Talk:The Stainless Steel Rat

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Contents 1 Timeline 2 On blockquote 3 Monet 4 No Killing

[edit] Timeline

It'd be useful if someone could develop a timeline for the books. Right now it looks like the Rat gets married, fathers twins and then goes on his Honeymoon? Since Harrison wrote them out of order, it'd be nice if someone would develop a timeline, e.g.:

Drafted→Blues→The Stainless Steel Rat→etc.

...or something much better. I'd do it, but I am only familiar with the first 3 books and "Drafted." —Frecklefoot 13:56, Apr 15, 2004 (UTC)

That is, actually, how it happened, according to the stuff I read (it's been a while since I've read any of the books). One site described the honeymoon as "belated", so there you go. But it's still a good idea; I was having trouble figuring out how to show that some of the titles were not in chronological order. -Branddobbe 20:12, Apr 15, 2004 (UTC)

I like the list with the books in the order they were written. A timeline would just help in placing the book events in time. :-) —Frecklefoot 20:25, Apr 15, 2004 (UTC)

Done. -Branddobbe 20:52, Apr 15, 2004 (UTC)

Woo-hoo! Looks great! Thanks! —Frecklefoot 21:00, Apr 15, 2004 (UTC)

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[edit] On blockquote

I'm not trying to instigate an edit war here, but I have a question about the <blockquote> reinstatement. I removed it and replaced it with the equivalent wiki-markup (a colon at the beginning of the line). I also removed the italics and replaced it with quotes (my preference, sorry). Aside from that, I saw no visual difference between the two. Do some people's browser do something special with the <blockquote> that it doesn't do with the wikimarkup? I'm using the evil IE... ;-)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the goal was to use as little HTML as possible, since the wikimarkup is easier to use. That way people don't have to know HTML to edit a page, just simple wikimarkup. Correct me if I'm wrong, I'm looking for enlightenment. :-) — Frecklefoot | Talk 18:01, Mar 18, 2005 (UTC)

The <blockquote tag performs a distinct semantic task: it marks out a section which has been quoted from elsewhere (thus possibly providing an alibi for any egregious errors of spelling or grammar. It also happens to display with both margins indented by default and and can be adjusted further using CSS styles. The colon markup, on the other hand, uses a rather unorthodox HTML cludge: it is actually the second half of the semi-colon/colon syntax, leaving out the semi-colon which means that it uses the <dl><dd> tags without the <dt> which usually makes up the set.

Converting raw HTML markup to wiki syntax is great for tables and the like, where there is a direct equivalent, but in this particular case there is not. If we ever adjust wiki syntax to include an equivalent to the <blockquote tag (in my lifetime :-) I will be in there with everybody converting them all. In the meantime I will continue using it where appropriate until and unless it is blocked by the software (like the very useful <colgroup> tag which would allow specifying formats for multiple columns in a table in one easy motion).

HTH HAND --Phil | Talk 08:13, Mar 21, 2005 (UTC)

Harrison also wrote Stainless Steel Visions (ISBN 0312852452) that has a DiGriz story in it. I haven't got the book so I don't know where it fits in the chronology, otherwise I'd put it in.

Also, a quick look on Amazon shows a couple of omnibus books - Stainless Steel Adventures (SSR, SSRR and SSRSTW) and A Stainless Steel Trio (SSRIB, SSRGD, SSRSTB). I might just add those once I know enough to add the info on Visions.Confusing Manifestation 17:55, 12 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Monet

I don't have a copy of any of the books to hand, but there was a quote on the back cover of the paperback reissues to the effect that it was a kind of "Monty Python of the spaceways". The series was always a kind of satire, like "Bill the Galactic Hero" (Jim diGriz was impossibly good at everything, and there were constant pokes at the military). How do we get this across in the article without it sounding like an opinion? There isn't much proper on-line criticism of these books, which is a shame because the first five or so are great fun. Lupine Proletariat 14:53, 10 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] No Killing

Contrary to the statement of the article, the Stainless Steel Rat avoids killing even in self defense. He uses sleep-darts, or knocks people out with martial arts moves. The murderous people he thwarts are re-educated and rehabilitated. His extreme distaste for killing is wht primarily seperates him from the other criminals in the series. David s graff 17:20, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

That's not entirely true. He doesn't like killing under any circumstances, but he is prepared to do so when he absolutely has no choice. For example, when he kills the assassin who is trying to kill Angelina. Off-hand, I can't think of any other time when he killed someone.

So yes, he does deplore killing, but that's not quite the same as saying that he will never do it under any circumstances. I've edited the article to remove the "except in self-defense". If it goes back in, it'll need a bit more nuance. And then the intro probably isn't the best place for that anyway. --DudeGalea 12:52, 11 August 2006 (UTC)