Harry Max Harrison (born Henry Maxwell Dempsey; March 12, 1925 – August 15, 2012)[2] was an American science fiction author, known mostly for his character The Stainless Steel Rat and for his novel Make Room!

[3] His friend Michael Carroll said of Harrison's work: "Imagine Pirates of the Caribbean or Raiders of the Lost Ark, and picture them as science-fiction novels.

"[4] Novelist Christopher Priest wrote in an obituary Harrison was an extremely popular figure in the SF world, renowned for being amiable, outspoken and endlessly amusing.

[8] Harrison has become much better known for his later writing, particularly for his humorous and satirical science fiction, such as the Stainless Steel Rat series and his novel Bill, the Galactic Hero[9]—which parodied the works of Isaac Asimov.

Priest wrote: His most popular and best-known work is contained in fast-moving parodies, homages or even straight reconstructions of traditional space-opera adventures.

These books all present interesting contradictions: while being exactly what they might superficially seem to be, unpretentious action novels with a strong streak of humour, they are also satirical, knowing, subversive, unapologetically anti-military, anti-authority and anti-violence.

Harrison wrote such novels in the idiom of the politically conservative hack writer, but in reality he had a liberal conscience and a sharp awareness of the lack of literary values in so much of the SF he was parodying.

[5]Adi Robertson agreed: "His books toed the line between science fiction adventure, humor, and satire, often with a strong anti-military bent informed by his time in the U.S. Army Air Forces.

They collaborated on a series of anthology projects and did much in the 1970s to raise the standards of criticism in the field, including institution of the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel.

Together they edited many anthologies of short stories, each one illustrating the major themes of SF, and although not intended as critical apparatus the books were a way of delineating the unique material of the fantastic.

His father, Henry Leo Dempsey, a printer who was three-fourths of Irish descent, changed his name to Harrison soon after Harry was born.

[25][26][27][28][29] After finishing Forest Hills High School in 1943, Harrison was drafted into the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II as a gunsight technician and as a gunnery instructor.

He was the honorary president of the Esperanto Association of Ireland, where he had moved in the 1970s, living with his family for a number of years in a then-state-of-the-art home he built in the Vale of Avoca in County Wicklow.

[5] Harrison also kept an apartment in London for many years, and later in Brighton, these being used for his frequent visits to England, and when Joan died in 2002, his British home became permanent.

[citation needed] Harrison's official website, launched at the Irish national convention a few years earlier, announced his death on August 15, 2012,[34][2] at his apartment in Brighton, England.