THE STAINLESS STEEL RAT SINGS THE BLUES

Caught during a failed robbery, Slippery Jim, the Stainless Steel Rat, cuts a deal--to journey to a prison planet filled with homicidal maniacs to recover a lost alien artifact--that puts his freedom and his life on the line. 20,000 first printing. $20,000 ad/promo.

Even after four previous capers on the various planets of Harrison's high-tech (but recognizably hip) 25th century, the freshness of the author's language overcomes a somewhat predictable plot structure to make this outing by his favorite future antihero, Slippery Jim DiGriz, thoroughly entertaining. This installment (following The Stainless Steel Rat Wants You! ) finds the con man/hero under sentence of death by slow-acting poison after he has (almost) robbed an impenetrable Mint. To acquire the antidote he must contract with his natural foe, the military types of the Galactic League. Thus he agrees to retrieve an alien artifact from a prison planet occupied by assorted religious maniacs, TV junkies and Survivalist recluses. What better time, then, to start a rock 'n' roll band? Combing military service files for signs of both combat capacity and musical ability (DiGriz finds they are virtually incompatible) he assembles the Stainless Steel Rats band and proceeds to get himself and his three unlikely commando sidekicks (Steengo, Floyd and Madonette) arrested, sentenced and deported to the prison planet. Once there, the prefab four demonstrate their good humor and hand-to- hand combat abilities encountering the nouveau Vikings, fundamentalist Shepherds, troglodytes and even Feminist Separatists as they race the clock in search of the mysterious artifact. The breakneck pace and DiGriz's offbeat interior monologue keep the plot airborne, and both SF hardcore and mainstream readers should find this an enjoyable adventure.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A return for Harrison's best-known creation, the picaresque Stainless Steel Rat--far-future thief, con man, iconoclast, and knight errant. In this episode from the early career of Slippery Jim DiGriz, our hero prepares to rob a brand-new, unbreakable mint, gets caught, and is blackmailed by the Galactic League authorities into venturing forth upon a prison plant populated, variously, by swaggering macho Machmen, goat-herding religious-maniac Fundamentaloids, Iron John cultists, and bloodthirsty Survivalists, in order to recover an irreplaceable alien artifact reportedly swiped by one of the wacko groups. The Rat's cover is as leader of a bad-boy heavy-metal rock bank consigned to the prison planet for drug-dealing; to spur him on, he has been injected with a poison that will kill him on the 30th day unless he receives the antidote. So all the Rat has to do is grab the gizmo, clean up the planet, and revenge himself on the Galactic League. A splendid romp, with real humor and good-natured satire, that will find favor with newcomers and addicts alike. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Here we go again with Slippery Jim DiGriz, Harrison's best-known and probably most popular creation and a classic example of science fiction's penchant for the romanticized outlaw as hero. This time Slippery Jim, caught red-handed in a bank robbery, has to infiltrate a prison planet and recover an alien artifact in order to escape the penalty. Added complications are an embedded 30-day poison capsule and the fact that his cover is as leader of a four-piece rock band. The story is well set up, and Harrison tells it with his usual verve and gusto and his usual satirical strikes at a long list of pop-culture phenomena, here including religious fundamentalism and the men's movement. Slippery Jim fans are accustomed to his creator's quirks and will settle back to enjoy this latest adventure in the spirit in which it is intended. Roland Green

Caught in the act of robbing the new mint on the planet Paskonjak, master thief Jim DiGriz, a.k.a. the Stainless Steel Rat, is offered a deal by the Galactic League: discover a stolen artifact thought to be somewhere on the prison planet Liokukae within 30 days and go free--or die. In the same vein as previous adventures featuring Harrison's irrepressible antihero (e.g., Stainless Steel Rat for President , Bantam, 1988), this latest outing boasts fast-paced action, a hint of melodrama, and a sizable dose of satirical tweaks at modern culture. The overall predictability of the plot and the shallowness of the supporting characters will probably not deter die-hard series fans. Purchase where necessary.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.