Talk:Harry Harrison (writer)

Transatlantic Tunnel

I have no idea which came first - A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah! or Tunnel Through the Deeps - otherwise I would have put the "originally published as" tag in. Hopefully someone who does know will come across this article (or I'll find out somehow, and remember to update it) sheridan 21:59, 2005 Mar 17 (UTC)

A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah! was the original title of the novel, for its first American publication. I am not familiar with the title Tunnel Through the Deeps.

A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah! was serialized under that name in Analog (Apr, May, Jun 1972); Deathworld 3 as "The Horse Barbarians" (Analog Feb, Mar, Apr 1968); and Technicolor Time Machine as "The Time-Machined Saga" (Analog Mar, Apr, May 1967).

Bill, the Galactic Hero was originally published in substantially shorter form (omitting the entire "Helior" subplot) as "The Starsloggers" (Galaxy Dec 1964). Pjr37 06:38, 14 January 2006 (UTC)

Order of works

Since some works have more than one title it seems that some are not on the right order or with the right comment...

It doesn't give the original publication date, but rather the first book (as opposed to magazine) publication. Someone needs to to find an ANALOG magazine back-issure list.

I'd question the wisdom of listing the "Stainless Steel Rat" series by internal chronology rather than by date of publication, since the later books are so much lesser in quality.

The link in the following text is broken: "Plague from Space (1965)" The hyperlink doesn't go anywhere, and I can't fix it because I don't know where it should lead the user. Hopefully, someone else will be able to fix it. Marceepoo (talk) 00:34, 23 June 2010 (UTC) User:marceepoo) 00:32, 23 June 2010 (UTC)

A botched-up wikilink

The link to "Homeworld" leads to the article on the computer game.

NPOV!

This entry has serious violations of NPOV. It will have to be completely rewritten, as at present it's little more than a right-wing rant. --81.103.144.117 22:39, 17 August 2006 (UTC)

The neccesary changes have been made. This article will now need to be enlarged, WITHOUT inaccurate political editorialisation. --81.103.144.117 22:45, 17 August 2006 (UTC)

I read through what I had added again, and I agree with you on the POV issue. I do not agree with "right-wing rant". I think that is your own POV showing through. The subject has a tendency to express his politics in simplistic and repetitious terms, whether directly by describing/characterising uniformed types as "Sado-mascochists", or indirectly by satirising them in dubious ways, like his Hornblower parody. I don't believe it's disputable and I don't believe it qualifies as a "right-wing rant" to point it out. The wording for sure, could have been improved, but "beyond saving" is your own opinion.

Harry Harrison was the first SF writer I ever read, and he started my love affair with the genre. I had no intention of sabotaging the article. I want to help make it as accurate and complete as possible. It is possible my disappointment with his more recent books has colored my tone.

I am glad that one paragraph survived, and I am very glad that somebody is paying attention to this article.
98.67.108.12 (talk) 16:20, 29 August 2012 (UTC)

Religion?

The article does not mention Harrison's being an atheist. He described himself as such on his Web site, and he described the trouble that he had getting The Streets of Ashkelon published because the hero is an atheist. Is it worth mentioning? Apepper (talk) 12:09, 13 January 2008 (UTC)

Thing about the past need to be written in the past tense. This is pointedly true now since Mr. Harrison is dead. "Harrison describes" does not make any sense.
98.67.108.12 (talk) 16:23, 29 August 2012 (UTC)

Irish?

Harry Harrison may have moved to Ireland, but that does not make him Irish. Can we have some evidence to back up his claim of Irish citizenship?

Harrison's Death

Social media and his Web site have reported his death. I will keep an eye out for an RS. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 167.30.56.40 (talk) 08:24, 15 August 2012 (UTC)

His Name

The article currently says he did not know his real birth name until he was 30, at which point he changed his name to Harry Harrison. This leaves out answers to some obvious questions, such as why did he not know his name, and what name was he in fact using until he was 30, since it could not have been either Harrison or Dempsey for obvious reasons.85.157.155.247 (talk) 13:54, 15 August 2012 (UTC)

Hmmh wait, I got it, he was using Harrison, but did not know it was his real name? Some details would still be nice.85.157.155.247 (talk) 13:56, 15 August 2012 (UTC)

On ancestry.com there are 1940 census reports (in free access after registration) where his name is already Harry Harrison, his mother is Ria Harrison, and his father is Leo Harrison.69.124.96.220 (talk) 00:07, 17 August 2012 (UTC)

It is really obvious. His father changed his surname to "Harrison", but he never bothered to do this legally in court FOR HIS CHILDREN. His parents just started calling themselves "Harrison", registered their children in school as "Harrison", and all that, but their birth certificates still said "Dempsey".

Back in the 1920s, '30s, and 40s, people were not so careful about such things now — and school systems, the Army, the Navy, etc., were not either. When children came to school called "Harrison", but with some other name on their birth certificates, nobody had kittens(!). The school might not have even asked for their birth certificates or looked at them. Back in the 1920s, birth certificates were either a new thing, or else lots of states didn't even issue them, yet. Even if birth certificates were available, millions of children who were born on farms and ranches, and in villages, didn't get them.

Then when Harrison was 30 years old, he discovered that he had been using the name "Harry Harrison" for his whole life (including while he was in the Army Air Forces), but his birth certificate said something else. In the United States, actually he could have let sleeping dogs lie, and there probably wouldn't have been any trouble - unless he decided to travel overseas. Since he did plan to do this - and he did a lot of it - he decided to get a lawyer to go to court to file for a legal change in name to "Harry Max Harrison". This was granted, and then Harrison used that document to apply for and get his passport (and to get it renewed). Also, if he ever registered with the Social Security Administration to get a number and an account — as a self-employed man, he used that court order that gave his legal name.

Hence, things were not always as they are now. Not every baby got a birth certificate automatically. Not everyone got a Social Security number at or near birth. In my case, I was born in the mid-1950s, and I got a birth certificate from my home state then, but I can remember when I was a young teenager and my parents applied for a Social Security for me. They needed it for a savings fund for future college expenses. Other teenagers waited much later, such as until age 18.
98.67.108.12 (talk) 16:50, 29 August 2012 (UTC)

Why was the last name changed? 2600:8800:784:8F00:C23F:D5FF:FEC4:D51D (talk) 05:21, 29 January 2020 (UTC)

A silly example of a wikilink in this article

[Lester_del_Rey|Lester del Rey] - silly. Just put [Lester del Rey] for Lester del Rey. This works just fine. It is amazing how many convoluted wikilinks there are in the Wikipedia, and how obvious how many of them are twice or thrice as long as they needs to be.
98.67.108.12 (talk) 16:54, 29 August 2012 (UTC)

Template

created a navbox for his books. I didnt include redlinks, per wmos. i hope this will spur article creation anyway.Mercurywoodrose (talk) 02:20, 16 August 2012 (UTC)

Real Name

This article lists his name as Henry Maxwell Dempsey, but there is no source for that. Also, his children are named Harrison. Does anyone know where this information came from? AppleInYourEye (talk) 06:49, 8 January 2013 (UTC)

It's common knowledge; enough so, for example, to make it into his New York Times obit. --Orange Mike | Talk 15:34, 8 January 2013 (UTC)

Intro obituary

Not really conventional style to fold the obituary into the intro ... can we do better here? - David Gerard (talk) 10:56, 13 January 2014 (UTC)

Is there a source for place of death Brighton (East Sussex, England), as we say in the infobox; his apartment in Brighton, we say in prose?

Library of Congress LCCN n79--70047 says Crowborough, Uckfield, East Sussex, citing The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction--namely, SFE: Harrison, Harry.

Related links: official website August 2012 and obituaries Tor, 3 newspapers & daughter's tribute

Among those six, if i skim correctly, only The Independent gives a place of death, Brighton

--P64 (talk) 16:40, 2 August 2014 (UTC)

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A Harry Harrison Mystery...

I've just come into possession of an anthology published by Hamlyn in 1979 entitled "Adventure Stories for Boys". The book is a reprint of one published in 1967. Amongst the stories is one entitled "Spell of Magic" attributed to Harry Harrison, the title page indicates that some of the stories including "Spell of Magic" had been published previously either in Eagle or Boy's World sometime around 1963. The storyline features a stage magician working for Interpol chasing down diamond smugglers in the Mediterranean. It is not however listed on Harry Harrison's website. This looks like an area for further research, but as I am not located in the UK, I am posting the basic information here just in case someone else can find out more. Graham1973 (talk) 15:30, 9 January 2019 (UTC)

Priest quotes

Three long quotes from Priest's obituary is an excessive amount of quotation from one source to the point that it might raise copyright issues. At least some of this content should be summarized and used along with other sources rather than quoted. Haukur (talk) 13:39, 3 August 2019 (UTC)

"Irish scheme for writers" goes nowhere

The link on "Irish scheme for writers" goes to an article Tax haven, but this provides no information on the "Irish scheme for writers". PeepleLikeYou (talk) 08:13, 21 April 2021 (UTC)