 Cover of the first edition | |
| Author | Harry Harrison |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Publisher | Putnam |
Publication date | 1973 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover andPaperback) |
| Pages | 212 |
| ISBN | 978-1932100839 |
Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers is a 1973comic science fiction novel by American writerHarry Harrison. It is a parody of thespace opera genre and in particular, theLensman andSkylark series ofE. E. "Doc" Smith.[1] The main characters are homages toTom Swift Jr. and his buddy, Bud Barclay. It also includes a homage toLarry Niven'sRingworld (1970).[2]
Two college students, Chuck van Chider and his friend Jerry Courtenay, accidentally invent a device that can transport them through space, powered by a substance called "Cheddite", which is created by irradiatingcheddar cheese.
Chuck, Jerry, their apparent mutual love interest Sally Goodfellow, and their janitor-turned-KGB spy Old John find themselves transported toTitan, a moon ofSaturn, where they must contend with the native Titanians. Later, through a bizarre chain of events, they are flung into the far reaches of the galaxy, where they become involved in an intergalactic war that could change the universe forever. By the end of the novel, they have returned to Earth, where Chuck and Jerry are revealed as gay lovers.[3]
Science fiction writerTheodore Sturgeon, describing the novel as "aTom 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."[4]
Wayne Barlowe included the Garnishee ofStar Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers as one of the alien species he covered inBarlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials (1979).
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