- Hardcover: 592 pages
- Publisher: St Martin's Press (31 Aug 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0312877897
- ISBN-13: 978-0312877897
- Product Dimensions: 23.9 x 16.3 x 4.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,674,900 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
"Definitive...Harrison has written well, even magnificently." --"Booklist"
"Long overdue...Alternately thrilling and pensive, scary and hilarious, angry and accepting, Harrison's fictions constitute one of the main monuments in modern SF." --Paul Di Filippo, "Scifi.com"
"Long overdue...Alternately thrilling and pensive, scary and hilarious, angry and accepting, Harrison's fictions constitute one of the main monuments in modern SF." --Paul Di Filippo, "Scifi.com"
Product Description
From his first sale in 1950 to his work this year, Harry Harrison has been one of the science fiction world's creative dynamos, working in every subgenre of the field, always entertaining, provocative and bursting with ideas. Parodic one moment, serious the next, Harrison has been called by Brian Aldiss "one of the few authors capable of carrying the old vigour of earlier days forward into a new epoch." Now, on the occasion of his fiftieth anniversary as a professional writer, Harrison gathers together fifty of his best stories - one for each year - along with substantial notes and introductory material for a whirlwind tour of his best work. 50 in 50 is at once a memoir, a compendium of a singularly engaging body of work and a look at the history of science fiction in the second half of the twentieth century.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This book is a verry good collection of Harry Harrison stories. 50 years of writing and in this book are only the short stories. And each one of them makes you think, laugh and/or wonder. Mr. Harrison is a talented writer and I believe a very special person. I can say that I've read almost all of his books. All these ideas.....wow!...
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
6 reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Fifty Years of Craftmanship
6 Dec 2002
Format:Hardcover
This collection contains 50 stories written by Harry Harrison in 50 years of professional writing of science fiction. Most of the stories are well-written, but a few are outdated by subsequence events. Some are deliberately shocking -- Rescue Operation, Roommates -- and others are humorous -- The Man From P.I.G. -- and some supposed to be -- Space Rats of the CCC -- but some of the best stories aren't in this collection since they were expanded into novels and even into movie scripts.
Although already writing in other fields, Harrison originally came into science fiction as an artist and some samples of his works are included. Harrison also worked as an editor, first in comics and then moving on to science fiction magazines. He also edited the Best SF series with Brian Aldiss, the Nova series, and the SF Authors' Choice anthologies. He is probably best known for the Stainless Steel Rat series, which started off with a bang, but have become rather predictable. His Deathworld trilogy continues to be admired by his long time fans, showing the advantage of quitting while you are ahead.
Harrison and I are almost diametrically opposed on many political and social issues, so I wish I knew the man personally and could sit down with him for extented discussions of anything and everything. Reading his works is the next best thing and I have done so for over 40 years. I still think he is one of the best at his craft.
Having read Harrison for so long, most of these stories are old friends that I read when first published, but some were new to me. I bought it for old times sake, but I suggest you try this collection if you have never read any of Harrison's short works. It should be an interesting experience.
-Arthur W. Jordin
Although already writing in other fields, Harrison originally came into science fiction as an artist and some samples of his works are included. Harrison also worked as an editor, first in comics and then moving on to science fiction magazines. He also edited the Best SF series with Brian Aldiss, the Nova series, and the SF Authors' Choice anthologies. He is probably best known for the Stainless Steel Rat series, which started off with a bang, but have become rather predictable. His Deathworld trilogy continues to be admired by his long time fans, showing the advantage of quitting while you are ahead.
Harrison and I are almost diametrically opposed on many political and social issues, so I wish I knew the man personally and could sit down with him for extented discussions of anything and everything. Reading his works is the next best thing and I have done so for over 40 years. I still think he is one of the best at his craft.
Having read Harrison for so long, most of these stories are old friends that I read when first published, but some were new to me. I bought it for old times sake, but I suggest you try this collection if you have never read any of Harrison's short works. It should be an interesting experience.
-Arthur W. Jordin
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Enjoyable collection
4 Aug 2001
Format:Hardcover
'50 in 50' was surprisingly enjoyable. Many stories from decades past are trite and out-of-date. Most of the stories in Harry Harrison's new collection hold up very well.
There are several overarching themes in Harrison's stories. The major theme is overpopulation. My favorite story in the volume is about a couple who breaks the law by having a second child. By law if you bring an unauthorized life into the world, another life must leave. So the government hires an assassin to kill one of the parents. This is a taut, chilling story of a man's desire to protect his family against a cold-blooded killer. The other overpopulation stories are equally memorable.
Included in this collection is the story that was the basis for the movie 'Soylent Green'.
Most of the 50 stories in the collection are entertaining. A few are dated, such as stories about interplanetary flights and space exploration, but on the whole they hold up quite well. I was disappointed with the lack of a bibliography telling when each story was published. The reader is left to guess at each story's publication date. The cover art is marvelous, which, though inconsequential, made the book all-the-more enjoyable for me to read. A solid collection. Though there are no award-winners in here, it's a good read.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
A must read
17 May 2001
Format:Hardcover
In sports, fans talk about players' careers stretching four decades without gimmicks like a one-plate appearance ten years after retirement. Usually four decades means playing in the last year of one decade, lasting through two more, and completing your career in the early year or two of a fourth decade. In summary, the career spans twenty to twenty-three years but when it stared is critical.
Harry Harrison makes the above accomplishment look feeble. One of the greatest writers of any genre of the twentieth century, Mr. Harrison has put together a fifty-story collection to commemorate his half-century of science fiction writing. Mr. Harrison has chosen one story from each year starting in 1950 and ending in 1999. That is quite an accomplishment, as the book contains more than just the longevity of this awesome author. However, 50 IN 50 is a fabulous anthology that not only shows the versatility of Mr. Harrison, but it also provides insight into the cutting edge of scientific trends. Most of the stories are excellent and none are bad. The tales run the genre gamut: alien invaders and alien worlds, end of the world scenarios, dangerous inventions and not just robots, misuse of psychology, a wee bit of fantasy, and tales that defy classification. Harry Harrison, whose fans think highly of, will expect 75 in 75.
Harriet Klausner
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