Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers

Last updated
Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers
StarSmashersOfTheGalaxyRangers.JPG
Cover of the first edition
Author Harry Harrison
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Genre Science fiction
Publisher Putnam
Publication date
1973
Media typePrint (Hardcover and Paperback)
Pages212
ISBN 978-1932100839

Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers is a 1973 comic science fiction novel by American writer Harry Harrison. It is a parody of the space opera genre and in particular, the Lensman and Skylark series of E. E. "Doc" Smith. [1] The main characters are homages to Tom Swift Jr. and his buddy, Bud Barclay. It also includes a homage to Larry Niven's Ringworld (1970). [2]

Contents

Plot

Two college students, Chuck van Chider and his friend Jerry Courtenay, accidentally invent a device that can transport them through space, powered by a substance called "Cheddite", which is created by irradiating cheddar cheese.

Chuck, Jerry, their apparent mutual love interest Sally Goodfellow, and their janitor-turned-KGB spy Old John find themselves transported to Titan, a moon of Saturn, where they must contend with the native Titanians. Later, through a bizarre chain of events, they are flung into the far reaches of the galaxy, where they become involved in an intergalactic war that could change the universe forever. By the end of the novel, they have returned to Earth, where Chuck and Jerry are revealed as gay lovers. [3]

Reception

Science fiction writer Theodore Sturgeon, describing the novel as "a Tom Swiftian, gee-whiz parody of the very worst that our severest and most ignorant critics lay on us," concluded that "I love this kind of thing at short-short length." [4]

Wayne Barlowe included the Garnishee of Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers as one of the alien species he covered in Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials (1979).

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hal Clement</span> American author and artist (1922–2003)

Harry Clement Stubbs, better known by the pen name Hal Clement, was an American science fiction writer and a leader of the hard science fiction subgenre. He also painted astronomically oriented artworks under the name George Richard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jerry Pournelle</span> American writer and scientist (1933–2017)

Jerry Eugene Pournelle was an American scientist in the area of operations research and human factors research, a science fiction writer, essayist, journalist, and one of the first bloggers. In the 1960s and early 1970s, he worked in the aerospace industry, but eventually focused on his writing career. In an obituary in Gizmodo, he is described as "a tireless ambassador for the future."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Larry Niven</span> American science fiction writer (born 1938)

Laurence van Cott Niven is an American science fiction writer. His 1970 novel Ringworld won the Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards. With Jerry Pournelle he wrote The Mote in God's Eye (1974) and Lucifer's Hammer (1977). The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America gave him the 2015 Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award.

<i>Ringworld</i> 1970 science fiction novel by Larry Niven

Ringworld is a 1970 science fiction novel by Larry Niven, set in his Known Space universe and considered a classic of science fiction literature. Ringworld tells the story of Louis Wu and his companions on a mission to the Ringworld, an enormous rotating ring, an alien construct in space 186 million miles in diameter. Niven later wrote three sequel novels and then cowrote, with Edward M. Lerner, four prequels and a final sequel; the five latter novels constitute the Fleet of Worlds series. All the novels in the Ringworld series tie into numerous other books set in Known Space. Ringworld won the Nebula Award in 1970, as well as both the Hugo Award and Locus Award in 1971.

Science fiction comedy or comic science fiction is a subgenre of science fiction or science fantasy that exploits the science fiction genre's conventions for comedic effect. Comic science fiction often mocks or satirizes standard science fiction conventions, concepts and tropes – such as alien invasion of Earth, interstellar travel, or futuristic technology. It can also satirize and criticize present-day society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fictional universe</span> Self-consistent fictional setting with elements that may differ from the real world

A fictional universe is the internally consistent fictional setting used in a narrative work or work of art, most commonly associated with works of fantasy and science fiction. Fictional universes appear in novels, comics, films, television shows, video games, art, and other creative works.

Steven Barnes is an American science fiction, fantasy, and mystery writer. He has written novels, short fiction, screen plays for television, scripts for comic books, animation, newspaper copy, and magazine articles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harry Harrison (writer)</span> American science fiction author (1925–2012)

Harry Max Harrison was an American science fiction author, known mostly for his character The Stainless Steel Rat and for his novel Make Room! Make Room! (1966). The latter was the rough basis for the motion picture Soylent Green (1973). Long resident in both Ireland and the United Kingdom, Harrison was involved in the foundation of the Irish Science Fiction Association, and was, with Brian Aldiss, co-president of the Birmingham Science Fiction Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Military science fiction</span> Military subgenre of science fiction

Military science fiction is a subgenre of science fiction and military fiction that depicts the use of science fiction technology, including spaceships and weapons, for military purposes and usually principal characters who are members of a military organization, usually during a war; occurring sometimes in outer space or on a different planet or planets. It exists in a range of media, including literature, comics, film, television and video games.

Barry Nathaniel Malzberg is an American writer and editor, most often of science fiction and fantasy.

"Neutron Star" is an English language science fiction short story by American writer Larry Niven. It was originally published in the October 1966 issue of Worlds of If. It was later reprinted in the collection of the same name and Crashlander. The story is set in Niven's fictional Known Space universe. It is notable for including a neutron star before their existence was widely known.

Tuckerization is the act of using a person's name in an original story as an in-joke. The term is derived from Wilson Tucker, a pioneering American science fiction writer, fan and fanzine editor, who made a practice of using his friends' names for minor characters in his stories. For example, Tucker named a character after Lee Hoffman in his novel The Long Loud Silence, and after Walt Willis in Wild Talent.

<i>World of Ptavvs</i> 1966 novel by Larry Niven

World of Ptavvs is a science fiction novel by American writer Larry Niven, first published in 1966 and set in his Known Space universe. It was Niven's first published novel and is based on a 1965 magazine story of the same name.

A fix-up is a novel created from several short fiction stories that may or may not have been initially related or previously published. The stories may be edited for consistency, and sometimes new connecting material, such as a frame story or other interstitial narration, is written for the new work. The term was coined by the science fiction writer A. E. van Vogt, who published several fix-ups of his own, including The Voyage of the Space Beagle, but the practice exists outside of science fiction. The use of the term in science fiction criticism was popularised by the first (1979) edition of The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, edited by Peter Nicholls, which credited van Vogt with the creation of the term. The name “fix-up” comes from the changes that the author needs to make in the original texts, to make them fit together as though they were a novel. Foreshadowing of events from the later stories may be jammed into an early chapter of the fix-up, and character development may be interleaved throughout the book. Contradictions and inconsistencies between episodes are usually worked out.

The 51st World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon), also known as ConFrancisco, was held on 2–6 September 1993 at the ANA Hotel, Parc Fifty Five, and Nikko Hotels and the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, California, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Space opera</span> Subgenre of science fiction

Space opera is a subgenre of science fiction that emphasizes space warfare, with use of melodramatic, risk-taking space adventures, relationships, and chivalric romance. Set mainly or entirely in outer space, it features technological and social advancements in faster-than-light travel, futuristic weapons, and sophisticated technology, on a backdrop of galactic empires and interstellar wars with fictional aliens, often in fictional galaxies. The term does not refer to opera music, but instead originally referred to the melodrama, scope, and formulaicness of operas, much as used in "horse opera", a 1930s phrase for a clichéd and formulaic Western film, and "soap opera", a melodramatic television series. Space operas emerged in the 1930s and continue to be produced in literature, film, comics, television, video games and board games.

<i>Neutron Star</i> (short story collection) Collection of short stories by Larry Niven

Neutron Star is a collection of science fiction short stories by American writer Larry Niven, published in April 1968. The individual stories were published in If and Galaxy Science Fiction in 1966–1967, under Frederik Pohl as editor.

A list of works by, or about, the American science fiction author Larry Niven.

References

  1. Mike Resnick (1 August 2003). Resnick at Large. Wildside Press LLC. pp. 71–. ISBN   978-1-59224-160-6.
  2. Larry Niven, N-Space , pp. 123–124.
  3. Harry Harrison, Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers, pp. 209-210.
  4. "Galaxy Bookshelf", Galaxy Science Fiction , February 1974, p. 92

Sources