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* TooDumbToLive: Prince Mello from "The Pliable Animal" got himself killed on a {{Veganopia}} planet with an extremely strict ThouShaltNotKill policy [[spoiler:he came to the house of the only local capable of killing animals, and offered his family a beef joint.]]
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[[quoteright:250:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_ahmh.png]]
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Invasion Earth has its own list now
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* AliensStealCable: In ''Invasion: Earth'', the aliens in question speak fluent English and Russian, having picked up on the most common broadcasts (having come during the UsefulNotes/ColdWar). Later on, when they need to talk without being overheard, the two protagonists (an American soldier and a Russian linguist) switch to Spanish, which the aliens didn't bother to learn.
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* ChummyCommies: In ''Invasion: Earth'', the US and the USSR work together when the alien craft crash-lands in New York, the latter sending a female linguist (who, despite expectations, does not end up with the male American protagonist) to help translate the alien language. During the climax, an American/Soviet team [[spoiler:is assembled to strike at the alien base in the Antarctic, made up of soldiers born in Denver and Tomsk, two of the cities destroyed by OrbitalBombardment]].
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* FirstContact:
** In ''Plague from Space'', a ship sent to explore Jupiter discovers that the solid core of Jupiter is inhabited by a HiveMind race whose hat is OrganicTechnology. This has unpleasant consequences for the explorers, and then for Earth, before the two planets are able to reach an understanding.
** ''Invasion: Earth'' contains two first contacts in one, as a spaceship crash-lands in New York's Central Park containing aliens of two different species, one holding the other captive.
** In ''Plague from Space'', a ship sent to explore Jupiter discovers that the solid core of Jupiter is inhabited by a HiveMind race whose hat is OrganicTechnology. This has unpleasant consequences for the explorers, and then for Earth, before the two planets are able to reach an understanding.
** ''Invasion: Earth'' contains two first contacts in one, as a spaceship crash-lands in New York's Central Park containing aliens of two different species, one holding the other captive.
to:
* FirstContact:
**FirstContact: In ''Plague from Space'', a ship sent to explore Jupiter discovers that the solid core of Jupiter is inhabited by a HiveMind race whose hat is OrganicTechnology. This has unpleasant consequences for the explorers, and then for Earth, before the two planets are able to reach an understanding.
** ''Invasion: Earth'' contains two first contacts in one, as a spaceship crash-lands in New York's Central Park containing aliens of two different species, one holding the other captive.understanding.
**
** ''Invasion: Earth'' contains two first contacts in one, as a spaceship crash-lands in New York's Central Park containing aliens of two different species, one holding the other captive.
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* ItOnlyWorksOnce: ''Invasion:Earth'' has a version of a bluff that only works once. When the crew of an alien ship threatens to drop radiation bombs on Earth cities, the military replies that they have a secretly-developed laser weapon trained on the ship. The aliens try to call their bluff, but their ship promptly explodes. Turns out there is no laser weapon after all, but the soldiers simply planted charges on it earlier. The remaining alien ship, after a few more words, wisely decides to leave and not challenge the bluff.
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* ReverseRelationshipReveal: In ''Invasion: Earth'', an alien spacecraft crash-lands on Earth, after being hijacked by a different alien race. It is subsequently discovered that the peaceful alien race is being set up to look like aggressors by the aliens who actually want to take over Earth.
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* AlternateTechline: ''Tunnel Through the Deeps'' (AKA ''A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah!'') takes place in a world where UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution failed with all the "rebels" executed. In the late 20th century, there is an alternate UsefulNotes/ColdWar between the two superpowers: Great Britain and France. There are gigantic airplanes, powered by nuclear reactors, and the technology to build a maglev tunnel at the bottom of the Atlantic, but mechanical calculators are still the norm with "computers" being seen as something newfangled and unreliable.
to:
* AlternateTechline: ''Tunnel Through the Deeps'' (AKA ''A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah!'') takes place in a world where UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution failed with all the "rebels" executed. In the late 20th century, there is an alternate UsefulNotes/ColdWar between the two superpowers: Great Britain and France. There are gigantic airplanes, powered by nuclear reactors, and the technology to build a maglev tunnel at the bottom of the Atlantic, and ballistic missiles, but mechanical calculators are still the norm with "computers" being seen as something newfangled and unreliable.
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new page for Star Smashers Of The Galaxy Rangers
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He is best known for his humorous SF, which includes ''Literature/TheStainlessSteelRat'' series, the ''Literature/BillTheGalacticHero'' series, and the stand-alone novels ''Literature/TheTechnicolorTimeMachine'' and ''Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers''.
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He is best known for his humorous SF, which includes ''Literature/TheStainlessSteelRat'' series, the ''Literature/BillTheGalacticHero'' series, and the stand-alone novels ''Literature/TheTechnicolorTimeMachine'' and ''Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers''.
''Literature/StarSmashersOfTheGalaxyRangers''.
* ''Literature/StarSmashersOfTheGalaxyRangers''
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* AliensStealCable:
** In ''Invasion: Earth'', the aliens in question speak fluent English and Russian, having picked up on the most common broadcasts (having come during the UsefulNotes/ColdWar). Later on, when they need to talk without being overheard, the two protagonists (an American soldier and a Russian linguist) switch to Spanish, which the aliens didn't bother to learn.
** Spoofed in ''Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers'' by Creator/HarryHarrison. Every alien race the heroes come across has “listened to your radio broadcasts” and learned fluent English for one reason or another.
** In ''Invasion: Earth'', the aliens in question speak fluent English and Russian, having picked up on the most common broadcasts (having come during the UsefulNotes/ColdWar). Later on, when they need to talk without being overheard, the two protagonists (an American soldier and a Russian linguist) switch to Spanish, which the aliens didn't bother to learn.
** Spoofed in ''Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers'' by Creator/HarryHarrison. Every alien race the heroes come across has “listened to your radio broadcasts” and learned fluent English for one reason or another.
to:
* AliensStealCable:
**AliensStealCable: In ''Invasion: Earth'', the aliens in question speak fluent English and Russian, having picked up on the most common broadcasts (having come during the UsefulNotes/ColdWar). Later on, when they need to talk without being overheard, the two protagonists (an American soldier and a Russian linguist) switch to Spanish, which the aliens didn't bother to learn.
** Spoofed in ''Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers'' by Creator/HarryHarrison. Every alien race the heroes come across has “listened to your radio broadcasts” and learned fluent English for one reason or another.learn.
**
** Spoofed in ''Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers'' by Creator/HarryHarrison. Every alien race the heroes come across has “listened to your radio broadcasts” and learned fluent English for one reason or another.
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* BeautyEqualsGoodness: Subverted in ''Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers''. Arriving on a new planet, our heroes see a war between the Garnishee (hideous tentacled monsters) and the humanoid Ormoloo (who don't look too bad if you overlook the four arms), so they wade in on the side of the more-or-less-humanoids. After exterminating 99.9% of the Garnishee race, they discover that the octopoids are the wise, gentle and cultured good guys and the Ormoloo are the equivalent of cattle being mind-controlled by evil PuppeteerParasite aliens out to conquer the galaxy.
* BilingualBonus: In ''Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers'', the phrase "Ich möchte ein Einzelzimmer mit Bad im ersten Stock!" is translated in a footnote as "I spotted a door behind the throne, so grab onto me and we can escape that way." The real meaning is "I want a single room with a bath on the first floor".
* BilingualBonus: In ''Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers'', the phrase "Ich möchte ein Einzelzimmer mit Bad im ersten Stock!" is translated in a footnote as "I spotted a door behind the throne, so grab onto me and we can escape that way." The real meaning is "I want a single room with a bath on the first floor".
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* BuffySpeak: A footnote in the SpaceOpera spoof, ''Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers'':
-->''Collapsium is an artificial material made of atoms with their binding energy reduced so they sort of collapse in upon themselves and are binding and heavy and that sort of thing.''
-->''Collapsium is an artificial material made of atoms with their binding energy reduced so they sort of collapse in upon themselves and are binding and heavy and that sort of thing.''
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* TheDogWasTheMastermind: In ''Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers'', the race of Big Bads who were mentioned throughout the book turn out to be [[spoiler:tiny turtles with PsychicPowers kept as pets by another race]].
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* TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers: In ''Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers'', John claims to be trained in:
-->...spying, warfare, intelligence, brain surgery, proctoscopy, codes and ciphers, blue-ribbon cooking, and murder.
* LilliputianWarriors: The {{Puppeteer Parasite}}s from ''Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers'' are furious that all other intelligent life is bigger than them despite their superior mental powers, so launch a EvilPlan to take over the entire galaxy.
* MagicalParticleAccelerator: In ''Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers'', the protagonists experiment with a homemade particle accelerator, and one of them plays a joke on the other by putting in a piece of cheddar instead of a test mineral into the target slot. After being hit with the particle beam, the cheese turns into a strange-looking rock that turns out to have amazing properties. When exposed to certain energies, the "cheddite" teleports the target object a certain distance away (depending on the amount of energy applied) by shunting it through a tiny parallel universe.
-->...spying, warfare, intelligence, brain surgery, proctoscopy, codes and ciphers, blue-ribbon cooking, and murder.
* LilliputianWarriors: The {{Puppeteer Parasite}}s from ''Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers'' are furious that all other intelligent life is bigger than them despite their superior mental powers, so launch a EvilPlan to take over the entire galaxy.
* MagicalParticleAccelerator: In ''Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers'', the protagonists experiment with a homemade particle accelerator, and one of them plays a joke on the other by putting in a piece of cheddar instead of a test mineral into the target slot. After being hit with the particle beam, the cheese turns into a strange-looking rock that turns out to have amazing properties. When exposed to certain energies, the "cheddite" teleports the target object a certain distance away (depending on the amount of energy applied) by shunting it through a tiny parallel universe.
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* MobileSuitHuman: The inverse (a human concealed inside a robotic alien suit) happens often in Harry Harrison sci-fi, such as ''Repairman'' and ''Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers''.
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* MobileSuitHuman: The inverse (a human concealed inside a robotic alien suit) happens often in Harry Harrison sci-fi, such as ''Repairman'' and ''Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers''."The Repairman".
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* SpaceOpera: Parodied in ''Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers''.
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* {{Unobtainium}}: The Golden Age SF spoof novel ''Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers'' features Cheddite (a fuel created from cheese). In another scene the heroes' 747 jet is turned into a spacecraft by means of windows armored with ''armolite'', vacuum insulation with ''insulite'', fuel tanks filled with ''combustite'', guns firing pellets of ''destructite'', batteries replaced with ''capacitite'' and a space-warp drive powered by ''warpite''.
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from trope pages
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* AliensStealCable:
** In ''Invasion: Earth'', the aliens in question speak fluent English and Russian, having picked up on the most common broadcasts (having come during the UsefulNotes/ColdWar). Later on, when they need to talk without being overheard, the two protagonists (an American soldier and a Russian linguist) switch to Spanish, which the aliens didn't bother to learn.
** Spoofed in ''Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers'' by Creator/HarryHarrison. Every alien race the heroes come across has “listened to your radio broadcasts” and learned fluent English for one reason or another.
** In ''Invasion: Earth'', the aliens in question speak fluent English and Russian, having picked up on the most common broadcasts (having come during the UsefulNotes/ColdWar). Later on, when they need to talk without being overheard, the two protagonists (an American soldier and a Russian linguist) switch to Spanish, which the aliens didn't bother to learn.
** Spoofed in ''Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers'' by Creator/HarryHarrison. Every alien race the heroes come across has “listened to your radio broadcasts” and learned fluent English for one reason or another.
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* AlternateTechline: ''Tunnel Through the Deeps'' (AKA ''A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah!'') takes place in a world where UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution failed with all the "rebels" executed. In the late 20th century, there is an alternate UsefulNotes/ColdWar between the two superpowers: Great Britain and France. There are gigantic airplanes, powered by nuclear reactors, and the technology to build a maglev tunnel at the bottom of the Atlantic, but mechanical calculators are still the norm with "computers" being seen as something newfangled and unreliable.
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* ArtificialGravity: The discovery of a way to reduce gravity drives the plot of ''The Daleth Effect'' (aka ''In Our Hands, the Stars''). The discoverer specifically mentions that the knowledge could be used to do horrible things, such as grabbing chunks of the Moon and dropping them on an enemy country. The use of the device, for example, allows a craft (which doesn't even need proper engines) to travel to the Moon within hours and to Mars within days.
* BeautyEqualsGoodness: Subverted in ''Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers''. Arriving on a new planet, our heroes see a war between the Garnishee (hideous tentacled monsters) and the humanoid Ormoloo (who don't look too bad if you overlook the four arms), so they wade in on the side of the more-or-less-humanoids. After exterminating 99.9% of the Garnishee race, they discover that the octopoids are the wise, gentle and cultured good guys and the Ormoloo are the equivalent of cattle being mind-controlled by evil PuppeteerParasite aliens out to conquer the galaxy.
* BilingualBonus: In ''Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers'', the phrase "Ich möchte ein Einzelzimmer mit Bad im ersten Stock!" is translated in a footnote as "I spotted a door behind the throne, so grab onto me and we can escape that way." The real meaning is "I want a single room with a bath on the first floor".
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: The aliens in ''The Jupiter Plague'' (AKA ''Plague from Space'') behave in ways that humans often find horrifying and inexplicable, due to the different outlook being a HiveMind gives them.
* BuffySpeak: A footnote in the SpaceOpera spoof, ''Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers'':
-->''Collapsium is an artificial material made of atoms with their binding energy reduced so they sort of collapse in upon themselves and are binding and heavy and that sort of thing.''
* BeautyEqualsGoodness: Subverted in ''Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers''. Arriving on a new planet, our heroes see a war between the Garnishee (hideous tentacled monsters) and the humanoid Ormoloo (who don't look too bad if you overlook the four arms), so they wade in on the side of the more-or-less-humanoids. After exterminating 99.9% of the Garnishee race, they discover that the octopoids are the wise, gentle and cultured good guys and the Ormoloo are the equivalent of cattle being mind-controlled by evil PuppeteerParasite aliens out to conquer the galaxy.
* BilingualBonus: In ''Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers'', the phrase "Ich möchte ein Einzelzimmer mit Bad im ersten Stock!" is translated in a footnote as "I spotted a door behind the throne, so grab onto me and we can escape that way." The real meaning is "I want a single room with a bath on the first floor".
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: The aliens in ''The Jupiter Plague'' (AKA ''Plague from Space'') behave in ways that humans often find horrifying and inexplicable, due to the different outlook being a HiveMind gives them.
* BuffySpeak: A footnote in the SpaceOpera spoof, ''Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers'':
-->''Collapsium is an artificial material made of atoms with their binding energy reduced so they sort of collapse in upon themselves and are binding and heavy and that sort of thing.''
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* CargoCult: In "The Repairman", a man is sent to repair an ancient, RagnarokProof hyperspace beacon on a distant planet. It turns out the builders failed to notice a few stone age reptiles. Since then, the natives found the beacon (a huge tower), and made it a holy shrine (it produced an endless spring of water as part of its coolant system). One of the priests, while cleaning inside, hit the emergency shutdown switch. The protagonist pretends to be a sentry of heaven, sent to restore the spring.
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* ChummyCommies: In ''Invasion: Earth'', the US and the USSR work together when the alien craft crash-lands in New York, the latter sending a female linguist (who, despite expectations, does not end up with the male American protagonist) to help translate the alien language. During the climax, an American/Soviet team [[spoiler:is assembled to strike at the alien base in the Antarctic, made up of soldiers born in Denver and Tomsk, two of the cities destroyed by OrbitalBombardment]].
* ConspicuouslyPublicAssassination: In the ''Stars and Stripes'' AlternateHistory trilogy, John Wilkes Booth tries to assassinate UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln in public by firing out the crowd, after missing his chance at Ford's Theater (in this timeline, Lincoln didn't make it to the play due to the illness of his son).
* CranialProcessingUnit: In a short story, an android cop averts this trope because he has a recoilless cannon in his head, up near the eyes for good aiming.
* CurbStompBattle: In the AlternateHistory ''Stars and Stripes'' trilogy, the long war between Britain and the United States is presented as one long CurbStompBattle due to the United States' overwhelming technological and tactical superiority -- by the third book, the Americans are almost 100 years ahead of the British, having UsefulNotes/WorldWarI-era battleships and tanks in 1870. In the course of the series, there are only three notable times where the British actually have the upper hand: the British army capturing a Southern town (somewhat accidentally, [[EpicFail as they were intending to capture a Northern outpost]]), a Highlander regiment capturing a fort near New York, and a British ironclad sinking an American one. Every other battle in the series, all resounding American victories.
* DeadAllAlong: The short story "The Pliable Animal" deals with the murder of a prince visiting another planet. The prince rode a car from the planet's royal palace home when he suddenly shouted at the driver to stop, ran into a dark alley, and was found dead there. It turns out toward the end that [[spoiler:a secret underground passage lead to that alley from the palace. An imposter entered the car, shouted for the driver to stop, and ran for the agreed upon spot where they placed the prince's corpse]].
* TheDogWasTheMastermind: In ''Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers'', the race of Big Bads who were mentioned throughout the book turn out to be [[spoiler:tiny turtles with PsychicPowers kept as pets by another race]].
* EarthThatUsedToBeBetter: In the Brion Brandd duology, it's established that Earth is overpopulated and polluted. At the same time, it's still an important planet.
* EnemyMine: This is the plot of the ''Stars and Stripes'' AlternateHistory trilogy. After the British declare war on the Union, they accidentally sack a Confederate town instead of a Union fort (the stars-and-bars flag confuses them). In response, the Union and the Confederacy agree to a cease-fire and combine forces against the British.
* EveryoneKnowsMorse: Deconstructed in ''Spaceship Medic'', set on a heavily damaged spaceship some time in the future. The radio has been jury-rigged back into operation, and the only signals it can send that are powerful enough to reach help are bursts of static. They have to revive the now ancient and obsolete Morse code in order to send messages via bursts of static. Meanwhile, the recipients on Mars are left scrabbling through the history books to find out how to translate the strange signals.
* FamilyHonor: ''Tunnel Through the Deeps'' (aka ''A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah'') has British engineer Captain Augustine Washington working to complete said tunnel to restore his family's honor lost when his ancestor George Washington was shot as a traitor to King George III.
* FasterThanLightTravel: In "The Repairman", hyperspace is featureless by itself, so a ship entering cannot determine where it is, where it moves, or even whether it does at all. As such, humanity builds special beacons all over the galaxy, allowing for position triangulation by their individual codes.
* FirstContact:
** In ''Plague from Space'', a ship sent to explore Jupiter discovers that the solid core of Jupiter is inhabited by a HiveMind race whose hat is OrganicTechnology. This has unpleasant consequences for the explorers, and then for Earth, before the two planets are able to reach an understanding.
** ''Invasion: Earth'' contains two first contacts in one, as a spaceship crash-lands in New York's Central Park containing aliens of two different species, one holding the other captive.
* ConspicuouslyPublicAssassination: In the ''Stars and Stripes'' AlternateHistory trilogy, John Wilkes Booth tries to assassinate UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln in public by firing out the crowd, after missing his chance at Ford's Theater (in this timeline, Lincoln didn't make it to the play due to the illness of his son).
* CranialProcessingUnit: In a short story, an android cop averts this trope because he has a recoilless cannon in his head, up near the eyes for good aiming.
* CurbStompBattle: In the AlternateHistory ''Stars and Stripes'' trilogy, the long war between Britain and the United States is presented as one long CurbStompBattle due to the United States' overwhelming technological and tactical superiority -- by the third book, the Americans are almost 100 years ahead of the British, having UsefulNotes/WorldWarI-era battleships and tanks in 1870. In the course of the series, there are only three notable times where the British actually have the upper hand: the British army capturing a Southern town (somewhat accidentally, [[EpicFail as they were intending to capture a Northern outpost]]), a Highlander regiment capturing a fort near New York, and a British ironclad sinking an American one. Every other battle in the series, all resounding American victories.
* DeadAllAlong: The short story "The Pliable Animal" deals with the murder of a prince visiting another planet. The prince rode a car from the planet's royal palace home when he suddenly shouted at the driver to stop, ran into a dark alley, and was found dead there. It turns out toward the end that [[spoiler:a secret underground passage lead to that alley from the palace. An imposter entered the car, shouted for the driver to stop, and ran for the agreed upon spot where they placed the prince's corpse]].
* TheDogWasTheMastermind: In ''Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers'', the race of Big Bads who were mentioned throughout the book turn out to be [[spoiler:tiny turtles with PsychicPowers kept as pets by another race]].
* EarthThatUsedToBeBetter: In the Brion Brandd duology, it's established that Earth is overpopulated and polluted. At the same time, it's still an important planet.
* EnemyMine: This is the plot of the ''Stars and Stripes'' AlternateHistory trilogy. After the British declare war on the Union, they accidentally sack a Confederate town instead of a Union fort (the stars-and-bars flag confuses them). In response, the Union and the Confederacy agree to a cease-fire and combine forces against the British.
* EveryoneKnowsMorse: Deconstructed in ''Spaceship Medic'', set on a heavily damaged spaceship some time in the future. The radio has been jury-rigged back into operation, and the only signals it can send that are powerful enough to reach help are bursts of static. They have to revive the now ancient and obsolete Morse code in order to send messages via bursts of static. Meanwhile, the recipients on Mars are left scrabbling through the history books to find out how to translate the strange signals.
* FamilyHonor: ''Tunnel Through the Deeps'' (aka ''A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah'') has British engineer Captain Augustine Washington working to complete said tunnel to restore his family's honor lost when his ancestor George Washington was shot as a traitor to King George III.
* FasterThanLightTravel: In "The Repairman", hyperspace is featureless by itself, so a ship entering cannot determine where it is, where it moves, or even whether it does at all. As such, humanity builds special beacons all over the galaxy, allowing for position triangulation by their individual codes.
* FirstContact:
** In ''Plague from Space'', a ship sent to explore Jupiter discovers that the solid core of Jupiter is inhabited by a HiveMind race whose hat is OrganicTechnology. This has unpleasant consequences for the explorers, and then for Earth, before the two planets are able to reach an understanding.
** ''Invasion: Earth'' contains two first contacts in one, as a spaceship crash-lands in New York's Central Park containing aliens of two different species, one holding the other captive.
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* GunshipRescue: In ''Stars and Stripes Forever'', Washington D.C. is being invaded until the ironclad ''Avenger'' arrives to save the day.
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* HumanSubspecies: The short story "Final Encounter" had a team with members of two Human Subspecies looking for nonhuman intelligence. [[spoiler:At the end, the very promising new species, which can't even breathe the same air we do, turns out to be of Earth descent too -- one group was expanding and searching clockwise around the galaxy, the other counter-clockwise]].
* IfItSwimsItFlies: In ''The Daleth Effect'' (aka ''In Our Hands, the Stars''), the main characters use the titular effect to modify a mini-sub into a spaceship.
* IMadeCopies: "The Repairman", a comic sci-fi short story, has DaChief bullying one of his men to take on a mission instead of going on leave, citing a clause in his contract, which he produces for effect. The hero draws his raygun and disintegrates it, but the computer just prints out another one. Then the Chief docks his pay for the cost of printing the copy.
* IfItSwimsItFlies: In ''The Daleth Effect'' (aka ''In Our Hands, the Stars''), the main characters use the titular effect to modify a mini-sub into a spaceship.
* IMadeCopies: "The Repairman", a comic sci-fi short story, has DaChief bullying one of his men to take on a mission instead of going on leave, citing a clause in his contract, which he produces for effect. The hero draws his raygun and disintegrates it, but the computer just prints out another one. Then the Chief docks his pay for the cost of printing the copy.
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* InertialDampening: ''Tunnel Through The Deeps'' (AKA ''A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah!'') has a sequence featuring a new method of rapid intercontinental travel. They submerge the protagonist (with a breathing apparatus) into a fluid-filled rocket that is launched in a ballistic trajectory, allowing him to safely get from North America to Britain in a few hours. The best part is that all calculations were done using a mechanical computer.
* InTheFutureHumansWillBeOneRace: An attempt to invoke this occurs in "A Brave Newer World", where natural childbirth is on the downtrend and bottled babies are at the first stages of becoming the norm. The government program apparently figures that since they'll be growing the next generations, they can see about removing troublesome genes while they're at it. Unfortunately, their definitions of 'troublesome' includes many involving skin tone and eye shape. The doctor in charge of the project goes to great lengths to expose this bias towards Nordic and Anglo-Saxon ancestry.
* ItOnlyWorksOnce: ''Invasion:Earth'' has a version of a bluff that only works once. When the crew of an alien ship threatens to drop radiation bombs on Earth cities, the military replies that they have a secretly-developed laser weapon trained on the ship. The aliens try to call their bluff, but their ship promptly explodes. Turns out there is no laser weapon after all, but the soldiers simply planted charges on it earlier. The remaining alien ship, after a few more words, wisely decides to leave and not challenge the bluff.
* InTheFutureHumansWillBeOneRace: An attempt to invoke this occurs in "A Brave Newer World", where natural childbirth is on the downtrend and bottled babies are at the first stages of becoming the norm. The government program apparently figures that since they'll be growing the next generations, they can see about removing troublesome genes while they're at it. Unfortunately, their definitions of 'troublesome' includes many involving skin tone and eye shape. The doctor in charge of the project goes to great lengths to expose this bias towards Nordic and Anglo-Saxon ancestry.
* ItOnlyWorksOnce: ''Invasion:Earth'' has a version of a bluff that only works once. When the crew of an alien ship threatens to drop radiation bombs on Earth cities, the military replies that they have a secretly-developed laser weapon trained on the ship. The aliens try to call their bluff, but their ship promptly explodes. Turns out there is no laser weapon after all, but the soldiers simply planted charges on it earlier. The remaining alien ship, after a few more words, wisely decides to leave and not challenge the bluff.
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* KarmaHoudini: In the ''Stars and Stripes'' AlternateHistory trilogy, an American ship captain blows up a British ship without provocation. Why? Because he wants a fight. It's not even much of a fight, as the American ship blows the opponent away with two volleys from its main guns, and the Brits don't even have time to react. That incident is quickly forgotten, and the captain in question gets away scot-free.
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* LilliputianWarriors: The {{Puppeteer Parasite}}s from ''Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers'' are furious that all other intelligent life is bigger than them despite their superior mental powers, so launch a EvilPlan to take over the entire galaxy.
* MagicalParticleAccelerator: In ''Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers'', the protagonists experiment with a homemade particle accelerator, and one of them plays a joke on the other by putting in a piece of cheddar instead of a test mineral into the target slot. After being hit with the particle beam, the cheese turns into a strange-looking rock that turns out to have amazing properties. When exposed to certain energies, the "cheddite" teleports the target object a certain distance away (depending on the amount of energy applied) by shunting it through a tiny parallel universe.
* MechanicalEvolution: The short story "The War with the Robots". With war becoming ever-deadlier, humans retreat to bunkers deep underground, using robots to fight. The robots on either side design ever more effective robot forms, eventually able to drive the humans out of the opposing bunkers. The now-obsolete human race is shocked to find itself sidelined from what used to be their war.
* MilitaryMashupMachine: Spoofed in the short story "Navy Day". The US Army declares their waterborne rivals obsolete after developing a technology that enables vehicles to drive on the ocean. Naval scientists work frantically while Congress debates whether to abolish the Navy once and for all; just as they are about to vote in favor the Admiral points to the battleship now 'sailing' down Constitution Avenue.
* MagicalParticleAccelerator: In ''Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers'', the protagonists experiment with a homemade particle accelerator, and one of them plays a joke on the other by putting in a piece of cheddar instead of a test mineral into the target slot. After being hit with the particle beam, the cheese turns into a strange-looking rock that turns out to have amazing properties. When exposed to certain energies, the "cheddite" teleports the target object a certain distance away (depending on the amount of energy applied) by shunting it through a tiny parallel universe.
* MechanicalEvolution: The short story "The War with the Robots". With war becoming ever-deadlier, humans retreat to bunkers deep underground, using robots to fight. The robots on either side design ever more effective robot forms, eventually able to drive the humans out of the opposing bunkers. The now-obsolete human race is shocked to find itself sidelined from what used to be their war.
* MilitaryMashupMachine: Spoofed in the short story "Navy Day". The US Army declares their waterborne rivals obsolete after developing a technology that enables vehicles to drive on the ocean. Naval scientists work frantically while Congress debates whether to abolish the Navy once and for all; just as they are about to vote in favor the Admiral points to the battleship now 'sailing' down Constitution Avenue.
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* ReverseRelationshipReveal: In ''Invasion: Earth'', an alien spacecraft crash-lands on Earth, after being hijacked by a different alien race. It is subsequently discovered that the peaceful alien race is being set up to look like aggressors by the aliens who actually want to take over Earth.
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* SenselessSacrifice: In ''The Daleth Effect'', Denmark's space liner is invaded by US and USSR agents in an attempt to steal the piece of AppliedPhlebotinum allowing the ship to fly. In response, the captain of the ship triumphantly tell both parties that all their efforts are in vain, as a fail-safe has been installed on board to prevent a takeover. The ship is destroyed seconds later. The captain's widow laments that all the crewmembers and passengers, including the inventor of the device, died in vain to protect a secret that was already made public days before. Even worse, since Denmark refused to patent the technology for fear of it being misused, they now have nothing.
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* SteamNeverDies:
** In ''Planet Story'', an admiral who just happens to be a railfan specifically orders a spaceport built on the opposite side of the continent from the mine just to have an excuse to play with trains. His personal toy is a gold plated full scale replica of a Union Pacific Big Boy, the largest steam engine ever built. It's actually nuclear powered (Harrison describes it as powerful enough "to pull a battleship sideways across a mudflat") but it does produce enough steam to blow the whistle.
** In the alternate timeline of ''A Trans Atlantic Tunnel, Hurrah!'', Great Britain is the only country to have discovered atomic power. Naturally, they use it solely to power one steam locomotive.
** In ''Planet Story'', an admiral who just happens to be a railfan specifically orders a spaceport built on the opposite side of the continent from the mine just to have an excuse to play with trains. His personal toy is a gold plated full scale replica of a Union Pacific Big Boy, the largest steam engine ever built. It's actually nuclear powered (Harrison describes it as powerful enough "to pull a battleship sideways across a mudflat") but it does produce enough steam to blow the whistle.
** In the alternate timeline of ''A Trans Atlantic Tunnel, Hurrah!'', Great Britain is the only country to have discovered atomic power. Naturally, they use it solely to power one steam locomotive.
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example from To The Stars, which has its own example list
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* MercurialBase
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** In ''A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah!'', America lost the War of Independence and remained part of the British Empire. (Also, an earlier military defeat changed Spanish history enough that Christopher Columbus couldn't get funding, leaving American to be discovered by John Cabot in 1497.)
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** In ''A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah!'', America [[AmericaIsStillAColony lost the War of Independence Independence]] and remained part of the British Empire. (Also, an earlier military defeat changed Spanish history enough that Christopher Columbus couldn't get funding, leaving American to be discovered by John Cabot in 1497.)
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* AmericaIsStillAColony: In ''Tunnel Through the Deeps'', due to the fact it was John Cabot, not UsefulNotes/ChristopherColumbus, who discovered North America, Spain was also never unified and unable to fund Columbus. This lead to a scenario where the revolutionary war was lost and UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington was shot as a traitor. The main character is a descendant of Washington who feels tarred by his family's bad reputation whilst working on a transatlantic tunnel between the British Isles and the Northern American colonies.
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* HumansThroughAlienEyes: In "The Streets of Ashkelon", a human missionary converts an alien culture to [[UsefulNotesOnChristianity Christianity]]. [[spoiler:The aliens then try to initiate the millennium of the missionary's message by crucifying him and waiting for him to rise on the third day.]]
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* HumansThroughAlienEyes: In "The Streets of Ashkelon", a human missionary converts an alien culture to [[UsefulNotesOnChristianity Christianity]].UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}}. [[spoiler:The aliens then try to initiate the millennium of the missionary's message by crucifying him and waiting for him to rise on the third day.]]
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Harry Harrison (1925-2012) was a science fiction writer.
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Harry Harrison (1925-2012) (1925-2012; born Henry Maxwell Dempsey) was a science fiction writer.
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extracting To The Stars examples
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He has also written serious SF, including ''Literature/MakeRoomMakeRoom'', which inspired the film ''Film/SoylentGreen'' (although the film's most famous plot element was not in the book); the ''Literature/{{Deathworld}}'' trilogy; the ''To The Stars'' trilogy; and the ''Literature/WestOfEden'' trilogy.
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He has also written serious SF, including ''Literature/MakeRoomMakeRoom'', which inspired the film ''Film/SoylentGreen'' (although the film's most famous plot element was not in the book); the ''Literature/{{Deathworld}}'' trilogy; the ''To The Stars'' ''Literature/ToTheStars'' trilogy; and the ''Literature/WestOfEden'' trilogy.
* ''Literature/ToTheStars'' trilogy
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* ArbitraryMaximumRange: ''Starworld'' (part of the ''To the Stars'' trilogy) has the rebel admiral point out to the protagonist how energy weapons don't work due to the energy diffusion problem. Although missiles are being used by both sides, the rebels use linear accelerators firing unguided ''cannon balls'' to gain the decisive edge, then finish them off with a FlechetteStorm of rocket-propelled bullets (fired from the standard infantry weapons of the time) which work well over infinite ranges due to the lack of air resistance.
* {{BFG}}: One of the Israeli commandoes is firing a handheld .50 calibre recoilless machine gun during the attack on Spaceconcert in ''Starworld'' (part of the ''To the Stars'' trilogy).
* {{BFG}}: One of the Israeli commandoes is firing a handheld .50 calibre recoilless machine gun during the attack on Spaceconcert in ''Starworld'' (part of the ''To the Stars'' trilogy).
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* GovernmentDrugEnforcement: In ''Homeworld'', the upper-class protagonist is initially surprised at the idea that the proles might be rebellious, as the government lets them have all the drugs and booze they want.
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* KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter: ''Starworld'' (part of the ''To the Stars'' trilogy) has the rebel admiral explain to the protagonist why energy weapons don't work in the [[ArbitraryMaximumRange vast distances of space]]. Although missiles are being used by both sides, the rebels use linear accelerators firing unguided ''cannon balls'' to gain the decisive edge, then finish them off with a FlechetteStorm of rocket-propelled bullets.
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* PlanetOfHats: In the ''To The Stars'' trilogy, [=EarthGov=] has not only terraformed {{Single Biome Planet}}s, they've also created a unique culture for each in order to maximise their control. For instance the agricultural planet the protagonist has been exiled to in "Wheelworld" is populated entirely by peasants and mechanics, ruled by a group of autocratic Familys.
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* SingleBiomePlanet: Justified in the ''To The Stars'' trilogy, in which an imperialistic Earth has terraformed a number of planets (with a [[PlanetOfHats custom-made culture]] as well), each one dedicated to farming, production or mining of one particular resource. The idea being that none of them have the diverse resources [[TheWarOfEarthlyAggression needed to launch a revolt]].
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* StandardStarshipScuffle: Lampshaded and averted in ''Starworld''.
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* TheWarOfEarthlyAggression: The ''To the Stars'' trilogy has a Big Brother-like Earth lording it over interstellar colonies set up to be totally dependent upon each other. Since each colony requires numerous goods (which they are never allowed to stockpile) each made [[PlanetOfHats only on one of the other colonies]], it would be impossible for a revolt to succeed unless every colony did so at once. Which they do. (It's not not strictly Earth-vs-everyone-else, though. On Earth itself there are several rogue states that cling to old ideals, such as ''democracy'', the strongest of them being [[BadassIsraeli Israel]]. The last novel makes it clear that a revolution can only succeed with a simultaneous assault on the surface and space.)
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alphabetical order
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* The ''Literature/BillTheGalacticHero'' series
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* The ''Literature/BillTheGalacticHero'' series
* ''Literature/TheHammerAndTheCross'' trilogy
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* ''Literature/TheHammerAndTheCross'' trilogy
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* TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers: In ''Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers'', John claims to be trained in:
-->...spying, warfare, intelligence, brain surgery, proctoscopy, codes and ciphers, blue-ribbon cooking, and murder.
-->...spying, warfare, intelligence, brain surgery, proctoscopy, codes and ciphers, blue-ribbon cooking, and murder.
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example migration
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* AllTrollsAreDifferent: In ''One King's Way'', second volume of ''The Hammer and the Cross'' trilogy, a troll or "marbendill" is a large intelligent humanoid that sometimes feeds on human flesh, lurks in the water to pull unwary boaters under, but otherwise is rather likeable, actually. Distinguished from humans by, among other things, a much lower sex drive; human behavior in that regard rather amuses them.
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** The trilogy ''The Hammer and the Cross'' has a more organized and benevolent form of the Norse religion coming into conflict both with the more traditional Norse religion and Christianity.
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* DeliberateValuesDissonance: The trilogy ''The Hammer and the Cross'' is set in 9th century Europe, and the values of the historical peoples of the time are accurately represented; including their attitude toward rape, enslavement, trial-by-combat, and the social status of women and conquered peoples.
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* ''Literature/TheHammerAndTheCross'' trilogy
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* StandardStarshipScuffle: Lampshaded and averted in ''Starworld''.
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* ''Literature/TheTuringOption'' (with Marvin Minksy)
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Deathworld has its own trope list now
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* AntiAdvice: At the end of ''Deathworld 2'', Jason tells former barbarian Ijale that her life in civilization will go reasonably well as long as she sticks with Mikah, listens carefully to what he tells her and then does the exact opposite.
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* DeathWorld: In the novel (and subsequent trilogy) ''Deathworld'', the planet Pyrrus has very harsh environmental characteristics: twice earth gravity, very high tectonic activity, a 42° axial tilt, and the occasional 30-meter tides. Life could only survive by cooperating temporarily during crises, so every single living thing (plant, animal, microbe...) is psychic. Not just that, but the high radioactivity causes them to mutate and evolve very rapidly. When humanity settles on the planet, they accidentally piss off the local wildlife during an earthquake, causing every living thing to treat humanity as a continuous "natural disaster", driven by one mutual psychic mandate: "KILL THE ENEMY!". By the start of the story, the escalating war has remade everything into dedicated living war machines (tree roots are now venom fanged CombatTentacles, etc.).
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* EscapePod: In ''Deathworld'', Jason runs from {{Heavyworlder}} Kerk who, in the grip of irrational rage, is about to ''literally'' tear him apart unless he gets off the ship. The escape pod he uses to get away is designed to be idiot proof: initially it declines to do anything but the safest, gentlest maneuvers, making long-term survival against the ship's guns problematical.
* UsefulNotes/EsperantoTheUniversalLanguage: Esperanto is the universal second language in the ''Deathworld'' series.
* GardenOfEvil: In ''Deathworld'', due to a misunderstanding, the very peculiar wildlife on the planet has altered itself to wage war against humanity, changing to the point where even every blade of grass has a venomous claw dangling from it.
* UsefulNotes/EsperantoTheUniversalLanguage: Esperanto is the universal second language in the ''Deathworld'' series.
* GardenOfEvil: In ''Deathworld'', due to a misunderstanding, the very peculiar wildlife on the planet has altered itself to wage war against humanity, changing to the point where even every blade of grass has a venomous claw dangling from it.
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* GeniusLoci: In the novel ''Deathworld'', the planet Pyrrus has very harsh environmental characteristics; life could only survive by cooperating temporarily during crises, so every single living thing (plant, animal, microbe...) is psychic and part of a planet-wide group mind.
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* {{Heavyworlder}}: The people of Pyrrus (twice Earth's gravity) in ''Deathworld'' are the short, stout variety.
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* LostColony: ''Deathworld 2'' is a GivingRadioToTheRomans story set on a Lost Colony.
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* SelfDestructMechanism: In ''The Mothballed Spaceship'', the protagonists are trying to reactivate a derelict battleship that has been set to self-destruct to prevent it falling into the hands of anyone who doesn't have the correct codeword. Just in time they discover what the codeword is; [[ThePasswordIsAlwaysSwordfish a simple five-letter word]] in [[UsefulNotes/EsperantoTheUniversalLanguage Esperanto]] -- "Haltu" or, "Stop".
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He has also written serious SF, including ''Literature/MakeRoomMakeRoom'', which inspired the film ''Film/SoylentGreen'' (although the film's most famous plot element was not in the book); the ''Deathworld'' trilogy; the ''To The Stars'' trilogy; and the ''Literature/WestOfEden'' trilogy.
to:
He has also written serious SF, including ''Literature/MakeRoomMakeRoom'', which inspired the film ''Film/SoylentGreen'' (although the film's most famous plot element was not in the book); the ''Deathworld'' ''Literature/{{Deathworld}}'' trilogy; the ''To The Stars'' trilogy; and the ''Literature/WestOfEden'' trilogy.
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whoops (duh)
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* The ''Literature/TheStainlessSteelRat'' series
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* The ''Literature/TheStainlessSteelRat'' series
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He has also written serious SF, including ''Literature/MakeRoomMakeRoom'', which inspired the film ''Film/SoylentGreen'' (although the film's most famous plot element was not in the book); the ''Deathworld'' trilogy; the ''To The Stars'' trilogy; and the ''{{West of Eden}}'' trilogy.
to:
He has also written serious SF, including ''Literature/MakeRoomMakeRoom'', which inspired the film ''Film/SoylentGreen'' (although the film's most famous plot element was not in the book); the ''Deathworld'' trilogy; the ''To The Stars'' trilogy; and the ''{{West of Eden}}'' ''Literature/WestOfEden'' trilogy.
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* ''Literature/TheStainlessSteelRat'' series
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* The ''Literature/TheStainlessSteelRat'' series
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* ''{{West of Eden}}'' trilogy
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* ''{{West of Eden}}'' ''Literature/WestOfEden'' trilogy
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He is best known for his humorous SF, which includes ''Literature/TheStainlessSteelRat'' series, the ''Literature/BillTheGalacticHero'' series, and the stand-alone novels ''TheTechnicolorTimeMachine'' and ''Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers''.
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He is best known for his humorous SF, which includes ''Literature/TheStainlessSteelRat'' series, the ''Literature/BillTheGalacticHero'' series, and the stand-alone novels ''TheTechnicolorTimeMachine'' ''Literature/TheTechnicolorTimeMachine'' and ''Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers''.
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* ''TheTechnicolorTimeMachine''
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* ''TheTechnicolorTimeMachine''''Literature/TheTechnicolorTimeMachine''
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He is best known for his humorous SF, which includes ''TheStainlessSteelRat'' series, the ''Literature/BillTheGalacticHero'' series, and the stand-alone novels ''TheTechnicolorTimeMachine'' and ''Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers''.
to:
He is best known for his humorous SF, which includes ''TheStainlessSteelRat'' ''Literature/TheStainlessSteelRat'' series, the ''Literature/BillTheGalacticHero'' series, and the stand-alone novels ''TheTechnicolorTimeMachine'' and ''Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers''.
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* ''TheStainlessSteelRat'' series
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* ''TheStainlessSteelRat'' ''Literature/TheStainlessSteelRat'' series
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He has also written serious SF, including ''Make Room! Make Room!'', which inspired the film ''SoylentGreen'' (although the film's most famous plot element was not in the book); the ''Deathworld'' trilogy; the ''To The Stars'' trilogy; and the ''{{West of Eden}}'' trilogy.
to:
He has also written serious SF, including ''Make Room! Make Room!'', ''Literature/MakeRoomMakeRoom'', which inspired the film ''SoylentGreen'' ''Film/SoylentGreen'' (although the film's most famous plot element was not in the book); the ''Deathworld'' trilogy; the ''To The Stars'' trilogy; and the ''{{West of Eden}}'' trilogy.
* ''Literature/MakeRoomMakeRoom''
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* FutureFoodIsArtificial: In ''Make Room! Make Room!'', soylent steaks made of soy and lentils were an expensive item.
* GaiasLament: ''Make Room! Make Room!''
* GaiasLament: ''Make Room! Make Room!''
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* OnlyElectricSheepAreCheap: In ''Make Room! Make Room!'', even soy-based faux steak is expensive and worth practically rioting over.
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moved to namespace
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Harry Harrison (1925-2012) was a science fiction writer.
He is best known for his humorous SF, which includes ''TheStainlessSteelRat'' series, the ''Literature/BillTheGalacticHero'' series, and the stand-alone novels ''TheTechnicolorTimeMachine'' and ''Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers''.
He has also written serious SF, including ''Make Room! Make Room!'', which inspired the film ''SoylentGreen'' (although the film's most famous plot element was not in the book); the ''Deathworld'' trilogy; the ''To The Stars'' trilogy; and the ''{{West of Eden}}'' trilogy.
----
!!Works by Harry Harrison with their own trope pages include:
[[index]]
* The ''Literature/BillTheGalacticHero'' series
* ''TheStainlessSteelRat'' series
* ''TheTechnicolorTimeMachine''
* ''{{West of Eden}}'' trilogy
[[/index]]
----
!!Other works by Harry Harrison provide examples of:
* AllTrollsAreDifferent: In ''One King's Way'', second volume of ''The Hammer and the Cross'' trilogy, a troll or "marbendill" is a large intelligent humanoid that sometimes feeds on human flesh, lurks in the water to pull unwary boaters under, but otherwise is rather likeable, actually. Distinguished from humans by, among other things, a much lower sex drive; human behavior in that regard rather amuses them.
* AlternateHistory
** In ''A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah!'', America lost the War of Independence and remained part of the British Empire. (Also, an earlier military defeat changed Spanish history enough that Christopher Columbus couldn't get funding, leaving American to be discovered by John Cabot in 1497.)
** The ''Stars & Stripes'' series envisions the Trent incident from the American civil war blowing up into a full-scale war between the United States and the British Empire. A navigational error brings the Confederacy in on the Union side, ending the civil war, and resulting in the British getting their asses handed to them by Generals Lee, Grant, Sherman, and Stonewall Jackson.
** The trilogy ''The Hammer and the Cross'' has a more organized and benevolent form of the Norse religion coming into conflict both with the more traditional Norse religion and Christianity.
* AntiAdvice: At the end of ''Deathworld 2'', Jason tells former barbarian Ijale that her life in civilization will go reasonably well as long as she sticks with Mikah, listens carefully to what he tells her and then does the exact opposite.
* ArbitraryMaximumRange: ''Starworld'' (part of the ''To the Stars'' trilogy) has the rebel admiral point out to the protagonist how energy weapons don't work due to the energy diffusion problem. Although missiles are being used by both sides, the rebels use linear accelerators firing unguided ''cannon balls'' to gain the decisive edge, then finish them off with a FlechetteStorm of rocket-propelled bullets (fired from the standard infantry weapons of the time) which work well over infinite ranges due to the lack of air resistance.
* {{BFG}}: One of the Israeli commandoes is firing a handheld .50 calibre recoilless machine gun during the attack on Spaceconcert in ''Starworld'' (part of the ''To the Stars'' trilogy).
* CarCushion: Played with in "Portrait of the Artist", in which [[spoiler:a comic book artist, who has just lost his job to a machine, creates a suicide note in comic-book form that ends with a depiction of him jumping off his publisher's office building and landing on a car. After he commits suicide in the manner depicted, his ex-boss's only reaction is remark that he landed on the wrong car]].
* ChildSoldiers: In "War With the Robots", the command staff are all teenagers as anyone older lacks the reflexes and flexibility of mind needed to fight the war. They retire after four or five years.
* DeathWorld: In the novel (and subsequent trilogy) ''Deathworld'', the planet Pyrrus has very harsh environmental characteristics: twice earth gravity, very high tectonic activity, a 42° axial tilt, and the occasional 30-meter tides. Life could only survive by cooperating temporarily during crises, so every single living thing (plant, animal, microbe...) is psychic. Not just that, but the high radioactivity causes them to mutate and evolve very rapidly. When humanity settles on the planet, they accidentally piss off the local wildlife during an earthquake, causing every living thing to treat humanity as a continuous "natural disaster", driven by one mutual psychic mandate: "KILL THE ENEMY!". By the start of the story, the escalating war has remade everything into dedicated living war machines (tree roots are now venom fanged CombatTentacles, etc.).
* DeliberateValuesDissonance: The trilogy ''The Hammer and the Cross'' is set in 9th century Europe, and the values of the historical peoples of the time are accurately represented; including their attitude toward rape, enslavement, trial-by-combat, and the social status of women and conquered peoples.
* EscapePod: In ''Deathworld'', Jason runs from {{Heavyworlder}} Kerk who, in the grip of irrational rage, is about to ''literally'' tear him apart unless he gets off the ship. The escape pod he uses to get away is designed to be idiot proof: initially it declines to do anything but the safest, gentlest maneuvers, making long-term survival against the ship's guns problematical.
* UsefulNotes/EsperantoTheUniversalLanguage: Esperanto is the universal second language in the ''Deathworld'' series.
* FutureFoodIsArtificial: In ''Make Room! Make Room!'', soylent steaks made of soy and lentils were an expensive item.
* GaiasLament: ''Make Room! Make Room!''
* GardenOfEvil: In ''Deathworld'', due to a misunderstanding, the very peculiar wildlife on the planet has altered itself to wage war against humanity, changing to the point where even every blade of grass has a venomous claw dangling from it.
* GenerationShips: In ''Captive Universe'', a generation ship with a seamless environment is launched; by design the highly repressive, extremely stable Aztec cities onboard believe themselves to be in an inaccessible river valley. The ship tenders are if anything more rigid and religious: an extraordinary asceticism rules their lives and repairs are sacred rituals.
* GeniusLoci: In the novel ''Deathworld'', the planet Pyrrus has very harsh environmental characteristics; life could only survive by cooperating temporarily during crises, so every single living thing (plant, animal, microbe...) is psychic and part of a planet-wide group mind.
* GovernmentDrugEnforcement: In ''Homeworld'', the upper-class protagonist is initially surprised at the idea that the proles might be rebellious, as the government lets them have all the drugs and booze they want.
* {{Heavyworlder}}: The people of Pyrrus (twice Earth's gravity) in ''Deathworld'' are the short, stout variety.
* HideousHangoverCure: The Drive-Right pill, which appears in more than one series, is a small round pill that will make you absolutely stone cold sober seconds after swallowing it... it's completely black except for a skull and crossbones on each side. Unfortunately it's rather unpleasant to take.
* HumansThroughAlienEyes: In "The Streets of Ashkelon", a human missionary converts an alien culture to [[UsefulNotesOnChristianity Christianity]]. [[spoiler:The aliens then try to initiate the millennium of the missionary's message by crucifying him and waiting for him to rise on the third day.]]
* ImprobableAge: Justified in "War With the Robots"; the command staff are all teenagers as anyone older lacks the reflexes and flexibility of mind needed to plot strategy in the fast-paced war. They retire after four or five years.
* JobStealingRobot: "Portrait of the Artist" is about a comic strip artist who loses his job to a machine.
* KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter: ''Starworld'' (part of the ''To the Stars'' trilogy) has the rebel admiral explain to the protagonist why energy weapons don't work in the [[ArbitraryMaximumRange vast distances of space]]. Although missiles are being used by both sides, the rebels use linear accelerators firing unguided ''cannon balls'' to gain the decisive edge, then finish them off with a FlechetteStorm of rocket-propelled bullets.
* LostColony: ''Deathworld 2'' is a GivingRadioToTheRomans story set on a Lost Colony.
* MercurialBase
* MobileSuitHuman: The inverse (a human concealed inside a robotic alien suit) happens often in Harry Harrison sci-fi, such as ''Repairman'' and ''Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers''.
* OnlyElectricSheepAreCheap: In ''Make Room! Make Room!'', even soy-based faux steak is expensive and worth practically rioting over.
* PlanetOfHats: In the ''To The Stars'' trilogy, [=EarthGov=] has not only terraformed {{Single Biome Planet}}s, they've also created a unique culture for each in order to maximise their control. For instance the agricultural planet the protagonist has been exiled to in "Wheelworld" is populated entirely by peasants and mechanics, ruled by a group of autocratic Familys.
* RobotWar: In "War With the Robots", the human occupants of a command headquarters are forced out of their underground base by robot attack, leaving it to be manned by their own robots. On reaching the surface they find the enemy command staff living as farmers on the war-torn battlefield above -- it turns out the robots on both sides find they can conduct the war more efficiently once humans are out of the way. The protagonist is deeply miffed.
* SelfDestructMechanism: In ''The Mothballed Spaceship'', the protagonists are trying to reactivate a derelict battleship that has been set to self-destruct to prevent it falling into the hands of anyone who doesn't have the correct codeword. Just in time they discover what the codeword is; [[ThePasswordIsAlwaysSwordfish a simple five-letter word]] in [[UsefulNotes/EsperantoTheUniversalLanguage Esperanto]] -- "Haltu" or, "Stop".
* SingleBiomePlanet: Justified in the ''To The Stars'' trilogy, in which an imperialistic Earth has terraformed a number of planets (with a [[PlanetOfHats custom-made culture]] as well), each one dedicated to farming, production or mining of one particular resource. The idea being that none of them have the diverse resources [[TheWarOfEarthlyAggression needed to launch a revolt]].
* SpaceOpera: Parodied in ''Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers''.
* {{Unobtainium}}: The Golden Age SF spoof novel ''Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers'' features Cheddite (a fuel created from cheese). In another scene the heroes' 747 jet is turned into a spacecraft by means of windows armored with ''armolite'', vacuum insulation with ''insulite'', fuel tanks filled with ''combustite'', guns firing pellets of ''destructite'', batteries replaced with ''capacitite'' and a space-warp drive powered by ''warpite''.
* TheWarOfEarthlyAggression: The ''To the Stars'' trilogy has a Big Brother-like Earth lording it over interstellar colonies set up to be totally dependent upon each other. Since each colony requires numerous goods (which they are never allowed to stockpile) each made [[PlanetOfHats only on one of the other colonies]], it would be impossible for a revolt to succeed unless every colony did so at once. Which they do. (It's not not strictly Earth-vs-everyone-else, though. On Earth itself there are several rogue states that cling to old ideals, such as ''democracy'', the strongest of them being [[BadassIsraeli Israel]]. The last novel makes it clear that a revolution can only succeed with a simultaneous assault on the surface and space.)
* WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove: Satirized in "The Robot Who Wanted To Know". Sophisticated robot librarians designed to think independently often focus on a particular area of interest; Filer 13B-445K's interest is human concepts of love and romance. After reading up on it he wants to experience it personally and goes to some lengths to disguise himself as an attractive man for a costume ball. Naturally the busty heroine ends up falling for him and is outraged to discover his mechanical identity. He responds by [[LogicBomb nosediving into a paradox spiral and self-destructing]]. Workers examining the wreck later find a malfunction in the central pump and joke that "you could almost say he died of a broken heart".
* YouAreInCommandNow: In ''Spaceship Medic'', the eponymous medic ends up in charge after all the rest of the ship's officers are wiped out by a meteorite hitting the bridge (then has some adventures, saves the day, and goes back to being a doctor).
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He is best known for his humorous SF, which includes ''TheStainlessSteelRat'' series, the ''Literature/BillTheGalacticHero'' series, and the stand-alone novels ''TheTechnicolorTimeMachine'' and ''Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers''.
He has also written serious SF, including ''Make Room! Make Room!'', which inspired the film ''SoylentGreen'' (although the film's most famous plot element was not in the book); the ''Deathworld'' trilogy; the ''To The Stars'' trilogy; and the ''{{West of Eden}}'' trilogy.
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!!Works by Harry Harrison with their own trope pages include:
[[index]]
* The ''Literature/BillTheGalacticHero'' series
* ''TheStainlessSteelRat'' series
* ''TheTechnicolorTimeMachine''
* ''{{West of Eden}}'' trilogy
[[/index]]
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!!Other works by Harry Harrison provide examples of:
* AllTrollsAreDifferent: In ''One King's Way'', second volume of ''The Hammer and the Cross'' trilogy, a troll or "marbendill" is a large intelligent humanoid that sometimes feeds on human flesh, lurks in the water to pull unwary boaters under, but otherwise is rather likeable, actually. Distinguished from humans by, among other things, a much lower sex drive; human behavior in that regard rather amuses them.
* AlternateHistory
** In ''A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah!'', America lost the War of Independence and remained part of the British Empire. (Also, an earlier military defeat changed Spanish history enough that Christopher Columbus couldn't get funding, leaving American to be discovered by John Cabot in 1497.)
** The ''Stars & Stripes'' series envisions the Trent incident from the American civil war blowing up into a full-scale war between the United States and the British Empire. A navigational error brings the Confederacy in on the Union side, ending the civil war, and resulting in the British getting their asses handed to them by Generals Lee, Grant, Sherman, and Stonewall Jackson.
** The trilogy ''The Hammer and the Cross'' has a more organized and benevolent form of the Norse religion coming into conflict both with the more traditional Norse religion and Christianity.
* AntiAdvice: At the end of ''Deathworld 2'', Jason tells former barbarian Ijale that her life in civilization will go reasonably well as long as she sticks with Mikah, listens carefully to what he tells her and then does the exact opposite.
* ArbitraryMaximumRange: ''Starworld'' (part of the ''To the Stars'' trilogy) has the rebel admiral point out to the protagonist how energy weapons don't work due to the energy diffusion problem. Although missiles are being used by both sides, the rebels use linear accelerators firing unguided ''cannon balls'' to gain the decisive edge, then finish them off with a FlechetteStorm of rocket-propelled bullets (fired from the standard infantry weapons of the time) which work well over infinite ranges due to the lack of air resistance.
* {{BFG}}: One of the Israeli commandoes is firing a handheld .50 calibre recoilless machine gun during the attack on Spaceconcert in ''Starworld'' (part of the ''To the Stars'' trilogy).
* CarCushion: Played with in "Portrait of the Artist", in which [[spoiler:a comic book artist, who has just lost his job to a machine, creates a suicide note in comic-book form that ends with a depiction of him jumping off his publisher's office building and landing on a car. After he commits suicide in the manner depicted, his ex-boss's only reaction is remark that he landed on the wrong car]].
* ChildSoldiers: In "War With the Robots", the command staff are all teenagers as anyone older lacks the reflexes and flexibility of mind needed to fight the war. They retire after four or five years.
* DeathWorld: In the novel (and subsequent trilogy) ''Deathworld'', the planet Pyrrus has very harsh environmental characteristics: twice earth gravity, very high tectonic activity, a 42° axial tilt, and the occasional 30-meter tides. Life could only survive by cooperating temporarily during crises, so every single living thing (plant, animal, microbe...) is psychic. Not just that, but the high radioactivity causes them to mutate and evolve very rapidly. When humanity settles on the planet, they accidentally piss off the local wildlife during an earthquake, causing every living thing to treat humanity as a continuous "natural disaster", driven by one mutual psychic mandate: "KILL THE ENEMY!". By the start of the story, the escalating war has remade everything into dedicated living war machines (tree roots are now venom fanged CombatTentacles, etc.).
* DeliberateValuesDissonance: The trilogy ''The Hammer and the Cross'' is set in 9th century Europe, and the values of the historical peoples of the time are accurately represented; including their attitude toward rape, enslavement, trial-by-combat, and the social status of women and conquered peoples.
* EscapePod: In ''Deathworld'', Jason runs from {{Heavyworlder}} Kerk who, in the grip of irrational rage, is about to ''literally'' tear him apart unless he gets off the ship. The escape pod he uses to get away is designed to be idiot proof: initially it declines to do anything but the safest, gentlest maneuvers, making long-term survival against the ship's guns problematical.
* UsefulNotes/EsperantoTheUniversalLanguage: Esperanto is the universal second language in the ''Deathworld'' series.
* FutureFoodIsArtificial: In ''Make Room! Make Room!'', soylent steaks made of soy and lentils were an expensive item.
* GaiasLament: ''Make Room! Make Room!''
* GardenOfEvil: In ''Deathworld'', due to a misunderstanding, the very peculiar wildlife on the planet has altered itself to wage war against humanity, changing to the point where even every blade of grass has a venomous claw dangling from it.
* GenerationShips: In ''Captive Universe'', a generation ship with a seamless environment is launched; by design the highly repressive, extremely stable Aztec cities onboard believe themselves to be in an inaccessible river valley. The ship tenders are if anything more rigid and religious: an extraordinary asceticism rules their lives and repairs are sacred rituals.
* GeniusLoci: In the novel ''Deathworld'', the planet Pyrrus has very harsh environmental characteristics; life could only survive by cooperating temporarily during crises, so every single living thing (plant, animal, microbe...) is psychic and part of a planet-wide group mind.
* GovernmentDrugEnforcement: In ''Homeworld'', the upper-class protagonist is initially surprised at the idea that the proles might be rebellious, as the government lets them have all the drugs and booze they want.
* {{Heavyworlder}}: The people of Pyrrus (twice Earth's gravity) in ''Deathworld'' are the short, stout variety.
* HideousHangoverCure: The Drive-Right pill, which appears in more than one series, is a small round pill that will make you absolutely stone cold sober seconds after swallowing it... it's completely black except for a skull and crossbones on each side. Unfortunately it's rather unpleasant to take.
* HumansThroughAlienEyes: In "The Streets of Ashkelon", a human missionary converts an alien culture to [[UsefulNotesOnChristianity Christianity]]. [[spoiler:The aliens then try to initiate the millennium of the missionary's message by crucifying him and waiting for him to rise on the third day.]]
* ImprobableAge: Justified in "War With the Robots"; the command staff are all teenagers as anyone older lacks the reflexes and flexibility of mind needed to plot strategy in the fast-paced war. They retire after four or five years.
* JobStealingRobot: "Portrait of the Artist" is about a comic strip artist who loses his job to a machine.
* KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter: ''Starworld'' (part of the ''To the Stars'' trilogy) has the rebel admiral explain to the protagonist why energy weapons don't work in the [[ArbitraryMaximumRange vast distances of space]]. Although missiles are being used by both sides, the rebels use linear accelerators firing unguided ''cannon balls'' to gain the decisive edge, then finish them off with a FlechetteStorm of rocket-propelled bullets.
* LostColony: ''Deathworld 2'' is a GivingRadioToTheRomans story set on a Lost Colony.
* MercurialBase
* MobileSuitHuman: The inverse (a human concealed inside a robotic alien suit) happens often in Harry Harrison sci-fi, such as ''Repairman'' and ''Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers''.
* OnlyElectricSheepAreCheap: In ''Make Room! Make Room!'', even soy-based faux steak is expensive and worth practically rioting over.
* PlanetOfHats: In the ''To The Stars'' trilogy, [=EarthGov=] has not only terraformed {{Single Biome Planet}}s, they've also created a unique culture for each in order to maximise their control. For instance the agricultural planet the protagonist has been exiled to in "Wheelworld" is populated entirely by peasants and mechanics, ruled by a group of autocratic Familys.
* RobotWar: In "War With the Robots", the human occupants of a command headquarters are forced out of their underground base by robot attack, leaving it to be manned by their own robots. On reaching the surface they find the enemy command staff living as farmers on the war-torn battlefield above -- it turns out the robots on both sides find they can conduct the war more efficiently once humans are out of the way. The protagonist is deeply miffed.
* SelfDestructMechanism: In ''The Mothballed Spaceship'', the protagonists are trying to reactivate a derelict battleship that has been set to self-destruct to prevent it falling into the hands of anyone who doesn't have the correct codeword. Just in time they discover what the codeword is; [[ThePasswordIsAlwaysSwordfish a simple five-letter word]] in [[UsefulNotes/EsperantoTheUniversalLanguage Esperanto]] -- "Haltu" or, "Stop".
* SingleBiomePlanet: Justified in the ''To The Stars'' trilogy, in which an imperialistic Earth has terraformed a number of planets (with a [[PlanetOfHats custom-made culture]] as well), each one dedicated to farming, production or mining of one particular resource. The idea being that none of them have the diverse resources [[TheWarOfEarthlyAggression needed to launch a revolt]].
* SpaceOpera: Parodied in ''Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers''.
* {{Unobtainium}}: The Golden Age SF spoof novel ''Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers'' features Cheddite (a fuel created from cheese). In another scene the heroes' 747 jet is turned into a spacecraft by means of windows armored with ''armolite'', vacuum insulation with ''insulite'', fuel tanks filled with ''combustite'', guns firing pellets of ''destructite'', batteries replaced with ''capacitite'' and a space-warp drive powered by ''warpite''.
* TheWarOfEarthlyAggression: The ''To the Stars'' trilogy has a Big Brother-like Earth lording it over interstellar colonies set up to be totally dependent upon each other. Since each colony requires numerous goods (which they are never allowed to stockpile) each made [[PlanetOfHats only on one of the other colonies]], it would be impossible for a revolt to succeed unless every colony did so at once. Which they do. (It's not not strictly Earth-vs-everyone-else, though. On Earth itself there are several rogue states that cling to old ideals, such as ''democracy'', the strongest of them being [[BadassIsraeli Israel]]. The last novel makes it clear that a revolution can only succeed with a simultaneous assault on the surface and space.)
* WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove: Satirized in "The Robot Who Wanted To Know". Sophisticated robot librarians designed to think independently often focus on a particular area of interest; Filer 13B-445K's interest is human concepts of love and romance. After reading up on it he wants to experience it personally and goes to some lengths to disguise himself as an attractive man for a costume ball. Naturally the busty heroine ends up falling for him and is outraged to discover his mechanical identity. He responds by [[LogicBomb nosediving into a paradox spiral and self-destructing]]. Workers examining the wreck later find a malfunction in the central pump and joke that "you could almost say he died of a broken heart".
* YouAreInCommandNow: In ''Spaceship Medic'', the eponymous medic ends up in charge after all the rest of the ship's officers are wiped out by a meteorite hitting the bridge (then has some adventures, saves the day, and goes back to being a doctor).
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