Bill, the Galactic Hero
Encyclopedia
Bill, the Galactic Hero is a satirical science fiction
novel by Harry Harrison
, first published in 1965.
Harrison reports having been approached by a Vietnam veteran who described Bill as "the only book that's true about the military."
into the Space Troopers and sent to recruit training under a fanged instructor named Deathwish Drang. After surviving boot camp, he is transferred to active duty as a fuse tender on the flagship of the space fleet in battle with the Chingers, a small reptillian race. Injured and with the fleet almost destroyed, he fires off a shot witnessed by the admiralty and is proclaimed a hero.
As a reward he is sent to the city-planet Helior to receive a medal from the emperor. However, Bill's city plan is stolen on a sightseeing tour; as it takes him days to get back to his transit centre, he arrives to find himself AWOL and considered a deserter after missing his transport. He escapes and flees into the depths of the city, where he first falls in with a gang of similarly "deplanned" outlaws, then finds employment with Helior's garbage disposal service. But his unwilling recruitment as a spy to infiltrate an ineptly-run anarchist plot leads to his arrest.
He is sent to a prison unit working on the planet where the Human-Chinger war continues. Escaping during an attack, he rescues some prisoners and meets a dying Deathwish Drang. He then shoots off his own foot to get off-planet. The book ends with the story coming full circle as Bill, with an artificial foot and Deathwish Drang's fangs, returns to his home planet and recruits his younger brother into the Troopers.
After this, the sequels were penned by other writers and edited by Harrison. Harry Harrison expressed his own disappointment in the series in an interview with Brian Ireland, quoted on Ireland On-Line
.
Bill, the Galactic Hero's Happy Holiday appeared as a short story in Galactic Dreams (1994) by Harry Harrison
, subspace
and spacewarp. Harrison's contribution was the "Bloater Drive". This enlarges the gaps between the atoms of the ship until it spans the distance to the destination, whereupon the atoms are moved back together again, reconstituting the ship at its previous size but in the new location. An occasional side-effect is that the occupants see a planet drifting, in miniature, through the hull.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
novel by Harry Harrison
Harry Harrison
Harry Harrison is an American science fiction author best known for his character the Stainless Steel Rat and the novel Make Room! Make Room! , the basis for the film Soylent Green...
, first published in 1965.
Harrison reports having been approached by a Vietnam veteran who described Bill as "the only book that's true about the military."
Plot summary
Bill is a farmboy on a small backward agricultural planet who is drugged, hypnotised, then shanghaiedShanghaiing
Shanghaiing refers to the practice of conscripting men as sailors by coercive techniques such as trickery, intimidation, or violence. Those engaged in this form of kidnapping were known as crimps. Until 1915, unfree labor was widely used aboard American merchant ships...
into the Space Troopers and sent to recruit training under a fanged instructor named Deathwish Drang. After surviving boot camp, he is transferred to active duty as a fuse tender on the flagship of the space fleet in battle with the Chingers, a small reptillian race. Injured and with the fleet almost destroyed, he fires off a shot witnessed by the admiralty and is proclaimed a hero.
As a reward he is sent to the city-planet Helior to receive a medal from the emperor. However, Bill's city plan is stolen on a sightseeing tour; as it takes him days to get back to his transit centre, he arrives to find himself AWOL and considered a deserter after missing his transport. He escapes and flees into the depths of the city, where he first falls in with a gang of similarly "deplanned" outlaws, then finds employment with Helior's garbage disposal service. But his unwilling recruitment as a spy to infiltrate an ineptly-run anarchist plot leads to his arrest.
He is sent to a prison unit working on the planet where the Human-Chinger war continues. Escaping during an attack, he rescues some prisoners and meets a dying Deathwish Drang. He then shoots off his own foot to get off-planet. The book ends with the story coming full circle as Bill, with an artificial foot and Deathwish Drang's fangs, returns to his home planet and recruits his younger brother into the Troopers.
Series
Six sequels were published, from 1989 to 1992:- The first, Bill, the Galactic Hero On the Planet of Robot Slaves (1989), is by Harry HarrisonHarry HarrisonHarry Harrison is an American science fiction author best known for his character the Stainless Steel Rat and the novel Make Room! Make Room! , the basis for the film Soylent Green...
.
After this, the sequels were penned by other writers and edited by Harrison. Harry Harrison expressed his own disappointment in the series in an interview with Brian Ireland, quoted on Ireland On-Line
Ireland On-Line
Ireland On-Line is a large ISP in the Republic of Ireland, and is owned by BT Ireland. The largest internet service in Ireland is eircom. It was the first commercial internet service provider in the state. The company is one of Ireland's largest ISPs and offers email in addition to other Internet...
.
"They have a thing in the States called 'share cropping' where you have a series or character, and you have other writers do work with it [...] I never wanted to do it, I'm not interested. But one of the packagers said, coming back to this thing I said about the pornography of violence: Harry, why don't we do a Bill, the Galactic Hero series and actually do some anti-war propaganda instead of all pro war. So they eventually talked me into it.
"The second one — Bill, the Galactic Hero on the planet of Robot Slaves — I did myself, that was a lot of fun. If they could all be like that. But no, no. We all make mistakes. I'm a professional writer. I earn a living at it. These are the only ones where I did it wrong."
- The second, Bill the Galactic Hero On the Planet of Bottled Brains (1990), is by Robert SheckleyRobert SheckleyRobert Sheckley was a Hugo- and Nebula-nominated American author. First published in the science fiction magazines of the 1950s, his numerous quick-witted stories and novels were famously unpredictable, absurdist and broadly comical.Sheckley was named Author Emeritus by the Science Fiction and...
and Harry Harrison - The third, Bill the Galactic Hero On the Planet of Tasteless Pleasure (1991), is by David BischoffDavid BischoffDavid F. Bischoff is an American science fiction and television writer.-General Background:Born in Washington D.C. and now living in Eugene, Oregon, Bischoff writes science fiction books, short stories, and scripts for television...
and Harry Harrison - The fourth, Bill the Galactic Hero On the Planet of Zombie Vampires (1991), is by Jack C. Haldeman and Harry Harrison
- The fifth, Bill the Galactic Hero On the Planet of Ten Thousand Bars (1991), is by David BischoffDavid BischoffDavid F. Bischoff is an American science fiction and television writer.-General Background:Born in Washington D.C. and now living in Eugene, Oregon, Bischoff writes science fiction books, short stories, and scripts for television...
and Harry Harrison (Was also published under the title: "Bill, the Galactic Hero on the Planet of the Hippies from Hell") - The sixth, Bill the Galactic Hero: The Final Incoherent Adventure (1991), is by David Harris and Harry Harrison
Bill, the Galactic Hero's Happy Holiday appeared as a short story in Galactic Dreams (1994) by Harry Harrison
Bloater Drive
The standard ways of circumventing relativity in 1950s and 1960s science fiction were hyperspaceHyperspace (science fiction)
Hyperspace is a plot device sometimes used in science fiction. It is typically described as an alternative region of space co-existing with our own universe which may be entered using an energy field or other device...
, subspace
Hyperspace (science fiction)
Hyperspace is a plot device sometimes used in science fiction. It is typically described as an alternative region of space co-existing with our own universe which may be entered using an energy field or other device...
and spacewarp. Harrison's contribution was the "Bloater Drive". This enlarges the gaps between the atoms of the ship until it spans the distance to the destination, whereupon the atoms are moved back together again, reconstituting the ship at its previous size but in the new location. An occasional side-effect is that the occupants see a planet drifting, in miniature, through the hull.