenseless planet from an imminent attack.

• original hardback: ISBN 0553052209
• re-issued in paperback (1991): ISBN 0553273078

The Stainless Steel Rat Sings the Blues (1994) 

The Stainless Steel Rat (in the same earlier timeline as Is Born and Gets Drafted) goes to a prison colony planet to retrieve an alien artifact, which he must find in thirty days or the slow-acting poison he was administered will take its effect.

• original hardback: ISBN 0553096125
• paperback (1995): ISBN 0553569392

The Stainless Steel Rat Goes to Hell (1996) 

In the later timeline (to which the stories have henceforth returned), the Stainless Steel Rat searches for his wife, who has apparently been abducted by a con man who preys on religious believers, swindling them out of their money and then enslaving them in coal mines.

• original hardback: ISBN 0312860633
• paperback (1998): ISBN 0812551079

The Stainless Steel Rat Joins the Circus (1999) 

The Stainless Steel Rat is hired by a businessman to investigate thefts; the clues lead the Rat to suspect a roaming circus, which he infiltrates.

• original hardback: ISBN 0312869347
• paperback (2000): ISBN 0812575350

Jump to: navigation, search 1961 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Spy and secret agent redirect here; for alternate use, see Spy (disambiguation) and Secret agent (disambiguation). ... Jump to: navigation, search Antisocial personality disorder (APD), or dissocial personality disorder, is a personality disorder which is often characterised by antisocial and impulsive behaviour. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1970 was a common year starting on Thursday. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1972 was a leap year that started on a Saturday. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1975 was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1975 calendar). ... Jump to: navigation, search Napoleon I of France, by Jacques-Louis David. ... 1978 was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1978 calendar). ... Jump to: navigation, search Binomial name Homo sapiens Linnaeus, 1758 Subspecies Homo sapiens idaltu (extinct) Homo sapiens sapiens For other uses, see Human (disambiguation). ... Jump to: navigation, search The existence of extraterrestrial life remains hypothetical though human beings continue to search Extraterrestrial life is life that may exist and originate outside our planet Earth. ... 1982 is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A honeymoon is the traditional trip taken by newlyweds to celebrate their marriage, and presumably, consummate it. ... 1985 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1987 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1994 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International year of the Family. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1996 is a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... 1999 is a common year starting on Friday Anno Domini (or the Current Era), and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

Chronological order

The book series is written only in a semichronological order; it breaks the continuity during part of the series to focus on the Rat's early career, then returns to "modern-day". Here, then, is a list of the books in the order they take place, rather than the order they were written.

1. A Stainless Steel Rat Is Born
2. The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted
3. The Stainless Steel Rat Sings the Blues
4. The Stainless Steel Rat
5. The Stainless Steel Rat's Revenge
6. The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World
7. The Stainless Steel Rat Wants You
8. The Stainless Steel Rat for President
9. The Stainless Steel Rat Goes to Hell
10. The Stainless Steel Rat Joins the Circus

Spin-offs

Harrison also produced a parody of the Choose Your Own Adventure books, You Can Be The Stainless Steel Rat (ISBN 0441949789): Jump to: navigation, search In contemporary usage, parody is a form of satire that imitates another work of art in order to ridicule it. ... The first Choose Your Own Adventure book. ...

The reader's decisions will determine whether he or she can find Prof. Geisteskrank on the planet Skraldespand and bring him back before he activates a lethal new weapon.

Despite the above description, the player cannot fail, regardless of his choices (even though it is possible to get caught in a loop at one point, this can be escaped). The term loop, in its general sense, refers to something that closes back on itself (such as a circle or ring). ...

A board game inspired by the Stainless Steel Rat series was published by SPI in their magazine Ares in the late 1970s. It involved the Rat infiltrating a space station under hostile control. A board game is any game played with a premarked surface, with counters or pieces that are moved across the board. ... SPI may mean: SCSI Parallel Interface Security Parameter Index (networking) Serial Peripheral Interface (electronics) Service Provider Interface Simulations Publications Inc. ... Ares was a science fiction wargame magazine published by Simulations Publications, Inc. ... Jump to: navigation, search The 1970s in its most obvious sense refers to the decade between 1970 and 1979. ... A space station is an artificial structure designed for humans to live on in outer space. ...

External links

• The Stainless Steel Rat series listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Series listing at SciFan