The Stainless Steel Rat

The original short story introducing science fiction's most charming criminal antihero. In The Stainless Steel Rat, Harry Harrison unveils "Slippery Jim" diGriz, master thief, con artist, and reluctant recruit to interstellar law enforcement. In a future where crime has been nearly eliminated through social engineering and surveillance, Jim survives by being smarter, faster, and more adaptable than the system designed to stop him. When he is finally captured, however, he is offered a choice: prison-or employment. The original short story that launched the celebrated series, this brisk and ironic tale blends satire with adventure, setting the tone for one of science fiction's most enduring rogues. Harrison's clean prose and sharp humor elevate the caper format into social commentary, exploring the tension between individual cunning and institutional control. Explore other exciting Positronic Books devoted to classic science fiction, fantasy, and mystery.

Jim believes he has pulled off a successful bank job, but is out-conned into working for the Special Corps, the elite law-enforcement and spy agency led by the former greatest crook in the Galaxy, Harold P. Inskipp, and composed mostly of ex-criminals like him. He believes he has escaped from the Corps, and meets his love interest, Angelina - also a criminal genius, but lacking in Jim's relatively high moral codes and strictures against killing. She is building an illegal space battleship on an otherwise peaceful planet. Angelina was born unattractive and committed crimes to pay for her transformation into a beautiful woman; her psychological traumas are treated when Jim captures her, but she retains her allure and her criminal tendencies and joins in the Special Corps as Jim's partner.

Jim believes he has pulled off a successful bank job, but is out-conned into working for the Special Corps, the elite law-enforcement and spy agency led by the former greatest crook in the Galaxy, Harold P. Inskipp, and composed mostly of ex-criminals like him. He believes he has escaped from the Corps, and meets his love interest, Angelina - also a criminal genius, but lacking in Jim's relatively high moral codes and strictures against killing. She is building an illegal space battleship on an otherwise peaceful planet. Angelina was born unattractive and committed crimes to pay for her transformation into a beautiful woman; her psychological traumas are treated when Jim captures her, but she retains her allure and her criminal tendencies and joins in the Special Corps as Jim's partner.

The original short story introducing science fiction's most charming criminal antihero. In The Stainless Steel Rat , Harry Harrison unveils "Slippery Jim" diGriz, master thief, con artist, and reluctant recruit to interstellar law enforcement. In a future where crime has been nearly eliminated through social engineering and surveillance, Jim survives by being smarter, faster, and more adaptable than the system designed to stop him. When he is finally captured, however, he is offered a choice: prison-or employment. The original short story that launched the celebrated series, this brisk and ironic tale blends satire with adventure, setting the tone for one of science fiction's most enduring rogues. Harrison's clean prose and sharp humor elevate the caper format into social commentary, exploring the tension between individual cunning and institutional control. Explore other exciting Positronic Books devoted to classic science fiction, fantasy, and mystery.

In the vastness of space, the crimes just get bigger and Slippery Jim diGriz, the Stainless Steel Rat, is the biggest criminal of them all. He can con humans, aliens and any number of robots time after time. Jim is so slippery that all the inter-galactic cops can do is make him one of their own.

In the vastness of space, the crimes just get bigger and Slippery Jim diGriz, the Stainless Steel Rat, is the biggest criminal of them all. He can con humans, aliens and any number of robots time after time. Jim is so slippery that all the inter-galactic cops can do is make him one of their own.