Harry Harrison Books in Order (Updated August 9, 2026)

Harry Harrison was an American science fiction writer best known for the Stainless Steel Rat, Deathworld, the Eden trilogy, Bill the Galactic Hero, and the novel Make Room! Make Room!, which inspired the film Soylent Green.

Harry Harrison Books in Order

His bibliography divides into several independent series rather than one connected universe.

Affiliate Disclosure

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This article may contain affiliate links. If you click one of these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

The Stainless Steel Rat is his longest major sequence. Deathworld follows gambler and adventurer Jason dinAlt. Eden imagines an alternate Earth where intelligent dinosaurs survived. To the Stars is a compact dystopian trilogy, while Hammer and the Cross and Stars and Stripes explore alternate history.

Most of Harrison’s other novels stand alone.

The Reading Order That Matters Most

Readers mainly need to keep seven groups straight:

  1. The Stainless Steel Rat
  2. Deathworld
  3. Bill the Galactic Hero
  4. Brion Brandd
  5. To the Stars
  6. Eden
  7. Hammer and the Cross
  8. Stars and Stripes

There is no reason to alternate between these series according to publication year.

Finish one continuity before moving to another.

The Stainless Steel Rat Books in Publication Order

For a first reading, use publication order:

  1. The Stainless Steel Rat (1961)
  2. The Stainless Steel Rat’s Revenge (1970)
  3. The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World (1972)
  4. The Stainless Steel Rat Wants You! (1978)
  5. The Stainless Steel Rat for President (1982)
  6. A Stainless Steel Rat Is Born (1985)
  7. The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted (1987)
  8. The Stainless Steel Rat Sings the Blues (1994)
  9. The Stainless Steel Rat Goes to Hell (1996)
  10. The Stainless Steel Rat Joins the Circus (1999)
  11. The Stainless Steel Rat Returns (2010)

This is the recommended order for new readers.

The series follows James Bolivar diGriz, usually called Slippery Jim, a master criminal whose abilities eventually make him useful to law enforcement.

Why Publication Order Works Best

Books 6 through 8 go backward into Jim’s youth.

That means a chronological reading begins with material Harrison wrote more than twenty years after creating the character.

Reading the original novel first lets Harrison introduce Jim as intended, then allows the later books to fill in his past.

Publication order also preserves the development of Angelina and the wider Stainless Steel Rat cast.

Stainless Steel Rat Chronological Order

Readers who already know the series can use this approximate internal sequence:

  1. A Stainless Steel Rat Is Born
  2. The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted
  3. The Stainless Steel Rat Sings the Blues
  4. The Stainless Steel Rat
  5. The Stainless Steel Rat’s Revenge
  6. The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World
  7. The Stainless Steel Rat Wants You!
  8. The Stainless Steel Rat for President
  9. The Stainless Steel Rat Goes to Hell
  10. The Stainless Steel Rat Joins the Circus
  11. The Stainless Steel Rat Returns

The first three in this list form the young Jim prequel sequence.

For a reread, this chronology works well.

For a first read, publication order remains safer.

A Stainless Steel Trio

A Stainless Steel Trio collects:

  1. A Stainless Steel Rat Is Born
  2. The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted
  3. The Stainless Steel Rat Sings the Blues

It is an omnibus, not another Stainless Steel Rat adventure.

Readers owning this edition already have the three principal prequel novels.

The Adventures of the Stainless Steel Rat

The Adventures of the Stainless Steel Rat collects:

  1. The Stainless Steel Rat
  2. The Stainless Steel Rat’s Revenge
  3. The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World

Later editions may call a similar collection The Stainless Steel Rat Omnibus.

Again, this is repackaged material rather than a sequel.

You Can Be the Stainless Steel Rat

You Can Be the Stainless Steel Rat: An Interactive Game Book was published in 1985.

It is an interactive gamebook rather than one of the eleven principal novels.

Status: Optional.

It should not be inserted as Book 6 simply because it appeared between The Stainless Steel Rat for President and A Stainless Steel Rat Is Born.

Stainless Steel Rat Short Fiction

Harrison also wrote shorter Stainless Steel Rat material, including stories collected in books such as Stainless Steel Visions.

These are supplementary.

Readers interested primarily in Jim diGriz’s central adventures can follow the eleven novels without tracking every short story.

Is The Stainless Steel Rat Series Complete?

Eleven main novels were published.

The final one was:

The Stainless Steel Rat Returns (2010)

Harry Harrison died in 2012, so there has been no later Harrison-written continuation.

Deathworld Books in Order

For English-language readers, the central Deathworld sequence is straightforward:

  1. Deathworld (1960)
  2. Deathworld 2 (1964)
  3. Deathworld 3 (1968)

These follow Jason dinAlt, a professional gambler with psychic abilities who becomes involved with extraordinarily hostile planets and societies.

Read the trilogy in order.

Is Deathworld 2 the Same as The Ethical Engineer?

Yes.

Deathworld 2 was also published as:

The Ethical Engineer

They are the same novel.

Do not count both.

The Deathworld Trilogy

The Deathworld Trilogy collects the first three novels.

Some editions use the title:

The Deathworld Omnibus

These are collection formats rather than additional sequels.

A later omnibus edition also included the Deathworld short story The Mothballed Spaceship.

Does Deathworld Continue After Book 3?

Yes, but with a major qualification.

Later Deathworld novels were produced for the Russian market in collaboration with other writers.

The official Harrison bibliography lists:

  1. Return to Deathworld, with Ant Skalandis
  2. Deathworld vs. Filibusters, with Ant Skalandis
  3. The Creatures from Hell, with Ant Skalandis
  4. Deathworld 7, with Mikhail Ahmanov

These books were not published in English.

That makes them a separate continuation for most English-language readers.

Recommended Deathworld Order

For English readers:

  1. Deathworld
  2. Deathworld 2
  3. Deathworld 3

Then stop.

Readers able to obtain the later Russian, Lithuanian, Polish, or other translated editions can continue into the collaborative sequence.

Original English trilogy: Included
Later foreign-market continuations: Optional, limited language availability

Bill the Galactic Hero Books in Order

The Bill sequence begins with Harrison’s military science fiction satire:

  1. Bill, the Galactic Hero
  2. Bill, the Galactic Hero on the Planet of Robot Slaves
  3. Bill, the Galactic Hero on the Planet of Bottled Brains
  4. Bill, the Galactic Hero on the Planet of Tasteless Pleasure
  5. Bill, the Galactic Hero on the Planet of the Zombie Vampires
  6. Bill, the Galactic Hero on the Planet of Ten Thousand Bars
  7. Bill, the Galactic Hero: The Final Incoherent Adventure

Read them in that order if you want the complete published sequence.

Which Bill Books Did Harrison Write Alone?

The original Bill, the Galactic Hero was written by Harrison.

He also wrote The Planet of Robot Slaves.

The later sequels involved collaborators, including:

Robert Sheckley

David Bischoff

Jack C. Haldeman II

David Harris

This distinction is worth knowing because the later Bill books grew into a collaborative publishing project rather than remaining entirely Harrison-written.

Ten Thousand Bars and Hippies from Hell

Bill, the Galactic Hero on the Planet of Ten Thousand Bars was also published as:

Bill, the Galactic Hero on the Planet of the Hippies from Hell

These are alternate titles for the same installment.

Do not count them separately.

Is Bill the Galactic Hero Connected to Stainless Steel Rat?

No.

Both series are comic science fiction and both satirize familiar genre conventions, but they occupy separate continuities.

You can start Bill without reading any Stainless Steel Rat books.

Brion Brandd Books in Order

The Brion Brandd sequence contains two novels:

  1. Planet of the Damned (1962)
  2. Planet of No Return (1981)

Read them in that order.

The publication gap is almost twenty years, but the second book returns to the same protagonist.

Planet of the Damned and Sense of Obligation

Planet of the Damned was also published as:

Sense of Obligation

They are the same novel.

Do not buy both expecting two Brion Brandd adventures.

Tony Hawkin Books in Order

Harrison also wrote two novels featuring Tony Hawkin:

  1. Montezuma’s Revenge (1972)
  2. Queen Victoria’s Revenge (1974)

These are comic crime and adventure novels rather than science fiction epics on the scale of Deathworld or Eden.

Read them consecutively.

To the Stars Books in Order

The To the Stars trilogy is:

  1. Homeworld (1980)
  2. Wheelworld (1981)
  3. Starworld (1981)

These form one continuous dystopian science fiction sequence.

Read all three in order.

To the Stars Omnibus

To the Stars is also the title of an omnibus containing:

  1. Homeworld
  2. Wheelworld
  3. Starworld

It is not a fourth book.

If you own the omnibus, you have the complete trilogy.

Eden Books in Order

The Eden trilogy is one of Harrison’s major later works.

Read:

  1. West of Eden (1984)
  2. Winter in Eden (1986)
  3. Return to Eden (1988)

The books imagine an alternate Earth where the extinction event that eliminated the dinosaurs did not occur in the same way, allowing an intelligent reptilian civilization to develop.

Human societies and the Yilanè become central to the trilogy’s conflict.

Should Eden Be Read in Strict Order?

Yes.

Unlike some loosely connected adventure series, Eden forms one sustained story.

Start with West of Eden and continue directly through Return to Eden.

Is Eden Complete?

Yes.

The published trilogy is:

  1. West of Eden
  2. Winter in Eden
  3. Return to Eden

No fourth Eden novel followed.

Hammer and the Cross Books in Order

The Hammer and the Cross trilogy was written by Harry Harrison with John Holm.

John Holm was the name used by scholar and author Tom Shippey for the collaboration.

Read:

  1. The Hammer and the Cross (1993)
  2. One King’s Way (1995)
  3. King and Emperor (1996)

These form one alternate-history sequence involving Vikings, Christianity, politics, warfare, and a Europe whose history develops differently from our own.

Warriors of the Way

Warriors of the Way is an omnibus containing:

  1. The Hammer and the Cross
  2. One King’s Way

It does not contain the entire trilogy.

Readers using that omnibus should continue with:

  1. King and Emperor

Is Hammer and the Cross Complete?

Yes.

The trilogy ends with King and Emperor.

Stars and Stripes Books in Order

Harrison’s alternate-history Stars and Stripes trilogy is:

  1. Stars and Stripes Forever (1998)
  2. Stars and Stripes in Peril (2000)
  3. Stars and Stripes Triumphant (2002)

The premise reshapes nineteenth-century history around the American Civil War and British involvement.

Read all three in order.

Is Stars and Stripes Connected to Hammer and the Cross?

No.

Both are alternate histories, but they explore different periods and different divergences.

They are separate trilogies.

Man from P.I.G. Books

Harrison’s P.I.G. material requires some edition awareness.

The original work is:

The Man from P.I.G.

A later collection appeared as:

The Men from P.I.G. and R.O.B.O.T.

The expanded volume includes related material but should not automatically be interpreted as a straightforward second novel.

For casual readers, treat this as a small body of linked comic science fiction rather than a major numbered series.

Harry Harrison Standalone Novels

Harrison wrote many books outside his recurring series.

Major standalones and independent projects include:

  1. Vendetta for the Saint
  2. Plague from Space
  3. Make Room! Make Room!
  4. The Technicolor Time Machine
  5. Captive Universe
  6. The Daleth Effect
  7. Spaceship Medic
  8. Stonehenge
  9. A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah!
  10. Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers
  11. The California Iceberg
  12. The Lifeship, with Gordon R. Dickson
  13. Skyfall
  14. The QEII Is Missing
  15. Invasion: Earth
  16. A Rebel in Time
  17. The Turing Option, with Marvin Minsky

These do not need to be read in a larger chronology.

Make Room! Make Room!

Make Room! Make Room! was published in 1966.

It is Harrison’s dystopian novel about population pressure, scarcity, and urban life.

The 1973 film Soylent Green was based on the novel, but it changes major elements.

Some editions have been published under or marketed with the title Soylent Green.

That does not create a second novel.

Status: Standalone.

Plague from Space and The Jupiter Plague

Plague from Space was later revised and expanded under the title:

The Jupiter Plague

The Jupiter Plague is not a sequel.

For a modern reader, use the expanded version if that is the edition available.

The Daleth Effect and In Our Hands, the Stars

These are alternate titles for the same novel.

Some editions use:

The Daleth Effect

Others use:

In Our Hands, the Stars

Count it once.

A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah!

The same novel also appeared as:

Tunnel Through the Deeps

Again, these are alternate titles.

It is a standalone alternate-history science fiction novel.

Lifeboat and The Lifeship

Lifeboat and The Lifeship are alternate titles for Harrison’s collaboration with Gordon R. Dickson.

They are not two books.

Stonehenge and Stonehenge: Where Atlantis Died

This case is slightly different.

Stonehenge was originally published in a substantially shortened form.

Stonehenge: Where Atlantis Died restored material from the fuller manuscript.

For readers choosing only one edition, the expanded version is the more complete text.

Do not read them as Book 1 and Book 2.

The Turing Option

The Turing Option was written with artificial intelligence researcher Marvin Minsky.

It is a standalone science fiction novel concerned with artificial intelligence and human cognition.

There is no sequel.

Vendetta for the Saint

Vendetta for the Saint belongs to Leslie Charteris’s Saint franchise.

Harrison wrote the novel, but it was originally credited to Charteris.

For a Harrison bibliography:

Status: Franchise work.

For a Saint reading project, it belongs with the broader Simon Templar series rather than Harrison’s original science fiction universes.

Harry Harrison Short Story Collections

Major Harrison collections include:

  1. War with the Robots
  2. Two Tales and Eight Tomorrows
  3. Prime Number
  4. One Step from Earth
  5. The Best of Harry Harrison
  6. Stainless Steel Visions
  7. Galactic Dreams
  8. 50 in 50

These collections can be read independently.

There is some overlap in Harrison’s shorter fiction across later retrospectives and earlier collections.

Readers collecting everything should compare contents rather than assuming every anthology contains entirely different stories.

Stainless Steel Visions

Stainless Steel Visions is a general Harrison collection despite its title.

It includes Stainless Steel Rat material, but it is not another Rat novel.

Status: Optional collection.

Galactic Dreams

Galactic Dreams contains assorted short fiction, including Bill the Galactic Hero material.

It is not Bill Book 8.

50 in 50

50 in 50 was published in 2001.

It gathers fifty stories representing roughly fifty years of Harrison’s short-fiction career.

For readers who want one broad survey rather than numerous older collections, this is one of the most useful volumes.

Harry Harrison Nonfiction

Harrison also wrote or collaborated on nonfiction.

Titles include:

Great Balls of Fire! A History of Sex in Science Fiction Illustration

Mechanismo

Spacecraft in Fact and Fiction, with Malcolm Edwards

Harry Harrison! Harry Harrison!: It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time

The final title is autobiographical and appeared posthumously in 2014.

These books remain separate from his fiction reading order.

Did Harry Harrison Edit Anthologies?

Yes.

He edited or co-edited numerous science fiction anthologies, often with Brian W. Aldiss.

Important projects include the Best SF series, the Astounding Analog Reader volumes, the Nova anthologies, and the Decade collections.

These are edited books containing multiple authors.

They should not be inserted into Harrison’s novel bibliography.

Harry Harrison Series at a Glance

The Stainless Steel Rat

  1. The Stainless Steel Rat
  2. The Stainless Steel Rat’s Revenge
  3. The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World
  4. The Stainless Steel Rat Wants You!
  5. The Stainless Steel Rat for President
  6. A Stainless Steel Rat Is Born
  7. The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted
  8. The Stainless Steel Rat Sings the Blues
  9. The Stainless Steel Rat Goes to Hell
  10. The Stainless Steel Rat Joins the Circus
  11. The Stainless Steel Rat Returns

Deathworld

English core:

  1. Deathworld
  2. Deathworld 2
  3. Deathworld 3

Later foreign-market continuation:

  1. Return to Deathworld
  2. Deathworld vs. Filibusters
  3. The Creatures from Hell
  4. Deathworld 7

Bill the Galactic Hero

  1. Bill, the Galactic Hero
  2. The Planet of Robot Slaves
  3. The Planet of Bottled Brains
  4. The Planet of Tasteless Pleasure
  5. The Planet of the Zombie Vampires
  6. The Planet of Ten Thousand Bars
  7. The Final Incoherent Adventure

Brion Brandd

  1. Planet of the Damned
  2. Planet of No Return

Tony Hawkin

  1. Montezuma’s Revenge
  2. Queen Victoria’s Revenge

To the Stars

  1. Homeworld
  2. Wheelworld
  3. Starworld

Eden

  1. West of Eden
  2. Winter in Eden
  3. Return to Eden

Hammer and the Cross

  1. The Hammer and the Cross
  2. One King’s Way
  3. King and Emperor

Stars and Stripes

  1. Stars and Stripes Forever
  2. Stars and Stripes in Peril
  3. Stars and Stripes Triumphant

Which Harry Harrison Series Should You Read First?

For comic science fiction, choose The Stainless Steel Rat.

For planetary adventure, choose Deathworld.

For military satire, choose Bill, the Galactic Hero.

For an alternate evolutionary history, choose West of Eden.

For alternate historical warfare, choose The Hammer and the Cross or Stars and Stripes Forever.

For a short dystopian trilogy, begin with Homeworld.

Harry Harrison Books in Order FAQs

What Harry Harrison book should I read first?

For his signature series, start with The Stainless Steel Rat.

For a standalone, Make Room! Make Room! is a good choice.

For fast planetary science fiction, start with Deathworld.

What order should I read Stainless Steel Rat?

For a first read, use publication order:

  1. The Stainless Steel Rat
  2. The Stainless Steel Rat’s Revenge
  3. The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World
  4. The Stainless Steel Rat Wants You!
  5. The Stainless Steel Rat for President
  6. A Stainless Steel Rat Is Born
  7. The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted
  8. The Stainless Steel Rat Sings the Blues
  9. The Stainless Steel Rat Goes to Hell
  10. The Stainless Steel Rat Joins the Circus
  11. The Stainless Steel Rat Returns

Should I read A Stainless Steel Rat Is Born first?

Not for your first reading.

It occurs earlier in Jim’s life, but it was written after the first five novels.

Start with The Stainless Steel Rat and use the prequel trilogy later.

What are the Stainless Steel Rat prequels?

The main young Jim sequence is:

  1. A Stainless Steel Rat Is Born
  2. The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted
  3. The Stainless Steel Rat Sings the Blues

Is The Stainless Steel Rat Returns the last book?

Yes.

It was published in 2010 and is Harrison’s final Stainless Steel Rat novel.

What order are the Deathworld books?

For English readers:

  1. Deathworld
  2. Deathworld 2
  3. Deathworld 3

Later collaborative sequels were produced for foreign markets and were not translated into English.

Are Deathworld 2 and The Ethical Engineer the same book?

Yes.

The Ethical Engineer is an alternate title.

What order is Eden?

Read:

  1. West of Eden
  2. Winter in Eden
  3. Return to Eden

Is Eden connected to Deathworld?

No.

They are separate universes.

What order is To the Stars?

Read:

  1. Homeworld
  2. Wheelworld
  3. Starworld

Is To the Stars a fourth book?

No.

It is an omnibus containing the complete trilogy.

What order is Hammer and the Cross?

Read:

  1. The Hammer and the Cross
  2. One King’s Way
  3. King and Emperor

Who is John Holm?

John Holm was the name used for Harrison’s collaboration with Tom Shippey on the Hammer and the Cross trilogy.

What order is Stars and Stripes?

Read:

  1. Stars and Stripes Forever
  2. Stars and Stripes in Peril
  3. Stars and Stripes Triumphant

Is Make Room! Make Room! part of a series?

No.

It is standalone.

Is Soylent Green another Harry Harrison novel?

No.

Some editions used the film title in connection with Make Room! Make Room!, but the underlying Harrison novel is the same work.

What was Harry Harrison’s first novel?

Deathworld, published in 1960, was his first published novel.

What was Harry Harrison’s final novel?

The Stainless Steel Rat Returns, published in 2010, was his final original novel.

Did Harry Harrison publish books after his death?

His autobiography Harry Harrison! Harry Harrison!: It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time appeared posthumously in 2014.

Later publications containing Harrison stories are reprints, anthologies, or new editions rather than newly written novels.

The Safest Harry Harrison Reading Plan

Harry Harrison is easiest to read by series rather than by career chronology.

Start the Stainless Steel Rat with The Stainless Steel Rat, not with the chronologically earlier prequels. Once you know Jim diGriz, the later books about his youth work as intended.

For Deathworld, the three original English novels form the practical core. The four later collaborations belong to a foreign-market continuation and are not necessary for English-language readers.

The other major sequences are already simple. Read Homeworld, Wheelworld, Starworld for To the Stars. Read West of Eden, Winter in Eden, Return to Eden for Eden. Keep the three Hammer and the Cross novels together, and do the same with Stars and Stripes.

Everything else can largely be chosen by premise.

The rule that prevents most mistakes is this: use publication order inside Harrison’s major series, treat omnibus titles as collections rather than sequels, and check alternate titles before buying what appears to be another book.

+ posts

Frank is the editor of BookSeries.blog, focusing on publication order, chronological timelines, and spoiler-free reading guides for book series and fictional universes.

Back to All Authors Books in Order