Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers

First edition (publ. Putnam)

Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers (1973) is a comic science fiction novel by Harry Harrison. It is a parody of the space opera genre and in particular, the Lensman and Skylark series of E. E. "Doc" Smith.[1] It also includes an homage to Larry Niven's Ringworld.[2]

It is about two college students, Chuck van Chider and his friend Jerry Courtenay, who accidentally invent a device that can transport them through space, powered by a substance called "Cheddite", which is created by irradiating Cheddar cheese.

Through a bizarre chain of events, Chuck and Jerry, their mutual love interest Sally Goodfellow and their janitor-turned-KGB spy Old John find themselves flung into the far reaches of the galaxy, where they become involved in an intergalactic war that could change the universe forever.

Reception

Theodore Sturgeon, describing the novel as "a Tom Swiftian, gee-whiz parody of the very worst that our severest and most ignorant critics lay on us," concluded that "I love this kind of thing at short-short length."[3]

Wayne Barlowe included the Garnishee of Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers as one of the alien species he covered in Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials.

References

  1. ↑ Mike Resnick (1 August 2003). Resnick at Large. Wildside Press LLC. pp. 71–. ISBN 978-1-59224-160-6.
  2. ↑ Larry Niven, N-Space, pp. 123-24.
  3. ↑ "Galaxy Bookshelf", Galaxy Science Fiction, February 1974, p.92
  • Harrison, H. (1973). Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers. G.P. Putnam's Sons. ISBN 0-441-78361-9